“SETTING ATLANTA IN MOTION”: THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF ATLANTA’S “PUBLIC” TRANSIT, 1952-1981 By ICHIRO MIYATA (Under the Direction of Bryant Simon) ABSTRACT This dissertation investigates the ways in which the making of a public transit system in Atlanta ended up not resolving, but instead perpetuating, and even accelerating, the city’s uneven development among the suburbs, center city, and affluent intown neighborhoods. It examines how the different actors, commercial civic elites, suburban county residents, and intown neighborhood residents produced and deployed their own configurations of the concept of “public,” and how these varied and frequently incompatible ideas conceived of, and affected, the public transportation system. Early planning demonstrated that the major beneficiaries of the transit plan would be the white middle class and downtown businesses. Advocates argued that public transit would perform its role as a “public” service by easing or eliminating the traffic congestion which threatened to deteriorate economic growth, while at the same time it would contribute to the convenience of suburban commuters. This concept of “public,” however, was fundamentally at odds with the notion held by African-Americans and suburban county residents. Each of these groups held a substantial stake in public transit and its impact on their neighborhoods. Failure to reconcile the conflicting understandings of “public” resulted in Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) losing in 1968 two county referendums to begin construction. Conversely, the victory of the public transit referendum in 1971 was a direct result of MARTA’s new plan, which included a 15-cent flat rate fare, a rail route to the poor African American neighborhoods in Northwestern Atlanta, and incorporation of the existing Atlanta Transit System’s bus network. An even more important factor in the victory was the efforts of intown neighborhood residents. These residents had engaged in campaigning against expressway or toll-way proposals, and strongly supported the idea of public transit. They stressed the important role that public transit would play in protecting the environment, private property, historic buildings, and public institutions. The potential that these conceptions of “public” held, however, was undone in the actual implementation of the plans. The making of public transit as a result of the victory led only to the unmaking of public space, and ultimately of the transit itself. The construction of downtown stations terminated the contingent rise of a diverse, multiracial downtown enclave, which had previously shown signs of emerging as a public sphere in which the underprivileged could raise their voices. The death of this incipient public space foreshadowed the eventual abandonment of poor African-Americans’ demands for a flat fare and a route to poor communities. Despite its popular image as African-American transit, MARTA succeeded only in preserving the affluent white intown neighborhoods. More importantly, however, it also failed to meet its original goals of eliminating the auto-dominated urban infrastructure and uneven development among the suburbs, city centers and existing old affluent communities. INDEX WORDS: Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, Public Space, Public Transit, Suburbanization, Anti-Expressway Campaign, Urban Renewal, Gentrification, Tourism, S. Ernest Vandiver, Charles L. Weltner, Sam Massell, Underground Atlanta, Urban History “SETTING ATLANTA IN MOTION”: THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF ATLANTA’S “PUBLIC” TRANSIT, 1952-1981 by ICHIRO MIYATA B.A., Saitama University, Japan, 1996 M.A., Saitama University, Japan, 1998 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2010 ○C 2010 Ichiro Miyata All Rights Reserved “SETTING ATLANTA IN MOTION”: THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF ATLANTA’S “PUBLIC” TRANSIT, 1952-1981 by ICHIRO MIYATA Major Professor: Bryant Simon Committee: Paul S. Sutter Shane Hamilton Michael Kwass Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2010 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Let me begin by acknowledging the many people who have built their lives around the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority railway and bus system. The last thing this dissertation tries to contend is that Atlanta's public transit system is bad. Every morning MARTA stations welcome many commuters heading to downtown or suburban work places and every evening these same stations see people rushing to their homes. It is the bustle and liveliness made possible by this safe, convenient and reliable transit system that turns concrete building and steel railcars into urban spaces that help comprise the community of Atlanta. For a student from Japan, pursuing a Ph.D. in America is not an easy thing. Professors and friends at University of Georgia’s Department of History, however, taught me that this was no excuse not to read and write. Special thanks go to my primary advisor Bryant Simon. Not only did I learn from Bryant's lectures, books, and articles, but numerous conversations with him over many cups of coffee truly laid the foundations for my career as a scholar of US History and American Studies. Bryant has always been an ardent supporter of my ideas and I often kept on writing simply because I wanted him to read what I wrote and to hear what he thought about it. I am so blessed to have such a great mentor. I also wish to express my appreciation to my other dissertation committee members, Paul S. Sutter, Shane Hamilton, and Michael Kwass, who patiently read the long, flawed document I submitted to them and responded by giving generous comments and insightful advice. History Department secretary Laurie Kane provided vital assistance that helped me to meet the administrative requirements of the Graduate School. Many thanks also go to my friends at UGA’s Department of History, with whom I shared lots of PBR, many softball practices, and countless paper plates of barbecue. The days I iv spent in Athens went by lightening fast, and now I know why. When I first passed through the UGA Arch, I had no idea that leaving the town would be so emotionally hard. I extend my thanks to John Hayes, Ivy & Bert Way, Chris Mango, Bruce Stewart, Yi Boram, Robby Luckett, Judkin Browning, Steve Nash, Barton Myers, Min Song, Keira Williams, Jason Manthorne, Reannon Eves, Dancan Maysilles, Justin Nystrom, Ed Hatsfield, Jim Giesen, Ann Marshall, Eric Powell, Solomon Smith, Will Holmes, Darren Grem and Chris Lawton (and others whose names I may fail to mention here). I would also like to express my gratitude to the impressive archivists and librarians at the University of Georgia’s Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, Emory University's Manuscript, Archives, & Rare Book Library, Kennan Research Center of Atlanta History Center, Georgia State University’s Southern Labor Archives, and the Georgia Archives. Special thanks go to the Russell Library’s Jill Severn, whose assistance was vital in locating the materials I needed for my project. I thank UGA Library’s Georgia News Paper Project staffs for microfilming newspapers and sending them to Tokyo whenever I made requests. I would not have finished this dissertation without generous financial support in the form of the Rotary Foundation’s International Ambassadorial Scholarship (2001- 2002) and a Fulbright Grant (partial, 2001-2005), grants that enabled me to study in Athens, Georgia. The Downtown Athens Rotary Club’s John Whitehead deserves special mention. Dr. Whitehead and his family helped me set up a new life in Athens and always made sure I was doing alright while enrolled in the graduate school. Saitama University’s Project Grant for Young Scholars (2007, 2008, and 2010), and Japan’s Ministry of Education’s Grant in Aid for Young Scholars (B) (2009-2010) made it possible for me to undertake research trips and to purchase materials necessary to finalize this dissertation in Tokyo. Finally, I am grateful to the Faculty of Liberal v Arts of Saitama University for allowing me to spend half a year on leave completing this dissertation. I should thank for my mentors, colleagues, and friends in Japan. Special thanks go to Natsuki Aruga, Professor Emerita of Saitama University. I would not be writing this if I had not taken her Introduction to American Studies lecture during my sophomore year. Since then, she has been my mentor and role model. I also wish to thank Mineaki Kanno, who is also Professor Emeritus of Saitama University and an UGA Ph.D. Dr. Kanno pushed me to write about Atlanta’s suburbanization in my undergraduate thesis, insistence that constitutes the origin of this dissertation. Hitotsubashi University’s Makoto Tsujiuchi, who passed away in 2000, has always been present in my heart, giving me power and courage whenever I encountered hardships. Yujin Yaguchi of the University of Tokyo deserves special mention for pushing me-yet always with a gentle smile-to do better, and for his warm, timely, encouragements to finish this dissertation. I am also grateful to my friends and colleagues in Tokyo, who share the difficulties and joys of being a scholar of American Studies in Japan. Thanks to Fuminori Minamikawa, Toru Umezaki, Kazuyo Tsuchiya, Satoshi Nakano, Yoshiyuki Kido, Takashi Machimura, Naoko Sugiyama, Erika Sunada, Taro Futamura, Toshihiko Aono, Jo Nakajima, and Tomoko Yagyu. Roger Brown and Andrew Kamei-Dyche, Japanese History experts from America and Great Britain, both took the time to proofread my English writing and provided insightful comments and suggestions as to the content. I am also very grateful for their ability to understand both the joys and difficulties of being a scholar who studies the history and culture of a foreign country. Lastly, I wish to express my gratitude to my family. My parents, Toshichika and Kazuko Miyata, always supported me in my pursuit of a Ph.D. in Japan and Georgia.