Impetus: for whatever reason, Curbed Atlanta posted an “article” about the ugly parking garages of Atlanta. Thinly veiled was the subjective commentary that Atlanta has too many parking garages, and that the presence of these colossal concrete dungeons of car storage were inhibiting growth, clogging up space for commerce and potential business and were just plain ugly.
The thing is, they’re not entirely wrong in their claims, but the fact of the matter is that it’s not like Atlanta doesn’t need these parking garages. Every single one of the parking garages that are being vilified for simply existing are for the most part essential and often used on a regular basis. If Curbed Atlanta got their wish, and these lots magically ceased to exist, and were immediately replaced with overpriced pretentious boutique shops, overpriced pretentious boutique restaurants, or extremely small parks that provides a tiny bit of aesthetically pleasing green space that will be filled with people who walk their dogs but don’t pick up their shit, where would people park their cars?
The parking lots that would still be in existence would now be able to justify upping the cost of parking by upwards of 300% due to skyrocketing demand, and frankly, limited parking space might not always be the most convenient either.
Pointed out between the lines is the oft-spouted commentary that Atlanta needs to have a larger, more comprehensive and more reliable mass transit system, and that the existence of one would DEFINITELY UNDOUBTEDLY eliminate the need for so many ugly colossal parking garages. Although I don’t necessarily fully agree that an improved transit authority would cure all of Atlanta’s notorious traffic issues, I can agree that it would definitely help alleviate a good bit of it.
It would be fantastic if there was a transit authority that wasn’t MARTA that had trains zipping from Peachtree City to Alpharetta, Douglasville to Covington, Lawrenceville to Union City, Forest Park to Kennesaw, and every little town, sub-community, neighborhood and district that constitutes the Metro Atlanta area. However, that’s never going to ever happen because of county lines, county bureaucracy, and veiled racism. Cobb County is afraid of black people, and Dekalb County can’t get their heads out of their own asses to realize that they’re themselves impeding growth and potential financial gain with their staunch insistence that they want to be a small communal neighborhood that really, really detests all things large, big business and most anything that a hippie would be against.
People like those who “write” for Curbed, like to bitch, moan and whine about issues like the necessity of parking garages and bemoan the need for more mass transit, as if Atlanta were a SimCity, that could be corrected and fixed at the drop of a hat. As I’m sure most armchair mayors think they could rebuild Atlanta into some sort of societal mecca if it were, in reality such is about as close to impossible as it can be.
Atlanta can’t magically bulldoze the Georgia Power building and Grady Memorial Hospital to straighten out the Downtown Connector from zig-zagging, and then rebuild both seven spaces apart and suddenly adjacent. Train tracks can’t be built over existing architecture, and tunnels can’t be bored out through its already tumultuous sewer system. It would be fantastic if the Georgia Dome could be torn down at the drop of the hat and replaced with the Sphincter set to replace it instantaneously. Turner Field could be destroyed right away, and the new stadium would be immediately erected up in Marietta. Police stations could be plopped right into SW Atlanta and crime would immediately drop in the presence of increased law. And green space could be put everywhere!! ♥
Just talking about Atlanta as if it were a SimCity really makes me want to play SimCity and re-create Atlanta as best as I could just to see what would happen virtually, but as it pertains to reality, Atlanta is not a SimCity, and fixes that many people seem to be absolutely certain would solve a litany of problems, cannot happen that quickly.
That being said, the supposed ugly parking garages of Atlanta all serve a major purpose in our fair city, and pointless exercises like trying to shame them is pointless, does not head remotely in the direction of any possible solution and is a waste of time.
The post by Curbed Atlanta is a prime example of pointless click-bait and that being said, I’m going to remove the link from my post so that nobody else supports it.
