City of Atlanta Cutbacks

Atlanta City Government has cut back to a four-day work week, except for the most essential public safety services. City Hall was mostly dark Friday. Phones went unanswered and e-mails got automated responses. Mitchell Street was ghostly.

This is going to result in some very serious problems for all of Atlanta, the least of which is that it is unlikely that permits or variances are going to be granted on a timely basis, especially those that are scheduled to be heard on a Friday. The Planning Department staff will be working only Monday-Thursday until further notice.

The sewer project has been shut down. Whether this is due to the recent spill of toxic waste into Peachtree Creek as indicated by the yellow caution tape and warning signs posted along Wesley Drive, or lack of funds to finish the work is unknown. Watershed Management remains silent.

What's Going on Around Here, Redux

My very first post back in February suggested that this blog would provide a missing source of neighborhood information. At the time there was a "sort of" MPCA website, and a once in a while MPCA newsletter. The website had not been updated in a couple of years, but it did give the Association a slight presence in the community.

Communications lately have consisted of frequent Zone 2 crime reports for those who care to read a lot of tedium. We're most often assured that no crime has occurred within our specific geographical boundaries, i.e. our 4 streets. Officially, that's true, but some incidents have taken place in the MPCA that have not been reported to the APD, and therefore aren't on those dutifully forwarded crime reports. There actually have been a few car break-ins.

While much positive change has taken place in the neighborhood, especially in the area of community involvement, MPCA leadership has deteriorated. The moribund MPCA Board is only interested in promoting social events at this point, and not in exerting even minimal efforts to maintain and protect declining property values in Memorial Park, which is happening due to economic forces in general. But this is the time for our neighborhood to become vigilant about any laxity. For one thing, the City is soon going to reduce its schedule of curbside trash, recycling and yard waste pickup. Everyone needs to be informed so that our neighborhood doesn't start looking like a dump. That's a for instance.

It has not escaped notice that some builders are quite unconcerned with the living conditions of surrounding residents and the damage they are inflicting on the people who are already here.

Rather than force the people directly on either side or behind the construction site to confront the newcomer, the MPCA Board ought to go to bat for people whose property is being damaged or whose lives are being made miserable.

We have an architect and a land developer on our board. They know about building, permitting and such. Between them, they ought to monitor construction sites for regulatory compliance, and perhaps ask for something above and beyond the letter of the law out of consideration for those who are being inconvenienced. Even though they represent the homeowners, it seems that by virtue of their professions, their sympathies seem to lie squarely with builders. Too bad for the owner whose basement will be flooded, or the neighbor who is going to lose a beloved tree.

I have waited some time for someone to speak up about the piles of trash and garbage strewn all over one site which has never had a dumpster, among the many questions about the project, past and present. There is an unfinished house that appears to be abandoned. One house, thankfully finished, had a Port-O-Potty right on the street that was rarely serviced. The stench was worse than anything that ever emanated from the sewer, and could be smelled a block away.

If the MPCA Board does not start taking an interest in building codes and variances in the neighborhood, others will step into the breach. Some people went through quite a bit of effort to start the MPCA, get signatures, write by-laws, get it incorporated and get approval from City Hall.

They did not have in mind at the time that they only wanted an organization to collect money to spend mostly for the entertainment of small children -- which most people do on their own anyway.

Another Suspect in the Missing Wesley Drive Street Sign

The recent neighborhood meeting was hosted by the Northside United Methodist Church.

The Methodist Church was founded by JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791)!

Coincidence?



(Correction made, thanks to eagle-eyed reader who pointed out that John Wesley wasn't 268 years old at the time of his death.)

The Missing Street Sign Mystery

Along the lines of the strange accusations from you-know-who about neighborhood shenanigans, these are some of my theories about what might have happened to the missing street sign. I welcome any others:

1. It was kidnapped by aliens who are analyzing it to learn about earth navigation methods.
2. It was taken by members of the vast right wing conspiracy to confuse liberals trying to get to the polls to vote in the December 2 runoff election.
3. It was taken by members of the vast left wing conspiracy to prevent Republicans from finding the polls to vote in the December 2 runoff election.
4. It is part of a covert CIA operation that the White House knows nothing about.
5. It was done by the Mossad with White House approval.
6. The sign was on a grassy knoll. What else is there to say?
   

Don't forget to vote Tuesday, December 2!

Has "The Opposition" Struck Again?

The street sign at the corner of Wesley Drive and Wellesley Drive has mysteriously disappeared. I have heard this is new work of a shadowy evil conspiracy that reaches back over many years and is responsible for every single real (and imagined) mishap that has taken place in the Memorial Park neighborhood.

Keep your children, pets and potted plants indoors at night, my friends.

Let's Try This One.

Surprise Outcome

In an unexpected twist, the Memorial Park Civic Association has voted to dissolve the ad hoc Trail Study Committee that has been the source of much bitter controversy and division during the past year, some of which was chronicled on this blog.

The neighborhood voted overwhelmingly in favor of ending any further inquiry into installing a surfaced path around the park.

A Petition Against Paving

Below is the text of a petition delivered to City Hall recently. Residents who live adjacent to the park were asked to sign, the theory being that their quality of life and property values would be most severely affected by development of the park. They believe that their concerns should be accorded more weight on this issue than others who would not suffer the same impact.

MPCA President Glenn Cartledge received a copy of the text, with a note that more than 70 individuals had signed at that point. He reported to David Quillian, Chairman of the Trail Study Committee. If you are a member of the MPCA, you will be receiving spin-control prior to the October 14 neighborhood meeting.

There have been complaints of subterfuge from a few members of the Study Committee. There is even a tinge of moral outrage. Correct protocol was ignored, i.e., the civic association must be the conduit for expression of opinions as well as the final arbiter. Similarly, this site was excoriated by Mr. Quillian earlier this year for publishing about the neighborhood without prior board approval. There was the vacuous "Note from the Board" in the April 2008 newsletter, urging that dissent be taken only to the MPCA Board. Unlike other civic association boards, the MPCA's does not announce its meetings, nor does it publish minutes.

Secrecy: As I understand it, the petition was widely distributed as an email attachment during the process of signature-gathering. Several residents found the form left at their homes with an explanatory note. I believe some were faxed.

Most email programs have an easy-to-use forwarding feature. This petition and any emails discussing it likely made their way to many desktops, including those of the Study Committee and the board.

Benjamin Franklin observed, "Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead." I am curious about the amazing method that must have been used to compel silence among dozens of people, some of whom declined to sign because they were in favor of the paving.

Fact: Mr. Quillian, Mr. Cartledge and Ms. Margaret Warren (also of the Trail Study Committee) were each overheard months ago scoffing at talk of a petition. Now they are "shocked! shocked!" to learn it was going on right under their noses.

Clearly they are not so much surprised by the existence of the petition as they are stung by its success. They have been belittling the extent of opposition to this project, despite plenty of negative feedback, including on this blog -- which does have a readership. In fact, the above cited "Note From the Board" may have been a subtly-worded request to abandon the petition.

Another fact: At least 8 (and probably more) former and current members of the Trail Study Committee knew all about the petition. Some were involved in promoting it. Some expressed support; others did not.

Perhaps those committee members saw this petition as a rather ordinary communication between taxpayers and an elected official. Maybe they did not know that they were supposed to take umbrage. The Trail Study Committee purportedly exists only for the purpose of fact-finding and research. It is not an advocacy group.

This is what the petition says:

"We, whose homes border directly on Atlanta Memorial Park, a natural forest in the midst of the city, are concerned for its preservation. Any paved path around or through Atlanta Memorial Park would be detrimental to the park. Construction of a path or sidewalk of any material would require removal of some trees, and cause the deaths of others whose roots would be damaged by paving. Many trees were growing here before the creation of the park in the 1930’s, and many, including rare species, planted in the ensuing decades are endangered by drought, erosion and lack of care. Loss of trees combined with paving in the floodplain will increase the effects of future flooding of Peachtree Creek. A paved path will attract a large increase in park usage that this small park cannot withstand. A large increase in visitors will negatively impact the quality of life and the value of the property of those who live adjacent to the park.

We ask the City of Atlanta to deny approval of any manmade surface around or through Atlanta Memorial Park."

____________________________________________________

ANNOUNCEMENT

Fall MPCA Neighborhood Meeting
Tuesday, October 14, 7:00 p.m. Northside United Methodist Church
2799 Northside Drive