Atlanta Botanical Garden responds to ‘LEED-washing’ claims
July 9, 2009 at 4:20 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsThe Atlanta Botanical Garden has responded to the environmental news site which last week questioned whether the Piedmont Park, er, parking deck was as “green” as it’s been touted.
After the jump, the garden’s PR people point out what they say were factual errors in Grist’s article. They even invite the Seattle-based news service out for a tour.
From an email to Grist (CL was cc’ed):
- The deck is not “plopped in the middle of Piedmont Park.” It is tucked into a once-blighted hillside on the western edge of the park, which borders the garden, with three sides heavily camouflaged with landscaping. This old hillside was not useable park space as it was too steep, covered in invasive species and plagued with criminal activity.
- Although LEED does not have a specific category designated for parking decks, one can be registered and awarded LEED certification as part of a larger project. In this case, our parking deck has been registered with the USGBC as part of our recent green expansion program that includes a new Visitor Center also designed and built to LEED standards. The entire project currently is being reviewed by the council for LEED Gold certification. Some of the LEED points earned from the parking facility include: nighttime sky compliant lighting, bike racks, rainwater capture systems, recycling of construction debris and yes, even hybrid car reserved parking spots (aka: Alternative Fuel Vehicles.)
- “Putting trees in pots…” That is a gross and unfair statement from someone who has no knowledge of the project. More than two dozen mature magnolias were planted on the large berm in front of the parking facility along with hundreds of mature flowering shrubs to veil the facility. In about 36 months the facility will be virtually shielded by all the plantings.
- “The Atlanta garage is not the only example of LEED-washing.” We are not an example of any “washing.” Neither we nor the park have ever referred to the deck as “LEED certified.” We have stated that it is built to “LEED standards.” As a botanical garden, we care deeply for plants and the environment and the last thing we want to do is damage the integrity of the LEED program that does its best to ensure sustainable building to protect the environment.
- The reason you nor the council found no record of the SAGE facility being registered is that at the time of registration the facility had no name. It was registered as the “ABG-Visitor’s Center.” Its ID number is # 1131373081882.
- You can find all the key green aspects of our entire expansion project the Garden’s website. Please visit: http://www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org/site/about/news_expansion
July 9th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
BG and PPC did a pretty darn good job with that Parking Deck. I was sceptical, but having seen it, I would have to say it’s about as well done as a Parking Deck can be, and is an improvement over the 75 spaces that were in the old Piedmont Park surface deck that will be converted into usable greenspace.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
I’ll admit that the parking deck is less offensive than I had anticipated, but I still consider it a misguided effort at single-vehicle usage at a time when the city is wisely moving in a different direction. The same amount of money could have put a trolley line between the park and the Midtown Station.
But my biggest, and unresolved, complaint is that the Atlanta Botanical Garden is rife with disingenuousness when it discusses the parking deck. Viz. above: that the parking deck is on the edge of the park. They make this claim only because they don’t consider the ABG to be in Piedmont Park at all, as if something cannot be a free-standing entity and simultaneously be in a Park. Let’s at least show some honesty: The ABG is WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF PIEDMONT PARK. PERIOD. And, this being the case, the ABG parking deck is more-or-less IN THE MIDDLE of Piedmont Park. It may be the most beautiful and environmentally conscious parking deck in the world (or it may not be), but it’s absolutely not on the western edge of the Park.
July 9th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Like I said in a previous post, some people are never satisfied no matter what you do.
If they had said ‘Western edge of the park property available to the public and actually used by anyone”, would you feel better?
July 10th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Joe: for the same cost? really? i remember reading that the peachtree rd trolley would cost upwards of $1 billion. could a trolley linking the park and the midtown station really cost the same as the deck?
July 10th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Well, I think the Atlanta Botanical Garden defended itself quite well. I thought their first response included a little too much flowery language, and therefore appeared like a desperate defense. However, I believe the Atlanta Botanical Garden addressed the other issues quite well. It seems as though they took the necessary and appropriate steps. This is what happens when reporters do not have enough information or receive incorrect information.
July 10th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Yeah.. You can certainly put me in the category of “never satisfied until the deck is torn down.”
When you get down to it, to refer to anything built specifically to accommodate cars as “green” or “sustainable” is ultimately disingenuous.
I (and others) believe the deck is unnecessary. Dale (and others) clearly believes otherwise. And that’s that.
There are others for whom the ultimate issue — the source of their opposition — came down to a matter of public trust. Whose land is it, anyway? Who has authority to say what can or cannot be built on that land? And if it is public land, shouldn’t any process dealing with this issue be an open process? That is something I see as a separate issue.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
You know what. I love the new parking deck. My other Mom friends all love the new parking deck. We’re all fans of the botanical garden and park – they work hard to make this city a more beautiful place and there’s nothing wrong with that. My family, neighbors and the community benefit from that very much.
July 13th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I wonder who has done more for he park, the ABG and their supporters or FoPP and theirs?
Joe – may I suggest “Satisfaction” (Stones) for your playlist, because that deck won’t come down in our lifetimes.
July 13th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Joe – thanks for being civil, this subject has gotten waaaay out of control in the hands of other commentators
July 13th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Who has done more for the park — not up for me to figure that one out. That question is probably open to even more open to interpretation than the issue of whether the deck is necessary. And that’s not to mention: whether the deck is necessary doesn’t really have anything to do with who has done what and how much for the park or for the City.
Had the Rolling Stones instead written “Satisficing” it would’ve become Atlanta’s theme song.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
If there is a group who has consistently supported, maintained and improved the park, their mission means more to me than someone who has not done those things.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
That’s nice. How much is that tea going for in China?
July 13th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
never mind