Atlanta: stop accepting parking-pedestal density as being 'good enough'

Here’s a photo of a pedestal of parking, with homes that sit several floors above the street. I appreciate the density, but I wish we could do it while putting eyes on the street instead of parking. This was spotted on Juniper Street in Midtown Atlanta -- a district where many towers in recent years have similarly been built atop massive parking decks.

Honestly, even when there's a layer of retail included at the sidewalk level of these new towers, I'm still concerned about the way that parking podiums shift residences and offices high above the public realm of our streets. It feels inhospitable and antisocial. It's un-citylike.

There was a time when it made at least some sense to be grateful for any new towers in Midtown, even problematic ones. They were a sign of economic vibrancy and growth. I didn't share the opinion that all new towers were good, but I could understand the rationale of others who thought so.

That time is gone. It's unreasonable in 2022 to accept towers as an innate good regardless of the car trips they generate near transit, or regardless of their impersonal interaction with the public realm of our sidewalks, or regardless of their equitable benefits.

It's time to expect truly great urbanism in Atlanta and to accept that this city is worthy of demanding it. Towers that greet the sidewalk with several floors of car storage — this is not the future we deserve.