http://committeeforabetteratlanta.org/the-issues/homelessness/

Five Points MARTA Station is deteriorating, and a very uncomfortable place to catch the train. The little police presence from time to time, and growing crime rate is awful. The hard thing to realize is that the majority of people who do the crimes and are homeless are minority groups. MARTA is the Atlanta areas’ transportation system. It is a great source of transportation, but there is a difference when it comes down to where it is located. Marta Five Points Station is a symbol of the Gender, Race, and Class discrimination in the downtown area location. I can explain why this is happening. I have provided a link for more general imformation about the MARTA station. http://itsmarta.com/about-marta.aspx

http://transitmap.net/post/12008335545/marta-atlanta

Locations

There are five train stations I use to get around the inner and outer city area. Those are: Five Points, Peachtree Center, Midtown, Arts Center, and Lenox. In the picture above, Five Points Station is the center of all train stations and it is the quickest way to get to each station. If this is the central hub for all stations, then why is it the most rundown area? Why it is that minority groups suffer the most with their built environments?

Let me start off with the first station I mention, which is Five Points Station. This is located in downtown Atlanta. It is approximately an 11 minute walk away from my dormitory. I use this station if I want to get somewhere quickly, but I rarely use it. Peachtree Center Station is located on Peachtree Street in the hub of the downtown city area, next to many attractions and restaurants. Midtown and Arts Center Station is located in Midtown Atlanta, where it is very modern and artistically driven. The area is generally a mix population. Lenox is the last station and it is located in Buckhead, the location is very business oriented; I use it to shop at Lenox Square Mall. The demographics for this area is majority Caucasian.

The locations of Buckhead and Midtown are clean and well taken care of because of the demographic of people living there. Majority of the people living there are Caucasian and sit higher in class ranking. They can afford to make their area as prestigious as they want. All of the business flourishing around it, the taxes can cover the cost of sanitation. I would say that the Peachtree Center Station is well groomed, but not as well as the previous two stations. I say this because there are more people in the downtown area and more foot traffic.

http://www.teeco71.com/2013/01/atlanta-police-department-part/

Security

Five Points Train Station is not the safest train station to be at. I say this because many people are assaulted at this train station frequently that it has a reputation of being a bad place to be. In an article I read from the local news website, talks of a transgendered woman being beaten and left nude at the station. This is not a good look for city or that station. The homeless population surrounding it is outstanding. I have encountered some of the vagrant population. Some go about their business, while others need medical attention. The homeless and crime rate is high. I will provide a demographic chart. Honestly at just this location out of the five locations I visit, this one has the most police presence. This says something, why are the areas who have more money and more expensive places less guarded? Why is the hub of all the trains stations run down and crime ridden? Why are the majority of the people who are around the station a minority? People would think that a tourist attraction such as Underground Atlanta would be very sophisticated, and not so shabby and desolate. The Art Center and Midtown are very safe with little to none security as well as Lenox and Peachtree Center. As for these I can conclude that the majority of those people who use those stations are Caucasian and it brings in way more money than Five Points Station. Those who live in Midtown and Buckhead are upper middle class and upper class citizens. In Midtown and Buckhead it is possible to pay a way to a better environment. I guess a person would commit a crime at a place where he/she most likely can get away with it and not stick out like a sore thumb.

Five Points MARTA station shows its true colors, because the people who live in this area are black. This can make it seem that black people are poor thieves, which is not true. The crime rate increases and no one is doing anything about it. The ones who are committing the crimes are majority male. This also plays into with black men being scoped by the police. When given a certain title there is a higher chance of being misjudged.

 

http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-platform-at-five-points-station-part-of-metropolitan-atlanta-rapid-37312123.html

Cleanliness

I have rode MARTA for quite some time now and I can give an observation on how clean a station is. Trust a person who is from New York, I have seen some dirty stations in my days living on Earth. When going into the Buckhead and Midtown, the stations are superb. They are clean and overall not overly crowded. I believe that it is cleaner because the money that is put in around the area spills over into the station to uphold their reputation, as a city of prestige. Most of the people who live there are white and have money to uphold their property. The Peachtree Center station is in the downtown city area and it brings in money because of the many tourists attraction and restaurants that surround it. I will conclude that a big tourist center that it is as a source of transportation, Atlanta would not allow it to crumble and become a sight for sore eyes to the public. As for the Five Points Station, it is not very well cleaned, or rid of their pests. On many occasions I have seen rats crawl on the tracks of the station. I have seen people throw their garbage on the floor. The city of Atlanta should be doing more to clean up their transportation systems.

The crippling system that we live in shows the gentrification that we live in. When a minority is the majority it seems as if the ecosystem surrounding it will deplete or is depleting at a steady rate. When the area is mostly conducted by Caucasian people the area will prosper and do fairly well to keep the minority out. I can clearly tell with the actual evidence that is Five Points Station, that is crime ridden and a big homeless community. The minority is the majority and it shows that how much the government cares to help restore the once beauty of Underground Atlanta. When the area is filled with low-income residents how much can they truly put in to help boost their economy? This shows the institutional racism that resides in our government, they keep out those who cannot afford to accommodate their ways of living and give them these shanty little areas of entertainment. The city should be doing more to provide for the people and for the environment because after all this does have to do with the reputation of Atlanta. Under all the beauty there is something ugly and it is this station as my reason for analysis.

 

Demographic Chart

http://www.clrsearch.com/Atlanta-Demographics/GA/Population-by-Race-and-Ethnicity

Citations

• “Atlanta, GA Population by Race and Ethnicity.” CLRSearch. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
• Limited, Alamy. “Stock Photo – Platform at Five Points Station, Part of Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) in Atlanta, Georgia.” Alamy. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
• “MARTA Investigates Brawl That Left Transgendered Woman Nude.” WSBTV. N.p., 2014-05-23T+0000. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
• “Homelessness.” Committee for a Better Atlanta. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
• Booth, Cameron. “Official Map: Atlanta, Georgia – MARTA Rail…” Transit Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.
• “The Atlanta Police Department Is Doing Their Part to Make It Better.” N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.