iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Darin Givens

I was a college freshman when the Midtown Alliance began scoping for the West Peachtree complete street. I've since moved homes six times (including 18 months on West Peachtree Street) and got two degrees. America has a "inability to build things not for drivers" crisis

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 23h

The new bike lane on West Peachtree Street looked beautiful today! I saw several cyclists go by while walking to the North Ave MARTA Station.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Standing at the intersection of Edgewood Ave and Boulevard last night, while walking back home from dinner, I noticed that pedestrians and scooter riders outnumbered cars and I had to take a photo. This is the way.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I can't blame folks for riding an e-scooter on the sidewalk instead of risking their lives in that pitiful excuse for a bike lane on Ponce, though the navigable section sidewalk is also narrow. In the end, I want ped/bike conditions on streets near the Beltline to become more Beltline-esque.

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Reposted by Darin Givens

ThreadATL @threadatl.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Take a deep dive into Buttermillk Bottoms through this incredible digital project from Atlanta artist Joel Silverman. This is the African American neighborhood that was razed and replaced with the Atlanta Civic Center. joelsilverman.com/blog/walker-...

joelsilverman.com

Rephotographing Walker Evans in Atlanta — joel silverman

In 1936 Walker Evans spent a single day photographing an Atlanta neighborhood. Nobody knew exactly where. I found the spots where he placed his tripod.

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Reposted by Darin Givens

ThreadATL @threadatl.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Transportation Camp Atlanta is coming October 14, 9:30 AM - 1:00 PM. For residents, transportation pros, advocates, students, community leaders, and others interested in the future of transportation! LOCATION: 235 Mitchell St SW FREE REGISTRATION: luma.com/9dmov16j?tk=...

luma.com

TransportationCamp Atlanta · Luma

Presented by NRDC, this ATL Climate Week event is for residents, transportation professionals, advocates, students, community leaders, and others interested in…

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is a great idea! The all-way stop phase at the intersection of Spring Street and 5th Street is an amazing place for observing a bunch of pedestrian and bike traffic. This is the Tech Square section of Midtown Atlanta, with GA Tech buildings all around.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I think it's weird that the website for the Stitch hasn't been updated to take out the federal funding that was cancelled over a year ago. This is the project that would cap a piece of freeway in Downtown Atlanta with its 'Phase 1', with hopes for more caps eventually. thestitchatl.com/faqs

"How will the Stitch be funded?" section of the website's FAQ, listing $170 million in federal funds.

Graphic showing the section to be covered by phase 1 of the Stitch

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

GA: MARTA stinks. It's mismanaged & homeless people camp out on it. MARTA: how about some state funding for operations to improve staffing? GA: no MARTA: funds for homeless services? GA: no MARTA: well, can you at least ride transit so we have more revenue? GA: Heck no. MARTA stinks. (Repeat)

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

What a beautiful day it was for Atlanta Streets Alive on Peachtree today! I was out there for four hours and it didn't seem long enough.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

MARTA budgeted for a loss of $9.7 million in revenue during the rollout of the new fare gates this year. www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2026/07/23/m... But new data shows that they actually lost $20 million in revenue. www.11alive.com/article/news...

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The lantern parade tonight on the Beltline (Southwest Trail) was as magical as it always is.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The experience of finding the temporary stop for the BRT line in Summerhill and then walking to the Beltline entrance from the southernmost stop was humbling. I'm looking forward to the BRT stops being fully complete, and to the new Hank Aaron Drive connection to the Beltline getting built.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I am begging MARTA to make sure all the streetcar staff know that the Breeze app exists. There's one staffer who barks at everyone on board to pay with a dollar bill, and if you tell her you paid on the app she looks at you like you just told her to put a live chicken in her ear.

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Reposted by Darin Givens

Eric @howephil.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Reminder: Atlanta Beltline Rail is a *subset* of transit expansion projects funded back in 2016. Many are already moving forward: -Capitol Ave -Cleveland -Metropolitan -Campbellton -Murphy Crossing Beltline rail projects have not progressed in years. Monday’s vote helps get us out of the mud.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Donating money to erase medical debt is good for your health and that's just science. Join me, please!

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Imagine if we'd started the Atlanta Beltline project by funding & building light-rail transit on the existing rail right-of-way, plus establishing affordable housing and strong displacement-prevention measures; then we could have added a path in a second phase.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I feel sorry for folks who only notice the problematic things in MARTA stations while missing the beautiful views. These scenes are from my ride this evening, from King Memorial Station to East Lake Station.

View from the platform of east lake station

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

This is a pretty nice spot to be at sunset, on the Eastside Beltline. It actually reminds me a lot of a recent, giant development I had the pleasure to visit in Dublin a couple of years ago. It sat next to a light-rail station. Hmmm...

Sunset as seen from a recent development with large buildings and pedestrians visible

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Car-brain is real. Multiple times, I've told someone who I'm chatting with at an event that I arrived on MARTA -- then one minute later they ask me if I've gotten my parking validated.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Social Resto in Downtown Atlanta was a lovely, welcoming place with a menu of French & North African foods that represented the upbringing of the brothers who owned it. It was a home away from home for me and others in the neighborhood, and the food was amazing. That duck-leg confit... 😭

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Our son -- who grew up in a Downtown Atlanta highrise near a MARTA Station -- is attending a suburban college. He sends me weekly complaints about how pedestrian-hostile the suburbs are (he has no drivers license). It's sad, of course, but also a little bit adorable and I love him ♥️

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

It's a driving city! Period! Wackadoodle "urbanists" will say it can change, but it never will. The car-centric city I knew in my young adulthood is perfect and should be conserved at all costs, along with most other things about my young adulthood. - Atlantans

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Reposted by Darin Givens

atl-paul.bsky.social @atl-paul.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

They started adding concrete dividers to the West Peachtree Street bike lane! It's working already; this shuttle has been parking in the bike lane and now it waits in a parking spot. #Atlanta #cycling

A bike lane with short concrete barriers. A white shuttle bus is outside the lane.

Close up of several short concrete barriers separating a bike lane from cars

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

There were 31,000 evictions in the City of Atlanta in 2025, one for every four renter households. Woah. Causes: "rents rising faster than incomes, a housing shortfall...and restrictions that zone 94% of land for single-family housing." roughdraftatlanta.com/2026/09/14/a...

roughdraftatlanta.com

Report: Atlanta eviction rate is three times the national average

Atlanta landlords filed 140,000 eviction cases in 2025, a rate three times the national average. Researchers warn families are hit hardest.

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Reposted by Darin Givens

ThreadATL @threadatl.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The Atlanta Comprehensive Transportation Plan will guide transportation investments and improvements across the city over the next 15 years. Let the city know that you want a future where wallking/biking/transit are more highly valued as transportation! wspengages.com/ATLCTPSurvey

wspengages.com

Atlanta Comprehensive Transportation Plan

Atlanta Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP)

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

We had a table for ThreadATL at the Emory Sustainable Transportation Fair today and the free King of Pops next to us took all the attention 😂 Joking, it was all good! I got a free (delicious) watermelon pop and plenty of folks listened to us talk about urbanism issues. Great event!

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Fairlie Street in Downtown Atlanta at night. Such a beautiful urbanism. I know the reasons why cities used zoning, decades ago, to prohibit this in most neighborhoods (anti-urban bias born from racism & classicism). But the fact that we continue to prohibit it is mind boggling.

Beautiful density with multistory buildings

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I like this. It's important for people to feel good about paying for parking -- to not feel like all paid parking is an outrageous scam & that parking should be free. We need to accept that there's never such a thing as free parking. There's always a cost. roughdraftatlanta.com/2026/09/10/a...

roughdraftatlanta.com

Atlanta passes 'parking bill of rights' to increase transparency

Atlanta City Council passed a parking bill of rights to improve transparency for drivers regarding rates, fees, and towing.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Listen to local artist and author Hannah Palmer talk about the importance of public toilets for cities on this ThreadATL Podcast episode! She's a great ambassador for this cause. open.spotify.com/episode/2Xfl...

open.spotify.com

Hannah Palmer talks about why cities need public toilets

ThreadATL Podcast · Episode

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Reposted by Darin Givens

David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

New study finds the social cost of driving a car 1 km—including pollution, crashes, infrastructure, and noise—is more than *triple* the private cost paid by the car owner. doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

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Reposted by Darin Givens

Melody Oliphant @melodyoliphant.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If we flip the Georgia State House and the Governor’s office, we might finally end the nightmare where MARTA is the only metropolitan heavy rail that receives no state funding ✨

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

"I’ve gotten many messages over the years from newcomers to Atlanta who assumed that a major city like this would allow people to walk, bike, or take transit everywhere...We have to bring an end to what’s rightly been called Atlanta’s war on density." From 2023 howidfixatlanta.com/2022/08/dari...

howidfixatlanta.com

Darin Givens: Fill in Our Missing Middle – How I'd Fix Atlanta

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

That little grey squiggle in the middle of this MARTA rail map is the Atlanta Streetcar loop, which stretches only 1.3 miles from west to east. This is the only growth in rail transit in Atlanta over the past 26 years. Yet in that time, Fulton & DeKalb County population has grown by 401,447.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

I'm very grateful to Councilmember Kelsea Bond for being such a wonderful supporter of rail on the Atlanta Beltline! It's heartening to see this support on Council, even if we're still waiting to see it elsewhere. atlanta.urbanize.city/post/atl-cit...

atlanta.urbanize.city

Atlanta City Council resolution supports Beltline rail, demands timeline

“There has never been a more important moment to invest in public transit expansion in Atlanta,” asserts councilmember

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Reposted by Darin Givens

ThreadATL @threadatl.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

This is a great housing development for Downtown Atlanta! "The vast majority—193 apartments total—will be reserved at either 50 or 60 percent AMI, officials have said. No resident will be required to pay more than 30 percent of their income"

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Woah, that would be pretty awesome.

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Reposted by Darin Givens

Jason Dozier @jasondozier.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

1/ Today, Atlanta City Council adopted legislation urging the Atlanta Department of Transportation to preserve the protected multi-use path on Centennial Olympic Park Drive. The goal is to not to just make it permanent part of our Downtown bike network, but make it better. 🧵

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

I hope this is true, that left-NIMBYs have a good voice in their head that says "pushing for anti-housing policies is wrong" even when they keep doing it. They have a seemingly endless arsenal of rationalizations for why it's OK to limit housing supply on their street & jack up resale values.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

City Council's Kelsea Bond is introducing a resolution of support for putting rail on the entire Atlanta Beltline at today's meeting, which is a clever move. It'll be very helpful to establish which Council members support it and which don't. www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news...

cbsnews.com

Atlanta councilmember pushes for plan to build 22-mile Beltline light rail loop

A new Atlanta City Council proposal is trying to put Beltline rail back on track by asking city leaders for a clear plan and timeline to build it.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Interesting. I'm voting for Bottoms because she's the Dem, but it would be nice if she was able to actually follow through on this and secure annual operations funding for MARTA.

Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms says she supports new, dedicated state funding for MARTA and other transit systems.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Yes. I'll take about 30 miles of this for Atlanta, please. And thanks.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

IMO, this is kind of an 'elephant in the room' when it comes to conversations about pedestrian paths: residential streets often have the worst sidewalks. I experienced it this weekend in Inman Park. I had to walk in the roadway multiple times to get away from sidewalks that were impassable for me.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Woah, the autonomous ATL Spoke shuttle that runs between West End MARTA and the Lee & White development (on the Beltline) only averaged 1.5 riders per hour this summer. That means the per-rider cost of the service is nearly $200. This is a year-long trial. I'm guessing it won't be renewed.

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Reposted by Darin Givens

Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 05/09/2026

The Streetcar tracks, protected cycle tracks, and red bus lanes were all added in the last 12 years. Good things are possible if we fight for it.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

That was a weird-ass storm we just had in Atlanta. For about 30 seconds, there was a kind of frozen precipitation that looked like snow mixed in with the rain. In August.

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Darin Givens @atlurbanist.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Photos from a long walk through Downtown Atlanta yesterday evening, where I had a wonderful dinner at Broad Street BBQ before heading north to see the DragonCon costumes. I love the way these buildings look in the glow of sunset.

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Reposted by Darin Givens

ThreadATL @threadatl.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

This is disappointing. A couple of years ago, Georgia-Pacific announced plans to convert much of its Downtown office tower to residential, including affordable units, plus a retail hub at ground level. Now they're scrapping the idea because of the expense. www.ajc.com/news/2026/09... 1/

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