Class Prep 12/1/16

Introduction

Gentrification is a process that is taking place not only in the United States but all over the world as well. Atlanta is no different. Atlanta has been heavily impacted by gentrification, and it continues to be affected by gentrification. Before getting into how gentrification is changing Atlanta, it is important to understand what gentrification is and what it does to an environment. According to PBS, gentrification is when wealthier people arrive in an existing urban district. However, this is not the only description of gentrification. There is much more to it than just the arrival of a wealthier group of people. Gentrification also impacts four aspects of a city: demographics, real estate markets, land use, and culture and character. Typically, with gentrification, when it comes to demographics, an increase in median income is observed as well as a decline in racial minorities. Gentrification causes extremely large increases in home prices as well as an increase in evictions and conversion of land into mixed-use (live, work, play) facilities. Gentrification can lead to a decline of industrial uses of land as well as an increase in office space and condos (essentially fewer houses, more apartments). Finally, gentrification can cause new ideas about what is desirable and new standards for architecture, public behavior, noise, and landscaping in an environment. While it is true that the homeowners benefit by the rising prices of their houses, the displacement of the minorities and small businesses that can no longer afford to be located in the gentrified area is too big of a consequence to pay. Another example of the negative impact of gentrification would be 49 Waddell Street (discussed below). The price of the home, overall, has increased by almost $200,000. However, taxes have gone down on the home almost by 10%. This will be discussed more in detail below, but this is just another example of how gentrification impacts an area.While some people praise gentrification for revitalizing an area, others complain that it has many problems that come with it. In reality, the costs of gentrification are simply too high.

 

Conclusion

Krog Street Market is a new, innovative retail space that features restaurants and shops right off the Beltline. It attracts thousands of visitors every year and creates a great environment for shopping, eating, and fun. However, the cost of Krog Street Market was more than simply the construction funds. Because of Krog Street Market’s building, the gentrification of the area surrounding it has increased. Gentrification affects all of Atlanta, but now the neighborhoods surround Krog Street Market are experiencing its effects. Krog Street Market has led to an increase in the price of homes surrounding the market. They have increased by hundreds of thousands of dollars since the market was constructed and opened its doors, the increase of cost being a clear indicator that gentrification is taking place. Because of the increase of prices, low-income families cannot live in these houses anymore. Only wealthy people, couples, or families can reside in these homes. While Krog Street Market has done a lot for the community by providing a place to relax, shop, and eat, its effects have been bad for its surrounding neighborhood. Because of Krog Street Market, gentrification has taken hold of the surrounding area, and its effects are being clearly seen and felt.

 

Multi-Media Sources

All multi-media sources can be found at the following link. They are all pictures and graphs.

https://sites.gsu.edu/mkantor1/category/built-environment-description/

 

Political Meme

election-meme

This meme represents how unpopular both of the candidates of the major parties are for this election. For the first time, both the candidates of the Democratic (Hillary Clinton) and Republican (Donald Trump) are extremely disliked by many Americans. Because of this, some people joke that this is a no-win election. This meme displays that joke, with a child screaming and having a meltdown because he does not want to vote for any of the options being given for this election.

Political Commercial Analysis

The commercial I chose to analyze is one that is paid for by the National Rife Association (NRA) opposing Hillary Clinton. The advertisement can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e6xtGFYS8w

In the commercial, a woman is asleep in her bed when she hears someone break into her house. Panicked, she runs to a box. She opens it and finds nothings. She panics more and tries to call the police, but can’t do it in time. The person presumably breaking in enters her room. The commercial then cuts to police outside the woman’s home with the phrase “Don’t let Hillary leave you defenseless” on the screen with the NRA logo next to it.

This commercial is targeting a good number of people. First, it is obviously targeting women because that’s who is in the commercial. A frightened woman is presumably hurt and robbed because she didn’t have a gun because Hillary Clinton took way her gun. That’s what the commercial is trying to communicate. The NRA has to target women because I’m sure they don’t have to target men simply because more men probably support the NRA than women do. Secondly, the commercial targets people who are anti-Hillary. While this commercial does not endorse Donald Trump or any other candidate, it tells people who they should not vote for her; she will leave them “defenseless.” Finally, this commercial targets second amendment supporters. People who support the right to carry a weapon and own a gun in their home will support this advertisement because they either support the NRA, are members of the NRA, or are both. By showing these visuals in the commercial, the NRA makes this group of people scared that they will lose their guns and because of that they’ll get hurt.

This commercial reaches out to their target audiences effectively because of the visuals. I think the commercial does a good job in showing what they needed to show and makes the viewer understand their viewpoint.

 

Ballot for Sandy Springs, GA

Below is what will be on the ballot in my hometown of Sandy Springs, GA (District 6 for U.S. Congress and Georgia Senate, District 52 for Georgia House). It includes national, state, and local candidates, as well as some proposed constitutional amendments and special voting issues.

CANDIDATES FOR OFFICE

For President of the United States:

Donald J. Trump (President) and Michael Pence (Vice President)—Republican

Hilary Clinton (President) and Tim Kaine (Vice President)—Democrat

Gary Johnson (President) and Bill Weld (Vice President)—Libertarian

For United States Senate

Johnny Isakson (Incumbent)—Republican

Jim Barksdale—Democrat

Allen Buckley—Libertarian

For Public Service Commissioner

Tim Echols (Incumbent)—Republican

Eric Hoskins—Libertarian

For U.S. Representative in 115th Congress from the 6th Congressional District of Georgia

Tom Price (Incumbent)—Republican

Rodney Stooksbury—Democrat

For State Senator From 6th District

Hunter Hill (Incumbent)—Republican

Jaha Howard—Democrat

For State Representative in the General Assembly From 52nd District

Deborah Silcox—Republican

For District Attorney for the Atlanta Judicial Circuit

Paul Howard, Jr. (Incumbent)—Democrat

For Clerk of Superior Court

Lewis L. Pittman—Republican

Cathelene “Tina” Robinson (Incumbent)—Democrat

For Sheriff

Ben Coward—Republican

Theodore “Ted” Jackson (Incumbent)—Democrat

For Surveyor

William Daniel III (Incumbent)—Republican

Arnaud D. Huguet—Democrat

For Solicitor-General of State Court of Fulton County

Keith Gammage—Democrat

For Fulton County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor

Preston D. Mason (Incumbent)

Alan O. Toney (Incumbent)

PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow the state to intervene in chronically failing public schools in order to improve student performance?”

Yes

No

“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended to allow additional penalties for criminal cases in which a person is adjudged guilty of keeping a place of prostitution, pimping, pandering, pandering by compulsion, solicitation of sodomy, masturbation for hire, trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, or sexual exploitation of children and to all assessments on adult entertainment establishments to fund the Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited children Fund to pay for care and rehabilitative and social services for individuals in this state who have been or may be sexually exposed?”

Yes

No

“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to abolish the existing Judicial Qualifications Commission; require the General Assembly to create and provide by general law for the composition, manner of appointment, and governance of a new Judicial Qualifications Commission, with such commission having the power to discipline, remove, and cause involuntary retirement of judges; require the Judicial Qualifications Commission to have procedures that provide for due process of law and review by the Supreme Court of its advisory opinions; and all the Judicial Qualifications Commission to be open to the public in some manner?”

Yes

No

“Shall the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide that the proceeds of excise taxes on the sale of fireworks or consumer fireworks be dedicated to the funding of trauma care, firefighter equipping and training, and local public safety purposes?”

Yes

No

SPECIAL ELECTION

Shall Fulton County, Georgia be authorized to grant a Freeport Exemption to E-Commerce goods stored in fulfillment centers from taxation?

Yes

No

Shall an additional .75 percent sales tax be collected in that part of Fulton Country, Georgia, outside of the City of Atlanta, for five years for the purpose of transportation improvements and congestion reduction?

Yes

No

Class Prep 10/12/16

After viewing and playing with the Gendered Advertising Remixer, I realized how advertisers use different techniques when appealing to boys than when appealing to girls. With boys, the advertisements tend to be more action-focused. A lot of the visuals showed boys playing, being rough, shooting guns, explosions, things of that sort. The music behind a commercial geared toward a little boy was also more aggressive, the voice-over tended to be “rough,” and overall the advertisement was more intense than with the commercials for girls.

On the other hand, ads for girls were different. They tended to show softer imagery, such as girls playing with dolls or sitting and talking. They were not as aggressive or “action-oriented” as the boy commercials were. The music behind the commercial was also more high-pitched and sounded like pop music. The voiceover also was always high-pitched.

It is interesting to note, however, that both advertisements for boys and girls had voiceovers. However, a boy never voiced a girl commercial, and a girl never voiced a boy commercial. This is just something that I found interesting and is worth noting when analayzing the differences between the commercials for boys and the commercials for girls.

Unit 2 Reading Questions

How many colleges are currently using green space effectively for student learning, and why aren’t more doing it? Why are colleges spending more and more money on student recreation centers than on learning and education centers?

Article: http://libjournal.uncg.edu/jls/article/view/972/777

Organizing My Blog

To organize my blog, I made a few changes to the layout of it. I liked the way WordPress had given me my blog so I decided to keep that structure. I edited the tabs names so that they would read “Home,” “About Me,” “Atlanta,” and “Calendar/Weekly Overview.” These tabs are clearly visible at the top of the blog so visitors to the site can access where they need to go with ease. I have not put anything yet in the “Atlanta” section but I have multiple pictures of sites that I would like to add there.

I also created many different categories for the blog. New categories included Class Prep, Atlanta, Built Environment Description, Class Notes, SOS, and Study Session. By adding the new categories, visitors to the blog will have an easier time navigating my posts. If they need to search for something, they can simply go to the category choices and choose the one that will bring them to what they are searching for. I also think adding the categories made my blog more organized so there are not just random blog posts categorized as “Uncategorized” posted on my blog.

Because of the changes I made, I believe that my blog is now more easily accessible and user-friendly. Visitors to the blog will not get lost because the categories make it easy to find what you are searching for. I plan on adding more pictures to my blog, and making the tabs more interesting, but for now I am happy with the way my blog looks.