Fresh Loaf

This thing is getting close, you treehuggers, and there are only eight days left to make a difference.

Atlanta, with the cooperation of Trees Atlanta, is participating in American Express’ “Roots For Your City” campaign in which such cities as Chicago, Miami and New York City compete for the lion’s share of a $1 million grant from the credit company. Each time you make a purchase with your American Express card, Atlanta’s chances improve.

And of the eight participating cities swiping their cards to win, we’re second only to some place called Los Angeles, where dogs are bred in petri dishes to be as tiny as hamsters. We must not lose to this mysterious land of heathens!

Click here to see which Atlanta businesses are participating. If you have shopping planned for this weekend, be sure to check them out.

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The following Home Base article is part of the Urban Living section, CL’s monthly focus on city home life. If you know of interesting events in your neighborhood, submit them to soapbox@creativeloafing.com or urbanliving@creativeloafing.com. We’re always on the lookout for cool homes to feature, too. So send us an e-mail today!

By Steve Wells

(Photo Stone Mountain State Park)

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you read, “Stone Mountain”? The park? Memorial Drive, sprawl, unincorporated DeKalb County? Well, in case you didn’t know it, there’s a city of Stone Mountain nestled right up against the back of the mountain, just out the west gate, a city with a great Main Street and downtown area we call Stone Mountain Village. But if you’ve been to the city lately, you might be surprised by what’s happened here in recent years. Stone Mountain has experienced a downturn that affected many towns in the ’70s as a result of malls, the advent of suburbs and changing socioeconomic reasons. Downtown areas became less and less shopping centers of necessity and instead began a period of decline. Although Stone Mountain’s proximity to the park, a tourist destination, delayed its descent for 30 years, it has followed a path similar to many other once vibrant downtown areas. The question is: What’s the city doing to reverse the trend?

(more…)

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The following Home Base article is part of the Urban Living section, CL’s monthly focus on city home life. If you know of interesting events in your neighborhood, submit them to soapbox@creativeloafing.com or urbanliving@creativeloafing.com. We’re always on the lookout for cool homes to feature, too. So send us an e-mail today!

By Douglas L. Wood

Who can argue that strong schools don’t make a better neighborhood and a stronger city? While some choose private schools and others start charters, the Kirkwood community’s partnership with Atlanta Public Schools to implement the first K-12 Chinese language program in Georgia is just one example of how APS is willing and capable of engaging neighborhoods and enabling change.

NO RAIN ON THIS PARADE: Toomer Elementary students perform an umbrella dance at the opening ceremony of the Confucius Institute of Atlanta.

(Photo by www.alaneffphotography.com)

Mandarin is the world’s most spoken language, and by the time Kirkwood’s Toomer Elementary children graduate from college, China will be the No. 2 economy in the world. And since Chinese is a character-based language, learning it develops a different portion of the brain than a Romance-based language such as Spanish, and test scores tend to increase.

Members of the Kirkwood Neighborhood Organization, Principal Tonya Saunders at Toomer and Principal Andre Williams at Coan Middle School wrote a grant to the Georgia Department of Education requesting funds for a study on successful K-12 models of Chinese language instruction. A portion of the funding was used to conduct workshops for the Toomer PTA on what a Chinese curriculum would mean. From fall 2006 to spring 2007, a small team of parents, educators and community members visited programs in Chicago, the Washington, D.C. area, and Portland, Ore., and reported back to the community and other key players on the programs’ successes and struggles. (more…)

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Urban Living, CL’s monthly “Shelter from bland living” section, is back, and looking for a few cool homes. Apartments, lofts and condos are also eligible. If you live in a neighborhood where CL is available and your place is unique somehow — interesting-looking, history-filled or funky fun — leave a comment below with a description, or e-mail chante.lagon@creativeloafing.com.

Maybe your love of film noir has turned your pad into a virtual movie set. Or maybe you’ve painstakingly renovated the original 19th-century wood design. Commercial kitchen in the basement? Secret hallways? Panic rooms? That’s all cool stuff.

Once you leave a comment, we’ll follow up and ask for a photo or two. Just keep in mind that if we feature your home in Urban Living this spring, you’ll be opening up your home to CL readers … so tidy up already.

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