Braves Move North. Will Traffic Nightmare Follow?

On Monday morning November 11th 2013, Atlantans were greeted by the news that the Braves, Atlanta's iconic baseball team, will leave Turner Field when their lease ends in 2016 and will move into a new stadium in Cobb County in time for the 2017 season. The announcement left many questions in its wake and social media and news outlets quickly became a cornucopia of commentary ranging from jubilant acceptance to vitriolic criticism.

But as the day and week wore on, and as the shock that followed Braves President John Schuerholz's press conference wore off, it became evident that the club's decision will have a much broader impact on the city which goes beyond the zip code the team will call home.

To their credit, the Braves PR team launched a new website, www.homeofthebraves.com, to provide a central place where fans and interested parties can go to get the organizations stance on the matter. The website is comprehensive and does an excellent job answering why they think moving is a great idea. As Max Blau of Creative Loafing puts it, the website "sums [the Braves’] rationale up in one paragraph:"

The reason for moving is simple. The current location has certain issues that are insurmountable and will only become more problematic over the years. These fundamental issues involve how you, our fans, access Turner Field. There is a lack of consistent mass transportation, a lack of sufficient parking and a lack of direct access to interstates. Furthermore, the Braves do not have control over the development of our immediate surroundings[1][2].

Therefore the answer to the Brave's predicament, the website argues, is to move closer to the geographic center of the team's fan base. Their evidence: a map showing ticket sales for the 2102 season that paints Atlanta’s north suburbs in a sea of red, clearly delineating the heart of Braves Country.

Last Season's Ticket Sales
[Image Source: HomeOfTheBraves.com]

Shortly thereafter, politicians and special interests began quibbling over key concerns. Is the move truly a “done deal?” Can Braves be enticed to stay Downtown? Are the Braves and the city betraying a promise of revitalization made to the folks living in the neighborhoods around Turner Field, a promise that has yet to materialize? How much will Cobb taxpayers be on the hook with this move? But, one common concern seems to haunt the minds of Atlantans regardless of the positions they take. Traffic.

It is no secret that traffic on the Northside Perimeter is a nightmare on a good day, especially near where Interstates 75 and 285 meet, the very same area where the proposed stadium is to be built. So, what happens to everyone’s commute when you build at its crux a 60-acre mixed-used development with a 42,000-seat stadium as it’s main attraction?

Proposed Site Layout
[Image Source: HomeOfTheBraves.com]

Elections 2012

**** 1:15 am — I'm typing this late at night so I will edit in the morning and add my usual back-links and sources. Sorry.

**** 11:00 am — UPDATED. Changes in italics.

As I type this, I flip between CNN and my local NBC affiliate here in Atlanta. I sit up in bed, writing and sipping pinot grigio left over from my wending while my very tolerant wife tries to sleep through the cacophony of election news and typing keys. The news stations, including Fox, are calling it an Obama victory while the GOP and Romney camps promise to hold out until all votes are counted or at least until Romney finishes writing a concession speech. The celebration at Obama headquarters just went from jubilation to frustrated anticipation over what they feel is a done deal.

[Image Source: MSN.com]

Everyone is in post-election analysis mode. It can even be said that GOP leaders, Speaker of the House John Boehner [R-OH] in particular, have been in this mode way earlier tonight before the the first poll closed. Expecting an Obama victory from the get-go and promising that the GOP positions on key issues have not change and that a contentious battle over EVERYTHING is sure to follow.

It's been a long two years—four if you count the conservatives' initial response to President Obama's 2008 win. It's been a disappointingly negative campaign from all sides and most of the people I know were so burnt out by election news that some didn't even care to vote. 

There has been a lot of winners and losers in this election cycle outside the political sphere, one of which is social media. Social media exploded exponentially into the spotlight with the Arab Spring and the Occupy Movements last year, but this election proves that America is not immune to a cultural shift towards social media as legitimate, real time news source. News anchors and correspondents like Cooper Anderson [1][2] and Jamie Dupree along with others have used Twitter and Facebook to give their audience real time information.

One of the biggest news in social media this year involves voter registration via Facebook [3] and the debate over whether actual voting through social media was possible or even a smart idea. I foresee this debate and the innovations being an even bigger part of the political landscape four years from now—heck!—two years from now during the next midterm elections if you are being realistic. We probably won't even have to "wait and see" how social media has and will affect future politics.

Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate (yes there was a third party this year!) has, knowing that his chance of winning was nonexistent, already promised to keep himself and the Libertarian Party's cause in the spotlight through aggressive social media campaigns. [4]

But for now as I watch Romney's concession speech, I know in the morning I will wake to the same business as usual with an incumbent President returning to office with the same Congressional makeup. So hopeful—and can only hope—all involve will just shut up, especially on social media, and just get back to work.

Good night for now. Here's Romney's speech.

 

****UPDATE ****

Good Morning! Welp, I went to bed just as Obama walked on stage to give his victory speech. I skipped it because by that point last night I was falling asleep as I typed. In cased you missed it too, here's the video of the speech:

 

My 2012 Early Voting Experience

I exercised my right to vote this past Saturday, taking advantage of early voting here in Georgia. It was the first year (and the only Saturday of this election cycle) of statewide Saturday voting [1]. The lines were long across the state and the wait at George Pierce Park Community Recreation Center in Suwanee, Ga. where I stood in line reached up to seven and a half hours for some people.

The problem was not "human error or a shortage of machines," according to poll manager Dawn P. Gober, who came out every so often to give citizens updates on wait times for the various sections of the queue. "At most only about nine of the machines are in use at one time," she said.

I got a chance to speak briefly to Ms. Gober after I voted for—honestly!—90 seconds before she had to stop and close the poll at 7p.m. When I asked her what she thought had improved since the 2008 elections, I heard her suppress a chuckle. "Well, there's no long lines at the machines."

She wasn't kidding. When it had been my turn to enter the voting booth, I was the only one physically in front of the 15 voting machines despite the fact that hundreds had gone ahead of me and hundreds more had yet to vote. The issue, she said, was that all four satellite location were only provided with three computer to check voter identity and generate ballot smart cards and that each person manning the computers were basically "doing the job of two people."

"This the first ever Saturday, we've ever been open," Ms. Gober explained. "We didn't expect this kind of turn out. We didn't make any predictions about turn out at all really. We just couldn't." She did predict that she and her fellow poll volunteers will be working until well past 2 a.m., estimating that the George Pierce Park location will have served roughly 1200 citizen by the end of the night. Even though the polls closed at seven that night [2], any one in line at the time of closing would be allowed to vote.

Bags of Wind, Money, & Punching Varieties

As I've mentioned in my last post, one of the things I like about blogger is the "Stats" tab which allows me to track the traffic that comes to this site. The other tracking service I use is Google Analytics and it has become my new toy (read: O-B-S-E-S-S-I-O-N!). I actually enjoy playing around on the service and reading articles on best practices and hacks. The spousal unit (read: enabler) laughs at me and calls me a dork and then forwards me another how-to article. Then laughs at me some more.

Anyways. The other day, I'm playing around on Google Analytics, comparing reports with those from Blogger's Stats, when I come upon the traffic source tab in Stats. Under the "Search Keyword" report I see that, within the last seven day, someone found Wibbly-wobbly using the search term "gun rack." Naturally, I assumed that this search led to my February 23 post "Troll The Dial to Eleven 2012." But I was curious. How high in the search rankings was my post? So, I typed "gun rack" into Google Search.

Although I gave up after slogging through eight pages of results, my experience was not fruitless. On the first page, I found a Huffington Post article which featured a YouTube video created by a Mr. John Dole of Atlanta. In this video, Dole shows off his brand new Chevy Volt complete with a newly installed gun rack.

Using PVC pipes and some hardware available at your favorite home improvement store, Dole—a registered Republican according to the Huffington Post—crafted this masterpiece as a pointed response to Newt Gingrich's comment about not being able to put a gun rack into a Volt, a comment that this proud Volt owner did not appreciate.

Troll The Dial To Eleven 2012

This article has an update/correction dated 2012-02-29. Click on the title and scroll to the end to read the update.


When Newt Gingrich, in a cheeky commentary of President Obama's energy policy, told supporters at a recent campaign stop that "you can't put a gun rack in a [Chevy] Volt," I got a gleeful smile on my face. "Challenge accepted, sir," I declared, making a mental list of Chevy dealerships.

Then I realized something. What Chevy dealership in their right minds would let me attach a gun rack to a $32k piece of machinery without first, at minimum, leasing it for 3 years. If nothing else said gun rack could run the risk of causing unwanted depreciation and/or voiding the warranty. Suffice it to say, here in Newt's home state of Georgia, there is a very high probability that the owners of my local Chevy dealerships (and the majority of their employees) are Newt supporters and would probably kick my ass six ways to Friday temple.

Temporarily thwarted, I searched the web for that off-chance—that hope of all hopes—that someone might actually already have a photo of a Chevy Volt with a gun rack installed. I mean: Internet rules dictate that "someone already did it better," right? I did not find a photo of a Volt with a gun racks but I did find that the rule still applied. A little "right click → save as" and some text insertion via MS Paint and I was ready to troll Newt's Facebook page.

You Might be a Redneck, if...	Surprisingly, this makes sense to me.
Guns on her rack	Gun Rack on Stroller (With this, I would be ready for Z-Day)

Listen:

I have nothing [well!—somethings] against Newt. In fact, on any other normal day, his comment would have gotten a little chuckle and face-palm from me. But, for some unknown and possibly unrelated reason, I was now itching for a fight.

Saving the World. Before Bedtime... sort of.

This week was a pretty exciting week.  

On Wednesday , I joined Wikipedia, Reddit, and other in the Anti-SOPA “black-out” in protest of the U.S. Senate vote on S. 968., otherwise known as the PROTECT IP Act or PIPA. I emailed both my Senators and I called their offices (using an innovative phone app provided by Reddit.com) to voice my concerns. This email from the office of Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) in response to the one I sent pretty much summarizes the views PIPA supporters hold.

If you came here or went to Siege of The Dead on Wednesday, you would have been treated to this call to action page. Of course, other sites had more creative and laudably artistic protest screens. [Check out this Mashable article for a slide show featuring some of the "best" protest screens.]

Originally slated for a vote on Tuesday January 24th, a yes vote on PIPA would have given the Department of Justice the ability to shutdown websites that violated copyright laws and/or encourage online piracy. Both legislation purported to give all copyright holders the ability to stop unauthorized use of their works. This in itself is not a bad thing and as a writer and artist, I support anti-infringement legislation.  But as written, PIPA and its sister bill in the House was too vague and created an environment rife with opportunities for censorship and Due Process abuses. Even posting a link to Facebook could get you into trouble. Opponents of the measure even went on to say that those who would benefit most would be Big Hollywood rather than individual artists. Simply put, PIPA and SOPA were too poorly written and geared to protect Big Business interests.

Luckily for us, because of the protests and the attention brought to these bills by you and me and big internet companies like Facebook, Google, and others, BOTH bills are dead in their respective houses as of Friday. For now. 

Stay tuned.

Morning. November 5th,

Hey, Johnny:
Welcome to your Party. 

Did you bring the Tea,

China 

or the sea?

The Hare and the Hatter
Spar over whose truth is truer
while the Dormouse 

demand both houses 

and the head that wears the crown.

The Cat 

now, frowns.
And Alice keeps waiting...

And waiting...

And waiting...

Copyright 2010, 2011 by T.J. Blackburn