copper tops

The townhomes, seen reflected in a window, circa early 2007. The townhomes now.

Last week Forbes listed Atlanta as the third most-empty city in America, behind Vegas and Detroit. The article cited foreclosure and overbuilding as reasons for the city's inclusion. I went out and tried to photograph all the signs, the ads calling for renters and buyers. Their weren't many.

Gevito's closed and Dugan's is under renovation, but Ponce is still the same. Little growth, little progression. Plexus on Ponce, also known as the Copper Top Apartments, is one of the few blatant examples of the housing crisis. I photographed them when they were going up two years ago. They still sit empty, although two have been sold and the available ones have been reduced to somewhere around half a million.

The mass vacant structures: Element at Atlantic Station, Glenn Auburn on Boulevard, the hordes of townhouses along Dekalb Ave. and condos on Peachtree. Element is auctioning off some of its spaces for roughly half of what they originally asked. Their are about 6,000 unsold condos intown.

The smaller buildings around Ponce seem to be surviving, albeit many have dropped rent. I have no clue who would pay $500,000 to live across from an abandoned building with views of Dekalb County in the background, but I hope some developer is paying attention.

enchilada lunch

going down

mpsa

Midtown Ponce Security Alliance held a meeting at Lutheran Redeemer on Monday. APD is addressing the current crime talk by putting emphasis on the troubled areas. The APD contends that violent crime is down while smaller crimes, like car break-ins, are up. Zone 5, which includes Midtown, Downtown, Old Fourth, Ansley, and Atlanta Station, experienced 4049 auto thefts last year, or about one every two hours.

To combat this, the department is launching the Clean Car campaign. It asks people to remove everything from their car, including all traces of anything of value. At one point, it was suggested to wipe the suction marks a GPS system might leave on your windshield because a passing criminal might think you could have simply stashed the unit in your glovebox.

Zone 5 Commander, Major Khirus Williams and Councilman Kwanza Hall addressed these issues. During the Q&A, the department's furloughs were addressed. Williams confirmed the furloughs were forcing 20 officers a day to be absent from his Zone. We all seemed to wonder how exactly the city will be able to hire more officers when it cannot keep the ones it has working.

fox

crime rally

A series of violent crimes led to the formation of the Atlantans Together Against Crime (ATAC). The wave of flat screen thefts and car break-ins spilled over into robberies and murder, leading locals to begin clamoring for justice. The group held its first rally last week in the Little Five, several blocks south from Ponce and Briarcliff.

The presence of four TV stations and two city council members was encouraging to the almost two-hundred in attendance. The group is hoping their prodding will get Shirley's notice and put focus on the crime scene, which is either declining or escalating, depending on if you talk to Chief Pennington or anyone living inside the perimeter.