Georgia

Atlanta's famously high levels of in-migration are propping up the regional housing market, even as other metro areas experience declines - or collapses - of their residential sectors.

Only three governments in Metro Atlanta support the local rail transit system. While the Atlanta City Council voted to extend the sales tax funding the system, some elected officials would like to put the issue to a public vote.

Despite being sued over its construction, a developer built a parking deck against code and severely limited the potential of the remaining downtown block it sits on.

Recently released Census population estimates project Metro Atlanta surpassing five million residents for the first time. The metropolitan statistical area is up to a whopping 28 counties.

The city is responding to a new parking survey by adding uniform public parking signage and revising its parking structure zoning.

Emory University hopes wants provide affordable housing for faculty and staff and tackle the area's traffic problem by building pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use communities on land near campus -- though some area residents aren't sold on the idea.

Georgia and South Carolina have announced plans to build a port at the mouth of the Savannah River, jointly operated by the two states.

Despite their larger sizes, recent bungalows built in three of Atlanta's most historic neighborhoods nevertheless are sensitive to the look and scale of their surroundings.

With Metro Atlanta's senior population set to mushroom, the region's planning agency says that area communities are not prepared to deal with the consequences of an aging population.

As the city plans to demolish most of its public housing, the only publicly-subsidized units remaining will be offered to senior citizens. Displaced residents will be given counseling and vouchers enabling them to live anywhere in the country.

The ambitious plan proposes to transform Peachtree Street with new streetcars, parks and other amenities. But skeptics wonder if such a massive overhaul is feasible -- or even necessary.

In an effort to stop the creation of a 26-mile commuter rail line connecting Atlanta to numerous suburbs, Georgia lawmakers are hoping to pass a bill requiring voters in each city and county along the proposed line to individually approve funding.

A broad study of the travel habits and neighborhood choices of more than 18,000 Atlanta residents has found that a third of the people living in suburbs would have preferred a more walkable neighborhood.

This editorial calls on public officials in South Carolina and Georgia to work together to build a river port that will benefit them both.

After a federal raid cost a chicken processing plant in Stillmore, Georgia, 75 percent of its mostly Hispanic 900-member work force, company officials hired locals -- mostly African-American -- to take their place. Then things got interesting.

A host of multi-million dollar intown mega-developments -- all mixed-use and pedestrian-oriented -- promise to remake Atlanta into a more walkable, urban city. However, the suburbs are in "no danger of emptying."

In response to public demand, The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority has adopted a resolution designating light rail as the transit of choice for the city's expansive Beltline park and transit project.

With some of the nation's longest between-stop distances, MARTA will assess the feasibility of leveraging the densification of intown Atlanta to construct new stations on existing rail lines.

A Reagan-era "free market approach to conservation" that would deny federal flood insurance to sensitive lands is being undermined through the political process. Congress has granted two exceptions to the law for coastal areas in Georgia and Florida.

The successes of mass transit and light rail in similarly car-oriented cities should be enough of an excuse for Atlanta to give it a try, according to this opinion piece from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.