Perimeter Mall Closes Food Court...

...and moves it to Dunwoody Village. Can Perimeter Mall caliber crime be far behind? Will the city do anything about that? Does anyone at city hall have the stones to even try?

Paving A Path To Perimeter City

Stockbridge's attempt to deny Eagle Landing a chance at cityhood has failed in the courts. We are at the brink of a precedent-setting de-annexation and incorporation to form a new city providing a template for more to come. The most important of these will be Perimeter City (of course) but the first is likely to be Buckhead, whose biggest challenge will be finding a name. Maybe our Smart City Namers and Branders can help out...Not! Once Buckhead gains independence we can expect the dominos to fall.

Perimeter City will be a slam dunk. By mixing in a healthy dose of "politicking" to Live, Work, Play we will be at the forefront of how aging Millennials and their offspring choose to live. And it is a developer's wet dream--that simply cannot be overstated.

So what of the rest--some say the best--of us? Where does that leave us? First, we're in control of our destiny, unbeholden to powerful developers leaking their greed outside the PCID into our neighborhoods. And we can remain the "City of Dunwoody" or we could dispense with the additional layer of government and return to the liberty of unincorporated DeKalb. Or, we could annex into a neighboring city in DeKalb. Brookhaven offers the growing pains of a new city appealing to the masochists amongst us. Chamblee is an option with nicer restaurants and downtown. But these would span the region's ITP/OTP divide--as painful as slipping off the pedals and crushing jewels on the top bar.

That leaves Doraville which is a good fit--if they'll have us. Joining "A Touch Of Country In The City" would certainly please the Farmhouse-ers and even the Williamsburg-ers would not be fish out of water.

There is a lot of work to do, obstacles to be overcome, but with the right people involved, smart people, we can get this thing done.

Lovin' Dunwoody

Step Lightly

Step lightly,
You're movin' too fast.
Take your time, boy,
Soon the pain will pass.
In the meantime,
You gotta find yourself a love
That's gonna last.

Step lightly,
Things will work out fine,
Nice and easy,
All it takes is time.
Please, believe me,
I wish this song was yours instead of mine.

Now don't be angry at what i'm telling you,
I'd be happy if you would see it too.
But in the meantime,
Find yourself a love that's true to you.

Somehow this just does not resonate with Greedy Developer, who, as reported by the AJC, now expects a retroactive taxpayer handout. And this isn't just an incentive (they say accelerator) for additional future development but covers the existing building nearing completion. Like a post-coital pre-nupt with assets in a trust.

As you might expect some boo-birds have surfaced. What surprises is that they come from outside DaVille, including the county and even from an expert outside the state:

"They're asking for an incentive for something they're already doing," said Brent Lane, director of the University of North Carolina Center for Competitive Economies. "We're doing away with the charade of doing something to incentivize behavior. It's just giving away money."

And our Smart City Development Authority is preparing to do just that: give away money.

Michael Starling, the city's economic development director: "The certainty that the project moves forward sooner and is definitely going to happen -- I think there's a benefit to that."

And it isn't just the city's top dog. We have another member of the Development Authority waxing poetic about his desire to respond promptly and generously whenever Greedy Developer yells "Hey mister, throw me some beads." Robert Miller reportedly said:

"If this inducement helps them to make the decision to do it right now rather than wait four or five years, then I personally feel like that's good for Dunwoody because it gets the project done. You could have something worse. You could have [the property] declining and stagnant, and people not wanting to move here."

J. M. & J!

Really? REALLY? Declining AND stagnant? Roll up the pants boys, it's too late to save the shoes. Dunwoody has way too many folks hell bent on proving this is really a quite stupid city, these are just the few two who recently took the stage.

And the Perimeter area is NOT a blighted area. If this were a residential area in the City, half as desirable  as Perimeter, there would be a bidding war to develop any property. Consider if you will the prospect of a neighboring city developing property inside their own sovereign boundaries that just happens to abut a Dunwoody residential area. What would happen then? Well Dunwoody would have
shakers and movers descending on THAT city's council advising THEM to make haste slowly lest they impact Dunwoody! Maybe we should reserve some of that deliberation and prudence for what goes on INSIDE Dunwoody.

But because of a system with Greedy Developers on the one hand and sycophantic city authorities on the other what Dunwoody has is more like Carnival: leering bureaucrats get their thrill on and taxpayers get fleeced. And just who takes the biggest hit? Schools. Do you suppose the mayor or any member of council could run on a platform of undermining public schools? Well when they let this kind of corporate welfare go on right under their noses that is exactly what they are doing.

Frankly, property in the Perimeter area will be developed and were the City to be as opposed to any development as they are fervent in catering to Greedy Developer, Greedy Developer would get his buildings built anyway. He might even pay the City for permission! What Dunwoody needs in regards to development are people with a long range vision who can guide us towards developments in the area that support a thriving community ten, twenty and thirty years from now. Instead, it looks like we have development crack-whores spreading wide for the next fix from Greedy Developer. They have sold their souls and they're selling our future.

Downtown

So go downtown
Things will be great when you're downtown
No finer place for sure, downtown
Everything's waiting for you

The Ballet has taken their pas de deux to the burbs. The Braves are hot on their heels. Surely the Hawks are giving relocation its due consideration. Dante Stephenson tried (twice) to make a go of it in Underground only to go under. Way under. In an attempt to salvage something the ASO had (as in past tense) performed at Verizon amphitheater in the northern burbs. City proponents prefer to speak of perceptions. Of crime. Of inconvenience. Of filth. Of course that is a self-delusion as long as there is so much evidence on display making what they see as a perception a very real thing to most. About the only fact not in question is that most folks from the burbs only come downtown to work. Then they go back to their live-play sub- and ex-urban communities. As it turns out the hyphens in live-work-play as simply shorthand for "commute to".

And it isn't just the urban core--the ATL. The Atlanta paper made a move to Perimeter Center. Then they threw themselves a housewarming party calling it a Wine Fest. Perhaps they watched all the folks surrounding their new digs and thought this would be a sell out (pun intended). Of course they sold tickets but the prices were more along the lines of a rent party than a wine tasting. By abstaining, the folks flittering about PC effectively RSVP-ed "NO" causing the AJC to cancel due to lack of interest.

Basically Perimeter is no more a Play-Station for folks who live around these parts than downtown Atlanta. Coffee before work? Sure, at the chimney Starbucks. Work lunch at Perimeter Mall? Expensive, but every now and then. Drinks after work? Only if we leave early. Work that is. Use some of your "fun time" to schlep back down here for some extremely expensive wine? Yeah--NO.

Perimeter may be a nice place to work. Certainly a great place for business entertainment at one of the expense-account restaurants. But as a place to spend precious free time looking for fun it is just another downtown.

Double Crossed

...or why diverging diamonds won't work.

If you look closely at the diverging diamond fairy tale animations you will notice that one key ingredient of Atlanta traffic is missing. Assholes. Specifically the asshole that is three lanes to the left on southbound Ashford Dunwoody when she knows damn well she intends to get onto 285 westbound. And she expects at least two lanes of traffic to come to a complete halt so she can get over. At the last minute.

And she's not alone. That intersection is an asshole magnet, attracting some of the biggest and most obnoxious this region has to offer.  If Dunwoody is number one in anything it is asshole drivers. Any day. Any time. Damn near anywhere, but especially there.

Why do these assholes do this? Because if they queued up in the correct lane whilst just north of Hammond, they might have to sit their self-righteous asses in a bit more traffic, that's why. Much better to zoom on down in what is clear to everyone is the wrong lane and push in just before the entrance ramp light. So they're not only assholes, they're arrogant assholes.

And arrogant assholes will deep six the best laid plans of our traffic engineers. You know, the same geniuses that brought the disaster known as the Lexus Lanes. Probably related to those that think that extending Peachford is something other than a road to nowhere. Unlike those two the diverging diamond looks like it should work. Problem is none of the traffic engineering accounts for assholes, and with the diverging diamond we can expect the current  crop of last minute "left to right" assholes to be joined by a similar set of "right to left" assholes. While the diamond may diverge, what happens when the lefties and righties converge? You know they will.

Our only hope is that the scheme will be so confusing it scares folks away from the entire perimeter area.