Fresh Loaf

The organizers behind Pecha Kucha, the storytelling experiment in which speakers have seven minutes and a slide projector to convey the complexities of their lives and passions, have produced an excellent group of participants for the next event on Sunday, Oct. 18. The theme: “Open Letter(s) to the next Atlanta mayor.”

According to Alfredo Aponte, one of the event’s organizers: “We are doing an ‘Atlanta: Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve’ type of night, hearing from some Atlanta citizens who are doing their own parts, in their own ways.”

Among the list of speakers:

• Knife and Fork Editor and Publisher Christiane Lauterbach. The veteran food critic will talk about the growing popularity of food trucks — and how Atlanta’s missing out.

• Planner Paul Moore, one of the brains behind Connect Atlanta, the city’s transportation plan. Moore’s an engaging public speaker with a talent for making people-moving topics exciting.

• Georgia Tech Professor Mike Dobbins. The former Atlanta planning commissioner is one of the sharpest minds in the city when it comes to urban design — and the role citizens play in the process.

• Man-about-town and Beltline volunteer Angel Poventud. He’ll speak about the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit.

And those are just a few of the names. The full list of speakers and topics is after the jump. Facebook page is here. The event begins at 7 p.m. at Octane Coffee Lounge on Howell Mill Road. It’s free, but be a kind soul and buy an espresso or a beer.

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Mayor Shirley Franklin’s Connect Atlanta Plan is in its final stages and team members are asking the public to help them fine-tune their progress.

Four meetings located around Atlanta will be the last chance residents have to weigh in on the the city’s first-ever comprehensive transportation plan. It’d be worth stopping by to see what improvements they’ve proposed in terms of roads, rails, sidewalks and accessibility for cyclists, as well. (Project planners posted a link to a proposed bike network PDF file. Click here to check it out.)

After the jump, meeting details and locations.

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The Connect Atlanta Plan, the city’s first-ever comprehensive transportation plan launched by Mayor Shirley Franklin late last year, will begin its third round of public hearings on June 16 in Buckhead.

Click here to read my summary of one of the plan’s early meetings.

Details for upcoming meeting locations follows after the jump.

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The Connect Atlanta Plan, the city’s first-ever comprehensive transportation plan, will be holding workshops in the Northeast and Eastside next week. Pasted below are the release and details from the city’s planners.

The Connect Atlanta Plan is a yearlong planning process to develop the City’s first citywide transportation plan. These interactive sessions are designed for you to drop by at your convenience and work with us on
specific transportation challenges in your area. While the public can come anytime during the day, each multi-day workshop will have an introductory and final meeting in order to introduce you to the plan and workshop and then to present the work accomplished during the week. Your input is critical to this effort; please join us in your neighborhood!

Northeast & Eastside – March 24-27 (NPUs E, F, M, N, O, W)
Location: City Hall East – 675 Ponce de Leon Avenue, NE
Kickoff: Monday, March 24th at 6:30pm
Recap: Thursday, March 27th at 6:30pm
Workshops: Open Monday through Thursday from 10:00am to 8:00pm
Directions: MARTA Bus #2 (Ponce de Leon/Avondale Estates) from North Avenue Station
Parking: Available in first level of parking deck from Ponce de Leon entrance

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Connect Atlanta Plan, the city’s first-ever comprehensive transportation plan, will be holding workshops in the Intown South and Southside areas of the city next week. Pasted below is the release from the planners and info about the workshops.

The Connect Atlanta Plan is a yearlong planning process to develop the City’s first citywide transportation plan. These interactive sessions are designed for you to drop by at your convenience and work with us on
specific transportation challenges in your area. While the public can come anytime during the day, each multi-day workshop will have an introductory and final meeting in order to introduce you to the plan and workshop and then to present the work accomplished during the week. Your input is critical to this effort; please join us in your neighborhood!

Intown South & Southside – March 10-13 (NPUs S, T, V, X, Y, Z)
Location: Atlanta Metropolitan College – Academic Building #500, 1630 Metropolitan Parkway, SW
Kickoff: Monday, March 10th at 6:30pm
Recap: Thursday, March 13th at 6:30pm
Workshops: Open Monday through Thursday from 10:00am to 8:00pm
Directions: MARTA Bus #54 south from Oakland City Station or Bus #95 from Westend Station
Parking: Available on Metropolitan College campus, next to Atlanta Technical College

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From planners for the Connect Atlanta Plan, the city’s first-ever comprehensive transportation plan.

The Connect Atlanta Plan is a yearlong planning process to develop the City’s first citywide transportation plan. These interactive sessions are designed for you to drop by at your convenience and work with us on
specific transportation challenges in your area. While the public can come anytime during the day, each multi-day workshop will have an introductory and final meeting in order to introduce you to the plan and workshop and then to present the work accomplished during the week. Your input is critical to this effort; please join us in your neighborhood!

Southwest – February 25-28 (NPUs H, I, Q, P, R)
Location: Adamsville Recreation Center – 3201 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, SW
Kickoff: Monday, February 25th at 6:30pm
Recap: Thursday, February 28th at 6:30pm
Workshops: Open Monday through Thursday from 10:00am to 8:00pm
Directions: MARTA Bus #73 (Fulton Ind/Purdue) from Hamilton E. Holmes Station on west MARTA line
Parking: Available in front of building

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The Connect Atlanta Plan, the city’s first-ever comprehensive transportation plan, will be holding workshops throughout February and March at various locations around town. Residents and stakeholders will have a chance to engage project planners and provide input as to what exactly they would like to see in terms of transportation fixes in the city proper. This public-focused effort is still early in the process and planners stress that now is a great time to make sure your voice is heard. Pasted below is the release and information for the first workshop; others follow after the jump.

The Connect Atlanta Plan is a yearlong planning process to develop the City’s first citywide transportation plan. These interactive sessions are designed for you to drop by at your convenience and work with us on specific transportation challenges in your area. While the public can come anytime during the day, each multi-day workshop will have an introductory and final meeting in order to introduce you to the plan and workshop and then to present the work accomplished during the week. Your input is critical to this effort; please join us in your neighborhood!

Northside & Northwest – February 11-14 (NPUs A, B, C, D, G, J, K, L)
Location: Georgia Pacific Center – 133 Peachtree Street, NE
Kickoff: Monday, February 11th at 6:30pm (Georgia Pacific Center Auditorium)
Recap: Thursday, February 14th at 6:30pm (Georgia Pacific Center Auditorium)
Workshops: Open Monday through Thursday from 10:00am to 8:00pm (Suite 3100, Floor 31)
Directions: Building adjacent to Peachtree Center MARTA Station, exit at Ellis Street
Parking: Check www.connectatlantaplan.com or call 404-330-6800 for parking directions for this workshop

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The first round of the Connect Atlanta Plan public workshops ended last week, but you can still give your suggestions as to how the city’s first-ever comprehensive transportation plan should take shape. Click on this link and do your part. As a wise philosopher never said, “If you don’t participate, you might as well capitulate.” He was talking about traffic planning. Or maybe he wasn’t, because I did just say he never said that. Whatever. Please go take the survey and help out the planners in what they’re hoping will be a public-driven, ground-up process.

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It’s another transportation plan, Atlanta, but this one’s a different animal.

The Connect Atlanta Plan — no acronyms yet, thank God — is a joint effort by Mayor Shirley Franklin and the city’s planning department to create the city’s first-ever transportation plan. It’s being touted as a public-driven, ground-up approach to dealing with not just how cars move around Atlanta, but how people move around Atlanta — an all-encompassing look at mobility, be it sidewalks, transit, roads and the like. Those involved are hoping the public aspect of it won’t just invite participation and result in a useful plan, but that it’ll also marry itself to whatever administration follows Franklin’s. The nine-month study phase, funded in part by a grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission, aims to gauge exactly what the public wants.

Last week at East Rivers Elementary School in Peachtree Hills, I had a chance, along with other residents, to listen as the team behind Connect Atlanta delivered its first public workshop. (Click here to view the same presentation attendees saw that night. It’s a big file, but worth the download.)

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