Roots in Alpharetta

I often sing the praises of another local blog by Bob Strader. He’s a realtor who writes some genuinely useful stuff on his blog (unlike the random nonsense I post here).

Check out his recent article on some road projects in the area. A few of these jumped out at me.

Windward and GA-400 Ramp to North Point – I’ve heard about this one before. There will be a new ramp/lane that will funnel traffic from GA-400 northbound onto North Point Parkway southbound. This should reduce a lot of congestion in this area. I tend to avoid this intersection anyway, using Webb Bridge or McGinnis Ferry/Morris to cross GA-400.

Windward Landscaping – The same Windward and GA-400 intersection will get a makeover with stone works, similar to Mansell Road.

Westside Parkway at Prospect Park – Also known as the rock pit. Bob thinks we’re one step closer to seeing this connecting road open up between Old Milton and Webb Bridge/Academy. I’ll believe it when I see it, but hope it happens soon.

At my job we have lots of ticketing systems. This is pretty common in the IT world. We have applications for submitting tickets for network changes, maintenance requests, software defects, technical support, new employee hiring and firing, etc. We probably have a ticketing system for making changes to other ticketing systems. It sounds like a lot, and sometimes it is. But if you’ve got a good process around the system, it can help your organization in a big way.

How so? It allows for accountability and transparency. When stuff isn’t getting done, there is a record of who is assigned a task with dates, times and notes. And when the process behind the system works, it gives management the tools and metrics to track change. They can also make pretty graphs for their powerpoint presos.

Yesterday the AJC ran a story about the City of Alpharetta and their adoption of SeeClickFix. You can read the article here. The application is basically a ticketing system for citizens to submit minor problems within the city. Think potholes, broken sidewalks, storm drains, traffic lights, stuff like that. Users submit issues through a web 2.0 interface with google maps integration or over a smart phone (iPhone, Blackberry or Android). It is slick technology. <nerd mode off>

Like many, this was the first time I heard of this application, which Alpharetta has quietly been using for a few months. When I first read the AJC article I kinda thought the city developed this on their own. That’s not the case. They have adopted a process around SeeClickFix and have subscribed to its service. At only $100 a month, this was a real bargain for the city.

Yesterday I created an issue in the new system. I reported on a traffic light on Windward Parkway that I think needs to be re-timed. In just a few minutes someone with the city acknowledged the issue and assigned it to the traffic division for research. That in and of itself isn’t a huge deal. I suppose I could have picked up the phone and called the traffic division and accomplished the same thing.

So how is this better? Because I have a ticket. I am issue number 47733. I have a URL, a status, a date, “like” buttons and a section for comments and discussions. I have something I can come back to weeks or months later if nothing is done. In short, I have a visible way to hold the city accountable. If I had just called in my issue, who knows what would have happened. The employee on the other end of the phone could have done nothing. Or more likely than anything, the request might have just gotten lost in the bureaucracy of government.

The system is still pretty young. It will take time to see how well it is adopted and embraced by the city and citizens. As a local blogger you can bet I’ll be watching. In the meantime, I think the City of Alpharetta deserves a lot of praise. In this current political climate, citizens are demanding a lot out of government. Unfortunately that usually manifests itself in the form of ugly campaigns and fighting. What I think citizens truly want is open, transparent and responsive government, not politics. Big kudos to Alpharetta for being the first to leverage this technology.

This article in the AJC jumped out at me today…

http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/transit-beckons-in-far-571625.html

The Atlanta Regional Commission recently completed a “major study” on who takes transit and why. What’s the biggest finding, according to the AJC article? Transit trips in Metro Atlanta mostly happen in Dekalb and Fulton counties. 85% of them do. Imagine that! In a related study, Roots in Alpharetta has learned that 100% of MARTA’s trains exist in Fulton and Dekalb counties. Hey ARC… next time you commission a study on this, don’t hire Captain Obvious to grind the numbers.

The conclusion drawn from this study is that there is demand for transit in the burbs. I read the article three or four times through and I still don’t understand how they came to that conclusion based on the data. But nevertheless this is timely stuff. Recently the Georgia legislature voted to allow regions in Georgia to tax themselves for transit initiatives. Will this finally allow for trains in the burbs? Let’s hope not.

There are a lot of reasons we in the northern burbs are generally not in favor of mass transit. Usually the ITP folks will say it is based on race. Here on my blog I’m not afraid to point out bigotry in the burbs (here and here). I assure you, this isn’t one of those cases. Here are my reasons for not supporting mass transit in the burbs…

MARTA is a boondoggle. Its management and board are complete imbeciles. I have absolutely no confidence in their ability to run any organization, much less something as large as a transit authority. Even with a 1% sales tax and increased fares they still have trouble meeting operating costs. Sure, new transit in the burbs might not be run by MARTA. But given my observations, I have no faith that transit can be effectively managed here.

Building transit is capital intensive. A lot of MARTA’s current infrastructure was built on Atlanta’s existing rail lines. That was a smart move. But in our suburb this isn’t possible. There are zero miles of existing train track in North Fulton and Forsyth. Absolutely none. Gwinnett and Cobb are a little different though. But nevertheless I don’t think residents here would approve of additional taxes for this. Remember, we’re in the reddest part of this red state.

And lastly, we have cars here… lots of very nice fancy cars. The study finds that 40% of MARTA riders have no car. Alpharetta is an affluent place. I don’t know many people without a ride. As one of my twitter friends mentioned once… his SUV had more passengers than a MARTA bus he observed going down Windward Parkway.

You should follow me on Twitter. My profile can be found at http://twitter.com/rootsalpharetta . If you like my random and incoherent five hundred word blog posts, then imagine what I can do with one hundred and forty bytes!

Yesterday afternoon I tweeted the following:

I’m tweeting from GA400. My last chance to do so legally.

Yes indeed I was on Ga-400. If I pull such a stunt today I would subject myself to a $150 fine and a point on my license. Was I being reckless by using my smart phone on an eight lane divided highway? Hardly. My minivan was completely motionless and my foot was firmly on the brake. In other words, I was stuck in traffic. I know a lot of people use their phones in traffic because I see Foursquare users checking into “Traffic on GA400“. I’m not exactly sure why.

Today the new No Texting Law goes into effect. I’m not sure what to think of this. Texting while driving your car at speed is indeed very dangerous. And I do see it happen quite often. My wife will lean on the horn when she sees people do it.

But at the same time, there are so many other things in my car that may distract me from driving. Singing, talking, nose picking, yelling at the radio during liberal-slanted NPR reports… the list goes on and on. Just today, after my GA-400 tweet, my daughter threw a shoe at her brother. That distracted me much more than my tweet. There is still no law regarding yelling at a five year old while driving, much to the chagrin of my little Elizabeth.

So I practiced my little act of civil disobedience yesterday while it was still legal. The libertarian in me thinks responsible individuals should make their own decisions regarding being distracted in the car. Be a safe driver, whatever that means for you. On the other hand, anything that keeps more eyes on the road is probably the safe way to go.

North Point Community Church is building bridges. Sure, a lot of churches build bridges, figuratively and metaphorically speaking. Many a sermon has been written about how churches should build bridges. North Point is doing that I suppose, but they are also building a literal bridge. A really, really big bridge. A five million dollar bridge. Tidy sum, Mr. Bigglesworth.

Andy Stanley’s church has a little traffic problem. If you’ve ever traveled along North Point Parkway on Sunday morning you’ll know what I mean. They have two four lane roads leading from North Point into their massive parking lots. But even with that, when you have thousands of parishioners coming and going, it gets to be too much. So according to a letter from Stanley on the church website, they have spent nine years studying ways to address the traffic. As I see it, the biggest problem they face is one of geography. Their property backs up to Big Creek. In all of Alpharetta there are only a handful of places to cross Big Creek. There’s about to be another one.

So the plan is to build a three lane bridge connecting one of their parking lots to another. The second parking lot is in a business park just off Old Milton Parkway. The bridge will cross Big Creek, the Big Creek Greenway and a thousand feet of flood plain.

I really don’t know what to think of this. The church my wife and I attend is in the midst of a capital campaign. There was some push back when they started due to worries about the economy. But we’re not trying to raise nearly this much money. We also have a comparatively boring goal of reducing debt. No bridges for us, well just the figurative ones for now.

There also the sticker shock aspect of this. Five million dollars is huge. What could that do in this community? To put it in perspective… North Fulton Community Charities has a yearly operating budget of $4 million. I’m sure they could do amazing things with a $5 Million capital campaign.

On the flip side, North Point’s mission is “to be a church unchurched people love to attend.” They feel that the unchurched are not likely to attend if they can’t make it into the parking lot. There’s probably a lot of truth to that.

At the end of the day, Alpharetta’s largest megachurch is having problems scaling. This bridge is certainly a solution. I trust that they have prayerfully considered this decision so I’m not going to pass judgment. I’ll leave that to my readers. Is this a boondoggle or worthy effort to get non-believers into pews?

Something that has always puzzled me about Atlanta traffic is how we are courteous when we shouldn’t be and rude when we should be courteous. Here is how I see this paradox manifest itself.

The Four Way Stop

“It is your turn to drive to lunch,” I say to my co-worker as we leave our cubicles and head toward the parking lot. “Nope. There are four way stops on the way to that restaurant. You’re driving.”

Yeah, I have co-workers who are deliberate in avoiding four way stops. I can sorta understand this. The four way stop is perhaps the worst traffic control device ever. The idea is simple; first to the intersection is the first to go through. Ties go to the person on the right. The problem with four way stops is that people are too damn nice! Often I find that the first person will kindly wave another driver through, out of turn. This creates confusion because that driver is following the rules and is waiting. There is a hesitation. Eventually the friendly driver starts to timidly enter the intersection at the same time the other driver races into it. They both stop and say four letter words to themselves. Meanwhile traffic is backing up behind them.

Merging onto GA-400

Contrast this to merging onto the highway during a busy time. There is no room for courtesy here. If traffic is moving at all, people will speed up to close gaps so you can’t merge. Other times a merge lane is hopelessly crowded such that traffic is backing up onto surface streets.

In traffic there is a time for courtesy and there is a time for being expeditious. Know when to do each! Four way stops are simple. Keep alert for other drivers, knowing when they stop. Look out for hidden Milton PD as well (they love to prowl four way stops). If none are present and you’re first, then Cali stop and take off! Also keep in mind that two drivers can be in the intersection at the same time if they are not crossing paths. Don’t hesitate, be confident and clear your car through these fast! Save your kind deeds for the merging madness.

I recently received the following e-mail from a reader…

One of the things my husband and I like about the Alpharetta area is the sheer number of jobs in the IT field, which we both work in, along with the reasonable cost of living.

Quick question .. we can only get up in that area on the weekends – a few years back my husband was there for a trip. He mentioned the traffic during the week was horrible. I know overall the traffic in the ATL can be a bit much — if you live in Alpharetta and commute to where most of the hi tech firms are – is it really that bad? We have lived in the DC area so we can handle traffic, but would rather not return to hour plus commutes.

Just wanted to pass along that I enjoy reading your blog so thanks!

Tricia

Thanks for the kind words, Tricia! Your e-mail fondly takes me back in time, long ago…

Cue the harp music and blurry mental images

…it was the late 1990’s, the heady days of the IT boom. If you could spell JAVA, you got a job. Crafty IT folk would land contract jobs for big bucks. It was common to start a new IT contract then get a better offer a few days later after running into someone at lunch. Those who stayed with a company got to play the stock option lottery for free. If you were lucky, your company (with no business plan and still in the red) would go public or get acquired. Hello liquidity event!

Cue the needle scratching on the record sound effect

Two recessions later, things are a little different. There are a hundred thousand Indian guys willing to do your job for ten rupees a day.

Oh wait, you wanted to talk about traffic and IT work. Sorry. Metro Atlanta has several geographic pockets of IT jobs. They are roughly located in…

• Alpharetta (North Fulton)
• Norcross (Duluth, Peachtree Corners)
• Perimeter (Sandy Springs, Dunwoody)
• Southeast Cobb County (Vinnings, Galleria area)
• ITP (inside the perimeter, Buckhead, Midtown Atlanta)

I’m probably forgetting some, and that also doesn’t mean you can’t find a job somewhere else. I know IT people in Cherokee county, Gwinnett, etc. But as a general rule, these are where you’ll find the concentrations of IT jobs.

If you’re anticipating switching IT jobs every few years then I wouldn’t move to Alpharetta. As much as I like living here, I just don’t think it is ideal for commuting. Your best bet location-wise is the perimeter area, Dunwoody or Sandy Springs. You’re close to GA-400 and I-285, which can move you in any direction. You can go up 400 for Alpharetta or south for stuff in town. Scoot over to Peachtree Industrial if you want to head northeast into the Norcross area, or go west on the perimeter to the Cobb locations.

Don’t get me wrong, your commute is still likely to suck no matter which way you go. I just think that living at the perimeter will reduce your chances of having a truly horrendous commute somewhere. If you tried to commute from Alpharetta to Midtown or Vinnings everyday, you’d want to keep sharp objects out of your cubicle.

Also keep in mind that the surface roads at the perimeter are a mess. It will likely take you more than half your commute to get from home to the highway. But on the flip side, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs are decent places to live with good schools, places to eat, more nightlife options, etc.

I’m also like you in that Alpharetta attracted me because of the sheer number of IT jobs. If you look at my monthly job market posts, nearly every company on this list employs hundreds or thousands of IT people in Alpharetta. If you can land something fairly stable in Alpharetta then by all means settle down here! Take what I said above and ignore it all!

I kinda hope Bob Strader comments on this post. He’s a local realtor and blogger. I always appreciate what he has to say, especially for a topic like this.

Best of luck in your job hunt and move! Thanks again for the email.

If you have questions about Alpharetta or my blog, e-mail me at lee@rootsinalphareta.com or find me on twitter at http://twitter.com/rootsalpharetta

I wish I had a silver bullet I could share, or some unheard of trick to beating traffic. I don’t. So the subject of this post is a little of a misnomer I guess. Maybe these are just general observations I’ve made after living here for a dozen years.

GA-400

I used to commute down 400 in a previous life/job. I believe the traffic situation here is a lot better than it used to be. That’s probably not a comfort to those fighting it these days. The widening effort of a few years ago has helped, but I think it just moved the bottleneck from Haynes Bridge north to McFarland.  In cases of major backup, GA-9 can be an alternative for limited distances.

Traffic Reports on the Radio

Practically worthless. Unless there is a traffic catastrophe, you’re better off tuning out Captain Herb et al. I’d suggest checking the Georgia Navigator website before you hit the interstates. Leave the radio off or put on something soothing to calm your road-raged nerves.

MARTA

More worthless than the traffic reports. Suburbanites know how much of a time killer MARTA truly is. And on top of that, we would never go sans auto for the entire day!

The most ridiculous part of MARTA is these park and ride lots. What a waste of real estate. So I’m supposed to get in my car, fight traffic to the Windward lot, get out and wait, hop a bus to North Springs, wait, then get on a train which will only take me most of the way to work? I don’t think so. MARTA ain’t smarta, its just plain stupid.

Surface Streets

Do not underestimate the amount of traffic you’ll face once leaving GA-400. I find this particularly true in Forsyth County where the number of four lane roads is very small. Forsyth is probably fifteen years behind north Fulton on road building and widening efforts.

Surface streets always broke up the monotony for me. It was like a game trying to find the quickest path from home to GA-400. My tip here is to look for “No Thru Trucks” signs. These signs should really say “hidden two lane road that leads somewhere else”.

Schools

Everyone knows traffic lets up in the summertime once school gets out. That first Monday of the summer break is beautiful. It is like Moses parting the GA-400 traffic. Speed limit drives in the morning! Hallelujah!

Watch the schools on the surface streets. You don’t want to be driving through active school zones. This is especially true on rainy days when every SUV in the county is waiting to turn left into the one school on your commute. If necessary, adjust your commute times to avoid schools.

East/West Commutes

I’m amazed at how many people commute east/west across the northern burbs. I work with a lot of people who live in Gwinnett or Cherokee and commute to Alpharetta. My best advice here is to watch the river! There are a limited number of places to cross the Chattahoochee River, many of which are still two lane roads. The “No Thru Trucks” trick ain’t gonna help you here! My advice… cross the river as far to the south as you can.

Best Way to Win is Not to Play

Beating Atlanta’s traffic is a myth. The best you can really hope for is to break up the monotony. My advice it to simply reduce or eliminate your commute all together. Easier said than done? Not really. I mentioned in a previous post that we choose where we live and we choose where we work. Don’t choose to have those far apart! If you think you’ve found the ideal location for work, then move closer. I live five miles from my Windward office and I love it! On the other hand, my father-in-law has worked for the same company in Lawrenceville for twenty years. He has commuted from Conyers, on surface roads, that entire time. This takes a tremendous toll after a while and I don’t know why we continue with it.

If you think you’ll be switching jobs every few years but will remain in Atlanta, you should live in Dunwoody or Sandy Springs. I believe this is the ideal spot for commuting. You’re within easy reach of downtown, midtown, Cobb, Gwinnett or North Fulton.

If you’re gonna move based on commute, do your homework! My wife and I once considered a neighborhood on McGinnis Ferry road. On the weekend we were house hunting, it seemed like a great location. Then I thought about 5:00 traffic. Turning left out of this neighborhood was impossible at rush hour. Before you get any house under contract, go visit the neighborhood during the morning commute!

Move Your Commute Times

Most companies that are even mildly progressive with their employee relations will let you adjust work hours. If you cannot move your job or home, this is your best alternative. Hitting GA-400 before sunrise, and again at 3:00 or so will all but insure you a speed limit drive. If this gets to be too much, then fall back to a more normal 8-to-5 commute once school lets out. Combine this with a semi-regular work-from-home regiment for maximum traffic busting!