Solution to Sprawl Back Home

Most of my blogs have focused on the city of Atlanta, but I thought for my final one I would focus on my hometown of Charleston, SC. The city has grown greatly over the past ten years especially in the community of Summerville (Dorchester County), which is about 30 minutes outside of Charleston. Local Summerville High School had grown so much that two brand new high schools were built three years ago to accommodate the growth. Most of the neighborhoods are examples of sprawl, but the housing is much cheaper in Dorchester County compared to most of Charleston County.

The "Charleston Real Estate Blog" addressed the issue of sprawl in a post from last year. The blogger, Howard Arnoff, illustrates that the main traffic problems in Charleston are because of the sprawl affecting the suburbs around Charleston. The state has been working on expanding the lanes on I-26 to reduce traffic, but the work hasn't been finished making the commute even longer. Even though adding lanes may help the traffic; however, according to Suburban Nation, adding lanes makes traffic worse. "Building more highways and widening existing roads... does nothing to reduce traffic. In the long run it actually increases traffic" (88). As traffic gets better for the commuters, more people will drive to work or move to the suburbs and gradually create the same heavy traffic problems as in the past.

-Chris P.

Sprawl in the AJC

As we have learned in this class, Atlanta is a sprawling city and the suburbs are mostly to blame. As new developments are constructed outside the city, more people are moving to this city. Traffic problems, overcrowding, and non-environmentally friendly communities are created with the sprawl. I found an article recently published by Jay Bookman in the "Atlanta Journal Constitution" about how he believes that "sprawl has passed into history" in the Atlanta area.

Bookman adds a statistic in his blog on how from "July 2000 to July 2008, six of the 15 fastest growing counties in the country could be found here in the 28-county Atlanta metro region." Atlanta was sprawling out of control until the recession hit and new developments planning came to a stand still. Atlanta's suburbs are not growing nearly as fast anymore and Bookman believes that younger people moving to Atlanta are more attracted to living in the city rather than living outside of the city. He also thinks that the job creation in Atlanta was "already a myth more than a reality." I find that to be an interesting point because I am apart of this younger generation and I would much rather live in the suburbs than the in the city. I enjoy being in the heart of Atlanta here at Tech, but our campus is being constantly patrolled by Campus Police, so I feel very safe. When I am off campus, I travel with large groups when I go places. I would not have that luxury if I lived off campus with two or three roommates.

The sprawl that has affected Atlanta has not been good for the city, but I find the suburbs to be relaxing and more tight knit than a city. If the region can work to redesign more environmentally friendly areas in sprawling developments, then the problem of sprawl could be improved.

-Chris P.

Oxford vs. Atlanta

My single favorite day of the entire year is Thanksgiving day. This is the case for many reasons: there is no focus on material possessions as is the case with Christmas and I am surrounded by the people I love. One of those people is my cousin, Katy, who lives in Oxford, Mississippi. She attends college at Ole Miss and will graduate at the end of this semester. Every time we get together we have the best time, but there are always differences that I notice. Honestly, I probably started noticing these differences in the first place when I was growing up wanting to be just like her. Differences in our sense of style, social arenas, vocabulary, and more. As i have gotten older, I have attributed many of these differences to the places in which we are currently 'growing up.'
I know that these are hugely generalized opinions based off one person from that city, so these are strictly observations. Oxford's clothing style, along with any other city, is ultimately dictated by the weather, available fashion, and the people that live there. From pictures I have seen of Katy and her friends, their style seems more casual and loose than Atlanta's style. Katy's diction is different than mine not only from the slightly thicker southern accent but also some specific words that pepper their sentences and not mine. Also, since Atlanta has an obscene amount of things to do, the small town of Oxford has far fewer options for social interactions. While many students at Georgia Tech go out to restaurants, bars, shows, movies, or shopping, most Ole Miss students are limited to a few regular restaurants and bars on the weekends. This is just another example of how "place" affects so many aspects of our life!

Community Business Problem

New shopping centers and restaurants are nice additions to a community in some ways. It's a neat to have a new selection of shops and places to eat, but other older businesses lose customers and they cannot compete. Think of the local hardware store in a small town that has been running for almost 100 years and Wal-Mart opens a store just a few miles outside the town. People flock to Wal-Mart, which kills the local store's business and they eventually shut down. I looked at the blog "Sprawled Out", and in the city of Franklin, Wisconsin, restaurants are shutting down and the blogger addresses a specific one across from a Northwestern Mutual Campus. Even with hundreds of people working across the street from the restaurant, it still could not stay open. New choices for dining and shopping and the poor placement of the old restaurants and shops has led to the closing of a few local businesses.

The blogger feels like his community is no longer embracing local business anymore and he finds that frustrating. He illustrates his point by saying, "The former Sentry grocery store, a huge building, is vacant. Walgreens next door is threatening to tear it down to facilitate a drive-thru window." It has become a huge problem across the United States and the destruction of local business is here to stay until something is done about it.

-Chris P.

Addressing the Dekalb County Problem

As I learn more about the different communities around Atlanta, I am finding that some of the sprawling developments are becoming conscious of their problem. Decatur has some sprawling neighborhoods and the blog I read, "December Atlanta Regional Housing Forum," addresses how Decatur wants to create sustainability in the community. The area is recognizing that they need to control the sprawl in Decatur, but in Dekalb County as well. For the meeting the community is bringing in the "Director of Livable Communities Coalition" to speak on the issues. It would be easy for Dekalb county to put an article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on the issue, but they want to answer questions and inform the interested public on the issue.

The suburbs of Atlanta are known for having sprawling developments and are causing many problems with the environment. Decatur has done well by having a MARTA station that can take people into downtown without driving. The city needs to encourage more people to ride the MARTA to work to reduce the amount of cars on the road to help with the traffic problem. For the neighborhood and shopping center sprawl, the city needs to find a way to create a community like the Virginia Highland's where most of the essentials are within walking distance.

-Chris P.

Uncarved Pumpkins

Last week I had a huge Differential Equations test on Wednesday, and naturally the morning of I fell asleep around 3 am reading over my notes, ran out of gas on my way to school, and lost my credit card somewhere between the gas station and class. I barely had room in my worried brain for integration and phase portraits by the time the test came. Anyway, I got through the test, cancelled my credit card, and ordered a new one. Yesterday I drove home to Marietta to get my new card, and I was noticing the halloween decorations in my neighborhood. Even though my parents' decorating ceased when I moved out, I noticed massive, human-sized spiders crawling up cotton webs strung from the porches. There were detailed jackolanterns and halloween lights amidst homes that were made into small stages of haunted scenes. I have never really noticed the intricate detail of the suburbian holiday decorations, probably since I was constantly surrounded by them growing up, until I began to see the drastically unimpressive attempts at pumpkins and other halloween decorations that adorned the homes in buckhead.
I LOVE carving pumpkins, and Ididn't get to this year because I was so busy the week prior to the spookiest day of the year, so my boyfriend planned on carving them last night to appease me and drove to five different places to get the discounted pumpkins. There were none! Our date failed, but as we drove around I saw plenty of uncarved, perfectly plump pumpkins which could have served a far greater purpose than just sitting on porches~ uncarved!
Anyway, moral of the story, I couldn't believe the difference between the pathetic decorations of the city and the extravagant scenes put on for halloween by the suburbs. I think it may be contributed to the strong emphasis on family and children in the suburbs. No family with small children would ever get away with uncarved pumpkins. It is interesting how the overall demographic of areas such as the suburbs and the city affect so many aspects of life including details down to the small decorations of a not-even-national holiday.

Joe Swings That Way

Atlanta's Midtown neighborhood is famous for its wide variety restaurants and thriving nightlife. I know this to be true from finding places to go on dates with my girlfriend. As many couples know, deciding on a place to go can be more of a journey then actually going there. Trying new places is always a great alternative because you never know what kinds of surprises are in store for you.

One such evening after much deliberation, my girlfriend Katie decides she wants to take me to a bar and grill by the name of Joe's On Juniper. She had been a few times with her girlfriends and never really told me what kind of place it was. But a bar and grill is probably just like all the rest.

This place is not like all the rest. When I walked in everything seemed normal: sports-themed decorations, beer paraphernalia, and several TV's showing every game on at any given time. Also, it was filled a bunch of dudes. Totally normal. However, Joe's was filled a BUNCH of dudes. In fact, my girlfriend was one of only three girls at this place. Odd.

I finally get it after the well-groomed, soft-voiced waiter takes my order and finishes with "It'll be right out, sweetie." I was in a gay bar. I have no prejudice against homosexuality at all, I was just flat out surprised. Katie immediately notices my epiphany because it fuels her devilish grin. She tricked me into going to a gay bar.

To be honest, Joe's On Juniper is great bar. It has everything: great food, especially for a bar, the sports-themed atmosphere you expect, exceptional service, and friendly regulars who are sure to have something interesting to say. Joe's truly represents the diverse, open-minded, and all-around friendly side of Atlanta.