Sunday, April 8, 2012

Dunwoody To Get Biking and Hiking Trails

Dunwoody is finally set to acquire biking, hiking and walking trails and other green space. After the great Power Line kerfuffle and the equally disastrous "Shopping Spree" referendum, our fair city is poised at the precipice of parkland paradise. And no, this is not about some silly park spin-off from the City's soon to be exploited role as local land bank and shopping center developer. This is bigger. This is better.

There are only a few things that might toss a wooden shoe in the machinery.

First is reliance on the much ballyhooed TSPLOST, up for vote this July. The money this tax will generate is absolutely necessary for the plan to have a referendum's chance in Dunwoody. Without this money, there will not be enough pay to subsidize the play. So, it is critical that everyone in Dunwoody vote to raise their taxes and encourage all other "smart" folk they can find to do the same. We are all in this together.

Another itty bitty problem is location. As everyone in Dunwoody knows everything is all about location, location, location. Simply put there is not enough space here in Dunwoody, so these trails and recreational areas must be located where land costs are not nearly so high and significant contiguous and connected space is available. That's right, Dunwoody is simply not a viable location for this project. Instead, it must be located in downtown Atlanta.

Hence the TSPLOST.

It turns out that the transportation SPLOST is targeted to expend much of its resources on the desperately needed subsidy of Atlanta's beltline project, which we all know is of great regional importance. And how do we know? Well being the smart folk that we in Dunwoody are, we know because our politicians have told us so. How else would we know, from some non-profit propaganda group?

And you might be asking what this beltline project has to do with TRANSPORTATION. Silly you. It's actually quite simple. This recreational nirvana is not just for Dunwoody. No. It is for the entire region, and based on detailed demographic analysis it has been determined that a vast majority of those paying for these facilities live quite a long distance from the beltline. In order to avail themselves of their beltline, they will have to pack up the kids, the bikes and the dog and travel to downtown Atlanta. And just how will they do that? You got it, TRANSPORTATION!!!

So we have the opportunity to kill a whole flock of birds with one stone. We raise our taxes, aiding in the battle against excessive, flamboyant consumerism. We create much needed green space moving us towards our goal of overtaking Minneapolis in the Green Wars. And finally we will add more demand for our underutilized transportation infrastructure. All this and create jobs too!