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Thesis (Ph.D)--Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Noonan, Douglas; Committee Member: Castillo, Marco; Committee Member: Chang, Michael; Committee Member: Cozzens, Susan; Committee Member: Rodgers, Michael. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Transit Oriented Development (TOD) program has been expanding the number of stations being considered for development of surface parking lots and into the air rights over certain rail stations. As of 2015, MARTA has six rail stations in various stages of TOD development, which will increase multi-modal options for metro Atlanta residents. The overarching goal of TOD development is to increase transit ridership and reduce auto-dependency; hence quantifying the potential benefits of TOD development in terms of ridership is paramount. Despite several drawbacks, travel demand models have historically been utilized to forecast ridership for land use changes and transit improvements. Direct ridership models (DRMs) are transit demand forecasting methods that can be applied to land development in cases where traditional travel demand models (TDMs) are not well suited. DRMs leverage geographic tools commonly used by planners to take advantage of small scale pedestrian environment factors immediately surrounding transit stations. Although DRM data and methods can achieve greater precision in predicting local walk-access transit trips, the lack of regional and large-scale datasets reduces the ability to model ridership generated from riders outside the immediate vicinity of the rail stations. Stations that have high multi-modal access trips, particularly via personal vehicle and connecting buses, are not typically accounted for by DRMs. Hence, this study focuses on pedestrian-based rail boardings only, a metric that also allows the use of a large scale onboard survey distributed by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) in late 2009 and early 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. Analysis of the large scale on-board ridership survey also reveals variables that may be useful in forecasting ridership at the station level when coupled with available census data. Comparison of variables such as income, age, gender, ethnicity, and race from census data with the large scale survey guided the selection of candidate variables to be included in a DRM for MARTA rail stations. Results from the comparison showed that using census data in DRMs does not always accurately reflect the ridership demographics. Notable differences in pedestrian-based ridership and transit catchments appear to occur in populations making less than $40,000, African American populations, and the young and elderly populations. Large differences in the survey and census data reported around the stations raise questions about the usability of census data in predicting ridership at rail stations. Despite the shortcomings of using census data to directly predict walk access transit ridership, an ordinary least squared (OLS) regression model predicts a high proportion of variance of pedestrian-based ridership in Atlanta, Georgia. A small number of variables were incorporated into a DRM to show the strong relationship of employment density with pedestrian based ridership. The number of low income residents was also influential in increasing ridership via walk access.

This thesis investigates the potential of express bus to serve travel demand in a polycentric region, using the Atlanta metropolitan area as a case study. Express bus, which serves as the primary mode of line-haul transit commuting for most suburbs in the Atlanta region, is primarily focused on serving traditional suburb-to-city commutes. However, more than half of the commutes in the Atlanta metro are to suburban locations. This thesis investigates the potential of an author-devised plan to enhance the transit commute to suburban employment centers, using express bus as the primary technology. Working mostly with existing routes, the plan incorporates ideas found in the literature, such as intermediate stops, transfer hubs, and local bus serving first and last mile connections. The thesis also tested existing plans, off of which the author's plan was devised. Tests were performed using the trip-based model of the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC). Dramatic gains were seen as a result of the author-devised plan, such that 8,000 daily transit trips are added, and express bus ridership increases by 50%. Performance improved especially for routes in which intermediate stops were added. The results have implications for how transit can better serve travel demand in a polycentric region.

As a rapidly growing, multibillion dollar industry, tattooing is quickly becoming a mainstream art form and commodity. Although the ancient art form, originates from civilizations all over the world, the modern history in the United States has largely limited Black individuals from receiving the recommended training (apprenticeship) until about the last twenty-five years. The purpose of this study is to explore the history of the Black Tattoo Community in Atlanta. The following questions will guide the study: What is the history behind the Black Tattoo Community in the Atlanta area? What are the experiences of Black artists apprenticing and learning to tattoo? What are the differences, if any, when tattooing people of color? What impact has television, the internet, and social media had on the tattoo industry, and in particular on Black tattoo artists? This study utilizes an oral historical interview method to answer these questions.

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By the late nineteenth century, white northern missionary societies established a variety of higher education institutions with the premise of educating African Americans. In Atlanta, three of these institutions, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Atlanta University, were heralded—by the aforementioned missionary societies and by some African Americans across the country—for their liberal arts curriculums. The often white founders believed the colleges were assimilatory institutions, hoping black students would lead their own communities, but did not believe blacks would become political or social leaders in greater society. In comparison, African American founders desired eventual control over the institutions, and wanted graduates—and the larger black community—to be treated as citizens with the same rights as whites. Additionally, African American organizations outside of the schools were concerned with securing black safety, socio-economic stability, and education. Thus, instead of being the assimilatory institutions their white founders desired, the colleges were integral to improving the social, political, and economic status of African Americans. However, unlike African Americans outside of the institutions, the schools did not operate under a specific political agenda, and the desires of the institution’s white founders and the African American community surrounding the schools often conflicted.

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The primary objective and intent of this paper is to explain the problem of continuous high turnover among the employees of the City of Atlanta workforce, and identify the factors and major variables that are responsible for this problematic situation. The City of Atlanta has been burdened with high turnover among its employees in the past several years and that problem has continued to the present time. Findings from this research indicate significantly that employees are not motivated by economic factors alone; other factors, socio-psychological in nature, have much impact on workers' motivational behavior. Research method for this paper consisted of informal interviews (primary data) and exit interviews (secondary data). The main sources of information were documents, records, and materials collected from the Bureau of Personnel and Human Resources, City of Atlanta. Other sources of information included magazines, periodicals, and books. Research findings indicated the following significant factors. 1. A perennial, persistent employee turnover. 2. A very high mark of resignations in good standing. 3. Dissatisfaction with the city employment. Based on the findings of this research, it is conclusive that the city must arrest this problematic situation in order to improve employee performance, productivity, and retention. To achieve this, the city must change some aspects of its personnel policies. Some important recommendations have been made which if implemented, will help to arrest the situation.

In 1910 Atlanta University published the findings of an extensive study of universities in the United States which Negroes attended. For this, study both quantitative and qualitative data was collected. The quantitative data was derived from the school catalogs and information provided directly from the Negro colleges (Du Bois & Dill, 1910). Data was collected on student enrollment, courses of study selected by the students and degrees conferred. The qualitative data was derived from survey information provided by 800 Negro, college graduates¹. In addition to basic statistical information respondents were asked to provide information on their hopes, aspirations and expectations upon obtaining a college degree. This information was then correlated by gender and presented in the study titled The College-Bred Negro American. While this study illuminates the agreement among the respondents that the acquisition of college education is the key to success for the Negro---one can also hear a divergence of opinion regarding what type of college education (liberal or industrial) would lead to success for the Negro American. This thesis analyzes the implications of the Atlanta study, using a variety of methods combining autoethnography with analysis of the data from the US Census Bureau. Further the thesis concludes with a proposal to initiate a survey that is comparable to the 1910 surveys administered as a part of the Atlanta study. I have chosen to combine an autoethnographic approach with an objective analysis of the 2004 US Census data in order to determine if the growth in college degrees earned within the African American community represented by the study's original respondents is still occurring in the African American community today.