An open letter to the Mayors of Atlanta and surrou

“Dear sir or ma'am...

My wife and I just returned from a trip to you fair city. During our visit we had the opportunity to drive on you streets...Our experience was disappointing at best.

1) Why MUST you attach the name DUNWOODY to the end of what appears to be nearly all major N/S street names.
2) Was it truly necessary to name every minor rd off of Mt.Vernon with such similar names that any non-local would get hopelessly lost. For example Mt Vernon Place,Lane,Court,Street,Blvd,Thoroughfare etc....
3) Please oh please ask your citizens to drive like they have some b@lls. Atlanta supposedly has some of our Nations worst traffic...No sh!t!!!!! Speed up and your problem goes away
4) Please refrain from naming everything "Perimeter" as in Perimeter Mall,Center,Pointe,Lane,Court...this is terribly frustrating when looking for any specific "Perimeter".(What exactly is this stuff the perimeter of?)

Other than that you 'burgs were tolerable,perhaps too clean and polite but I have faith that in due time this will change too.

In All Respect and Frustration Birch”

“ROTFLMAO!!!!

how about the 47 "peachtree" roads???

here's your answers:

1) you were in dunwoody
2) no. civil engineering at it's best.
3) that's all those folks that migrated from ohio. hell, most of them still have ohio tags... after 4 years!
4) you were in the perimeter area. (I-285)

jen and i were glad to see y'all, finally! i hope that the wedding was good, despite the weather.”

“oh, and the reason that the traffic is bad...

take one part florida drivers (hell bent on getting somewhere, and fast)

take one part ohio drivers (amazed that they are wherever they are and have to drive slow and look at everything)

mix well

serve at 5pm

CRUNCH!!!”

“Birch and I were glad to meet you and Jen too. I hope she wasn't bored out of her skull listening to all the TT talk! Sorry we couldn't of visited longer.

We got lost on the way to the reception and by the time we got there they were serving the first course! Hence Birch's rant.

Rad, you and Jen have to go to Manciano's Italian restuarant @ Perimiter mall. They made salmon palatable! It is an excellant restaurant.

I'm so happy to be home!!!”

“Georgia sucks du woody.”

“Don't you know about Atlanta? It's a city that loves being difficult and obnoxious. It wants to be New York, but it's not. So it puffs itself up and names 50 streets Peachtree and snarls you in traffic and touts its Braves as the best thing since Wonder Bread and rattles off the list of all the corporations that call it home and thinks it's gonna get the next terrorist attack 'cause it wants to be like NY and can't bump off the Yankees and has fire ants and too much heat and humidity and

Think we should start a Hate Atlanta Thread?”

“the mayor IS the worst thing about this city.”

“You guys are cracking me up! The secret to liking Atlanta is to drive through it as quickly as you can at 3AM, no stops. There's no traffic then. I love Atlanta!”

“BTW, it looks great in the dark, keep up the good work! ¦ ) .”

“"looks great in the dark," LOL! i don't know if that's a compliment... ;-)

that's cool yous guys got to meet each other!”

“The secret to ATL is NOT to live in the burbs. Then you can ride your bike everywhere.”

“i live north of atlanta. i can drive my jeep everywhere.”

“and people wonder why we have the worst traffic in the country.”

“is it true there's no metro in Atlanta, or is that a dirty rumor?”

“depends on what your expectations are, lyra. i like it, but if your point of reference is new york, boston or philly, i doubt you would be impressed. we do have very cool inner-city neighborhoods chock full of various bohemians, artists and designer types that i love. and the 1920's architecture is marvelous.

if you want to look for it, there is plenty not to like here. but that's true of anywhere.”

“bobk - lyra was asking a transportation question about what the DC folks call their metro system - ie subways / rail passanger systems”

“Lest we not forget Atlanta's contribution to Montana- Ted Turner! His personality notwithstanding, he's done some pretty impressive (and progressive) ecosystem management and edangered species protection on his Montana ranch properties. A lot of his property has been put into conservation easements at the same time the rest of Montana is being carved up into subdivisions.”

“Hey Rad - I've got a coffee mug you might recognize. It says: "Everybody's Somebody in Snellville".”

“If you want to visit a truly fu(ked-up city, come see Baltimore.

Here in "Charm City" they don't mess around, you wanna see bombed-out neighborhoods?
Some places look like Berlin in 1945!

Charm City my arse!
They should call it the "City That Time Forgot".

Atlanta???
Its TOO hot HERE in summer.....and Atlanta is 700 miles FURTHER south!”

“i don't think so, Hog. i am *pretty* sure she was referring to a real metropolitan downtown type area.

i am glad to hear ted is doing some good things after he bought half your state! ;-)”

“Thanks for the link, violin. I am familiar with the DC metro system, having ridden it a few times. Very nice light rail system, BTW.

I still think she was talking about something else. lyra, speak up if I am wrong.”

“MARTA! It's SMARTA!”

“up! ;-) yeah, they're right, BobK, i meant a public trans. system, like what we call the metro here. i've been through Atlanta on my way to Florida, i know it's a real city! now, Baltimore, on the other hand... ;-)”

“I guess the rumor part of your comment through me off. Yes we have marta, a combination bus and light rail system.”

“i getcha :-) i love public transportation, but our system sort of sucks...doesn't run 24 hours, and costs an arm and a leg. i shouldn't have to pay $5 a day to go to work! that's just wrong.”

“ours doesn't run 24 hours, either. blech!”

“At least you have a system! In Detroit we have the smart bus system. You buy a pass so you can be late to work (if the bus route even goes anywhere close to your work) because the bus passed you at the stop, broke down, isn't running today, or is running two hours late! The stops have no shelter or even a bench. It's a sad excuse for public transportation!”

“yeah, stopping the trains at 2, when the bars close, is a brilliant idea, if you ask me. and in Boston, you can go anywhere for 85 cents!! if it wasn't colder than a witch's teat up there, i'd move...i love that city. well, i prolly wouldn't move, but i'd talk about it :-)”

“I think you should all quit yer' complaining about public trans. Wait 'til you get to MT. You'll be officially entering a time warp. Public trans. examples to follow are European ones. Awesome, inexpensive, and practically serving the entire continent.”

“Is it any great mystery why Detroit should have crummy mass transit?”

“LOL @ violin!”

“Boston!
Now there's a REAL city!

The cold weather keeps the rif-raf away!”

“Boston has it's act together (IMHO as a visitor). I love the T!”

“HEY!! what're you trying to say, Tom T? you'd better look out, you live near me. and Baltimore's not very big...i'm sure i could track you down. i'd start with the "Berlin in 1945" parts, of course. ;-)”

“As a Bean town boy... (I've lived in Texas, New Hampshire, Tokyo, Hong Kong and elsewhere... but I was born in the Boss-town and am happy to live right across the Chahlles Rivah now) I get a warm glow seeing my city praised. 'course the glow ain't warm enuff to last me through the winter (but I'm warmer than I was when I lived in NH).

Still, I gotta letcha know that the "T" fare is now 1 dollar.”

“what?!? a dollar? that's it, i'm never going there again ;-)

once in college, my roommates and i went to visit friends in Boston over spring break. we got off the plane, and i was like, "whose brilliant idea was this?" it was freeeezing!! but i had a blast :-)”

“Been watching ATL grow (BOOM!) for 40+ years. In the 90's, the area's population increased by the equivilant of Birmingham's population. By 2020, ATLs population will surpass Manhattan's 7+ million.

Flying in, you can see construction sites as far away as 50 miles in all directions. The metro has sprawled to the point that urban renewal is all the rage. Many intown neighborhoods are being re-inhabited by young professionals that work in the city. Old industrial buildings are being remodeled into condos and lofts. Cool pads.

Like any other boom town, it's difficult to keep the infrastructure ahead of the demand, ie, roads. ATL has the nations longest average daily commute - 27 miles, yet the drive time didn't even make the top ten in last weeks announced poll results. I think NYC and LA topped that list.

The freeways through and around town are a blast to drive, IMO. I've yet to drive a better one - but San Antonio's is prolly as good.

MARTA is an excellent transportation alternative - "for everyone else". I use the rail on occasion, ie, Falcons and Braves games, theater, etc. I park at an outer station and rail it to town. Beats paying $10.00 to park. Heh, parking in Manhattan is $40.00...

Mayor Bill Campbell is an idiot. The Mayor-elect is one of his cronies, too. Too bad.

I live a couple of counties to the South. Our population doubled in the 90's - 50k to 100k. I've got pretty much all I need here, so I don't really hafta deal with The Big A much.

From Macon to Chattanooga, and from Birmingham to Columbia will someday be a megaopolis to rival that corridor thing up north. That sucks.”

“Its been ages since I've been to Atlanta. I liked it a lot.. especially the Atlanta underground area. It was a well run city then.”