Small Urbanism in Atlanta

Right in the middle of the City of Atlanta, near the wannabe walkable, urban Peachtree Street, there is a Trader Joe’s just a few hundred feet from Whole Foods, Home Depot, and Ponce City Market, the trendiest commercial development in the South. But until last year, there was no way to walk between all these retail destinations.

I don’t know how it happened (I heard it was neighborhood NIMBYs who didn’t want the development at all, but for years and years, there wasn’t just a hostile parking lot connecting the two shopping centers. There was, at times, a physical fence to keep people from walking from Trader Joe’s to Home Depot to Whole Foods Market.

But that was then!

Thanks to someone somewhere pulling out carrots, sticks, etc, there’s now a welcoming staircase for people trying to walk around the City of Atlanta.

It’s a basic staircase and there’s still no street grid, or ADA ramp, or bike ramp but it’s something! Always good to see improvement.