#thomas wheatley

DCI Ross Tanner (Clive Owen) of the Specialist Elite Murder Unit is working on a case with ambitious DI Catherine Tully (Claire Skinner) when he makes the frightening discovery that he is slowly losing his sight. Tully discovers his secret, and agrees to cover for him – under certain conditions.

Second Sight: Part One.  Originally aired 9 January 2000 BBC1 (U.K.)

Second Sight follows Detective Chief Inspector Ross Tanner (Clive Owen), a maverick cop who finds out that he has a rare disease which is causing him to go blind. Tanner’s boss, Superintendent Lawson (Thomas Wheatley), little suspects that the man he named to head the elite Specialist Elite Murder Unit is losing his sight. Tanner struggles keep his condition a secret, but soon asks himself – how long can he keep solving crimes that not even the fully sighted can fathom?, whilst battling with his irrepressible Inspector Catherine Tully (Claire Skinner), who urges him to tell the truth for the sake of his own health – but will doing so ruin his career? 

(via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sight_(TV_series)#cite_note-3 )

Second Sight, Part One.  Originally Aired  9 January 2000  BBC1 (U.K.)

One of my favorite local news writers is Thomas Wheatley at Creative Loafing. The past couple of weeks he's written some real gems and I thought I'd collect them in one post.

Parking tax? Why not? : Cash to build transit, bike lanes, and sidewalks won't fall from the sky

Here's a quote:

If implemented, the [parking tax] measure could encourage transit ridership, help spur denser development, and raise tens of millions of dollars each year. That revenue will help build and operate bus and rail, fill potholes, and repair decaying bridges.

This sounds good to me. Though I'd also like to see some of that revenue go towards cleaning up water basins that are polluted by runoff from parking facilities.

One look at this map from a couple of years ago, showing the parking structures in Midtown Atlanta, gives you an idea of how much revenue we could be getting:

Census: 6,664 homeless people counted in Atlanta, Fulton, DeKalb

This is a report on recent statistics on metro homelessness. The numbers come from a census conducted one night in January of this year. Here's a look at some of the numbers:

"The largest number (2,736 people) was counted sleeping in emergency shelters, with persons found in unsheltered locations a distant second (2,077 people), and those in transitional housing third (1,851 people)"

The need for continued, improved and better-targeted services for homeless people remains high.

Free-market policy guru bemoans road diets

Road diets -- taking a lane (or more) of automobile traffic and turning it into a bike lane or wider sidewalks -- is an issue that can rile up motorists who are used to decades of policy aimed purely at moving more cars faster on roads.

But it's exactly what we need more of in many parts of the city that lack good pedestrian and cycling space on public roads.

Wheatley writes:

Are suburban motorists' dreams of shaving a few minutes off the trip time between I-75 and their Downtown office more important than those of Atlantans who might not want mini-highways outside their apartment building?

Creative Loafing examines the conundrum of ATL's South Downtown

I'm still reeling after reading Thomas Wheatley's expert article on Atlanta's South Downtown district: "South downtown must be fixed for Atlanta to thrive."

It's a great review of the sad downfall of a once-vibrant area. And though the history is largely depressing, the article rightly highlights the green shoots of goodness in the area, such as Lunacy Black Market (one of my favorite Atlanta restaurants).

I would post a quote from the piece here, but I can't choose one. It's all such a compelling read.

This South Downtown district basically looks the same as it did when I first encountered it in the 1980's -- a run-down, underused shell that has enormous potential (gridded streets with sidewalks and nearby transit) to be a vibrant, walkable, smart-growth success story. I'm still waiting for it to move beyond that status.