an open letter to kwanza hall (city councilman for the old fourth ward)

kwanza, or jay, or whoever gets these emails. 

last night my roommate was mugged by my apartment at 380 edgewood ave outside the exxon near that grassy area on edgewood ave. by three young dope boys. this is concerning for a few reasons.

1) it is so clear and obvious that the people who live next to me in the building are selling drugs. they stand outside all hours of the night, cars continually pull up, honk, and have someone come to lean in their window, i have been offered drugs by some of the younger guys who live there...

2) "Brenda's Palace" is a grocery store downstairs in the retail part our building, yet i have never seen anyone buying more then a candy bar. i do, however, see dope boys and hustlers crawling in and out of there all day. they are open at totally random hours and claim to accept WIC, which means they receive government assistance. 

3) similarly, a car wash open a block away is not ever washing any cars, yet stays open with one or two people hanging around the building.  

4) this is suppose to be a historic neighborhood, embodying the cultural and spiritual significance of Dr. King and his teachings. yet, there are no social centers, youth organizations, community programs, or even ambassadors aiding to assist overall safety and encourage growth in the area. 

edgewood ave is a joke. it is either a clear lack of concern due to a low number of relevant campaign donors, or a backdoor facilitation of this addicted street. either way, it is a disgrace. i am wondering what dr. king would think about his legacy in that neighborhood.

 it does not make sense to me that your office would not be aware of this condensed block of bullshit. i want to know why nothing has been done to break up the activity and why your office allows fake businesses to set up all over. when will you bring a store front that is actually useful to the community around? one block away from where the body of Dr. king lies is a shameful food desert saturated with a string of bars and dope boys. 

***included is a photgraph of the very same grassy area my roommate was mugged where not only do all the dope boys converge, they also use as a trash can***

bike vs car : let's play nice

in atlanta, the battle rages on. who's road is it anyhow? big enough
for all these cars, but used first by bicycles. The desire to simplify and save a few dollars by opting to ride a bike rather then drive through town is encouraging the rise of the riders. this is met with much frustration to the typical atlanta driver, who pains in the realization they should slow down and go around. there is hope,
however.  we could all just get along if we could find a little harmony. the actual infrastructure of atlanta roads make it difficult for sharing. Flow is interrupted, road rage flairs, people become upset and reckless. i have traveled highs and lows and only really in american cities do you see such malicious aggression between bike and cars. there is a cause for concern.
in addressing the issue as one between 'bikes' and 'cars' recognizes
the fight is actually just machine against machine. our neighbors have
become detached from each other and caution fades into impatience. i would like to believe that a person would not just walk up to someone one their bike and push them off of it. it is the personal buffer of the car that makes it easy for drivers to get aggressive and careless. as a bike rider, it is terrifying to have a car flying by inches from your side. if the idea is to prove a point, it's getting through more as a threat then determent. when the cars pull up behind a rider and creep behind them, it feels like a hungry crocodile is sneaking up to you licking it's chops. cars, after all, are considered a weapon when used in a violent act. when a driver gets too close, tries to scare off, or even run off the road someone who is just trying to get through this big 'ol city, i would assume it to be recognized as a very violent act. we are the people you know. friends, lovers, brothers, sisters, parents, and people who are apart of your community.empathy is a powerful educator and should be in the back of every
driver's mind.
when asked their opinions of bike riders, most drivers have a negative
tone. claims of riders being 'in the way' and that they ride
carelessly- running lights, weaving in traffic, etc. in the defense of
riders on both of these issues, drivers can get down right dangerous,
and if you have driven at all in atl, you have seen it too. the most
problematic, however, is this concept of bikers being 'in the way' of
the driver. so often you can hear drivers shouting to get out of their way or to get off the road. the idea that drivers are entitled to the entire road and should not be slowed or stopped for any reason is a clear cause of so
much aggression. the law in atlanta states bicycles are not allowed on
the sidewalk, but must ride on the road along with other vehicles, and
cars are required to give 3 feet of space. the level of pure driver rage seems to vary depending on the gender of the rider and most of the time the driver as well. according to my male bike rider friends, their encounters with pissed off drivers is more intense and happens more frequently. i have only been yelled at and physically endangered a handful of times, but i am afraid for the guys. 
 whether by car or bike, we all have a right to get where we need to go, in the transportation we chose, and trust the people in our community are not going to run us off the road.

More foot traffic, less car traffic

With the sudden announcement of Criminal Records’ demise, the residents of Atlanta have to ask themselves, how can it be? Some will point to the rise of digital media and the low cash flow these days. However, I believe a huge contributing factor to the slowing of business for Criminal, as well as other shops in Little Five Points, is the traffic.  Car traffic, that is, and not enough foot traffic.  

The landscape of Little Five Points is becoming more and more pedestrian desolate. In business, accessibility is everything.  Shoppers are confronted with crossing very busy, very congested, very unforgiving strips of road. Rather than wait or risk the crosswalk, people will continue on the same side, dissuading them from what is on the other sidewalk.

What can be seen and felt by the flow of traffic on Moreland and Euclid can be seen in the people walking through Little Five. A pedestrian highway. The passing through of the cars within the walking space seems to create the same thing in people. They walk, stop, walk, stop, and walk through. The only real sitting and gather spots are directly in front of a business and are only for customers. Findley Plaza is an entirely different type of problematic space. If there were more places to sit, gather, congregate, as a neighborhood or community there would be a definite increase in business. The longer people feel comfortable in a space, the more they will linger and enjoy themselves and spend money. Take Las Rambla in Barcelona, for example. One long street of open markets, endless table and chairs and benches, and shops and stores surrounding.

Why it is that only during special events and parades is the area given over to the community. A sporadic handful of days when people can walk and gather in the street, in front of shops, absorbing their neighborhood. The rest of the time, the space is given back to traffic, full of cars who are just passing through, clogging and congesting the area without any distributed contribution.

Beginning this evolution small would be ideal. On Saturdays and Sundays to close of Euclid Ave at Moreland down to El Myr.  Instigate a possibility for pedestrians in the neighborhood to walk and shop freely, without fear of getting run over. Out of all the points made about this issue, I feel that is the most relevant. The heavy saturation of vehicles makes it dangerous and chaotic.

Photos of Little Five Points, Atlanta on various days

Photos of Las Rambla, Barcelona on various days

there are 8 bars on edgewood ave and 0 trash cans

this is a reality. it is more to the benefit of the old fourth ward community to have a long stream of bars then to put out visible and accessible trash cans. Or even just one. no, it is more likely the people coming to this part of town will just pop in for a drink or chow and not have to even worry about throwing something away OUTSIDE. who the fuck would go OUTSIDE? and well the people who are outside, either walking to somewhere, enjoying the area, or are just fucking poor, will have to carry such things or better yet- dump and throw their shit around the sidewalks like cavemen. like serious neanderthals. who forgot to tell you that when we became thinking beings we strive to separate from animals in minor but so painfully obvious ways as to not live in our own filth.
this is the problem of the whole community.
the businesses along edgewood ave do not understand how it is bad news for them. they assume that as long as inside is nice and pretty, people should not have a problem. but when you are walking down a street that has garbage lining the sidewalk and bags of trash piled up on the street comers, you are lead to believe this neighborhood is a wasteland and no one gives a shit, so why should you. why should you care to walk around or engage in the area, visit and support the local businesses, if the people who are here trash it themselves.
waiting on the city of atlanta to give a shit enough will cost you a lifetime. i have been told that standard sidewalk trash cans can cost around $8,000 each. so obviously, it will take a while to get a handful of cans to line edgewood, where they are most needed.
yet we have all these bars. all these bars who bring people to the area, who desire to see the neighborhood as well as their business grow and succeed. and i know times is tough and everyone is struggling but i see the busy weekend nights and i know these bars are bringing in the dollars. for these places to set up shop in an area and expect to be supported and frequented by the community, there should be an even exchange of support. yes it would be nice if the city could foot the bill to keep the streets cleaned up, but its not happening, so it falls onto the entrepreneurs of the block. this is their street now too. this is their community now. as if their children were going out to play in the filth, they should feel the commitment and desire to keep the garbage contained.
not only as an act of support and good-neighborism for the community, but for the financial benefit of their business. to make it appealing and enjoyable for the patrons who are coming to this part of town. the streets dont have to be re-paved in gold, but no one wants to wade through a trash river just to grab a drink with friends.
be a part of a conscious investment and contribution part to the neighborhood, dont just sell booze to it.

**the homeless old man who sleeps outside the Jamaican restaurant and throws his garbage everywhere.

f(ph)at

what diseases were ever afflicting the poor? as of now it is obesity. keeping the poor feasting off of the fat cheap scraps failitates the spread of it. so is it just the fault of the fast food chain? or could it also be the responsibility of the health food freak to take on the system in their environment. they should respond to the obvious desperation of a community saturated in fat. why are the things that are the best for you the most expensive? is natural, whole food a luxury or a right? should our health have such a high price?

the people behind the movement should be the leaders of a wholeness and healing evolution. there should be an understanding of goals and teaching while continuing the idea not motivated by money. are only certain income levels allowed to live disease free? i cannot believe in the ideals of a place who is making a growth profit off of them. what is it to make a business from beliefs? a food and health system should be accessible to the people for a very standard rate. to support the system itself. why should a shop owner expect the people to support an extravagant lifestyle off of goods that are a right to all? or if not the shop owner, the food companies and suppliers. making a modest profit for the sake of the well being of a community should be understood.
foodies and health nuts see their cause like a religion. and like the mega churches are transparent in their greed, so are the whole foods and high priced exclusive natural markets.

and more so for the poor community. the people most in need. how is it that the militant concept of nutrition can be so exclusive. i do not believe that general health is so sacred it must be left only to who can afford it. it can be done right in moderate formats and also can encourage a heavier saturation of similar establishments. basic supply and demand. but the private entrepreneurship of a food market seems counterproductive to the sustainable nourishment of its community. it has to be over the people for the people. with a balanced input from all sides.

i challenge the counterfood culture to take on a real need in the poorer communities and commit fully to the cause.

the clean sidewalk concept

in the daylight of this amazing ice capade, atlantians are shuffling and sliding to get back to normal life. and who is to be blamed that there are not enough plows or salt trucks in town? we do not get weather like this ofter enough to invest so much of the already strapped city funds into buying them.
so the ice stays and we all wait for the melting to commence.

what would be easier and more effective ? if everyone could just do it their damn selves...
when i did venture out to dr. bombays over in candler park, i saw a couple plow trucks pushing the ice away. but on entering dr. bombays, i see that only a small patch of sidewalk, right in front of her shop, is cleared of the ice. the rest of the sidewalk is slick and frozen.

why only clean right in front of your store ? do you hate your business neighbors ? or is it the 'it's not my job' mentality taking over? the lack of community helping community is perpetuating this slow clean up process. shovel the WHOLE sidewalk. help clean off your ENTIRE street. to keep waiting for the city to deal with it conditions people to submit power of their own environment and expect the powers about to handle every situation. sometimes, most of the time, they cannot. and in this situation, the people of atlanta could have taken those beautiful steps of good samaritanism and helped the city get back to the everyday.

but no, the perpetual, 'it's not my problem' continues to run people's moral and ethical compass and keep them sitting around like lumps until someone else has fixed the situation.

the clean sidewalk concept works for days without ice as well. for picking up the trash on your street, or helping to fix something broken on your block. taking social responsibility for the environment in which you live gives you back the power to improve your world.

or you can wait for the city to come around.
eventually.....