Drivers in downtown Atlanta are being forced to take a bothersome detour. The Georgia Legislature is back in town for a special session.
Mitchell Street, which runs on the south side of the state Capitol, has been closed. A Capitol police squad car, lights a-flashing, blocked the road Tuesday as Georgia Department of Transportation crews hurried to erect barriers.
City drivers be damned. This is all about Capitol Convenience. Each day, legislators must cross Mitchell Street to get to their offices.
I keep hearing that crossing that street is unsafe, somehow more unsafe than the zillion other thoroughfares across Atlanta.
Sure, there are signs and crosswalk markings that warn motorists to be aware of the very important pedestrians, who also have a crossing guard, just like we did back in grammar school.
But still, drivers are often preoccupied, hurried or maybe a bit dumb. Sometimes they don’t stop, which is breaking the law.
Having been a pedestrian since kindergarten, I have advice to those brave souls who want to cross a city street:
Walk to the curb. Stop.
Look both ways and make yourself visible to drivers.
Wait for them to stop.
If they stop, proceed.
If they don’t stop, then don’t cross! Walking at this point can be dangerous, especially if you’re hurrying to lunch or strategizing with a lobbyist.
You can make a fist at those who don’t stop and loudly discuss traffic etiquette. This advice, however, rarely sinks in.
Granted, it is convenient to not even have to consider glancing up from your iPhone when crossing the street. And I get why legislators like the idea.
But if we start closing streets because drivers don’t pay attention to crosswalks, then close North Avenue so Georgia Tech students don’t get hit. Or close Decatur Street so Georgia State kids aren’t run over. Or close MLK Drive near the Atlanta University Center. Or close just about any street near any school because the lives of our youths are every bit as important as our elected officials.
The state has tried for years to permanently close this stretch of Mitchell Street, but has not yet succeeded. A decade ago, former Gov. Sonny Perdue wanted to turn it into a pedestrian plaza. The former governor was unable to achieve this, although he did push through a luxurious money pit of a fishing museum near his Middle Georgia home.
State officials have argued that this street is dangerous not only because of careless drivers, but because of terrorism.
A state resolution passed this year noted that a terrorist in London ran over several people near Parliament in 2017. “Such location being open to vehicular traffic,” the resolution stated, “presents a dangerous opportunity for an act of terrorism.”
State officials argue that Homeland Security officials have called for the street to be closed. An illustration of the proposed street closing shows a guardhouse at the corner of Mitchell and Washington streets because nothing says “This is the People’s House” like a fancy guard shack.
Former Atlanta Councilman Doug Alexander said taking action under the guise of preventing terrorism “is their excuse for everything. They’re not that important. This is not Washington, D.C.”
Again, if you close streets to prevent potential terrorism, then we’ll all end up as bicyclists or pedestrians passing through endless security cordons.
The vote on the Mitchell Street resolution, which occurred in March during the regular session, fell along partisan lines in the state House, with the GOP pushing for street closure and Dems saying “keep it open.”
Democratic state Rep. Scott Holcomb, an Army vet who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, opposed the measure “because it wasn’t best practice for the state to do it without coordinating with the city.”
For now, the street will stay closed during the special session — which is expected to last five days — and during the 2019 regular session that starts in January. Then discussions will follow about the street’s long-term fate.
Closing the street permanently remains the prerogative of the city of Atlanta, a state Building Authority lawyer told The AJC a few months ago.
Holcomb said both city and state workers complained to him when the street was closed down earlier this year during the legislative session.
City Council President Felicia Moore said, “There was a lot of traffic and it was kind of hard to get around” during that closure.
Holcomb and Moore are right. Before, motorists traveling east on the one-way Mitchell Street had to merely take a left onto Capitol Avenue and quickly arrive at an entrance to the Downtown Connector. It was an easy exit out of downtown. Now you must turn right on Washington Street, left on Trinity Avenue (which is one lane each way), left on Memorial Drive against heavy two-way traffic (without a light), and then left again on Capitol. It’s a real pain.
The mayor’s office says it is negotiating with the state and is trying to keep traffic flowing.
Said Alexander, “We have so many weird one-way streets, this just adds to the confusion.”
Mitchell Street at the Capitol was closed earlier this year because a motorist displayed a handgun when a security officer told him to stop for pedestrians. Hmmm, an armed knucklehead doing something stupid: In Atlanta, we call that Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or …
There's a cruel irony there. Legislators are gung-ho about pushing sacred Second Amendment rights, but they retreat into a protective bubble when some misguided goof has his own interpretation. Remember, this is the same crowd that fought for the "Guns Everywhere" law although the Capital remains guns-free.
Even the legislators involved in the street closure vote remain fork-tongued on the matter.
Republican state Sen. David Shafer, a sponsor of the resolution, told me, "I did not like the idea of (closing the street), frankly, but was persuaded that leaving it open was a security risk."
Democratic state Rep. Carl Gilliard voted “No,” yet when I questioned him while crossing the street Tuesday he said, “We should do anything we can do to increase security for constitutional officers.”
A lobbyist crossing the street smiled and shook his head when asked to venture an opinion.
“I can do nothing but get in trouble by commenting,” he said. “It’s that contentious.”
Now that fellow was practicing some real safety at the Capitol. Or at least some self-preservation.
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