Congress for the New Urbanism’s 2010 annual meeting is going to be in Atlanta next year. Organizers are soliciting suggestions for session ideas until August 14. The meeting’s theme is “New Urbanism: Rx for Healthy Places.”
Here’s my idea: blockade St. Simon’s Island so MARTA-wrecking Republican Rep. Jerry Keen can’t get anywhere near the Capitol anymore. Moat. Brick wall. Electric fence. Whatever works.
Yep. The old Atlanta Dairies property, which sits between Cabbagetown, Grant Park and Reynoldstown (and directly adjacent to our pick last year for the city’s best doggie day care), is going to be turned into a midscale grocery store, the AJC reported over the weekend.
Brand Morgan, CEO of Brand Properties, declined to name the store his company has been negotiating with, but he described it as a “mainstream” retailer as opposed to high-end stores such as Whole Foods and Fresh Market.
Morgan said he scouted the Memorial Drive corridor for over a year in search of a spot for a supermarket before settling on the dairy property.
Morgan also told the AJC that the store’s parking lot will be tucked behind new shops and apartments that will line Memorial. (Other new developments also are taking shape along Memorial — a street that’s poised for a major makeover.) That means a strong sidewalk presence and a lower profile for cars — tenets of the New Urbanism movement espoused by Charles Brewer, who created the Glenwood Park development a few blocks away.
The Atlanta Regional Commission is keeping mum about exactly what’ll be said, but representatives from Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company — as in Andres Duany, the man whose name is most often connected to any discussions about New Urbanism — are scheduled to address the planning organization on Wednesday at 1 p.m. about “aging.”
UPDATE: Just spoke with someone at the Atlanta Regional Commission who says that neither Andres Duany nor any of his representatives will be in attendance tomorrow. At the moment, any kind of project with the famed New Urbanist is merely in the brainstorming phase. Something may happen, something may not happen. But the chair of the commission’s Aging department will brief the board on the discussions. Sorry if we got any of the wonks out there excited. That being said, everything that follows below remains as is.
A hunch tells me it’s about how Atlanta may not be prepared to handle the large demographic shift and emergence of over-60 residents in the coming decades. According to the ARC, one out of every five metro Atlanta residents will be over the age of 60 by the year 2030.
The event is open to the public and will be held at the ARC’s offices downtown on Courtland Street at 1 p.m. If you enjoy hearing about administrative minutiae, you’ll love these meetings. And I mean that in a good way.
Speaking as someone who’s attended a lot of planning sessions and public workshops, senior citizens want to play a part in Atlanta’s next phase. They want walkable streets, sufficient transit and easy access to health care and amenities. They deserve these things as well, as do we all. I’ll attend and will report when it’s over.
LEAVEITTOWN: The reeling housing market is accelerating Americans’ interest in New Urbanism, helping reverse the march toward suburbia that began post-WWII with the Levittown burbs.
AN INCONVENIENT YOUTH: Al Gore takes the stage with Barack Obama in Detroit to endorse the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, lending his enormous party clout to the young upstart, albeit a little late.
NORREESE HAYNES: The former Clayton County school board member’s lawsuit, an attempt to regain his board seat he was voted out of in March, is dismissed by Clayton Superior Court Judge Deborah Benefield.
BIOMASS PLANT: Rollcast Energy plans to build a $160 million, 50-megawatt biomass power plant in Lamar County that will burn wood waste from logging, land-clearing and other sources.
WINGS AND A PRAYER: Aside from its Athens-Atlanta flights, which it’s initially offering for $49, Wings Air has hopes of becoming a regional commuter airline to compete with increasingly clogged ground traffic.
CHORE OF ENGINEERS: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ water plan doesn’t seem to please anyone, as Georgia officials say it doesn’t do enough to conserve Lake Lanier’s water, and everyone south says it does too much.
PLAYING DIRTY: Former Pike Nurseries CEO Randy Pike was arrested and charged with groping several women at a pool party in Dalton over the weekend.
