Overheard at a downtown lunch counter today:
"You know, a whole part of Atlanta is bad. You know, I think it's the south side. Yeah, stay out of there," said the first person.
"It was like that here for awhile. The only good part was West County. It still is, kind of, except for those areas they are fixing up," replied the second.
"We have some bad parts here. Chris Rock has a saying, it's like, something like 'Martin Luther King was a man of nonviolence. But if you go to a street named for him you will find people doing violent things. If you're on a street and see that it's Martin Luther King, get out of there.'"
"Yeah. Isn't that the truth. Martin Luther King is a bad street."
I think that I found the target audience for the You Paid for It segment on the streetscape improvements on MLK. (The improvements -- coming amid unfortunate demolition -- are expanding west into the Wellston Loop, so that at least part of the street will look worthy of its name.)
Thursday, March 16, 2006
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3 comments:
People like to generalize that sports fans are the type to come to the city for sporting events, clog are downtown streets, and then hightail it back to the suburbs when the game's over, spending as little time in the city as possible.
I disagree with that generalization, because there are lots of sports fans who are nothing like that.
Suburban residents working downtown, well, now the generalists might have a point...
I remember Mayor Slay, along with then-Ald. Peggy Ryan, announcing a $1.5 million initiative a few years back to beautify MLK in the CIty.
Maybe "Public Eye" can tell us what happened to that project.
Thanks for asking.
Dr. M. L. King Drive is an important street -- and it has been in dire need of both reconstruction and enhancement for years.
So far, a little more than $1.5 million has been spent on new pedestrian lighting, sidewalks, curb cut bump outs, and trees on MLK between Jefferson and Grand.
In addition:
The design work to reconstruct MLK between Jefferson and Kingshighway is finished, and construction on the $4 million project has just begun.
The design work to reconstruct MLK from Kingshighway to the City limits is almost finished. Construction on the almost $3 million project will begin soon.
Still to be done: new lighting, including pedestrian lighting, on MLK between Kingshighway and the City limits.
Hope that helps.
PE
PE
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