Atlanta City Council to meet Monday

The Super Bowl weekend is in the books and it’s back to another busy work/school week for residents within Midtown Patch. It begins this morning with an Atlanta City Council Committee on Council meeting at 11:15.

The meeting will take place at 55 Trinity Avenue in Committee Room 2 and will be followed by a full council meeting beginning at 1 p.m. It is expected that there will be Midtown neighborhood representation during the public comment portion today in support of City Council Redistricting Amended Map 6.

At a January 17 meeting, neighbors spoke out against the original map that pulled into Council District 6 and away from Midtown voters. Ultimately, the council voted to split Grady, placing half of it in District 6 and half in District 2. Many want to keep Grady in District 2.

In a December Letter to the Editor, Midtown resident Jessica Lavandier wrote, "Midtown residents are asking City Council to include the boundaries of the Midtown neighborhood and Grady High School in the same City Council [district]. Grady High School is a major landmark in Midtown and it is within the city of Atlanta adopted boundaries of the Midtown neighborhood. In addition, Grady High School is the polling location for at least two Midtown voting precincts."

More information about the redistricting is online.

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Speaking of Grady High, it will be another busy week with regards to Atlanta Public Schools Redistricting. On Thursday at Grady, there will be an Atlanta Board of Education listening session with the SRT3 community beginning at 7 p.m.

On Super Bowl Sunday, members of the Loring Heights and Brookwood Hills communities were among those who walked along Peachtree Road in a show of support for keeping their children at E. Rivers Elementary School. Remember you can keep up with the city-wide APS Redistricting coverage on our Patch Facebook page.

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On the business front, is about to get a $21 million facelift and open as a Hyatt in early 2013. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the unbranded 191-room hotel at Peachtree and 10th streets has been acquired by Noble Investment Group.

And finally, Midtown Alliance has released an update on its Midtown Streetscapes construction project, part of its Cityscapes effort to create a more pedestrian-friendly community. With the financial support of the Midtown Improvement District (MID), a multi-year, $82 million public improvements program for ten major corridors, encompassing more than 25 miles of improvements is ongoing.

The goals of Midtown Cityscapes are to improve sidewalk conditions and traffic flow, add lights and trees, create urban parks and green space, and promote pedestrian usage. From Midtown Alliance:

10th Street Streetscape – We are excited to finally be starting construction on new sidewalks, street trees, lighting, handicap upgrades and removal of overhead utility lines on 10th Street! We will have more details soon after our construction team meets this week to discuss project staging!

Ponce de Leon Ave/North Ave Intersection Improvements – We are thrilled that construction is underway for this exciting project that will transform the southern part of Midtown! This multi-phased effort includes intersection upgrades on North Avenue from the Connector to Piedmont, intersection and streetscape improvements along Ponce de Leon Avenue from Spring to Piedmont, and the revitalization of the Fox “triangle” park at Ponce/Peachtree. Our construction crew is currently working on Ponce between Spring and West Peachtree and improvements will continue to progress east along Ponce throughout the first half of 2012.

West Peachtree Street, Phase II – New wider sidewalks, lighting, and handicap upgrades have been completed between 14th and Peachtree Streets. Allee Elm trees and other landscaping were installed last week. The final phase of the project will remove wooden utility poles and overhead lines!

14th Street / Crescent Avenue – Georgia Power is currently relocating overhead utility lines and will be removing wooden utility poles soon on 14th Street between Juniper and Piedmont. Recently installed traffic calming improvements near the 14th Street entrance to Piedmont Park have made the intersection much safer for pedestrian crossings!

Peachtree St. Phase III – Although this project has been on hold for some time, we expect to start work in the coming months, which will include relocating Peachtree Street’s overhead utility lines underground between Peachtree Circle and the I-85 Bridge.