We Owe It to Ourselves

Henry R. Batten, LLCC President & CEO

I’m usually not very good at writing stuff like this, but after a post on Facebook today from a friend from high school in Raleigh, I feel compelled to put these thoughts into writing.

I feel extremely fortunate to live in what I believe to be one of the most culturally diverse communities in Metro Atlanta. Several years ago many of us got together to see how we could harness this diverse populace and its unusual energy to better the lives of everyone within our “borders”.

We established a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation called the Lindbergh LaVista Corridor Coalition. We then applied for and were awarded a $50,000 grant by The Georgia Conservancy and Georgia Tech to study the three neighborhoods that make up our coalition: LaVista Park, Lindridge-Martin Manor, and Woodland Hills.

During this study we discovered many things about ourselves that we didn’t know. The estimated population of this community was in excess of 10,000 people! That’s larger than many small towns in South Georgia.

About 20% of those people are Hispanic. We also discovered that within our local elementary school, there were 23 different languages being spoken. This Hispanic population was right under our noses, but since they were concentrated in two or three “pockets”, many of us overlooked them. We began to ask ourselves how could we reach out to this large segment of people and make them more a part of our community. We recognized that there were large cultural and language barriers.

With another grant from Edelman (a large multi-national PR firm), and with the financial, physical and volunteer assistance of Westminster Presbyterian Church (an LLCC member organization that contributed as much money to this effort as some churches in Raleigh did to deny people their rights), and the cooperation of the Mexican Consulate General (also located in our community), we established a Hispanic English as a Second Language (ESL) Program. In addition to teaching students to read and speak English, the local branch manager of Regions Bank (an LLCC member) came to instruct people how to use banks and write checks, local EMTs came to teach CPR, two local police precincts sent officers to talk about community policing, and dietitians came to talk about nutrition, health and cooking. One evening a week we sponsored soccer games on the athletic field at the church so the fathers could spend quality time with their families.

This Hispanic population was very timid at first, unsure of what our true motives were. They were particularly skeptical of the police officers. We knew that many of them were “illegals,” but we never asked that question of them. It was our goal to include these people in our community, not run them away.

When the school district within the city limits of Atlanta was planning a realignment of attendance zones that would have a tremendous impact of these folks, we hosted community meetings where folks could express their concerns and ask questions. Let me tell you, these people “truly care” about the education of their children! These meetings had the largest attendance of any meetings that we’ve had! It thrilled my heart to see this kind of participation from a once marginalized population.

There are those who say that we don’t owe illegals anything and that they don’t belong here. I disagree. Not only did we owe these people the opportunity to become part of our community, we owe it to ourselves. Otherwise, we would be cutting ourselves off from the vast amount of talent, energy and cultural heritage that makes our community so special.

LaVista/Briarcliff Intersection Improvements

Below is a report from our DeKalb Transportation Coordinator, Barbara Wheeler, following her conversation with Dave Pelton, Supervising Engineer at DeKalb County Transportation.

The current proposal for Briarcliff and LaVista is at a standstill, the county is working on a concept to improve the intersection, but there are some objections by the commissioners to making the intersection any bigger.

Among the constraints, the church on the corner, Peachtree Baptist Church, is historic and cannot be altered, and the Whole Foods retaining wall is also immovable.

The commissioners inquired if the intersection could be converted to a roundabout, but the available space is not adequate for a large roundabout.

GDOT has set aside some money to improve the intersection, but the commissioners are not supportive of this current concept, so it is not moving forward.

The county would welcome any creative ideas for improvements that make the intersection flow better AND be more pedestrian friendly which Mr. Pelton believes is the commissioners’ point of view (hence the roundabout idea).

Click HERE to see the current concept drawing.

Public Meeting About Nature Trail Set for April 10

By Sally Sears

A plan to link two  major nature preserves in Virginia-Highland and Morningside is gaining momentum in the neighborhood.

The South Fork Conservancy and  Park Pride are leading discussions about a trail along the south fork of  Peachtree Creek connecting Morningside Nature Preserve and Herbert  Taylor-Daniel Johnson Nature Preserve.

The first public meeting scheduled for Tuesday, April 10 at 6 p.m. at Haygood  Methodist Church could demonstrate some of the benefits and challenges  of creating more greenspace with easy access to walkers, joggers and  perhaps bikers.

Creek  cleanups and trail building are expected later in the spring.

Here’s  what one avid creek paddler found on a cleanup downstream from Cheshire  Bridge Road.

From Richard Grove, Georgia Kayaker:

There are good river days and there are great river days. Today was a great one. Today  after 9.5 hours, 25 more tires were removed along with 3 shopping  carts, some carpet, a picnic table umbrella, 3 golf balls, mirror,  fishing reel, vehicle tail light lens, sleeping bag, trash can lid, PVC  pipe, wire, metal stud, shoes, shirts, roof shingles, safety fence, silt  fence, fire extinguisher, lots of aluminum cans, plastic bags &  bottles, a disposable razor. Still looking for a toothbrush. The pile is  huge. Next work day will be from Cheshire Bridge Road.

I have  never removed a Herbie trash container or a shopping cart from the  river. I thought the Herbie was a bear to get out but nothing compared  to the shopping carts which took more than an hour to dig each one out.
One  day next week I will cut up the tree in the river across from the trash  pile area which will make the river look much better from that view  point.

I see and hear people walking the trail when I am in the  river working but the only chance I get to talk to anyone is when I’m  either starting or finishing and at my truck.. When I was cleaning in  the area of the trash pile several people came to the riverbank to say,  hello. Sunday I met a couple who walk the trail several times a week.

A  year from now there will probably be less trash in the river but more  on the trail. Fact-of-life, Americans are pigs. Where they go so come  their trash.

Sally Sears is the Executive Director of the South Fork Conservancy,  a nonprofit that seeks to restore, conserve and protect the Riparian systems of the South Fork of Peachtree Creek Watershed. Follow South Fork on Facebook. Learn more on their website.

Explore a New Trail Near Peachtree Creek

By Sally Sears

Invitation  to explore a meadow in winter — it’s a newly created trail through a  long-ignored slice of Midtown, beside Peachtree Creek and Interstate 85.  Popular tours of the trails last week gave dogs, owners and neighbors a  walk in nature.

The  neighbors and the South Fork Conservancy are carving a new vision for  caring for our intown creeks. Simple trails through the landscape beside  the south and north forks encourage people to walk their dogs, breathe  deeply and re-discover big hardwoods hiding in plain sight on public  land. This meadow is interstate right of way, next to a neighborhood  with almost no accessible greenspace.

Two years of cooperation helped to  build this mulch trail, weaving along the creek and through a meadow of  wild flowers and grasses.  Neighbors hope to connect the trails under  the interstate to the Morningside Nature Preserve, Zonolite Park and  then to the Herbert Taylor-Daniel Johnson Nature Preserve.

If  you want to walk it, the trail head is just across the guard rail at  Lindbergh Drive and I-85. On street parking available at Lindbergh Drive  and  Armand Road.

More information is available at the South Fork Conservancy website.

Sally Sears is the Executive Director of thr South Fork Conservancy, a nonprofit that seeks to restore, conserve and protect the Riparian systems of the South Fork of Peachtree Creek Watershed. This article appeared in the Virginia Highland/North Druid Hills Patch on January 11, 2012.

LLCC & GIS

This Thursday evening, 13 May, we will hold our next LLCC General Membership Meeting. It will begin at 7:00 PM with David Green (Perkins+Will) presenting our new Geographic Information System (GIS). David will give us a brief introduction to GIS technology, introduce our customized system, and explain how this tool will be used in evaluation of the Blueprints Study recommendations and our future planning efforts. What makes our system unique is that it is customized for the LLCC community, spanning the jurisdictional lines between the City of Atlanta and unincorporated DeKalb County.

OK, so you are asking yourself, “What is GIS and how can I use it?”

A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

GIS allows us to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the form of maps, globes, reports, and charts.

A GIS helps you answer questions and solve problems by looking at your data in a way that is quickly understood and easily shared. We plan to share ours on our website.

In addition to basic demographic data, we hope to displace crime stats, flood plains, zoning, property ownership, tax valuation, real estate trends, traffic patterns, just to name a few. While you are viewing this presentation, we hope you will share with our design team data you would like to see tracked and displayed as well.

To find out more about GIS, in a clear, concise format, visit www.gis.com.

Our meeting will be held in the Fellowship Hall of Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1438 Sheridan Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30324.

The Planning Process: Next Steps

David Green, Associate Principal - Perkins+Will

From David Green – Perkins+Will

As many of you know, we had a very good turnout at the General Membership meeting on March 11. We presented our approach to the continued planning efforts in the LLCC study area, including reviewing past planning documents (primarily the LLCC Blueprints Plan prepared by the Georgia Conservancy in association with the Georgia Tech College of Architecture), preparing a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) database for consolidating existing information and coordinating future efforts. We also discussed our efforts to garner funding through a community led grants application process.

After the presentation, there was lively discussion. The primary topic was the proposal, in the Blueprints, to provide a street (vehicular) connection between Cheshire Bridge Road and Melante Drive, as an extension of Woodland Avenue. Many at the meeting expressed concern over this proposal, especially about the possibility of creating additional vehicular traffic on Melante Drive. There was general agreement that a revision to the Blueprints document excluding this vehicular connection as a recommendation was desired.

There was further discussion about the appropriateness of other proposed connections in the Blueprints document. We described our intention to pull information from the Blueprints document and other planning efforts in the study area, and place it on an easy-to-access database that would allow everyone to comment on these plans.

Though much of the discussion at the meeting addressed issues in previous preliminary plans (primarily the Blueprints document), Perkins+Will has not yet initiated the actual planning process. We are now assisting with the grant application process and setting up the GIS database to allow us to move forward once funding has been identified. As I said several times in the meeting, it is our goal in this process is to protect the quality of life of the residents of the residential neighborhoods in the study area. It is not our policy to propose projects that are not supported by the neighborhoods. Rather, our focus is on determining the vision the neighbors have and assisting in the realization of that vision.

The Georgia Conservancy agreed to develop an addendum to the Blueprints document acknowledging the strong opposition voiced at the March 11 meeting for the conceptual Melante-Cheshire Bridge connection. This addendum has been added to the plan and the revised plan is now the version posted on both the Georgia Conservancy website and the LLCC website.

In closing, I want to reiterate in no uncertain terms that if the neighborhoods do not want a connection from Cheshire Bridge to Melante, we will absolutely not recommend it and provide in the record that this is the case. This is true for this specific situation, and it is true for the planning process in general.