Purpose: Crime in prats of Atlanta, reason why, research has primarily been about crime, researching highest crime rate for city and year, demographics of criminals, Relationship between the police and the populace, any cases of discrimination or corruption in the police department, Causes of Crime: Drug Use, Mental Illness in Homeless,

Resources: Academic Journal, Interview Cops in Georgia, Taking pictures of homeless,

Proposed Solution: No clear way to eliminate all crime, informing the populace on way to monitor for,

During the beginning of this semester, I immediately knew that I wanted to analyze the city of Decatur. My roommate is actually from Decatur, and the city is no more than 15 minutes down the street from the dorm. During the first built-environment assignment, we took a trip to Decatur to take a look around town and make observations. I was immediately taken aback by the friendly “tourist” like vibe I got from the city. There were many different small restaurants as well as coffee shops throughout the downtown area. I saw many families walking through the parks as well as live bands playing. The further I went through Downtown, the more I learned of the history of the city. We passed the Dekalb County Courthouse and were introduced to many large churches and temples in the area.  After seeing this, I was under the impression that Decatur was one of the best cities to live in with out any trace of poverty. After having one-on-ones with the professor, I realized that this was not in fact true. I had only seen the prosperous “good” part of Decatur and not the poverty-stricken parts of the city home to to many of the minority residents of the town. Realizing that I had only seen what the city had wanted me to see really showed how sometimes we as people try to hide the ills of society and paint a facade in its place. Thats why for my project I plan on taking an analysis on the true Decatur, both prosperous and poor. I want to see if there are any consistencies of either racial or economic segregation in the city. I want to understand why the city’s logo sign is placed by large houses and churches and not by subsidized homes or shacks. Doing so will help me understand if there are still any social problems that need to still be addressed in Atlanta. Since the beginning of class we have discussed how certain objects and barriers of been a way to separate certain subsections of the population from the majority population.  Decatur might have a train tracks that separates two distinctively different parts of town or may certain buildings architected in a way so that they can’t be used as a shelter for passing homeless. Any of these covert creations can be used as a way of legal segregation and want to see if the great city of Decatur is as great as it claims to be.

The purpose of my project is analyze any ways that the city of Decatur has separated people of different  racial or economic backgrounds.

Tester, G, et al. “Sense Of Place Among Atlanta Public Housing Residents.” Journal Of Urban Health 88.3 (2011): 436-453 18p. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

This article written primarily by Tester, analyzes the history of government public housing and the effects it has on the people as well as the culture of inner cities and towns. The article begins by explaining the history of public housing. Originally as part of the War on Poverty, government housing was used as a well to aid the poor and give them cheap, subsidized homes. By the beginning of the 1990’s, many started to realized that the homes were a failure and were now fostering poverty and crime.  Another reality of public housing is that the majority of people living in many of this poor areas were African-American which was now resulting in generational poverty and the rise of gang violence in these areas.  In conclusion, the articles states that the only real solution to the problem would be integration with the rest of the city as well as new working opportunities would be the only way to end the stigma associated with public housing. The reason I chose this article is because it explains physical barriers that have been put in place to separate different portions and people of society.

Ki-Whan, Choi, and David L. Sjoquist. “Economic And Spatial Effects Of Land Value Taxation In An Urban Area: An Urban Computable General Equilibrium Approach.” Land Economics 91.3 (2015): 536-555. Business Source Complete. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

This article written by Choi and Sjoquist discuses the recent legislation passed by the city of Atlanta that has changed from a capital party tax to a land value tax and the effects it is happening on the urban landscape of Atlanta as well as the demographic and social view of the city. The article then continues by explaining the different models that were used in order to create an overlapping consensus that would then be used and implanted into the economic system, These new tax codes and laws are looking to tax based entirely on the value of the land in use and less on the amount of capital and income that is earned by the patrons and those leaving there. In doing so, this in fact going to lower the amount of revenue collected by small time business owners and places them more on longstanding corporations and companies. The theory is that by relaxing restrictions of small-businesses, these entrpreneurs will have more to invest in their business which will then develop into a profitable corporation to be taxed more. The reason I chose this  article is because it  explains economic actions taking by cities and the effects that they will have on the urban public.

Flanagan, Mark W., and Harold E. Briggs. “Substance Abuse Recovery Among Homeless Adults In Atlanta, Georgia, And A Multilevel Drug Abuse Resiliency Tool.” Best Practice In Mental Health 12.1 (2016): 89-109. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

This article written by Flanagan and Briggs, reviews the amount of homeless drug addicts living in the Atlanta Metro area and the amount of aid and recovery that is being used to help those in need.  The article begins by explaining the reason why many of these homeless people are turning to drugs. Many living in the homeless community, suffer from a number of different mental illnesses and because of this as well as their homelessness causes them to not receive any form medication. They instead turn toward cheap drugs that are an abundance in their communities. The article then explains why many of these people are now entering free rehabilitation services in order to rid themselves of their ailment.  Many of these people are now looking to different resources to aid them and are now looking for employment after they are rehabilitated from their drug use. The reason I chose this article is because it analyzes the lives of the homeless and why the public may have a perception of them to the point of wanting separation.

Kryda, AD, and MT Compton. “Mistrust Of Outreach Workers And Lack Of Confidence In Available Services Among Individuals Who Are Chronically Street Homeless.” Community Mental Health Journal 45.2 (2009): 144-150 7p. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 25 Mar. 2016.

In this article written by Compton and Kryda, they review data collected over a month in Manhattan, New York City to understand the perception the homeless have of different services offered.  The article begins by giving statistics that review the number of homeless living on the streets of New York City. In the last 20 years, the number of homeless in the city have decreased by 20% but many facilities are still being overbooked and resources are strained.  Even though majority of the homeless in the city are looking for government or community aid, a sizable portion refuse to have any contact.  After taking a survey of homeless individuals who hadn’t received any services in 12 months, the answer was routinely consistent.  The main reason was that many homeless lacked confidence in the care and the caregivers.  They believed their attention was not genuine and that it was just a job for the workers. The article concludes that in order to be able to gain the trust of these homeless, more steps and events must be held in order to build a mutual love and understanding between the groups. The reason I chose this article is because it discuss homelessness and societies perception of it just as we have discussed in class.

Authors Phia Benen and Brendan Mcmullan explain in the article “Color Walking”, the art of color walking where you choose a color for a day then follow that color around a city. The authors the emphatically state the benefits that can come from observing colors in society. One of the primary examples that is used is the city of New York, where both authors wrote accounts of what they saw. They create a digital photographic account of the different blocks and boroughs of the city to give a visual image to the audience of the colors they were seeing. Near the end of the article, the authors explain how the colors that they had focused on the entire day had still left a “tinge” in their eyes and thoughts. It had truly changed they perception of what color truly meant and how we as a society look past it because is seen so much. In order to recreate this experiment, the reader is told to spend an entire day and just focus on one color. If he audience loses any sight of that one color through the day, they are then supposed to choose another color to follow. Coincidentally if their are lost, they have achieved the right goal in that they had immersed themselves into one color. Overall I felt as though this was very well written and thought-provoking piece on what influence sight and sound can truly have on the human mind. A mix of digital images as well as provocative language imagery really develops a connection between the reader and the experiment.

http://ralucsernatoni.deviantart.com/art/City-colors-450229623

The article written by Melissa King “Better Online Living Through Content Moderation”, is an analysis of the growing amounts of reported cyber-bullying cases and the effects it can have on the victim and the community as a whole. The beginning of the article focuses on the definition of “peer pressure” and what it personally means to many people. People tend to avoid using “content control” which is the use of the settings of social media to block individuals who are offending you, because that is seen as being “weak” and being “cowardly”. The author then however rebuts  this view by saying that the overall benefits of content control far out way the social stigma that comes with it.  With the continued attacks on personal self-esteem, many people are beginning to show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Results of this are not going to school, thoughts of violence against their aggressors, and predominately thoughts of suicide. The counter to this argument, is that online threats are simply “just online” and have no real value or truth to threats being made. Caleb Lack, an expert on clinical psychology, states that bullying for continued periods of time can have a very negative effect and stimuli on the brain. Many every devices and social media formats are gateways to many different forms of intimidation which can cause an epidemic of PTSD among different people. In the conclusion of the article, King finally addresses the repercussions that should be given to those that intimidate others online. Legal action should primarily be taken to stop the problem from continuing. She then states that primarily girls and women are usually the top victims of online harassment and bullying. She then references from “Gamergate” a controversy in 2014, that addressed many of the gender inequalities found in the video gaming world.  Many of those involved in Gamergate were then threatened with violence if those chose to speak freely and express themselves. Even though mean comments can never truly be avoided on the Internet, King believes it is the job of social media to ensure there is a way for people to control these comments, and maintain a healthy state of mind.

Who is Audience

• General Populace
• Policy Makers
• New Home Buyer

Purpose

• Inform Audience about the Homeless
• Makeshift Houses in Urban Environments

Happening around the same time

• Government Gridlock
• 8 years since Housing Market Crash
• Rise of Homelessness
• Wages aren’t rising
• Growing Income Inequality

Her Argument

• Too much media that drives public consumerism
• People are consumed with materialism.
• The homeless deserve to be shown empathy by majority of Americans
• Morton shows an analysis of life of the Homeless

Evidence Used

• Using Morton’s Photographs
• Testimonials by Homeless residents.

Solutions

• No real solution is given.
• Writing about it gives exposure to the problem

Situated of 152 Luckie Street, the Tabernacle is a symbol of Atlanta’s devotion to its lush musical history as well as the shared importance of preserving history and tradition. The Tabernacle was originally built and opened in 1911 and was one of the main sites for people to worship in the Atlanta area.  Around 1998, the building was sold to music vendor companies as a stage for performances and has been that way ever since welcoming a multitude of artist to Atlanta as well as starting their careers. Upon walking from the side of the Tabernacle, I was able to see its size compared to the Atlanta Ferris Wheel that stands 200 feet tall. The building is composed of red bricks that were collected from red clay found in the different regions of western Georgia. It is simply astonishing to know that some of these bricks have held the structure for the last 100 years. Just like many other structures built after the Civil War, their is heavy usage of Greek Architecture involved. Tall, white, Corinthian poles serve as support for the building as well as the different arches for the windows gives the theater a resemblance to the Parthenon of Ancient Greece. Once I entered the building,  the inside truly shined more than the outside. There were two levels of seating, one for the bottom floor and the balcony floor. There seems to be enough room  to hold more than 200 people. Seeing the stage was really amazing because on the sides stood 20 feet red curtains and there was also a crystal chandelier at the very top of the building that illuminated bright rainbow colors on the floor. Once I climbed on top of the stage, I was able to get a view of what many performers would see every night here at the Tabernacle. I was able to see the entirety of the audience seating at felt a direct connection with the room. Overall, I had a very amazing and informative experience with the Tabernacle. Just reading and understanding the historical significance of it really gave it a more important impact on me. Knowing that different performers had received their big break here or were jest touring cities showed what importance Atlanta had on the musical culture of the South as well as the United States. I hope the Tabernacle will continue to service the people of Atlanta with a good show for years to come.