Virginia Highland

I went to Virginia Highland on September 8th, early in the morning with Marta Bus line 45. I first took the Tech Trolley to Midtown Station, waited 10 minutes for the bus to arrive then had a 6 minutes bus journey to the intersection of Virginia and Highland Avenues, the heart of Virginia Highland neighborhood. It was a pretty easy commute from the campus, I didn’t wait much and rode a spacious bus. As far I have looked up on itsmarta.com, Virginia Highland has a pretty good bus system that connects the neighborhood to major MARTA stations and other important places in the city, which can be pretty effective if used with the schedule on MARTA website.

I have spent about 3 hours strolling around the streets of Virginia Highland, mainly through North Highland Avenue, though I`ve been to the side streets and other intersecting roads. One thing that surprised me was the narrow streets. I haven’t been to many places in Atlanta, but from where I’ve been so far, I can say that there were really wide and congested roads at the places I visited. Highland Avenue, the main road of the neighborhood is a single lane road where traffic is very low and sidewalks are wide enough for pedestrians and window-shopping. The area was totally pedestrian friendly, and the `slow down, neighborhood` signs were some measures taken by the local government to promote this. I also saw many people jogging and shopping on the sidewalks. Most people had basic necessities in their bags like groceries and beverages, and grocery stores are within walking distance, which effaces the need for a car.
While I was walking toward Virginia-Highland Intersection, I passed by John Howell Park and had a chance to observe the public spaces and parks of the area. There was a maintenance car in the park at around 8:45 am, preparing the park for the day. The park was in a perfect shape, grass was cut freshly, it smelled fresh and everything was clean in the park. I had a chance to observe the lawn of a house and it was very neat and clean, everything in order and kids were playing happily. Streets were also clean, not like streets of Toronto, Canada, but clean in Atlanta standards. I was pretty shocked to see that Virginia Highland was chosen as the first carbon free community in the USA. It is very interesting to see that such a community can exist in the USA where cars are worshipped. I then decided to add being environmentally friendly on my criteria.

As I was walking the area, the thing I liked the most was the homes and the architecture of the neighborhood. Every house had a distinct touch, but the neighborhood has its own unity in architectural style. Every house had a history, and no house was like the so called McMansion, there were some grandiose and more sumptuous homes, no house looked artificial and incongruent with the texture of the area. Speaking of architecture, most retail shops and restaurants seemed to be converted from homes and were in the same style of the neighborhood buildings. However, there were some other shops that totally ruin the charm of the neighborhood. I can say that Chevron gas station and CVS should not have been allowed to be built there. Chevron stands in the very center of Virginia-Highland intersection and overshadows the single-floor little shops with the gas pumps and the vast area it covers with parking lot, and the FOOD MART that is built in a very boring style. Moreover, CVS, with its giant parking lot and incongruent architecture, is a betrayal to the architectural style that is present in every stone of the place.

After all these physical observations of Virginia Highland, I would like to talk about the demographics. As I have previously researched and observed, the neighborhood is home to a pretty prosperous community. The cars in garages were good brands and shops and restaurants appealed to the upper class mostly. However, I also saw some very cheap condominiums and flats were students and lower income people reside. Apart from this partial diversity of income, there were people from different ethnicities, I saw many white people along with some African American and Hispanic people who were enjoying the neighborhood. I saw 4 churches and one synagogue on North Highland Avenue, indicating the different backgrounds of residents. While looking for community bonds, I found out that there are 3 neighborhood civic associations and 2 business communities, all of which strengthen the personal and commercial bonds of residents and local business.

My criteria for a neighborhood fit the traditional neighborhood definition and Virginia Highland complies with these criteria perfectly. I believe a traditional neighborhood is the most pleasant place a person can live in, due to the ease of life and the proximity of all basic necessities to homes. Community is stronger in traditional neighborhoods, residents have stronger bonds and they generally become happier pupils. I observed the happy residents of Virginia Highland and I justified my claim that a traditional neighborhood is better to live in than a suburban sprawl neighborhood.

Can Amado