Editor's Note: The former Exxon service station at 486 Ponce de Leon Avenue has undergone a renovation since last Fall and was recently reopened by Stone Mountain businessman Mehwood N. Sohani as a Shell Food Mart. But one Midtown resident is disappointed at how the trees outside the station were recently topped. April 9, 2013 I noticed this morning that the new Shell Food Mart, 486 Ponce de Leon at Monroe Drive is now open. Something else there caught my eye as I waited at the traffic light: the new trees along the sidewalk have been topped, leaving only the tree trunks and some very short …
By Olivia Veira APS has a million dollar question in its lap that it can’t afford to answer: how do you make schools more secure? Just a few days before a Grady High School student shot herself in the leg, Grady began one of the most intensive security protocols that I have seen in my four years at Grady. We had to take our bags off, shed our electronics and walk through metal detectors while teachers half-heartedly patted our bags. But, no system is perfect. And this one certainly had its loopholes. For example, I, and every student with classes in the gym or the trailers, could walk …
By Casey McCann Béla Bartók, the celebrated twentieth century Hungarian composer, wrote playful and interesting piano music for children in addition to his larger works for advanced musicians. Some of these pieces were based on Eastern European folk melodies, and some were wholly original. There were several that I absolutely loved as a child, and I love teaching them to my piano students.Mikrokosmos is a collection of études that progress from very simple to highly complex, which Bartók wrote to systematically address certain musical and technical challenges. While I love the concept, most …
Editor’s note: Election Day is four weeks from today and the deadline to register to vote in Georgia's general election is today, Tuesday, Oct. 9. For more information about voter guidelines, what’s on the ballot for Midtown voters and more, see here. Virginia-Highland retired lawyer Howard Stopeck, 73, is set to face incumbent U.S. Rep. John Lewis for the District 5 congressional seat next month. A Republican, Stopeck made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 1984. The 5th Congressional District represents a diverse swath of metro Atlanta that stretches from Buckhead to Forest Park and …
Editor’s note: Virginia-Highland retired lawyer Howard Stopeck, 73, is set to face incumbent U.S. Rep. John Lewis for the District 5 congressional seat in November. A Republican, Stopeck made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in 1984. The 5th Congressional District represents a diverse swath of metro Atlanta that stretches from Buckhead to Forest Park and Decatur to Sandtown. I am Howard Stopeck, Republican nominee, United States House of Representatives, Fifth District of Georgia. Click www.GoWithSto.com to see who and what I am. If we think alike, I ask for your support. With your support…
Editor’s note: Earlier this month, Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall called for more responsibility and accountability from vehicle booting companies by pushing an ordinance to strengthen the city's regulation on those companies. The following letter to the editor is from someone who works in Midtown and recently found herself booted during a visit to the Starbucks located at 21 14th Street. By Nima Patel I’m a victim of predatory booting. Last Wednesday, a friend and I went to the Starbucks on 14th & W Peachtree in Midtown Atlanta. After we parked our car and headed towards the entrance…
By Terry Bond People throughout the Atlanta region were pretty clear on their position concerning TSPLOST, and there were a myriad of reasons this tax didn’t fly – too much transit and not enough roadway … too much roadway and not enough transit … doesn’t do anything to actually relieve traffic congestion … why should my purchase of milk and bread be taxed to improve roads … pretty much every reason you can think of. For myself, I’ve been torn on which way to vote for months and didn’t make my final decision until just before I voted. So, we said NO to TSPLOST. Now what? What is it we really …
Editor's Note: The following joint letter is from representives of Jamestown Development and RenewATL. Tomorrow's transportation referendum vote may be the most important local vote for decades to come. So please help us by doing everything you can to URGE friends and neighbors to get out and vote for it tomorrow (if it'll help, feel free to send forward this letter to any likely voters). The vote is likely to be close, so please make sure to VOTE TOMORROW! Dear fellow environmentalist, Our region’s challenges seldom get the attention they deserve. This week, however, we have a rare chance …
Editor's Note: Early voting for the July 31 General Primary, Nonpartisan and Special Election, which includes the Transportation Investment Act (TIA), concludes Friday at 5 p.m. See here where to cast your advance ballot. With the election in the final homestretch, TSPLOST proponents and opponents are in overdrive trying to get their message out. Included here is an op-ed piece from the executive director for The American Conservative Center for Public Transportation providing an out-of-state point of view. Also a pair of videos as Cascade Patch has vocal TSPOST opponent Vincent Fort of State…
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been an avid cyclist. The benefits are significant: cycling keeps me in shape and is a fantastic stress reliever. This fall, though, I will hit the road not for myself but for the kids of Camp Twin Lakes. And I'm hoping you will consider doing the same? The seventh annual Spin for Kids will take place the weekend of Oct. 20-21 and will feature several beautiful road bike routes through Madison and Rutledge, Ga., for cyclists of all skill levels, as well as a mountain bike ride at Fort Yargo State Park. Riders will raise funds by getting sponsors to donate money to…
Editor's Note: House Representatives Ralph Long (D-Atlanta) and Simone Bell (D-Atlanta) are set to battle for a seat in Georgia House of Representatives that would represent portions of Midtown, Virginia-Highland, Inman Park, downtown and many southeast and southwest neighborhoods. Bell, 43, and Long, 36, are forced to run for the same seat — District 58 — after legislators redrew district boundaries statewide last year. Bell, a consultant, has represented District 58 for three terms. Long, a real estate broker, currently represents District 61, which includes portions of southwest Atlanta. …
By Mary Jo Peed In his recent State of the State address, Governor Nathan Deal announced his goal of increasing the percentage of children reading at grade level by the third grade. He detailed a plan to implement a statewide reading mentors program and will seek $1.6 million from next year’s budget, saying, “When we fail to invest in our youngest students, we are forced to spend money on remediation for the rest of their academic careers.” At Everybody Wins! Atlanta (www.everybodywinsatlanta.org), we applaud Gov. Deal for focusing on the importance of early intervention for building reading …
A letter from Midtown resident Jessica Lavandier: After the release of the decennial census, City Council boundaries have to be re-drawn so that all council districts have about the same population in order to ensure equal representation. Based on the 2010 census, each district should have about 34,706 people. Between 2000 and 2010, the city of Atlanta population shifted to the northeast. While some areas added population -- particularly Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead -- other areas lost population. City Council members have been working since August to redraw the council district boundaries …
By Blaire Lynch As a teacher, it’s been difficult for me to wrap my head around the recently proposed APS redistricting plans. Although I’ve spent hours watching recorded video footage from various presentations and meetings, and poring over documents APS has uploaded to its website, detailing enrollment forecasts and projected population growth/decline, I still don’t get it. You see, as a teacher, I know that in order to write and enact a successful lesson plan, I need to focus on creating learning objectives that are observable and measurable. And perhaps my background and experience as an …
From the Centennial Place Elementary Local School Council: Centennial Place Elementary was founded on the radical idea that an urban school could perform at high levels educating any student that came through the door. The City of Atlanta, the Atlanta Housing Authority, Georgia Tech, and Coca Cola came together with the school board to build a state-of-the-art school focusing on science, math, and technology. The goal was to have a student matriculate through Centennial, Inman, and Grady to Georgia Tech. That goal has been reached. The school has become a diverse school serving diverse …
Dear Editor, Home Park is a unique neighborhood located in the heart of Midtown near Georgia Tech and Atlantic Station. Home Park has many attributes – location, mobility, reasonable housing costs, and excellent school options. Our families have enjoyed good school options for many years including Centennial Place Elementary, Inman Middle and Grady High School. Young families are moving into and staying in the neighborhood in part because of these top-notch school options. Our neighborhood’s future is now in jeopardy with the proposed options for redistricting. All proposed options move our…
Dear Editor, I was dismayed this afternoon to see a local catering company tweet four access codes, saying they worked at most gated communities in Atlanta. The tweet also noted he had mentioned it a year ago so this is clearly a continuing "share."I asked the owner why he would tweet such a thing and was told not to take things "personally or seriously." I take security and safety very seriously, and simply cannot believe that a business owner with any sense of responsibility would behave in this fashion. He added that it was an "inside joke" [among caterers]. I have access to many of those …
By Adam Williamson(Principal of Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh & Associates) As part of a major streetscaping project in Midtown Atlanta, Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh was asked by the Midtown Alliance to improve the aesthetics and function of Juniper Street. The streetscape project extends from 14th Street to North Avenue, and 12th Street is included from Juniper Street to Piedmont Avenue. Although Juniper Street is home to some of the city’s most popular restaurants and theatres, and is part of the Midtown Business District, the street had sections that were in need of repair, and weren’t pedestrian or …
Dear Editor,I live on Peachtree at Peachtree Place in Midtown.The frequency that motorcycles with illegally loud mufflers thunder down Peachtree is increasing. Many riders rev their engines, presumably to draw attention from crowds on Hudson Grille's patio. I know that my neighbors in Cotting Court and Metropolis are also being woken up, and certainly everyone with their home on Peachtree is as well.I'm realistic about the police's actual ability to affect this trend.So I'm wondering if Patch could start a conversation about this problem and get the neighborhood thinking creatively about how …
Editor's Note: Read Part One of Greg's discussion on community identity. Midtown has human capital like no other city in the Southeast. It’s one of our core strengths. Midtown is diversity. It’s a core strength. We are a creative group and we are a group of energized thought leaders. These are our “undeniable truths.” The combination of people, events, activities, diversity of race, culture, education and lifestyle create a purposeful sense of community. We are a community because of our differences, not in spite of them. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book The Outliers, writes about a small town …
