As folks like to say about relationship status on Facebook: "It's Complicated." In this case it is also a tangled mess, intentionally intertwined, meant to confuse. Let's unravel.
In a nutshell the nouveau riche are steeped in envy-fueled self-loathing and are characterized by a profound lack of originality. They want to use their new-found riches to buy what they feel will make them appear to be the much more respected "old money." This captures the essence of this city, founded as a copy cat clone of neighboring Sandy Springs that has been chasing trends ever since. Live-work-play. Canton Street South. Placemaking. West of Decatur. Transit oriented development. Neo-urbanism. Each convulsive twist is supported by some highly overpaid consultant given a brief constraining the outcome and whose opinions are rendered by teams that live in distant states and know little of this area and our residents. Even the branding flails between plagiarism and banality.
The city's relationship with the arts is bizarre, antagonistic and borders on mercenary. To paraphrase Mark Twain, they hate the arts and only tolerate it when it brings them money. Remember the music museum that was proposed to be located at Perimeter Mall but fell through when it was determined that there would not be enough school field trips to keep it afloat. The city picked up parks for a song including a theater at Brook Run, but rather than provide a better venue for the Stage Door Players they insisted on its destruction. Originally they claimed to keep and preserve the stained glass windows for the value as art and history, but now, quietly, these appear on the auction block.
Then there is the rather odious affair of the "Everything Will Be OK" signs, sold by the Spruill Center, who state "100% of the proceeds go to help artists in need." And yet... Not once did they reach out to the artist who created the original mural. Instead they hired lawyers to file Word Marks thereby claiming the artist's intellectual property rights, copying the practice of patent pirates in the business world.
So what exactly do they mean when they say "help artists in need?" Did the sign vendor donate all these signs, with no expectation of quid pro quo from the Center or the city?
Now before you get all pissy ponder the process by which a hotel and a restaurant appeared on property deed restricted to non-commercial purposes. And make no mistake, when there are city employees on the board, it is the city's doing. This is not how you create an NGO, but a captive corporation and were this the private sector there would be a prosecutor somewhere crafting a sentence that includes "RICO."
Do you really think there was no collaboration between developers, city and Center? And does all that money somehow elude the grasp of the newly hired suit with his six figure salary, benefits and staff? Or is that what they mean by "helping?" The only thing that is abundantly clear is that the arts community had best have a lawyer when dealing with Dunwoody.
The city sees the arts as a frenemy: antagonist and tool. Money has been poured into consultants' purses and push polls have littered Survey Monkey, not to support the arts, but to use the arts as cover for a broader, nouveau riche agenda of destruction. In conjunction with consultancies like Civic Moxie and their buzzword laden Power Points, the city has its newest non-profit, "Create Dunwoody" under the guise of promoting public art and placemaking.
And what does "Create Dunwoody" say to you?
Any resident who has been out and about knows there already IS a Dunwoody. A community of pleasant neighborhoods with well maintained homes, manicured lawns, tennis courts and swimming pools. Interspersed are pockets of shops, restaurants and professionals who serve the community and in turn are supported by the community. A pleasant, suburban bedroom community, of, by and for its residents. Close to urban amenities, but distant enough for refuge, for peace and quiet. And this Dunwoody WAS created, and has over time, organically, reached a mature state, of continual and evolutionary improvement.
This is the Dunwoody you saw from the back seat of the real estate agent's car. It is the Dunwoody that made you want to live here, to become part of this community. It is the community you wanted to help maintain and improve. It may well have been this kind of community allegiance that led many of those who voted to vote in favor of a city. A city you expected to contain urbanism to regions around MARTA and Perimeter Center. A city you expected to support the community, its residents and their suburban lifestyle. You expected that because you were led to believe that is what was on offer.
Now you know that to be wrong. When the nouveau riche at City Hall look at YOUR Dunwoody they see something they despise, something reminiscent of their former days before riches and power and envy and new friends. Their Dunwoody, the one envisioned in "Create Dunwoody," is a cookie cutter clone of whatever trend consultants have told them will raise their profile and inflate their flagging self-esteem. That is definitely NOT a quiet, suburban bedroom community. And their developer colleagues know this is a brownfield and that YOUR Dunwoody is in their way and must be displaced before they can "Create Dunwoody" and profits.
The utter destruction of the theater at Brook Run was mere foreshadowing of what lies in store for YOUR Dunwoody. This is not an existential threat, it is fait accompli.
In a nutshell the nouveau riche are steeped in envy-fueled self-loathing and are characterized by a profound lack of originality. They want to use their new-found riches to buy what they feel will make them appear to be the much more respected "old money." This captures the essence of this city, founded as a copy cat clone of neighboring Sandy Springs that has been chasing trends ever since. Live-work-play. Canton Street South. Placemaking. West of Decatur. Transit oriented development. Neo-urbanism. Each convulsive twist is supported by some highly overpaid consultant given a brief constraining the outcome and whose opinions are rendered by teams that live in distant states and know little of this area and our residents. Even the branding flails between plagiarism and banality.
The city's relationship with the arts is bizarre, antagonistic and borders on mercenary. To paraphrase Mark Twain, they hate the arts and only tolerate it when it brings them money. Remember the music museum that was proposed to be located at Perimeter Mall but fell through when it was determined that there would not be enough school field trips to keep it afloat. The city picked up parks for a song including a theater at Brook Run, but rather than provide a better venue for the Stage Door Players they insisted on its destruction. Originally they claimed to keep and preserve the stained glass windows for the value as art and history, but now, quietly, these appear on the auction block.
Then there is the rather odious affair of the "Everything Will Be OK" signs, sold by the Spruill Center, who state "100% of the proceeds go to help artists in need." And yet... Not once did they reach out to the artist who created the original mural. Instead they hired lawyers to file Word Marks thereby claiming the artist's intellectual property rights, copying the practice of patent pirates in the business world.
So what exactly do they mean when they say "help artists in need?" Did the sign vendor donate all these signs, with no expectation of quid pro quo from the Center or the city?
Now before you get all pissy ponder the process by which a hotel and a restaurant appeared on property deed restricted to non-commercial purposes. And make no mistake, when there are city employees on the board, it is the city's doing. This is not how you create an NGO, but a captive corporation and were this the private sector there would be a prosecutor somewhere crafting a sentence that includes "RICO."
Do you really think there was no collaboration between developers, city and Center? And does all that money somehow elude the grasp of the newly hired suit with his six figure salary, benefits and staff? Or is that what they mean by "helping?" The only thing that is abundantly clear is that the arts community had best have a lawyer when dealing with Dunwoody.
The city sees the arts as a frenemy: antagonist and tool. Money has been poured into consultants' purses and push polls have littered Survey Monkey, not to support the arts, but to use the arts as cover for a broader, nouveau riche agenda of destruction. In conjunction with consultancies like Civic Moxie and their buzzword laden Power Points, the city has its newest non-profit, "Create Dunwoody" under the guise of promoting public art and placemaking.
And what does "Create Dunwoody" say to you?
Any resident who has been out and about knows there already IS a Dunwoody. A community of pleasant neighborhoods with well maintained homes, manicured lawns, tennis courts and swimming pools. Interspersed are pockets of shops, restaurants and professionals who serve the community and in turn are supported by the community. A pleasant, suburban bedroom community, of, by and for its residents. Close to urban amenities, but distant enough for refuge, for peace and quiet. And this Dunwoody WAS created, and has over time, organically, reached a mature state, of continual and evolutionary improvement.
This is the Dunwoody you saw from the back seat of the real estate agent's car. It is the Dunwoody that made you want to live here, to become part of this community. It is the community you wanted to help maintain and improve. It may well have been this kind of community allegiance that led many of those who voted to vote in favor of a city. A city you expected to contain urbanism to regions around MARTA and Perimeter Center. A city you expected to support the community, its residents and their suburban lifestyle. You expected that because you were led to believe that is what was on offer.
Now you know that to be wrong. When the nouveau riche at City Hall look at YOUR Dunwoody they see something they despise, something reminiscent of their former days before riches and power and envy and new friends. Their Dunwoody, the one envisioned in "Create Dunwoody," is a cookie cutter clone of whatever trend consultants have told them will raise their profile and inflate their flagging self-esteem. That is definitely NOT a quiet, suburban bedroom community. And their developer colleagues know this is a brownfield and that YOUR Dunwoody is in their way and must be displaced before they can "Create Dunwoody" and profits.
The utter destruction of the theater at Brook Run was mere foreshadowing of what lies in store for YOUR Dunwoody. This is not an existential threat, it is fait accompli.
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