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= NUMBER 18°
@ eS @ CENTRAL ATLANTA PROGRESS, ic.
OCTOBER 18, 1968
2 PEACHTREE STREET, N.W., SUITE 2740
Does Atlanta Need RAPID TRANSIT ?
This_is one of the most important questions to face Atlantans
in modern times. '
Response to this question will determine......
... whether we grow or choke
.... Whether we have a strong central hub or disintegrate
.... Whether we go forward or bog down
..++ Whether we compete with other regional cities or not
---. in summary, whether we are to become a truly great City.
BASIC PHILOSOPHY IMPORTANT
A city can sprawl --- or it can develop like a wheel, with a
noticeable "hub" and satellite development all around, with
trafficways and corridors lihking places of residence, places
of work, recreation areas, shopping and entertainment facilities.
The dramatic concentration of new high-rise office buildings and
apartments in central Atlanta is evidence of our commitment to
the strong central-core type of city --- with other elements
around the central core comprising a great Metro wheel,
BUT, A STRONG HUB!
ACCESSIBILITY/CIRCULATION VITAL TO THE HUB
For the hub to grow --- and function efficiently --- it must be
readily accessible to those seeking to reach it, and it must be
operable internally.
Otherwise, the growth will go elsewhere.
OF COURSE, R/T WILL BE EXPENSIVE --- BUT........
sea so will be the cost of not doing it.
in lost efficiency
in accidents -- damages --- injuries --- deaths
--- in loss of development opportunities and the jobs
and tax base therein represented
--- in loss of property values as streets choke up
loss of business activity
--- in trying to pay for less workable solutions (for
example, some cities have found that it costs as
much as $21,000 average TO ADD TO THE EXPRESSWAY
SYSTEM THE CAPACITY 7 MOVE ONE ADDITIONAL
VEHICLE.)
THIS IS NO CHOICE BETWEEN RAPID TRANSIT OR HIGHWAYS
All of both that can be built will be needed.
But, it's perfectly obvious that highway constPuceion into the
central core cannot continue without limit.
ATLANTA MUST MOVE FORWARD -- OR BACKWARD -- IT CAN'T STAND STILL.
RAPID TRANSIT IS NEEDED NOW ....
DECISION
NOVEMBER 5th IS THE DATE OF
..+. A VOTE "FOR" IS A VOTE "FORWARD".
In Montreal, a sparkling new rapid transit system not only
moves thousands of people to and from work, but has helped
build an exciting new downtown. Atlanta can do likewise.
In the loss of Honorable Ivan Allen, Sr., Atlanta
has lost one of its great citizens --- a person
whose love for Atlanta and vision for its future
have left an indelible mark. We extend deepest
sympathy to Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr..
TELLING THE CENTRAL ATLANTA PROGRESS STORY
Executive Director spoke to the Northside Kiwanis Club Oct. 4th.
Will address Decatur Rotary Club on November Ist.
Secretary of State of Florida, Tom Adams, visited Central Atlanta
Progress on October 16th to learn of this unique participation
of private enterprise in a cooperative effort to build a better
City.
In the current urban crisis, those central cores that do sound
planning and act forcefully will move forward --- the others
will falter, ;
+eecensees BOD Bivens
a
A Cose you alsced Fir, ZZ recommend 1X pou pee.
REPRINT FROM THE ATLANTA JOURNAL
(By Central Atlanta Progress, Inc. 9/30/68)
_ Downtown: It's Hs the Hub
By TOM WALKER
Atlanta Journal Real Estate Edjior
Like the hub of a wheel, the
down! wh core of a major cit
is the axis around which its
suburbs turn, Atlanta is no ex-
ception.
From this central point, the
sprawling urban community is
held together in a meaningful
pattern. Without it, these
outlying areas would be just
so many unrelated neighbor-
hoods.
This is why so much con-
cern is expressed in Atlanta
and other cities about the
health and vitality of the
downtown core. In a very real
sense, the strength of the én-
tire urban complex depends
u @ siren,
tral_city, just_as extremi-
ties of a human being depend
upon the beat e human
eart.
Many agencies and individu-
als—both private and govern-
mental—are actively engaged
in the business of keeping At-
Janta's downtown strong.
THE PRIVATE real estaie
developers are in the forefront
in this effort, with such major
projects as:
—Peachtree Center, an in-
ternationally known develop-
ment that will eventually en-
compass office, entertainment
and living space.
—The projected “air rights”
complex of office, hotel and
retail buildings which Dallas
developer Raymond Nasher
plans to construct over the
railroad tracks near the State
Capitol.
—The similar air rights proj-
ect which Cousins Properties,
Inc. of Atlanta plans over the
railroad right-of-way at Spring
Street and Techwood Drive.
—The Georgia State College
expansion plans which will
make way for a school of
35,000 students by 1975 right in
the heart of Atlanta.
—The government center,
where state, city and county
agencies are housed, but
which will need room for ex-
pansion in the future.
—Colony Square, a complex
of office buildings, apart-
ments, hotel, retail and res-
taurant facilities on Peachtree
at 14th streets.
PLUS DEVELOPMENTS
connected with the Georgia
Tech campus, the Atlanta
Civie Center and new high-
rise. medium-rise and low-rise
office buildings in downtown
Atlanta that are almost ton
numerous to keep up with.
And at some future date, de-
velopments associated with
the Metropolitan Atlanta
Rapid Transit system will
help transfigure the downtown
core.
These are projects or plans
which have already been
made public, and have ad-
vanced to one or another
stage of advanced planning or
actual construction. But there
are other dramatic plans for
downtown Atlanta which are
a
Friday, September 20, 1968 *
' deteriorating
still in the formulative stage,
but all of them are aimed at
creating a strong, throbbing
central hub for a sprawling
metropolitan community.
THE DOWNTOWN, = how-
ever, is the center of more
than just a promising future
-— it is the center of some.
major urban problems which:
will have to be solved before
the promise can be fulfilled.
These includedowntown
blight; ghetto and slum areas;
neighborhoods,
within the very shadows of
gleaming new office struc-
tures; transitional business
districts where vacant build- :
ings sit idle within a short
walk of Five Points, financial
center of the Southeast; cong-
ested streets and clogged free-
ways — among others.
Coping with the future of
this high-density downtown
_ core requires detailed study of
literally every square foot of
space.
In its planning “you've got
to talk about feet and inches
where you might be talking
about miles if you're consider-
ing areas farther out,’ said
Robert W. ‘'Bob" Bivens, ex-
ecutive director of Central At-
lanta Progress (CAP).
A PRIVATELY FINANCED
agency, Central Atlanta Prog-
ress, in effect, is the business
community’s 9wn planning
agency, as opposed to the pub-
licly financed planning depart-
ments of the City of Atlanta,
the metropolitan area and the
State of Georgia.
As such it is unique locally,
and possibly is unique among
major cities of the nation.
As Mr. Bivens puts it, Cen-
tral Atlanta Progress is
atest step in the evolutionary
progress of the business com-
Franky of central Atlanta
TTL wal Torsnet fromm tosh
cleus provided by two older
organizations: the Central At-
lanta Improvement Associa-
tion. founded in 1941, and the
Uptown Association, organized
in 1960.
In January of last year,
CAP was organized. But Mr.
Bivens explains, these organi-
zations were also restructured
so that, in effect, a completely
new association was formed.
“Tt_is nota promotional
up,” said Mr. Bivens “hurt
is a planning ag
prise.
The overall goal of CAP.
said its executive director, is
See a
to develop ideas that make
. sense and see them through.
THE AIM 1s NOT to. come
up wi
posals that sound great, but
are impractical. [he idea 1s
come up with sensible, practi-
sals,
A community which devel-
ops the.Jatter is in the
S| -
sition to take ae a
mone whic s_avallable
rom €Xxisting sources (Such a5
@ number o eral agen-
cies), he sald, @ also is In
r sition to intluence
G. Ingram sai e want to
enlist, ihe private Sector, to
a Ivate__enlerprise a
make iT
oO} rocess in,
ae a represents a
Ginadimensong- the Tvenes
Ment of the business commu-
a in_the proceas of plan-
think the will carry out the
plans.”
é same time, Mr. Biv-
ens emphasized, CAP works
closely with the public plan-
ning agencies in the overall
search for an answer to the
question: What kind of core
does a booming, metropolitan
area need, and how can this
be brought into reality?
The central core of Atlanta
is hard to define in exact
terms. As conceived by Cen-
tral Atlanta Progress, it is
somewhat larger than the. re-
gion which most people proba-
bly think of as “downtown.”
GENERALLY, THE
“CORE’' is defined as the
area from Brookwood Station
on the north to Atlanta Sta-
. dium on the south, and within
the railroad belt line extend-
ing eastward beyond Boule-
vard-Monroe Drive and west-
ward as far as Maddox Parl
and Washington Park.
One reason for selecting
these general boundaries is
the fact that so much statisti-
cal data is available from
such agencies as the Census
Bureau on neighborhoods that
have these fixed limits.
One of the fundamental
problems facing the future of -
downtown Atlanta is traffic—
how to get there and back
from outly! regions, and
how to circulate within the
downtown area once there.
“Georgia State College is
planning for a student body of
25,000 by 1975," Mr. Bivens
said. “Obviously, even with
rapid transit, most of these
will drive cars to school. How
will they get in and out? How
will you separate pedestrian
traffic from streets? These
are some of the types of prob-
lems which someone has to be
thinking about right now."
Said Mr. Ingram: ‘‘There is
an overriding concern over
just what kind of downtown
area we are trying to achieve
in relation to a city with a (fu-
ture) population of 3 million-
plus.”
In short, what ought to be
downtown and what can be lo-
cated elsewhere in the metro-
politan region: how many and
what kinds of jobs, how much
office space and for what pur-
poses, what kind of and how
much housing?—to mention
just a few major considera-
tions.
“EXPERTS SAY, AND we
agree, that all great cities
have two things in ae
sald Mr. Bivens. “One is
exciting central core, here
people want to go fo shop, for
entertainment, go to the thea-
ter, lo restaurants—and it is a
place that is active 24 hours a
day.
“Second, a_ strong, middle
class citize lives os to the
central core, * he went on. This
concentration of people provides
the leadership for the downtown
and patronizes what the down-
town offers—without, Mr. Biv-
ens notes, having to commute
many miles from the suburbs.
What then, should go into the
central, downtown core? Mr.
Bivens and Mr. Ingram listed
these:
—More high-rise, high-income
apartments (‘‘Atlanta is really
not quite ready for this now,”
said Mr. Bivens, “but we
ought to be thinking ahead
to that day, and take steps to
make it possible”).
—Downtown should be the
focal point of cultural activities.
("This is pretty well happening
now, but we ought to strengthen
it,”” he said). This includes thea-
ters, restaurants and great ho-
tels, among other features.
—A COMPLEX OF strong re-
tail establishments, which at-
tract shoppers not only from the
metropolitan community, but
from throughout the region.
—A concentration of govern-
ment offices.
—A concentration of financial
activity.
—Merchandise and trade
marts,
ime requisites of a
oman area, said Nr. Div-
ens, are that i attractive, |
€as and sate.
ne of the major trends in
downtown Atlanta development, |'
he said, is the large-scale com-
plex, such as Peachtree Center.
THE LARGE COMPLEX
Tepresents a new dimension,
because this type of project
includes the full range of
human activities from homes,
to jobs to recreational facili-
ties and entertainment, right
in the central area.
While most air rights devel-
opments have been envisioned
so far over railroad right-of-
way, Mr. Bivens pointed out
that air rights developments
ROBERT W.
BIVENS
‘Sensible’ Soluiions
over freeways offers a broad
opportunity for future develop-
ment.
Resourceful thinking could
ions to the use of much down-
utilized to its maximum aoe
tal, the planners indicated.
One such area is the so-
called “garment district" of
downtown Atlanta just south
of Five Points. Obviously in a
transitional state, the main
questions for this and similar
property would be: What land
use would make the most
sense here?
AND ALSO IN THE slum
neighborhoods—what would be
the best use for land that is
obviously not fit for human
habitation?
A dilemma here is how to
bring the ghetto dweller into
closer contact with his poten-
tial jobs? It is literally a geo-
graphical problem, since the
job quite often is many miles
from the needy person’s dwell-
ing, and the transportation be-
tween the two may be too
costly, or inadequae.
“We've got to work in the
long haul on a sensible match
of people with jobs,”’ said Mr.
Bivens, “‘so that people in the
cities can work to improve
themselves.”
This, in short, is one of the
immediate problems that
must be solved en route to sol-
utions that are mapped out for
longer-range problems.