Potential B & B is walking distance to proposed Commuter Rail Station

2 West Main St. in historic downtown Hampton and within walking distance of the proposed Hampton Commuter Rail Station is an outstanding residential and/or business opportunity.

Less than two miles away it's "life in the fast lane" with the Atlanta Motor Speedway and it's $1,000,000+ trackside condominums. At the other end of the street 2 West Main is like a "walk down memory lane" with it's proximity to a walkable downtown and neighborhoods.

This circa 1892 victorian grande dame has been lovingly renovated with new carpet, drywall, windows, paint, roof and French country kitchen.

The home falls within Hampton's "Bed & Breakfast district" and has excellent potential with it's 11 rooms, including 6 bedrooms, a second kitchen, sunroom, and two reception rooms (the home was recently renovated for wedding receptions).

The home is adjacent to the Hampton Downtown Streetscape Enhancement Zone with $500K of improvements coming out the front door.

For 24 hr. recorded info on the home call 800.523.1606, ext. 2.

Closed Ford Plant could be Transit Town of the future

It's interesting how things cycle around. With two icons of American transportation faultering or failed on Atlanta's Southside (Delta and Ford), it could be rail that helps bring desperately needed economic recovery.

The Ford Motor Plant closing has removed the primary sticking point between Norfolk Southern and GDOT. With the plant shutdown, the eight million dollar track upgrades NS had previously stipulated are no longer necessary, freeing the long-stalled Atlanta - Lovejoy Commuter Rail Project for passenger traffic within two years (DOT Board Chairman Mike Evans says Commuter Rail is "full steam ahead").

The national trend shows six dollars of redevelopment investment for every one dollar of rail investment.

This makes the Ford Plant, with it's position between the rail and downtown Hapeville, ripe for transformation into a Transit-Oriented, Mixed-Use Development.

Greenways...borrow the power in our minds of the River, the Forest, and the Journey

Greenways are popular now for some very good and lasting reasons. They
remind us that our urban environment is not just a fume-choked freeway or
boulevard of billboards.

We may go out of our way to despise the city rather than see it as our own habitat, however unnatural. Here we work, consume, sleep—but we also grow, play, and learn. Few of us live near the rainforests or Arctic wilderness that attract so much environmental attention. We experience our lives as urban people—by the year 2000, over 80% of Americans will live in cities or suburban areas. And yet there is wildness,if not Wilderness by bureaucratic designation, in our urban areas.

As conservationists, greenways, as places where the natural world lives in the midst of cities, deserve more of our attention. Most of us have an image of a greenway as a river plus a trail. Those are the typical ingredients in greenway systems—some as large and complex as the Hudson River, others as small as the nameless creek through a townhouse project. Other greenway corridors include road and utility rights-of-way, abandoned rail lines, drainageways and canals.

All these combine the natural with the industrial, provide recreation and wildlife habitat, and link utilities and living streams. In short, greenways are linear parks that borrow the power in our minds of the River, the Forest, and the Journey.

The importance of greenways lies in this diversity. While greenways provide
some very tangible benefits to the urban world, they also make appealing
environmental projects....

—STUART MACDONALD, (Colorado State Trails Coordinator), Greenways: Preserving our Urban Environment, Trilogy, 1991

Endangered Species: North American Biped

Peachtree Corridor

The Peachtree Corridor Task Force has launched its new Web site. To visit the site, click here or type www.peachtreecorridor.com into your Internet browser.

Formed by Mayor Shirley Franklin in November 2005, the Peachtree Corridor Task Force is charged with developing strategic recommendations to transform the Peachtree Corridor into a foremost destination for Atlanta's visitors and residents. The goal of the task force is to create one grand boulevard linking together the city's diverse but complementary business, entertainment, cultural and residential centers.

The spine of this corridor will be a steetcar system.

Bikes + Transit

Bikes are not as practical for long distance trips (although the definition of "long distance" changes once you switch from driving to cycling as your main transportation mode). In these cases it makes sense to have a good public transit system.

The good news is that with all the available room left by today's car infrastructure, we would have plenty of space to create dedicated transit lines through the city so that bicycles and buses or trolley cars can coexist safely and peacefully. Since their range and uses are distinct, transit and bikes compliment each other whereas transit and cars currently compete for space and for users.

The integration of bicyles and long-distance transit are even more compelling. Today, many commuters complain that train service is expensive and infrequent, but trains could partner with bicycles to their mutual benefit.

The catchment area for a bicycle-oriented train station would increase dramatically over mere pedestrian access. The station would no longer require a huge parking lot to accomodate commuters arriving by car, since bicycles take up so much less room. Each station could run very productively and frequently, with trains at frequent intervals.

Source: "Can the Bicycle Save Civilization?" by Ryan McGreal

DMU + Biodiesel

Portland, Oregon has announced a new commuter rail line between Wilsonville and Beaverton. When completed, the 15-mile-long line will serve one of Oregon's busiest commuter corridors. It will not be light rail, as in the MAX system that serves much of the greater Portland area. Instead, the new commuter rail line will use existing freight train tracks. The tracks will carry DMU's, quite popular in Europe for some time. These Colorado-built rail cars are self-propelled and are about 6 times more fuel-efficient than traditional commuter engines. One of the real benefits is that they are legal on freight lines without upgrades, saving potentially millions on infrastructure improvements.

The applicability of this technology to the metro Atlanta area cannot be overstated, with the city once know as Terminus sporting extensive "spoke rails" in all directions. DMUs could be deployed on these rails in the short term.

Add the potential of using biodiesel to power the railcars (currently being tested in Minnesota) and you've got a powerful blended solution for addressing Atlanta's transportation and environmental woes.

How Cuba survived peak oil

People will be doing a lot more bicycling and carpooling. Even hitchhiking could become socially acceptable. Cuba went through an energy famine in the 1990s, and traffic cops there halted cars with empty seats and made them wait for hitchhikers. Cubans also created more urban gardens, produced more of their own food, and made more public-transportation options available.

~ from "An Interview with Richard Heinberg", The Sun

Flexcar comes to Atlanta

Liz Wattenberg, General Manager of Flexcar - Atlanta, informed me today that I had the highest bid in a silent auction for Flexcar rentals. So I signed up today online.

Flexcar is a great development for Atlantans seeking to reduce their reliance on the automobile. Urban trend-setters in other cities have begun giving up their second car, or cars altogether, when they have discovered Flexcar. It makes transit-oriented living even more viable as you can now have access to a car as-needed with this innovative car-sharing solution.

Location-efficient mortgages, like those provided by my friend Jeff Cole of myEnergyLoan, factor the reduction of automobile expenses into the qualification equation, opening up the realm of possibilities for Buyers seeking to make Intown living financially feasible.

Now Flexcar has partnered with Novare Developments in Midtown and Downtown to offer residents of Spire, Metropolis, TWELVE, or Biltmore House special incentives and onsite vehicles. Check it out here.

I would consider it a privilege to serve as your Buyer's Agent in the purchase of these homes and could offer the Rail Estate Rebate for these purchases like we do other transit-oriented real estate.

Xebra EV is a great intown solution

A company called Green Planet is opening a ZAP EV dealership in Atlanta. The family and I test drove the Xebra last weekend (that's my daughters Shelly and April in and around the vehicle pictured). This three-wheeled vehicle is the first Chinese production vehicle to be sold in America and is the only city-class EV that you can actually purchase right now. The Xebra is different from it's predecessors, including the ill-fated GM EV-1, in that it charges with a standard 110v plug. You'll recall that in the late 90's when electric vehicles were in use for a minute, they required special charging stations to hook up to. Not so with the Xebra. Any accessible standard wall outlet is a potential charging station powering this little vehicle at a cost of three cents a mile.

The Xebra is an alternative niche product that is another weapon in the fight against traffic congestion, foreign oil dependence, and climate change.

Side Tracks

Readers will notice that the last few posts (and a couple to follow) have diverged from the thematic journaling of alternative transportation specific to rail and trail solutions. Flexcar and electric cars coming to town are too good to overlook, however, so bear with me. They do relate to trail- and transit-oriented real estate in that they enhance the viability of those seeking to be less car dependent.

Who Killed the Electric Car?

If you didn't catch the documentary in the theater, you can pre-order the DVD, scheduled for a November release.

The peak of attainments

When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man's convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became. Here, for once, was a product of man's brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.

~ Elizabeth West, Hovel in the Hills

Ted Turner talks alternatives

Limo Steve's commuter math doesn't add up

Both the Atlanta-Athens proposal and its southside counterpart, the Atlanta-Lovejoy commuter rail plan, still face entrenched opposition from the Road Warriors, a small but powerful group that's determined to deny Georgia commuters any meaningful alternative to using highways. One of the most outspoken Road Warriors, Rep. Steve Davis (R-McDonough), recently renewed his attack on commuter rail with an op-ed piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He repeated his now-familiar litany of distortions, half-truths and untruths, starting with one of the most shopworn whoppers of all: the claim that "for the same amount of money" as setting up the Atlanta-Lovejoy line, "all passengers could be provided with a limousine to ride to work for 20 years." It shouldn't be necessary to rebut such an absurd assertion, but maybe it's time. Projections show that the Atlanta-Lovejoy line would carry 1500 riders in each direction by 2009. 1500 Lincoln Town Cars at $42,000 each would cost $63,000,000. The daily round-trip between Atlanta and Lovejoy would rack up 100,000 miles on those limos every three years, suggesting they'd need to be replaced at least five times during the 20-year period Davis specified. That brings the total limo price to $315,000,000 even before you take future inflation into account, and unfortunately, that's only the beginning. One expressway lane can carry about 1500 vehicles per hour, suggesting that in order to accommodate Davis's theoretical limo fleet, the state would have to widen Interstate 75 with one new lane in each direction over the 26 miles between Atlanta and Lovejoy. That's a total of 52 lane miles, and at the going price of $10 million per mile, that total road construction bill works out to $520,000,000. $520 million for the roads plus $315 million for the limos brings the grand total for the Davis scheme to $835 million, making the $106 million pricetag for commuter rail an absolute bargain by comparison. One of these days, somebody needs to clue Davis in on the fact that the way to fight traffic congestion is to take cars off the road, not to put more cars on the road.

Source: Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers September Newsletter

Rail Estate Rebate™

LiveNearMARTA.com features a unique Buyer's Incentive offered by New Urban Realty.

New Urban Realty will share their commission with those seeking location-efficient living within 1/2 mile of a MARTA Station (what they call "Rail Estate").

Those who partner with New Urban Realty in the purchase of transit-oriented housing can qualify for The Rail Estate Rebate™. The rebate gives the Buyer up to 1% of the sales price back after closing.

Find out more at http://livenearmarta.com/Rail_Estate_Rebate.html.

Work Near MARTA? LiveNearMARTA.com

People are starting to realize that the old complaint that MARTA doesn't "go anywhere" isn't true anymore as places like Decatur, Lindbergh, and Perimeter Center continue to evolve into vibrant transit villages with homes, businesses, shopping, and entertainment within easy walking distance of their respective MARTA stations.

It's logical that people are moving back into Atlanta. People are seeking alternative transportation solutions as gas prices, commute times, carbon dioxide levels, and global temperatures continue to rise.

Location-efficient living near a MARTA station makes more sense than ever, especially if you work near one.

New Urban Realty has a new portal at www.livenearmarta.com that features listings of "Rail Estate" or homes within 1/2 mile of a MARTA station.

You can also use the Station Search: Tell them which Station you would like to live near and they will customize a search for homes in the vicinity of the station.

Transit Oriented Development for Tomorow's Child

There's lots of fronts to fight on in the war against global warming. Transit-Oriented Development is a significant one that can do serious damage to our oil dependency. It's easy to get battle-weary, though, in the daily struggle against status quo, inertia, apathy, greed and deception.

One thought that keeps me in the battle is the legacy we leave our children. The following video and poem are powerful motivators for me.




Tomorrow's Child

Without a name; an unseen face
and knowing not your time nor place
Tomorrow's Child, though yet unborn,
I met you first last Tuesday morn.

A wise friend introduced us two,
and through his shining point of view
I saw a day which you would see;
A day for you, and not for me.

Knowing you has changed my thinking
for I never had an inkling
That perhaps the things I do
might someday, somehow, threaten you.

Tomorrow's Child, my daughter-son
I'm afraid I've just begun
To think of you and of your good,
Though always having known I should.

Begin I will to weigh the cost
of what I squander; what is lost
If ever I forget that you
will someday come to live here too.


Glenn Thomas, © 1996

BeltLine.net: Stay in the Loop™

Can you see yourself living and working in the BeltLine? Planning to move or already a resident of the area? Then BeltLine.net is just for you! BeltLine.net is planned as a robust community portal featuring real estate, news, business, restaurants, forums, photos, job boards, coupons and just about everything else associated with the community the BeltLine is becoming. BeltLine.net is intended to foster that community and promote local buying in the BeltLine.

Email info@beltline.net for launch date and stay in the loop™

Chairman Mike Evans Cycles Across Iowa

ATLANTA -- State Transportation Board Chairman Mike Evans participated in the longest, largest and oldest touring bicycle ride in the world. The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. The ride started July 23rd in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa's western border and ended July 29th in Muscatine, along the eastern border at the Mississippi River.

“The first thing I want people to know and understand is that they have a State Transportation Board that is open minded and interested in transportation alternatives,” said Evans. As an avid cyclist, Chairman Evans took a break from discussing highways, bridges and transportation funding issues to participate in the ride 472-mile, seven day trip with a group of 8,500 cyclists including Lance Armstrong.

The group trekked a daily mileage average of 68 miles with an optional one day 17 mile loop called the century loop for cyclists wanting the extra challenge.

Profits from the RAGBRAI ride are given to non-profit Iowa programs and organizations through the Des Moines Register newspaper’s community investment program. The program addresses priority issues in regards to families and children, literacy and community enrichment.

“Cycling is not only an excellent way to stay in shape, but also provides transportation alternatives besides cars, trains and buses,” Evans said. “I have been participating in bicycle rides for years and I intend to bring more awareness to cycling as a sport and a transportation alternative during my tenure as Board Chairman.”

For more information on bicycle safety and GDOT’s Statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, please visit our website at www.dot.state.ga.us/bikeped/ and for more information about the 33rd annual RAGBRAI go to www.ragbrai.org.