The City Reader - Suburban Sprawl

The local Atlanta-based blog that I have been repeatedly reviewing over the last few weeks is called “Atlanta Unsheltered.” It was created by Ken Edelstein and its main focus is to discuss the "news and views on politics, media and the environment." Later Jeanne Bonner, another journalist, joined to help develop the blog. The covers five main topics: transportation, arts and media, nature, politics, pollution and garbage, and smart growth.

The views of the authors seem to be heavily influenced by the “Go Green” movement that has become increasingly popular over the last few years and is evident in many of the articles posted on the blog. One key topic of “Atlanta Unsheltered” is transportation issues. The authors promote carpooling and using public transportation to help with both traffic problems and to help with air pollution. However air pollution isn’t the only pollution they are concerned with. They’ve also voiced their concern in one article about the build-up of garbage in the streets. Another key subject of the blog is local politics. The “go green” attitude is very evident in the authors’ political beliefs as well. In one blog post, author Jeanne Bonner voices her concern about how the Atlanta mayoral candidates that live in suburban neighborhoods can solve public transportation issues when they hardly ever use the public transportation themselves. The following quote comes from the aforementioned blog post and describes how she feels about the candidates: “Because it means that none of these candidates did what I did — which was specifically stake out a neighborhood, a block and a house that would allow me to walk to coffee shops, retail stores, restaurants, transit and parks.” The authors use a variety of modes of media to effectively help convey the point at hand, whether it be a disgusting picture of the accumulation of garbage in the streets, a funny political cartoon on the issue of traffic and public transportation(displayed to the right), or a YouTube video to provide a visual aid for what they wrote about.

From the many posts on the blog it is easy to discern why its authors write about their community. I think they deeply value their community but also realize that there can be many improvements made to the community. Their blog makes for a good medium to arouse public interest on the issues and events in the Atlanta area.

-Blake Bauer