Opening the Streets

Last Sunday was the third Atlanta Street Alive event of this year, on a loop from Highland to Boulevard to Monroe to Virginia Avenue back to North Highland.  The route went from Virginia Higland through Poncey-Highland into Inman Park and the Old Fourth Ward and then back into Virginia Highland.  The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, sponsor of the event, estimates that 82,300 people took part this time.  I volunteered for the set up shift and was not able to do the entire loop this time, but did walk most of the route either as part of the set up crew or later with Iain.  What was different and wonderful this time was inclusion of a stretch of Boulevard with older apartments that are mostly Section 8 housing.  That's where I was assigned to work, and I got there late because I mis-read the instructions.  (When you are on foot and go to the wrong place, it takes a long time to correct the error.)  But I did finally get to my assigned location at Morgan and Boulevard, and got assigned with another volunteer to check barricades and signage headed north on Boulevard.

We didn't do much -- the police were handling the street closures, which was good because they knew how to do it and we didn't, and would be better at dealing with irate drivers than we would -- but we talked to some residents and moved a few signs.  A man sitting on his porch asked us what was going on, and we told him that the street was being closed to cars and soon would be full of bicycles and pedestrians.  Could he show his artwork in his front yard and sell it, he asked?  Absolutely, we told him, that would be fabulous.  He absolutely should put his work out for display because there would be lots of people coming by.  Unfortunately I didn't make it back to see his work; when Iain arrived, we headed south, and we didn't make it all the way around.  But I hope he was able to sell some work.

We were walking south on Boulevard when the bicycle parade started, heading north past us.  Residents were out on their balconies and porches.  

This family was watching from their second floor balcony.

This is my favorite photo from the day!

Atlanta Medical Center should have been out with blood pressure screenings or something, but they were completely missing.  Around the corner onto Highland (with the experience of many previous Streets Alive events) there was lots of activity, with music, neighbors, and food trucks.

Moving north on Highland through Inman Park and then into Poncey-Highland and Virginia Highland, lots of folks out for the afternoon with their dog or their kids, just enjoying the sights, and more music and corn hole and more places to eat and drink and dance.

We headed toward Monroe on Virginia Avenue, but stopped when we got to the Free Poems on Demand table.  

We had missed getting a free poem at the Streets Alive event in September; we didn't make a full circuit of Woodruff Park and we just didn't find them, so we were especially glad to find them this time.  Iain asked for a poem about the government shutdown, and poet Zac Denton obliged.  

From there we headed home.  On the way back, two young women sitting on the curb drinking beer said "no" when I asked if I could take their picture -- the only people all afternoon who had declined.  But this couple said yes.

Bikes at Virginia and Highland.

The police officer at the north street closure on North Highland, across from Highland Hardware, tossed a football with a child.

Writing this now I am struck by the phrase "closing the street."  The street was only closed from the perspective of drivers.  We were opening the street for people, for pedestrians and bicycles, not closing it.  Walking around the city, seeing the 82,298 other people, getting a bite to eat, and getting a free poem is a fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon.  Ten thousand people showed up September for the lantern parade; now more than 80,000 people show up for an event that's not about music or art, although there was some of both, but is about seeing the city as a pedestrian or a bicyclist, and that is a different way of seeing.  It's a way of seeing where I can ask a young mother on Boulevard if I can take a picture of her baby, and she beams and says yes.  

It is so much better than being in a car.