AubieTurtle

Mora sealed his fate when he made the comment about the University of Washington job. His record didn't leave him with much room for error, so that comment pretty much made it look like he was just passing time at Atlanta. Maybe Alabama will hire him The talk around town has been that the team is very talented but lacked the coaching to get all that talent to work together and use it effectively. I have no idea if that is true or not. As the later versions of the US "Dream Team" in basketball showed, merely putting a bunch of good players together doesn't equal success. Sometimes it is a matter of having a coach that will best use those talents but other times it is just that a particular combination of players who are individually good do not add up to something better.

Well, in our case, it is "Glory, Glory to Ole Auburn" http://www.auburn.edu/student_info/auband/mp3/glory.mp3 The Auburn version and the Georgia version are slightly different in sound (and of course lyrics). According to one site I read, it is not based on the Battle Hymn of the Republic but rather both Glory and the Battle Hymn are based on an older song about hanging John Brown after the raid on Harpers Ferry. Apparently there were different versions of the lyrics, either celebrating Brown's death or celebrating Brown's goals that causes him to get killed. Being that John Brown was an abolitionist, you can see why the north and the south would each have their own version of the lyrics. I have to assume that both Georgia and Auburn had the "yay, that abolitionist is dead" version in mind but given that both versions of the song exist and the later use of the music as the Battle Hymn of the Republic, one doesn't have to take it to be politicially incorrect.

^^^ Why would you play Auburn's secondary fight song to celebrate Georgia's win? Yeah, I know, there is lots of debate on who started using the song first and for the most part, both sides ignore the evidence from the other. Since UGA won the game this year, I guess they can have ownership until next year.

Yes, it was a good game. Georgia really is a second half team. While I'm not a Georgia fan, I do cheer for SEC teams so I was happy to see them win. It is interesting that the Peach Bowl (sorry, can't use the new name) gets the #2 from the ACC but only the #5 from the SEC. I know they've increased the payouts but I can't see the SEC dropping any of the other bowl games lower in the selection process. The problem is that when the SEC signed up for the Peach Bowl, it was a middle tier bowl. Now that it has moved up to the top non-BCS tier, there is no room for them. I think the same could be said about the Outback Bowl (formerly the Hall of Fame Bowl). Obviously the SEC isn't going to want to let any of its high profile bowls go, but they really are overloaded at the top end. I don't know what the Peach Bowl can do about it. The SEC isn't going to willingly give up the Capital One, Outback, or Cotton Bowls and none of those bowls are going to volunteer to have a lower pick. Given the Peach Bowl's location, any threat to drop the SEC wouldn't be taken seriously. In the end, it may be that the SEC's #5 (or #4 if only one SEC team gets into the BCS) team is an ok match up for the ACC's #2. It certainly was tonight.

It's a terrible idea. The reason why other Atlanta teams were in their respective league's western division was because Atlanta teams are relatively new as are the teams out west, so until realignment, the western divisions were the ones with room for expansion. It was a bad situation but one Atlanta had to deal with for being late to the game, so to speak. The Braves use to play lots of their games well past midnight because they didn't start until 10pm Eastern Time, because out west it was 7, which was a good time to start a weekday game since it game people time to get there after work. The added travel also was unfair because it wears down on the team. If the NHL wants to reduce the number of divisions, they need to either find a different way to divide things from a geographic prespective or find a way to compensate the Thrashers for the extra burden. Something like a league financed salary for an extra player. Otherwise, there really isn't any reason for the Thrashers to agree to this. The games with Nashville would be nice, but really things need to be altered to where Nashville isn't in the west rather than put Atlanta in the west too. The cynic in me thinks this may just be a way for teams from the more traditional markets to impose a handicap on newers teams. There are many northern fans who don't think hockey should be played in the south or the west and it bothers them even more that the new teams have been successful. They would be happy to see the Stanley Cup never go south of the Mason-Dixion line or west of the Mississippi (unless it is western Canada) again. Many would like to see all the new teams kicked out of the league, not understanding that sports will follow the money and that if the NHL never expanded, from these areas a new league would have risen with teams that would have attracted NHL talent. It looks to me like to would make more sense to switch Washington and Nashville and stay with six divisions. I'm not sure why the NHL wants to go to four divisions (I haven't read the article so maybe it explains why) unless it has something to do with shortening the post season.

Let's see if anyone can tell me where this photo was taken:

$900/sq ft... wow, that's pretty Manhattan.

One good thing is that a clear cut plan with set rules will give developers confidence in what they can and can not build. They won't have to waste time gathering land and making plans only to find out that they can't build what they wanted. With clear rules up front that have buy in from the communities along the beltline, projects are much more likely to go ahead smoothly... at least until someone decides that they are special and should get an exemption.

Renderings of the Post development on what use to be known as Block Three were posted on the message boards a couple of week ago. It looks good but unfortunately they put the pool deck on the wrong side of the building so I won't be able to enjoy that view

Why on earth would the questions only be on the Republican ballots? I didn't think Georgia law allowed for the voting booth to be used as an opinion poll. If the vote is binding, then everyone should have been able to vote on the issues. If it's not binding, then WTF?

Nope, no mention of a release date. Hopefully not too soon because I still need to meet with them over our proposal for the street level treatment on West Peachtree Place. A member of my condo board said she would set up a meeting but it never happened so I need make that happen. The problem with making the residential buildings similar to the rest of Allen Plaza is that the market is getting flooded with Novare glass boxes. Sure, they might put a spire on the roof or play with some set backs but in general, they are still mostly glass boxes. I suspect Barry wants to go for a higher end of the market and is going to need a way to make the buildings stand out from the crowd. I was promised that the old idea (about three years old) of making a building look like a giant fish is not up for consideration. Glad that got abandoned, along with the early design of the World of Coke that looked like a giant coke bottle laying on its side.

Barry hasn't released the plans for the condos yet but from what I've been told by someone who has seen the plans, the architecture is going to be a departure from the glass boxes we've been seeing from Novare and will be "world class" Gehry type design. As long as they don't copy Gehry's terrible street treatment, I'm ok with weird looking buildings.

Remember the Gwinnett Gwizzlies? You can be forgiven if you don't. They were an expansion team of the new ABA a few years back with a cocky owner who tended to proclaim that they'd sell out the Gwinnett Arena and outsell the Hawks (which really isn't setting the bar that high), along with some snide comments about families not wanting to go downtown where "those people" live (gee, you'd think he worked for NASCAR). Well, before they played their first season, they had to leave the ABA. They never played in the Gwinnett Arena either. They ended up in some skills development league. Curious as to their current status, I found that they've move their office to from Duluth to Stone Mountain, have changed their name to the Georgia Gwizzlies (come on, drop the W, it was funny when it was a play off of Gwinnett but now is just dumb looking), and are going to play their next season in a league called the ANBL. They will play their games at Morehouse College, so I guess "those people" in downtown are alright afterall. But at least they still exist in some form. The Reigning Knights of Georgia, another ABA expansion team, whose home office was located in Duluth a couple hundred feet down the street from the Gwizzlies home office, actually did play. Apparently they have since folded and are totally out of business. That leaves Atlanta's other ABA team, the Atlanta Vision (at one point named the Atlanta Mustangs), who play their games in a church gym in Lithonia. While they don't have very spectacular surroundings, at least it appears that they're a bit more humble about their minor league status and are operating accordingly. It would be easy to burn through money running a traveling team, even if you don't pay the players more that a few dollars. Just like any new small business, there must be operating funds to last several years, which I suspect was the downfall of the other teams. So many minor league teams (in any sport), especially in new leagues, seem to be run by people with big egos (which makes them pretty much the same as the owners of major league teams) but little business sense. I wonder how many other teams are out there on the edge of professional sports. I know we have an Australian Rules Football club and of course there are the Rollergirls, but I doubt either of them get paid so they can't really be considered professional sports (even if the quality is good). The Silverbacks are getting a high enough profile that even though they aren't a MLS team, it's hard to say they're on the fringe. I've also heard that we have a women's football team.

Gwinnett and Clayton have spots on the board because MARTA is a state authority, even if they don't receive state funds, and the state law that created the authority gave them spots on the board. I believe that Cobb had a spot too but that may have been removed when CCT was created. It has nothing to do with the closeness of rail lines. Personally, I think it they don't put in money, they shouldn't have a say in how things are run, especially since Gwinnett has shown they can not select representatives who don't use the position for personal gain. But I'm sure the Gwinnett County Commission (who gets to choose their representative) enjoys doing anything and everything they can to screw up things in Fulton and DeKalb since it gives them more power.

It's because Gwinnett originally signed up to part of MARTA but then decided to not put in any money. As a result, Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton all have representatives on the MARTA board but do not contribute any funds. In recent years, the Gwinnett representative has been a source of controversy when he was found to have taken money from the loser of the Breeze contract. He claimed he did nothing wrong and Gwinnett refused to remove him from the board. In the end, he was removed when he was arrested for not paying his child support, which causes the automatic removal from any state board. It's not a fair situation but I expect much worse to come in the next few years if there comes a unified transit board for the region.

I think the restaurant Martinman mentioned is going to be developed by the owners of Compound. I believe it is going to turn into a nightclub in the evening. I'm sure they'll do a great job with it, though I'm not sure what impact it will have on Centennial Place. As far as the rest of Ivan Allen goes, there are a couple of restaurants planned for the Southern Company building. The developers of Allen Plaza have said that they envision the two blocks along Ivan Allen Blvd to be another restaurant row. Twelve Centennial Park will have retail along Ivan Allen Blvd but I don't think they have leased any of it yet so it could end up as just about anything. The funny thing about the aquarium is that right after it was announced, a lot of restaurants announced they were going to open at the same time as the aquarium but apparently most of them got cold feet and worried the aquarium would be a flop. Now they've encured quite the opportunity cost. But overall, I think the wait will be worth it because what's been planned instead is better than the initial plans.

I think there are several things going on. The first two have already been mentioned: 1) Fare gate cheats are now paying to get in 2) Higher gas prices have gotten some people to change their habits I'm sure both of those are true but looking at the numbers, the largest increases seem to be at stations that have limited to no parking, so if it is people trying to save on gas, they're all near the station. Two other things I think are happening: 1) The increase of population near the MARTA stations is creating a new market. Not all of these are people who just moved in, some have been living near a station for a year or two but just started to change their old suburban lifestyle habits over to more urban habits like using mass transit 2) People who were turned off by the old gates have come back. Not only were the old gates frustrating but the old token machines sometimes would not take your dollar no matter how crisp it was. If you miss the train a couple of times just trying to pay your fare, you'll stop using it even if you really want to use it. With the new system in place, many choice riders who found paying fares to be an annoying process can now do so quickly and easily. When the permanent cards that can be recharged by credit card at any Breeze machine or online are rolled out in a few months, it will be even easier. The truely annoying thing is that Breeze was suppose to be in place about two years ago. The company that lost the bid for the work sued MARTA to keep them from using the company that won the bid. MARTA won in court, but that battle delayed the rollout of the new system while the trial went on. It would be nice if MARTA could countersue the company for the past two years of lost revenue and for damage to its reputation. Even more annoying was the discovery that Gwinnett's member of the MARTA board had been taking money from the losing bidder. The Gwinnett county commission refused to remove the crook from the MARTA board (afterall, they have no interest in seeing MARTA succeed so they enjoy being able to harm MARTA from the inside). In the end, the way the Gwinnett member was removed was because he was arrested for non payment of child support and state law says that for that crime, one must be removed from any state board.

No

They're probably there because Woodruff Park is a huge food source for them. Many of the surrounding buildings have installed anti-pigeon devices such as spike strips on window ledges. As a result, the Flatiron building becomes the place for them the hangout between meals down at the park.

Andrea, is this what you are talking about? If so, that's is indeed part of the Museum Tower. It's the where the Childrens Museum is located. If you're talking about the red wall behind the trees, that's the fence around the World of Coca-Cola property. If you're talking about anything else, you're just going to have to circle it on the photo so we know what you're asking about. I know you put an arrow on your earlier photo but it could be pointing to the fence or the children museum.

That image has been flipped. It is the south side of the building along Baker. The road should be on the right side of the photo. If the photographer had stepped about a foot towards the street, it would have caught the slivers over glass between the concrete panels.

Thanks. I signed up about a year ago but then thought better of it. But it appears this section is mostly left alone by you know who, so we'll see how it goes. Actually, I don't live in Museum Tower, I live in Centennial House. With all the highrise condo towers going up in the neighborhood, we're going to be the shorty. But that's ok, it gives us a unique identity. It would be nice if the plans for the of the Museum Tower block were realized. The northside of the building looks weird because it was designed for another building to nest up against it. Since that hasn't happened yet, the brick suddenly ends and makes the side of the building look weird. They're using the space over there for visitor parking. Sadly many people who bought there were led to believe (or just allowed themselves to believe) that the parking lot would be there forever for their visitors. I hope the rumors over on SSP about a thirty-four story condo tower at Luckie and Ivan Allen are true. That corner really needs a boost and it would continue the delineralization of Atlanta. And who knows, maybe some day they'll get the transit line in that rail corridor.

You can blame everyone's favorite villian (no, not John Portman) Bill Campbell for this one. Museum Tower was developed by some of his "associates" so many of the zoning rules were waived. The parking deck for example was suppose to have active uses (which doesn't mean it has to be retail) along Baker street. Also those walls you see in the photos were suppose to be all glass... I even have an early architectural rendering that shows it that way. They apparently were given the ok to scale back the glass to the little slivers of glass that you can only see walking eastward on Baker. The building as received TAD funds but did not set aside 25% of units for moderate income buyers as is required for residential buildings getting the publicly funded TAD money. Instead they were allowed to substitute the Childrens Museum space... which is nice in of itself but there are already rumors that they're planning to move elsewhere along the park because they were given such a small space and can not expand like they need to. It certainly saved the developer a lot of money getting the TAD money but then only having to give up a small part of the building in return.