Community Corner

10th Street sidewalk not exactly safe

Stretch of pavement in front of halted condo project presents numerous safety concerns

A safety issue for pedestrians along 10th Street was recently addressed by City of Atlanta workers, yet with festival season here in Midtown, there’s still reason for concern.

The Dogwood Festival is next weekend, the Atlanta Jazz Festival in May, the Red Bull race in June and all summer long throngs of folks will be targeting Piedmont Park for warm weather outdoor fun. Most will be encouraged by city officials and neighborhood groups to take MARTA, and that means getting off at the Midtown station and making their way down 10th Street toward the park. But walking east along 10th street can get rather treacherous between Juniper St. and Piedmont Ave.

Especially between Fire Station No. 15 and BLUE MedSpa, located at 190 10th St. That particular 30-yard stretch of sidewalk is not very wide, and the rickety chain-link fence alongside it doesn’t extend to the ground throughout and was once all that separated pedestrians from a steep and eroding embankment.

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The property there at 180 10th Street was at one time not very long ago designed to be home to a 16-story mixed-used building with 160 condos. Intended to be Midtown Onyx, it was to have a distinctive exterior façade of glass and concrete, and feature a host of modern amenities, including a mezzanine with a pool and pool deck.

But early in the development phase there were legal issues between the developer and BLUE MedSpa concerning its construction and encroachment on the spa property. That was followed by the economic recession, so it was halted and now all that is left is a large hole with a host of safety and environmental issues. These include the eroding ground and soft soil near the sidewalk, as for a long while, it wouldn’t have taken much of a slip for one to take a nasty fall down the embankment

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But minor repairs have been made in recent weeks. One utility pole near the spa is leaning and rope is being utilized to help hold it up. City workers recently installed a makeshift barricade near the spa to prevent pedestrians from falling in the hole, and temporary fencing has been installed beside the chain link fencing. But there are other portions of the fencing where just one misstep could result in a foot and leg slipping under the fence with serious injury the potential result.

And with tens of thousands of festival goers set to traverse this narrow path in the coming weeks and months ahead, the hope is that more safety enhancements will be put in place before someone gets seriously hurt. Patch has contacted the Department of Public Works about this issue and is awaiting a reply with regards to this developing story.

Have you been concerned about this particular stretch of 10th Street? Let us know other safety areas that need to be addressed.


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