1:31 That is the country of Georgia on the left; not the STATE of Georgia. In which Atlanta can be found.

What is interesting is the US took inspiration from the Autobahn for their highway system. Only the Autobahn does not cut through cities. Instead, we go around cities for many reasons. And no communities were demolished to make room for the autobahn

Sometimes I tell people that I grew up in "Atlanta."  While I actually did live, on a couple of occasions, just barely within the city limits, the face is that I grew up in the suburbs, and had my first full-time job in a suburb different from the one I grew up in.  "Metro" Atlanta is absolutely overwhelmingly suburban.  The city proper is a small percentage of the overall population.

I'm loving the progress Downtown is making. It's growing fast. Very vibrant area these days.

This is true. Born and raised in Philadelphia with a bustling downtown. I stayed at the Marriott Marquis in July for Ariana Grande‘s concert and I was surprised by the number of businesses that closed early on a weekday such as fast food restaurants. And when I walked around downtown at night, it felt more like a ghost town..

I always asked myself what does Downtown Atlanta need.
1.) More housing (highrises 24+ story)
2.) More popular public spaces like a 4-story mall with a casino, Dave & Buster's etc.) another idea was a 3 story waffle house or a 3 story chick fil a. Something unique to Atlanta that brings locals and tourists.
3.) More urban development on ground level. (No parking lots, lights everywhere, and businesses & shops at ground level with apartments above.
4.) Expanded transit, connecting downtown to other neighborhoods, is essential

The problem that no developer can do anything about is the vibe. And the vibe is created by people. And vibes have reputations that linger for years.

Where do I begin?
1) I worked at Macy's downtown Atlanta in the summer of 1990. Downtown's ambiance of soot covered towers, grimy sidewalks and 1980's Ripley's Museum tourist failures, until recently hadn't changed at all. There are dozens of decrepit old parking garages that need to be renovated or demolished. But there is currently $6 billion of development occurring in that area. My idea for the single best improvement that would transform downtown is to pour new solid concrete sidewalks which would brighten up the street level scene. i say remove the reddish sidewalk pavers which accumulate grime and appear dirty all the time.

2) All US cities have interstates serving the downtown area. Atlanta's metro population was 1.5 million when the interstates carved it into separate areas. The growth adjusted and grew around the interstates so every future video doesn't need to place blame on them or cite racism since 60 years of growth occurred afterwards to today. Without the downtown connector Atlanta's skyline wouldn't have a proper stage and the growth has capitalized on that visibility with a wall of business and residential towers being built for that logo visibility from the freeway. It's pretty unique and a distinct identifier for Atlanta.
3) Atlanta is the nucleus and de facto capital of the Southeast. 55 million people live within easy driving distance of Atlanta and it is a popular weekend trip destination for people in the surrounding states to come and have a fun weekend. They pour hundreds of millions into the local economy. Atlanta is to the Southeast what Chicago is to the Midwest.

4) The fact that downtown isn't serving as a massive employment center underscores how mass transit isn't able to reach but a small portion of the metro area's residents. Most people commute to jobs scattered throughout the 5 or 6 core counties. Marta should be cleaned, shined and polished to lure more riders to use it since it already connects the main cluster of jobs, housing and retail like Midtown, Downtown, Lenox/Buckhead, Decatur and Perimeter Mall area. The only viable additional destinations to consider adding are Cumberland, Marietta Sq. and Gwinnett Place. Those 3 probably wouldn't be game changing as far as increasing ridership.

5) I consider downtown and Midtown to be one large area. Midtown is nearing full buildout, and downtown has the Gulch seeing billions in new development, and the section by section, downtowns is being modernized and the streetscape is being improved. I can't think of any other city that has extended its development cycle that started in 2015 as long as Atlanta's. Covid was a mere temporary blip for Atlanta and there are no signs yet of new construction and investment ending whatsoever.

9:08 what is this graph? this is exactly why you don’t just trust anything

re the stitch (and the beltline) - they did both of these things in dallas 15+ years ago, ATL seems to think they are the first (esp with the beltline).    i used to skate/bike the dallas trails before i moved here.  and the dallas version of the stitch completed just before i left there (i lived downtown)...all i could tell at the time was they didn't really plan for parking...  wonder if ATL will make that mistake.   and it was a total traffic  nightmare on the highway, so good luck downtown connector these next several years.

ATL is a city that is outgrowing its infrastructure, and has been kicking that can down the road for too long already.   i saw this happen in austin.  we don't have the geography (like dallas) where you can expand and build new highways or rail.      interesting times ahead for sure.

Maybe develop the parking lots with housing and extend MARTA into the suburbs?

i've lived in 'sodo' for 12 years, watched attempts to revitalize 'downtown' start and fail at least twice, and watching the third attempt happening now.  

during covid we lost most of the storefronts, most notably CVS (and later walgreens).  the number of 'unhoused'  people on the streets has tripled.  i don't feel 'unsafe' during the day, but i will no longer walk in the neighborhood after dark.

the centennial yards development and the FIFA glow up isn't "all that."  we gained a few walkable restaurants.  and a lot of botique stores of little real value for residents.  people coming for events can't just purchase things and take them into the venue, or want to take them back on MARTA.  

lot parking was so overpriced and then they took most of the street parking away for the BRT etc.   so even ATL residents who used to visit stopped coming down.  now they are trying a '2hrs free' parking experiment, but little visible (or other) communication, so how does anyone even know?  i've told about half the tenants in my building when i've encountered them and none of them had any idea.  

then there's the 'smorgasburg' that you never know if it's actually going to happen.  zero cancellation information.  people stopped coming after they try twice and it's just an empty lot.  

the vendor booths they put up for FIFA - what a debacle.  didn't get much foot traffic on the first game day (and parking rates were ridiculous), so none of the vendors came back.  just 30 something booths falling apart over the next 6 weeks before they finally came and cleaned them up.  smh.

communication to residents is non-existent.  the NPU, ADNA, city hall, ... don't reply to inquiries at all (i sat in on an NPU zoom, was promised a follow-up, never happened; i've gone twice to ADNA events where no one from ADNA even showed up;  reached out to councilperson twice about different issues, not a single acknowledgement...).

they've narrowed the only arteries in and out, so during events it's gridlock like never before.  the idea that people will take MARTA is ridiculous - only people who live near MARTA stations are going to take the train.  and with construction or even a simple utility repair road block, it can take 30 minutes to find another way in or out.  same whenever there's a road race that encircles downtown.

the people planning all of the revitalization obviously don't live and haven't spent any real time experiencing daily life in the area.   and another thing - how is the aging water infrastructure going to support all these high end residential buildings and new event venues?  we frequently have low pressure, water main breaks, and in recent years have gone without water for several days at least twice.

don't get me  wrong, i love where i live or i would have moved long ago.   i am completely on the fence about wanting this time to 'succeed' or just to have it revert back to the dead zone it has been, deal with the event day traffic mess, and enjoy the quiet.

I do feel very unsafe /uneasy when I visited downtown Atlanta. Lots of "shady" characters.  Many cities police departments play around with crimes stats and do not record crimes.

They built Centennial yards. I don’t think there’s in the office space in that development. It seems like another issue is there’s a few places that’s being renovated as opposed to being just rebuilt. There were some condos or apartments that were not built new but for some reason because the buildings were old, they kinda see the historic so they didn’t tear them down. Then there’s another development the forge which would’ve been downtown, but that seems to have stalled which I’m sure with an added office space and it was a couple of skyscrapers and retail and restaurants. Yeah, I can see why it doesn’t change if the tax basis still staying within the city and just go a few miles away then there’s nothing to do but the downtown definitely needs to be renovated and have investment and new projects.

Downtown Atlanta needs investment new buildings or tear down the old within that cost money. Midtown is as city wise city is newer. It seems to be easier to navigate through at least in my opinion and it’s just the better feeling maybe because it’s newer same with Buckhead. Downtown it looks old. It’s not as clean, not dirty but it’s just not as clean. Maybe they have to do it the aging factor.

I've lived in the city for nearly 40 years. I still love it.

This is a good breakdown of the biggest (but not all) mistakes that plague downtown Atlanta.  Sadly there is no urgency at city hall  whatsoever to make things better.

I didn’t watch the whole video but there is a multi billion dollar development in downtown Atlanta, maybe the video gets to that but I’ll never know.

(your first line graph about crime rates in ATL has the x-axis years wrong  - terminates at 2011???)

CRIME: By far the biggest reason downtown ATL doesn't work.  So many criminals are not held accountable.