Sprawl. Now there's a dirty word. At least it is to rat bastard commies liberals. Rat bastard commies Liberals want us to be good little subjects and live in cities and ride bicycles, walk, or use mass transit. Living out in the suburbs and driving eeeee-vil cars with internal combustion engines is bad. If we do insist on living in the suburbs and driving cars we need to drive little electric death traps or hybrids. If we insist on driving SUVs we should be hung and drawn and quartered.
I moved down here in 1985 and bought a three bedroom two bath house on an acre of land. Paid $70K for it. It was a twenty mile commute down I-75 to just before I-285 (AKA the Watermelon 500 so called because of the way people drive on it). The traffic sucked then and it sucks even worse now even after adding a few lanes.
Housing is still cheap in the northern suburbs but the trade off is the commute. Atlanta has one of the worst commutes in the country. It is so bad, that it is stifling growth. Companies no longer want to relocate here. There have been a few proposals to alleviate that but all of them have been pooh-poohed by rat bastard commies liberals.
The Northern Arc. Three major interstates meet in Atlanta: I-75, I-85 and I-20. I-75 is a major north/south trucking route. Trucks come down I-75 and have to traverse the Watermelon 500 to I-85 and vice versa. During rush hour you can see gobs of trucks in stop and go traffic on I-75, I-85, and the Watermelon 500. A solution was proposed by having a northern expressway 30 miles north that would connect I-75, Georgia 400, and I-85. Originally it was to completely circle Atlanta (The right thing to do.) but then it was cut down to the Northern Arc. It was stopped by NIMBYs and by rat bastard commies liberals because it would cause more sprawl. Can't have that. The rat bastard commies libs, would rather have all those cars and trucks sitting in stop and go traffic, wasting gasoline and belching pollutants into the atmosphere thus increasing (in their minds) global warming climate change. Oh wait! I think they're changing the name again. It's sumpin' that has "atmosphere" in it. It's really hard to keep up with this shit. Now it is being proposed as a toll road.
Lexus Lanes. This would involve creating toll HOV lanes. These would be built by a private company and people would be charged a toll for driving in them. Of course, this really has the rat bastard commies lib's panties in a wad because it wouldn't "be fair". The "poor" wouldn't be able to afford the tolls. We certainly can't have "toll lanes for the rich" can we? Anyway, this might actually alleviate traffic, and we cannot have that either. It would cause more sprawl.
The rat bastard commies libs are against anything that would alleviate traffic and allow people to live in the northern suburbs in affordable big houses with lots of land. This would be sprawl and they are totally against that. As I said earlier, they think that everyone should live in the city in tiny apartments, houses, or condos and walk, ride bicycles or use mass transit.
Meanwhile, traffic in Atlanta is getting worse every year and those in power are doing absolutely nothing to fix it. There is a reason for that.
City living good. Sprawl bad. Screw the American dream!
I'm against sprawl, but for a different reason. I live in a rural area outside of gso, nc. I don't want city people moving out here and mucking things up for me. I want city people to stay in the city and stop moving out to the country and bitching about the cow manure, the gunfire, the noise from the tractors and anything else they can stick their nose into. Doesn't matter that all these things were here BEFORE they moved in. Now they want it all to go away and be just like the city. It's akin to walking into someone else's house and and telling them they can't sit around in their underwear. And before any city dwellers flame me for this: I lived in the city for many years. I didn't like it and as soon as I could I moved to the 'burbs. People are nicer outside the city. I'm not rural enough, but I'll keep moving that way until I'm satisfied. I don't harass anyone for wanting to live in the city, if that's what they're into, but it's just not for me. Out here nobody bothers me. And that's the way it should be. I don't stick my nose into your business, don't stick into mine. If you don't like me shooting my shotgun off my deck, then stay in your house. I don't like your dog barking all fucking night, but I haven't shot him, have I?
Posted by: phthalo on May 20, 2009 04:51 PMHeh, it seems endemic that people who live in shitholes want to get out to some place nice and then the turn them into the same shitholes they ran away from. Seen that several places now.
I live in a socialist shithole and would love to get out to someplace decent, but what is left? I could not imagine wanting to take anything from this sewer with me (other than the climate).
I left ATL about 10 years ago now and traffic was, being damned kind here, a *BAD* nightmare from hell then, if it has gotten worse, I simply can not imagine, not do I want to .
Posted by: Fox3 on May 20, 2009 06:54 PMFort Worth's Brentwood Stair neighborhood used to be a nice suburb. Now it's full of homies dragging their asses around showing their underwear. Old residents get followed home from the grocery and mugged in front of their homes. Mass transit is just another form of social welfare whereby taxpayers subsidize "urban" residents' entitlement to work in one shithole and turn a nice area into the shithole where they live.
HOV lanes are bullshit. I30 "Tom Landry Highway" between Dallas and Cowtown has these huge HOV lanes that are only open during morning and evening rush hours when instead of being completely empty, they have maybe 20 cars the whole time while the majority of tax-paying commuters sit idling or crawling along in snarled traffic jams the whole way.
The HOV barriers need to come down. Those lanes need to be striped off and opened to general traffic - 24/7.
Tom Landry Highway will soon become an epic parking lot when the new Cowboys' stadium opens to the first games. I bet the HOV lanes will be closed as the games are generally played on Sundays. Don't even THINK about commuters on Monday night game nights.
Posted by: Texas Billy Ray on May 20, 2009 07:24 PMYou know, if President Eisenhower hadn't authorized construction of the Interstate Highway System when he did, it never would have gotten off the ground.
Look at cities where the Interstate exchanges don't make any sense. Invariably, there was some liberal "community activist" who roused the rabble to prevent construction.
One of my favorites is Baltimore. I-70, I-83, and I-95 ought to all meet in downtown Baltimore...but that libtard troll Mikulski got involved in order to preserve "historic neighborhoods" (aka slums), and it never happened -- and never will. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway_revolts#Maryland
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of gallons of fuel (read that as "greenhouse gas emissions", if you must) and thousands of hours of time are wasted every year by people negotiating the suboptimal road system.
Posted by: Grumpy Old Ham on May 20, 2009 09:42 PMHere's my idea for improving Atlanta- GET SOME GODDAM A/C AT YOUR FRIGGIN' AIRPORT!!!! Jesus H. Christ, I spent 5 hours there last week waiting for a flight to San Diego, and I was friggin' sweating walking between terminals as my departure gate changed about three times!
Yeah, I know there's the choo-choo that will take me, but umm, it smelled.
Another thing- Are there any friggin' white people that work there?
Every bar I went to seemed to employ those waiting for JHE to give them a free home, gas, cars, so they would not have to work any longer.
Lazy MF'ers...
It was hell trying to get a beer, no matter what bar I went to. Denny, do you notice this? Maybe it's because the, ahem, city council changed the name of the airport from "Hartsfield" to "Hartsfield-Jackson".
Then throw in the JHE equation, and they think they can get paid for NOT working!
Oh wait, that was what the asshole promised them...
Denny, as you know, and we've discussed, I did "time" in ATL. The worst traffic possible, even worse than Seattle. Watermelon Nightmare for sure. Speaking of inexpensive housing in north ATL...I knew some people who had a four+ hour round trip commute every day. Is it worth it? Fuck that... I say no, but that's just me. When I was offered to move from there to here...I told 'em I would crawl over 500 miles of broken glass to get out of ATL. I hate traffic...puts a huge dent in your lifestyle.
Posted by: Sam on May 21, 2009 09:01 AMYou think those "lexus lanes" are bad, Denny, wait until you see what they have planned for Dallas. They're talking about redoing I-635 over, I believe, a 13-mile stretch. they're going to dig a 6-lane trench in the middle of it, which will be all toll lanes, 3 in each direction, and have 4 more surface lanes in each direction, outside/above the toll lanes. The toll lanes will go up in cost during rush hour, anywhere from $7 to $11, depending on how much traffic is in them (off-peak price will be about $2.) If traffic gets congested enough to slow the speed down on the toll roads, the rate goes up, in an attempt to force people onto the free lanes. Wanna go at a decent speed instead of 30MPH (if that?) Pony up.
Texas Billy Ray, they're talking about the same thing for 820, too.
Posted by: Rick C on May 21, 2009 11:22 AMRob Cooper:
I see you have had the "pleasure" of passing through FartsField.
Yes, no matter what they say, the old terminal was MUCH better.
Rob - The airport is owned by the city of Atlanta which treats it as a spoils system. And since the city is run by blacks there have to be black owned businesses at the airport. And, of course, the black owned businesses have to hire blacks. Also, the southside of Atlanta and the south suburbs are mostly black and that's where the employee pool comes from.
I don't drink at the airport. I'm always flying out early in the morning so all I ever get is a cup of coffee. I haven't noticed bad service, but maybe I'm just used to it.
Posted by: Denny on May 21, 2009 12:48 PMI'm ENRAGED & INCENSED at all these Racist 'n' Insensitive comments I'm reading here....Don't matter if they're true, they're STILL Racist 'n' Insensitive...Y'all oughta be ASHAMED of yrselves...Bow towards Warshington, 5 times 'n' say "Hosanna, Hosanna, Obama !"
Posted by: Sandy G. on May 21, 2009 01:03 PMI thought you guys had the MAARTA (Moving African Americans Rapidly Through Atlanta) transportation service there. That doesn't go to the 'burbs?
I just want to buy 100 acres in the middle of nowhere. I'll have everything I need delivered once every 3 months or so. That way I can just drive my Hummer around on my own property and cling to my God and my Guns more often.
Joe
P.S. - I won't forget to be bitter either.
Assrot - It's MARTA (Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta). MARTA serves Fulton and DeKalb Counties which includes the city of Atlanta. It does not serve Cobb and Cherokee Counties which make up the Northwest suburbs up I-75 or Gwinnett County up I-85. Those counties have refused to join MARTA for various reasons. Some logical, some not.
Posted by: Denny on May 21, 2009 03:51 PMrural georgia has been decimated by mexicans.
Posted by: fubar on May 22, 2009 01:04 PMI live in Austin, Texas and we've had a toll road for about 2 years. Houston's had one for about 10 and Dallas-Fort Worth for about 30. The one here in Austin is owned and operated by, get this, Spain. Our beloved gov'na, in his quest to gain revenue for the state since oil is no longer doin' it, sold the contract to...Spain. Why is this bad? Let us count the ways.
1) All profits minus a smaaallll percentage goes to ...Spain not Texas/America.
2) The gains are smaller than the, recently raised, taxes for vehicle licenses. So we're paying Texas/Travis county and...Spain to drive on our toll roads.
3) The tollroad deal came including a no-competition clause which restricts Texas from performing certain kinds of maintenance on I-35 (aka the Pan-American Highway), SH-183 (which traverses about 10 counties) and all other roads that may compete with business drawn to the toll road owned by ...Spain, which most people didn't want in the first place.
Stupidity is rampant all over.
Hi y'all. New to here, but old ('92) to ATL burbs in Cherokee.
FWIW, the 'area transportation committee' (forget acronym) is considering turning the existing HOV lanes into 'pay to play' lanes, whereby you can use them if you pay a fee. They also want a minimum of three occupants for a vehicle to be authorized to use the HOV lanes. Roads built with public tax funds will be reduced to use by the 'wealthy'. Who knew?
Traffic could be reduced significantly if the City and State governments quit paying the parking fees for their employees, and quit supplying them with government vehicles.
Hartsfield is the dumping ground for bad cops. I would enjoy posting a picture of the dozen or so police vehicles parked at the entry to the terminal area. They are obnoxious and rude. They told me to stop, and then gave me a ticket for stopping. Not worth the 80 mile round trip to fight the ticket. The parking lot is a racket, as it can take you quite a while to get to the cashier.
If you don't have proper change, mark your bills or write down the serial number, as they have been known to give change for a $10 when you gave them a $20, and they have control of the cash drawer.
Try to find a restroom. Try to find a restroom that you can use - either it is being 'cleaned' or it is 'out of service'.
Truly a pitiful excuse of an airport to greet visitors. Not with a hand out in friendship, but looking for a handout, or a hand in your pocket.
I hate that place.
tomw