In the Examiner, Sara Cheshire ranks the five most walkable MARTA stations. Here are her top two:
2. Decatur
For a more relaxed adventure, exit at the downtown Decatur MARTA station and be surrounded by quaint shops, coffee and dessert joints, many restaurants and even a historic courthouse and gazebo. Regular festivals are offered and enjoy nightlife at destinations such as Eddie's Attic, Twains and the Brickstore.
1. Midtown
While Decatur is highly walkable, Midtown offers the added bonus of two grocery stores, movie theater, plenty of nightlife and fine dining as well as easy access to Piedmont Park. You can also easily walk to the North Avenue and Arts Center stations from Midtown and have plenty of transit options to other parts of the city.
The three things that put Midtown over Decatur, in her mind, were grocery stories, a movie theatre, and a park. We do have the little Kroger (which is just a poorly stocked big Kroger), but many want something like Trader Joe's. We lost our two movie theatres decades ago, and it's not likely we'll get a new one. Decatur Cemetery and Glenlake Park are the closest we can come to Piedmont Park.
I still think Decatur is safer, but recent events downtown could be the start of a negative trend. We need to find a way to reduce loitering around the station.
