Future Growth

institutions as the “Anne Frank in the World” exhibit in Sandy Springs. Two local organizations — the ADL’s Southeast regional office in Buckhead and Dunwoody’s Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta — have received bomb threats recently.

Menis said her activism is not in response to any local anti-Semitic incidents, but rather to the nationwide rise in threats and general intolerance.

“I have never had a problem with anti-Semitism and I feel perfectly safe in my community,” she said “I think what happened to me personally is, I started to feel a twinge of fear.”

Menis described several influences. She has previously visited Whitefish, a Montana resort town now notorious as a home of the “alt-right” white nationalist movement that gained publicity for supporting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and which Trump later denounced. She was angered by posts insulting Muslims made on the Facebook account of a former Dunwoody assistant city attorney who said his account was hacked.

The final straw, she said, was news reports in February about desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia, one of several such vandalism incidents around the nation.

“I thought to myself, ‘I have to do something about anti-Semitism,’” Menis said.

With her journalism background,

Menis said, “I wanted a media statement: ‘Atlanta decries antiSemitism.’”

She acknowledged that AIAAS’s organizers have yet to come up with a more solid agenda, which will be a focus of the March 30 meeting.

However, the effort seems to be tapping a desire for more discussion about antiSemitism. The ADL and the American Jewish Committee have signed on as co-sponsors of the organizing meeting, and many prominent groups are sending representatives, including the MJCCA, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, the Davis Academy and the Weber School. Sandy Springs city Communications Director Sharon Kraun, who is Jewish and said she is well aware of the national threats, will attend along with Police Chief Ken DeSimone.

“We’ll go and listen,” Kraun said, adding that city officials are curious to hear AIAAS’ agenda.

“As far as anti-Semitism, the city has been very vocal that we don’t tolerate any kind of behavior that is against anyone,” Kraun said. “We support any effort that is combatting hate and intolerance.”

Menis said that one potential function of AIAAS — whose founding group has a Muslim member — is bringing together leaders from beyond the Jewish community.

“Anti-Semitism isn’t a Jewish problem,” she said. “It’s a community problem.”

Atlanta City Studio moving to Cascade Heights this month

Atlanta City Studio, the pop-up design laboratory focused on shaping the future of the city’s neighborhoods, will relocate to Cascade Heights this month. The studio, which has been located at Ponce City Market since its doors opened in May 2016, will be located at 2311Cascade Road in Southwest Atlanta.

The studio is comprised of rotating exhibits that highlight Atlanta neighborhoods and urban design concepts, and is staffed by city planners, architects and transportation professionals. The space is used to host lectures, book talks, film series, open forums, urban art presentations and other neighborhood and design components. Residents and planners can visit the Atlanta City Studio to learn more about the comprehensive transportation planning initiative launched by the City of Atlanta, as well as provide feedback.

“To promote high quality, sustainable and equitable growth and development in Atlanta, the people who live in the city must be a part of every planning aspect conducted by the Department of Planning and Community Development,” said Commissioner Tim Keane. “The City of Atlanta understands that community engagement and involvement is an integral part of shaping the future of Atlanta, and the Atlanta City Studio will continue to move around the city to ensure that every community can help guide us.”

The initiative will update the city’s existing Comprehensive