Apologies to the restaurant for the less-than-ideal photo with no people in it -- but I think this seating in front of Jen Chan's (on Carroll Street) is lovely. What a nice scene!

A traditional neighborhood should be a complete one, with walkable density

Darin Givens l March 25, 2024

Here's a great quote from a new writeup by local planner Elizabeth Ward Williams -- it challenges us to reconsider what a 'traditional neighborhood' is in an urban context:

"We need a land use that allows for Traditional Neighborhood Uses: single-family homes, duplexes, small apartments, and small commercial uses like schools, offices and neighborhood retail. Things people can walk to! In our minds, these are the things that give a neighborhood character."

Well said! Complete neighborhoods should be the norm for cities, and they should be allowed by zoning. This is exactly the wisdom that needs to be presented in the Comprehensive Development Plan that's underway for Atlanta.

Read the full post at the Kronberg website:

https://www.kronbergua.com/post/neighborhood-character-and-zoning

If you want to see what a complete neighborhood can look like, visit Atlanta's Cabbagetown. It's not perfect -- one thing missing is affordability. But its mix of stores and various housing types is ideal.

And here's some info on the Atlanta Comprehensive Development Plan which the city must update every few years. This CDP informs many things about our development, including the direction our zoning changes should take. The planning process is happening now. Find info on meetings here.

Cabbagetown, Atlanta, 1998 © Michael Ackerman

Since the new Atlanta venue is located very close to Cabbagetown, do you guys have any plans of playing that song at the concert?

JF: wow. What a concept! WE SHOULD.

Tony's Chomp and Stomp

On November 4th, Tony Cavalero attended the Chomp and Stomp Chili Cook-off and Blues Festival in Cabbagetown, the landmark historic district in Atlanta.

His t-shirt reads: "Remember when Robocop shot that guy in the dick?" Well, no, but anything that recalls a dick is welcome.

Fans were thrilled; "We met Keefe!" Do you get the impression that, whatever else Tony does for the next 40 years, he'll always be remembered as Keefe?

Well, Keefe is a strikingly original character. And there's that iconic kiss...

Damn. It's awful to see this kind of car violence anywhere, but especially on a great street like this one, Carroll Street in Atlanta's Cabbagetown.

This city needs to be a place where cars do less damage to our lives and our places.

MEDITATIVE WEEK OF POETRY: KRISTIN ROBERTSON

I never planned to track down every person I ever kissed, but after I win the lottery and stumble into Collier, my junior prom date, on the metro in Madrid, it becomes my thing. I gather souvenirs. From Collier a paper fan with Picasso’s Guernica accordioned inside it: the bull, the flames, the women screaming. Collier’s friend Leland (may he rest) sleepwalked upstairs during a housefire, so I drive to the field where we traded spit only once. I liked breathing his name Leland in the baseball diamond, my hands field-chalked into snowy owls, so I funnel the marking powder into a vial of coke on Becca’s keychain. Becca also a one-off, a make- shift porch party, my boyfriend busy under some overpass spray-painting Nightwatchman. When I find him in Cabbagetown he apologizes for the abortions, both of them, twenty years like yesterday, asks to bum money for Newports. I unfold what I have on me into green wings. When he fumbles his lighter I slip it into my jeans, the fifth pocket, otherwise useless. They weren’t all like this. Some I loved: Jamie Webb in third grade who died looking up. In a lightning storm, he gripped the tent pole. His mother writes coordinates along the tendons of my wrist. When I follow them to an outlet mall, I cry and buy a pretzel. I wash my ventral tendon like a ventral fin, and I do swim out to an offshore oil rig where I reunite with the heroin dealer I loved for six years. Mike offers a tar ball, names the shells I collected on my swim Grace and Grace and Grace, just like his cats. Brian was allergic, but he slept on the floor of my hospital room for ten nights and married me. He had nothing else to give beyond divorce papers and seventeen crystal flutes I smashed for glitter the Halloween I ended up at the Clermont Lounge and fell in love for an hour with a stripper. Chandra worked the unlit end of a match into her nipple. Between songs, she explained Chandra means moon in Sanskrit, as in chandrasana, half the moon. We meet for tea. She doesn’t remember me, of course, but she pretends. I slide an envelope of my windfall up the stripper’s thigh, and Chandra says, Don’t go turning what I give you as a souvenir into a bird. Only it is a bird, a stolen cassowary from the Atlanta Zoo. I walk it twelve blocks to the subway, cradle its oceanic neck and vestigial spike in my lap, along with the lit match, the glitter, the Graces. The latitudes and lightning, the owl vials and housefires, the bulls and screams. All the diamonds. It might be used to attract a mate, he says, the man next to me, as he traces the cassowary’s crest. But no one knows for sure. From his small backpack, the bird’s favorite: a fallen plum eaten whole.

Atlanta Wedding Photographers Shoot in the Historic Oakland Cemetery

This week’s couple is Laura and David.  They wanted to do an engagement shoot in their neighborhood.  Their home is located near the historic Oakland Cemetery.   It makes for a beautiful backdrop for photos. 

Oakland Cemetery is located near the historic Cabbagetown Neighborhood and Grant Park.  The cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.  It is Atlanta’s oldest public park and the resting place of many famous residents of Atlanta.  Edwin Ansley, the developer of Ansley Park, is there along with a few governors of Georgia.  There are also several city mayors buried there and artists like Margaret Mitchel, the author of Gone with the Wind, and the beloved singer Kenny Rogers.  The cemetery has many large monuments, gardens, and brick lined walkways.  They also host weddings, special concerts and art installations there!

I met Laura and David at the restaurant beside the park aptly named Six Feet Under.  We walked across the street to the cemetery to start our photos.  It was a little chilly that morning but Laura and David were real sports!  To break the ice we started out with a champagne photo.  I put Laura behind David and he popped the champagne and sprayed it in celebration of their engagement! It was a fun shot and I backlit them with a flash to make them and the spray pop.

In the morning the sun started to come up a little more and warmed up the morning air.  Everytime you walked in the sunlight you could feel a couple of degrees warmer. The sun also brought some great light to shoot with in the morning.

We walked around and I got to know this wonderful couple a little more.  They are a thoughtful couple who have a passion for reading and crossword puzzles.  They are also playfully competitive when it comes to the New York Times crossword puzzle.  

As it started to warm up even more Laura changed into a lovely white sundress.  It gave a very fun and spring time feel. We kept walking around and chatting.  We would stop when we saw photo opportunities along the way.

It was a great way to start you Sunday morning!  It was such an honor to meet two wonderful people in love!

Thanks for checking out this Atlanta wedding photographers blog! I hope you enjoyed the read and found it helpful! Make sure you keep coming back to our blog to see what the Atlanta wedding photographers at Atlanta Artistic Weddings get up to! If you’d like to contact me go to the contact page and drop me a line at https://www.atlantaartisticweddings.com/contact-atlanta-wedding-photographer. I would love to hear from you!

Thanks again!

Source: https://www.atlantaartisticweddings.com/

The Sosebee Funeral Home has been a staple in the small town of Cornelia, Georgia for over 100 years. The funeral home was founded in the early 1900s by J.W. Sosebee, and it has been passed down through the generations of the Sosebee family. The funeral home is known for its compassionate and caring staff, who go above and beyond to help families during their time of need.Sosebee Funeral Home Complete AddressStree Address : 191 JARVIS STCity : CantonState : GAAddress : Canton GA, 30114Zip Code : 30114Sosebee Funeral Home Phone Number and Business InformationContact Name : Guyton, Casey L.Business Description: Sosebee Funeral Home accept Cash, Check, Visa, Mastercard, Discover and approved Insurance assignmentsPhone : (770) 479-2131Website : (770) 479-2131Office Hour : Mon 07.30 AM - 05.00 PM Tue 07.30 AM - 05.00 PM Wed 07.30 AM - 05.00 PM Thu 07.30 AM - 05.00 PM Fri 07.30 AM - 05.00 PM Sat 08.00 AM - 05.00 PM Sun 08.00 AM - 05.00 PMExtra Details About Sosebee Funeral HomeWarrenty: ASK FOR DETAILSSenior Discount : NoExcluded Service : Funeral HomesLicensed : Yes, I am appropriately licensed for my tradeCity Served : Acworth | Adairsville | Adams Crossing | Adamsville | Alpharetta | Atlanta - Downtown | Austell | Avondale Estates | Ball Ground | Bartow County | Ben Hill | Briarcliff | Brookhaven | Buckhead | Buford | Cabbagetown | Canton | Cartersville | Cascade HeighGoogle Maps Location of Sosebee Funeral Home[iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=AIzaSyAqqb48YB-AIL-AzOOUJrW2spBLxG0OUy4 &q=Sosebee+Funeral+Home%2C+191+JARVIS+ST%2C+Canton+GA%2C+30114"]

[This is a repost of something I wrote six years ago, but it could also be written today.]

We’re taking the streetcar home after a long walk to dinner in Cabbagetown, then a walk to see the beautiful homes of the King Historic District (really lovely at night). The streetcar is a lonely ride, but it’s clean, on schedule and has fast WiFi.

When we boarded the streetcar at the King Historic District stop, there was no one around but us. But when we got off the train at the Woodruff Park stop, the streetcar platform was packed with people experiencing homelessness, wrapped in blankets, with more on the ground behind the platform.

We have, in general, seen the number of unsheltered people on the street at least triple in recent weeks all over Downtown.

Atlanta built a $100mil streetcar that should be full, but it runs empty because of the terribly disused property all around it (parking lots, parking decks, empty buildings).

The common complaint about the streetcar is that it “doesn’t go anywhere,” which exposes a major flaw in land-use. There should not be three miles in the original street grid of our historic city center than can ever be described as “nowhere.” The fact that it can is clear proof of a failure that needs correction.

That disused property, if used well, could produce a big tax return through high density development. That tax return could provide money for public services, including services for homelessness.

Instead, we have unsheltered people on the street beside a gleaming, empty streetcar and dead properties.

I have these thoughts because I walk the city constantly and think about our built environment. Do our leaders walk? Or do they drive quickly past the issues?

Cabbagetown, Atlanta, 1998 © Michael Ackerman

House Across The Street by William Mize by wiredforlego williammizeart.com https://flic.kr/p/BG48cV

I liked this picture, Little Pink Houses by Thomas Hawk https://flic.kr/p/2jtFpjR

Portrait of George Stinney by Hopare. Cabbagetown, Atlanta. Stinney was convicted and sent to the electric chair in 1944 at age 14 for the murder of two white girls. The courts refused to hear his appeal. 70 years later his conviction was overturned. He is the youngest American ever to be sentenced to death and executed.