Tag: Tim Keane

Over the centuries, the South River Forest has been many things: Indigenous land, a prison farm, a dumping ground—and the keystone of an ambitious proposal to incorporate nature into Atlanta’s growth. But in 2021, people living nearby were surprised to learn that the city had different plans for it: a massive new police training facility.

A short stretch of downtown’s Peachtree Street is going on a diet—the kind of diet that slims down the notoriously car-choked corridor from four lanes to just two, freeing up space to provide pedestrians some much-needed breathing room. 

La France Walk—a 24-home “pocket neighborhood,” in urbanist lingo—has entered its final construction phase, aiming for a timeless look that reflects the farmhouse style of the lot’s original house (which still stands).

An attorney for owner Thomas Carmichael says that Carmichael just wants to weigh his options as the building ages and withers and the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on the hospitality industry.

In early May, without much of a heads up to Atlanta City Hall, Bird, founded by a former Lyft and Uber executive, dropped off 200 of its electric scooters in the city. The electric vehicles—which include Lime, Spin, Ofo, Muving, and Relay—have since become fun, dangerous, exciting, annoying, revolutionary, and polarizing. What can Atlanta do?

“Atlanta has an opportunity over the next 25 years to completely shift [its] way of developing,” says Tim Keane. “But we will not be successful if we don’t have a design.”

Residents will undoubtedly be heard, but whether they’re actually listened to will likely continue to be a concern.

“To me, the bike share program isn’t about the day we launch. What happens on day two? What happens on day 100? What does it accomplish? That’s paramount in the discussion.”