The Beltline, The Real Deal

I have been talking a lot about whats happening in the world right now. I could keep doing this but its not getting us anywhere, and personally I need to expand this blog to encompass not only issues facing our world, but local opportunities that could give Atlanta the jolt the city needs to compete and grow in the 21st Century.

THE ATLANTA BELTLINE:

The Beltline is a transit/economic development project that is located along a 22 mile rail corridor that surrounds Atlanta. The project's motives are to completely redevelop and connect all 45 of Atlanta's neighborhoods through walking/biking trails, and high speed rail that will connect with existing MARTA lines. The proposal calls for $2.8 billion in funding and it is currently the largest-most wide ranging urban redevelopment project in the US.

MY VIEWS:

The Beltline in my opinion is one the greatest proposed initiatives to happen to Atlanta since I've lived here. They have been planning this project since 2004 and in recent years it has picked up significant pace receiving support from the City of Atlanta and State Legislators. I recently was able to speak briefly with a State Senator whose district resides in many of these neighborhoods that will benefit from the forming the Beltline. She believes as do I that we are finally seeing a shift in the ideals that have shaped Atlanta over the last several decades. Businesses, communities, and governments know that Atlanta's traffic woes are a huge problem for the future growth of our city and although we are among the best states to do business with because of our large corporate tax breaks that alone won't stop cities like Charlotte and Jacksonville who are currently investing heavily in transit to take our businesses and capitalize on our failure to act. There have been too many times where the City of Atlanta has received potential federal funding for major transit projects and has failed to act. Atlanta Beltline Website - Good Information

We now are seeing a light emerged not only with the Beltline, but the Atlanta Street Car that will connect East and West Atlanta for the first time since the connector was constructed some 40+ years ago. The street car which just got $9 million in funding to go along with our $45 million federal transit grant will connect Centennial Olympic Park with the MLK National Historic Site, it will also be connected to the Beltline corridor. Atlanta Street Car Article

Atlanta has the potential to be a beacon of light in the Southeast and people from all over are now beginning to believe in that potential. The Beltline will bring an urban revolution to our city and will ensure our competitiveness and growth for the 21st Century. We will finally be a biker friendly city, we will insure that our Atlanta remains "the city of trees," the proposed redevelopment will bring thousands of acres of green space and created a number of jobs for our beleaguered state economy. We have a bright future ahead in this city and as long as we stay informed and active in our community failure is not an option.

Cheers 

"Crises Precipitate Change."

I haven't posted in a little while and that's probably for good reason considering all the madness that has ensued in the last couple of weeks throughout the world.

I would like to touch on Japan and the massive effect that natural disasters have on even the world's richest economies. The 9.0 magnitude quake shifted Japan's coast line by 13ft and tilted the Earth's axis by 4in. Japan is very reliant on nuclear power and the quake has caused a major blow to their nuclear energy sector. The Japanese simply live in an extremely volatile area of the world for a number of reasons. They are an industrial economy that has no domestic natural resources to fuel their growth. They depend on imports for everything they produce which has always put them in a tight spot when things don't go completely as planned. Their investment in nuclear energy makes sense considering their extreme energy needs, but they have failed to update existing facilities and although they were prepared for earthquakes a 9.0 is not the type of earthquake that many can prepare for and Japan is lucky that the crisis isn't far worse considering that out of all the countries for a major earthquake to occur the Japanese are definitely the most prepared.

Japan's location is another cause of their volatility, they are situated on the Ring of Fire in the Pacific; which simply put is one of the most seismically active areas in the world. Since Japan's 9.0 earthquake their have been several earthquakes that have been well above 6.0 which to people in the US, especially where I live in Georgia would cause extensive damage. Nothing is easy in Japan whether its economics, geography, or foreign policy, but somehow they persist and continue to grow. I believe its the will of the Japanese people to accept hardship and understand their situation and generation after generation they continue to rise above the adversity to succeed.  I'm optimistic that Japan will recover in time, but will they recover soon enough so that their economic impact will not cause other world markets to double dip? Will we truly learn from disaster's like this one so that modern infrastructure and the people are better protected from these increasing destructive acts of nature? "crises precipitate change."

To be continued..... 

The United States and Oil

United States and Oil

• The United States is still the world's largest oil consumer at 18.8MBD, to put that in perspective we consume more oil than the next four largest consumers: China: 8.3MBD, Japan: 4.4MBD, India: 3.1MBD, and Russia: 2.7MBD
• We are the 3rd largest producer of Oil in the world at 9.1MBD compared to Russia at 9.9MBD and Saudia Arabia at 9.7MBD.
• The United States produces just less than 50% of its daily oil consumption, and the rest comes from foriegn suppliers.
• In total the United States consumes 22% of the world's oil supply.
• The other 50% of oil that we import is partly from OPEC: 4.67MBD and then 5MBD comes from: Canada 2MBD, Mexico 1.2MBD, Saudia Arabia 1MBD, Nigeria 1MBD, Venezuela .82MBD, Iraq .33MBD, Angola .3MBD, and Brazil .27MBD

Source: dailyfinance.com