atlantalarry

Hardeman Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery

I've assembled a photo album of the second location of the Hardeman (also spelled Hardman) Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery.  The Hardeman Primitive Baptist Church was founded in November of 1825 and was originally on land owned by Naman Hardman west of the intersection of Clairmont and North Decatur Roads.  The original gravesite is reported to still exist, but I have not visited it yet.

In 1905 the church moved to Glenwood Avenue east of Candler Road, just west of Columbia Drive.  The cemetery and church grounds are well kept, and indications are that the church still meets.  The dates on the markers indicate that the cemetery, though small, has been in continous use.

Click here to see the photos.

Tech2Nite:Good Urbanism: Design Principles for Neighborhood Activists

A member of one of our local East Atlanta email lists pointed out an interesting Georgia Tech series publicized on the Friends of the Beltline web site, Tech2Nite:Good Urbanism: Design Principles for Neighborhood Activists .  It looks like it might be a very worthwhile series.

The New Georgia Encyclopedia

Often I find that very good resources are sitting right under my nose, and I just haven't noticed them yet.  I work at Georgia State University as a Software Systems Engineer.  We basically run servers for various projects across the University.  One of these projects is The New Georgia Encyclopedia.  I'd never really looked at the content of the web site, even though we host it.   

Early this morning I did a web search on Joel Hurt, the developer of Inman Park and Druid Hills in Atlanta.  One of the listings in the search was to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.  Not only did the NGE have a very informative page on Hurt,  but it included pages on an amazing variety of topics of interest to me, including the Savannah city plan ,  Lemuel P. Grant  and the Grant Park neighborhood , and many other topics of interest to me.  If you are looking for information on any topic related to Georgia or a city in Georgia, it's a good starting point.

Errata: McBank in Brooklyn

Mike Flynn sent me the following correction to my post A McBank in Brooklyn a few weeks ago.  I intended to correct it on the same day, but got distracted, and just noticed this morning that I hadn't made the correction.  He also suggested I post a link to Aaron Naparstek's site Honku, the Zen Antidote to Road Rage. 

Mike's correction states:

Larry,

I think one thing needs clarification.  The photograph you have posted is not of the new bank building in Park Slope.  The bank has not been built in Park Slope yet.  There is currently an old auto repair shop at that location with its front lot currently being used for private parking.  The parcel has been sold to Commerce Bank, who planned to break ground this month, though I haven't seen anything there yet.  I believe that Aaron Naparstek (naparstek.com, also active with
Transportation Alternatives) and the citizens group he started have been in discussions with the bank.  I've been out of the loop since I helped petition (and did a NY Daily News photo op :>) about this.

The building in your photograph is a photo we have been using toillustrate to Park Slope residents what it is that Commerce Bank was planning to put there.  The bank in that photo is actually in a nearby neighborhood, Windsor Terrace, and we use it to show how Commerce Bank plans to put a cookie-cutter plan that they use everywhere without any contextual consideration - it could just as easily go in a suburb - we call it a UFO landing in Park Slope.

I think may be you should correct your blog entry somewhat -- the chance still remains that the voices for contextual, conscientious development will prevail on Commerce Bank to do something more fitting 5th Avenue in Park Slope - a beautiful, thriving pedestrian commercial
strip.

-Mike

Atlantic Station Update -- February 12 2005

I took a west to east walk on 17th Street through the ongoing Atlantic Station development this afternoon.  Progress on the commercial buildings seems to be steady at this point.  I took quite a few photos, and have posted some of them here.  Click here to view the photos.

Cooltown Studios blog

Whenever I feel my New Urbanist tendencies drifting toward the stodgy, and I feel I'm exhibiting too low tolerance for any building or neighborhood constructed after 1930, I wander over to the Cooltown Studios blog.  This site was actually one of the two blogs which familiarized me with the potential of blogging (the other was John Massengale's Veritas et Venustas).  While the photos posted there are a bit different from the older urbanism so dear to my own heart, it still looks like good and interesting urbanism and seems pitched at the young members of the "creative class".  An article on a new town called Prospect
outside Boulder Colorado was recently posted to the site.

Pedestrian Safety, East Atlanta, and EACA

Tuesday evening I attended my first East Atlanta Community Association meeting in about a year.  During the last year of Nancy's life I didn't attend meetings of any sort, and since her departure my attention span for meetings has not been good.

But I finally acknowledged what I've known for a long time, that the most efficient means for the citizen of a neighborhood to have a positive impact is to help out in the local community group, which in my case is EACA.  So I went to the meeting.

As it turns out, one of the items of discussion was entitled "2005 EACA Objectives" and a presentation of proposed tasks and priorities for EACA was delivered by Jennifer Murray, EACA's Vice President.

Predictably (and somewhat to my dismay, since I'm trying to not take on too many additional tasks too quickly) a signup sheet was passed around, broken down into the various issues and tasks.  I sat staring at the sheet, and began thinking about committments I already have, and noticed that no one had signed up for Pedestrian Safety.

Bloglanta: Boosterism -- Its Virtues and Limitations

Before the death of my wife I had begun working on the outline for a brief series of articles for Bloglanta on how the City of Atlanta and the metro region got where it is today.  I'm resuming that series, and you can find my first entry at
Bloglanta: Boosterism -- Its Virtues and Limitations.

Glenwood Park Update -- February 6, 2005

It's been awhile since I've added any photos of Greenstreet Property's Glenwood Park development, which is probably the development in Atlanta which puts the principles of New Urbanism into practice the most consistently.  It also interests me in particular for a few other reasons.  It's just a few blocks from my house, and if the proposed light rail around the Belt Line gets built, Glenwood Park would be right on the edge of it's route.  People are beginning to move into the neighborhood, and I got to talk to one of the new neighbors at length.  The neighbors have already begun to form a fledgling association, and have set up a mailing list/forum to communicate.  Click here to go to my Glenwood Park photo album for February 6, 2005

Savannah: Jeff Cochran's Photo Galleries

I believe it's arguable that Savannah Georgia is the highest quality example of urban design in the United States.   For sheer pleasure in wandering around I've never found a place more enjoyable.  A few weeks ago I went to Savannah to run in the yearly 10k over the Savannah River bridge.  I spent an extra couple of days to walk the squares, and upon returning to Atlanta I realized in horror that I hadn't taken many photographs.  Luckily soon thereafter the following link was posted to The Skyscraper Page's City Photos section:

Jeff Cochran's Photo Galleries.