*********************************
There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
*********************************
The street that stretches from downtown Atlanta to Stone Mountain may get a new look. Atlanta City Council member Natalyn Archibong is leading the effort to upgrade Memorial Drive. An East Atlanta resident, Archibong says she’s witnessed a renaissance in her neighborhood and that Memorial Drive is ready for its own. “It’s one building, it’s one parcel, and then all of a sudden there’s this critical mass of energy that becomes electric and people want to get on board,” says Archibong. “I think Memorial Drive is at that tipping point.”
So what would a new Memorial Drive look like? That’s what Archibong has asked Georgia Tech Professor Mike Dobbins and his students to figure out. The students are designing a plan to redevelop the street which looks at sidewalks, intersections, green space and building lots. Dobbins is the former Planning Commissioner for the city of Atlanta. He says the challenge is that streets that we use the most, like Memorial Drive and Northside Drive, often look and functions the worst. “Where we travel the most should look the best,” says Dobbins. “The access to the goods and services and retail, office, and residential should be grand and gracious. It’s a public realm, we own the streets.”
