NOV. 24 - DEC. 14, 2017 • VOL. 9 — NO. 24
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► I-285 transit meeting is latest cross-city planning effort PAGE 4 ► Cross Keys students join immigrant book project PAGE 7
CHOA unveils plans for North Druid Hills campus
BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewsapapers.net
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta plans to transform its North Druid Hills campus into perhaps the largest medical complex in the state. It will include the Center for Advanced Pediatrics now under construction; a $1.3 billion hospital; several more office buildings; and about 20 acres of green space and trails. Plans are
CHOA
Bird’s-eye rendering of the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta North Druid Hills Road campus, with the Center for Advanced Pediatrics at the bottom left and the new hospital in the center.
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Nightclub keeps license after city alleges gang ties BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
A popular Brookhaven restaurant and nightclub that attracts some of the hottest hip hop artists and sports celebrities remains open after the city’s Alcohol Board overturned the city’s decision to revoke its liquor license following a shooting at the club earlier this year. Medusa Restaurant & Lounge, located in Northeast Plaza on Buford Highway, successfully appealed the city’s July decision to revoke its liquor license in which the See NIGHTCLUB on page 15
2 | Community
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Local builders angered by sidewalk construction enforcement BY DYANA BAGBY
this same code, but the council eventually agreed to a moratorium after pushback from builders. Plans to address to Local builders showed up in force at the issue at the time apparently fell to the the Nov. 14 City Council meeting to prowayside. test a recent crackdown by city officials Several builders now are asking the to mandate new sidewalks be built as city to form a task force that includes lopart of new house construction. cal builders to come up with a plan on City officials say local builders have how to handle sidewalk construction. always been required to construct new Ken Warlick, another local builder, sidewalks and raise granite curbs when told the council the amendment to inbuilding new houses, but enforcement of clude the bike and pedestrian plan into the city code began in earnest in July afthe city code is a “hot topic” among his ter the city amended the building code to colleagues. It costs $20,000 to build a new include its bike-and-pedestrian master sidewalk, a considerable expense when it plan. comes to constructRon Koenraad ing a new home, he said he has lived in said. Brookhaven since A task force 1986 and has built could help clear houses in the area up confusion and for 21 years. The allow the city to city’s requirement get feedback from that builders conthose who are acstruct new sidetually building the walks in front of houses, he said. every new house “There is a lack it builds — whethof clarity,” he said. er on a new piece of “We have interproperty or after a preted this as all or house has been torn nothing. The intent down and a new one is not clear.” built in its place — Christine Fortenis “overreaching” its berry, another genauthority, he said. eral contractor who “They are trying RON KOENRAAD builds homes in to put infrastruc- RESIDENTIAL BUILDER Brookhaven, said ture on us and that she admired the is not fair,” he said. city’s desire to im“We have built out Brookhaven ... and prove the streetscape while also making it seems the city has taken a view against sidewalks safe. residential builders,” he said. “This is not “But we ask you to consider a task what we voted for when we voted for force to partner your objectives with our Brookhaven and for certain members of knowledge of the construction industhe council.” try,” she said. “We are now being asked to Public Works Director Hari Karibuild sidewalks to nowhere.” karan acknowledged that is exactly what Branden Reagan also told the counthe city is doing — it is requiring buildcil that the bike-and-pedestrian plan is ers to invest in sidewalks and curbing as creating instances where homebuilders part of the city’s plan to create connectivare having to “construct sidewalks to noity throughout the city and also to make where.” sidewalks safe for pedestrians. Two years ago, the city faced simiDeKalb County requires new sidelar criticism from local builders. Anothwalks be built in front of new homes and er of the complaints from local builders many other cities in metro Atlanta also has been the requirement that they raise require builders to build new sidewalks granite curbs as part of new construction as part of new house construction, Kariof a home, Koenraad said in an interview. karan said. New sidewalks are not reKoenraad said original curbs “had a quired as part of an addition to an exface” of 6 inches above the road, but afisting house, he added. He said he is not ter time and paving of a street, the curbs sure why the construction of new sidesink. Requiring builders like himself walks was not enforced in the past. Karito raise the curb back to its original six karan just came on the job late last year. inches for new builds is costly, he said. Builders are required to build 5-foot“But if a house next door was built wide sidewalks in front of a new home, three years ago, that curb is not raised,” Karikaran said. “That is why it is called he said, adding that creates an unsafe curb appeal,” he said. sidewalk. “It’s called a street curb, not a Two years ago, the city tried to enforce new-build curb.” dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
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They are trying to put infrastructure on us and that is not fair. We have built out Brookhaven ... and it seems the city has taken a view against residential builders.
BK
NOV. 24 - DEC. 14, 2017
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Community | 3
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Community Briefs 226-TOWNHOME COMPLEX PLANNED NEAR CROSS KEYS HIGH
Ardent Companies is seeking to rezone a 17-acre tract of land that includes 30 singlefamily houses on Bramblewood Drive and two residential properties fronting Buford Highway to make room for a 226-unit townhome development. The development is estimated at 12.84 units per acre. A community meeting to learn more about the proposed project is set for Monday, Dec. 4, at 6 p.m. at Briarwood Recreation Center, 2235 Briarwood Way. Ardent Companies is slated to go before the city Planning Commission on Jan. 3 to seek the rezoning and to the City Council on Jan. 28. The houses on Bramblewood Drive are zoned R-75 (single-family residential) and the properties on Buford Highway are zoned O-I (office industrial) and RM-75 (multi-family residential). Ardent Companies is asking all the properties be zoned RM-75. The proposed townhome development is tucked between The Regency Woods Apartments on Buford Highway and the Park Towne North Apartments on North Cliff Valley Way. It is also adjacent to Cross Keys High School, which is slated to become a new middle school. The Villas at Druid Hills apartments are across the street from the proposed townhomes and Northeast Plaza is located just northeast of the project. A letter filed with the city states Ardent Companies has the 17 acres under contract. Ardent Companies is currently constructing a 95-unit townhome complex where the Park Villa apartments and some single-family homes were once located.
P OL I C E G A I N USE OF MA RTA STATIO N CAM ER AS
MARTA Police are now allowing the Brookhaven Police Department access to the department’s surveillance cameras at the Brookhaven-Oglethorpe station as a way to attempt to locate people breaking into cars and homes along Dresden Drive and Historic Brookhaven. Brookhaven Chief Gary Yandura at the Nov. 14 work session said he had reached out to MARTA officials requesting the sharing of the cameras. “Groups of youths are coming from Atlanta and breaking into cars and houses ... so we want to monitor that area,” Yandura said. Yandura said police are seeing groups of teens numbering four to 10 in a group coming to Brookhaven from Atlanta. He said city police would also be installing their own cameras near the MARTA station to monitor the area and to try to locate suspects. “I know that’s been a concern for a lot of citizens on social media,” Mayor John Ernst said of the break-ins.
ZO NIN G O R D I N A N C E STEERI N G C OMMI TTEE M EETS NO V. 29
The last steering committee meeting of the year for the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite is open to the public and takes place Nov. 29 starting at 4 p.m. at City Hall, 4362 Peachtree Road. The purpose of the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite is to provide regulations to implement the land use policies identified in the city’s Comprehensive Plan, Character Area Study and other planning and policy documents. The Steering Committee is comprised of community residents and business owners appointed by the mayor and City Council to assist with the project. The Steering Committee provides feedback and assists the efforts of Duncan Associates, the consultant team overseeing the zoning rewrite. The next public meeting will be announced in Spring of 2018. Those interested in signing up to receive updates or reviewing project information can visit the project website at www.brookhavenzoning.com.
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The City Council unanimously approved its 2018 budget in the amount of $40.7 million at the Nov. 14 council meeting. The general fund budget, which funds the day-to-day operations of the city, totals $26 million, a 2.8 percent increase from the 2017 revised budget. “This budget provides the resources we need to continue the progress on the plans and projects the city has approved during its five years,” said Mayor John Ernst. “The year 2018 will be known as Brookhaven’s year of action.” Added City Manager Christian Sigman, “The FY 2018 budget funds a full-service police department, maintains 13 parks with three pools and two recreation centers; and invests in paving, sidewalk and stormwater upgrades at $777 per capita,” he said. Other items on the FY 2018 budget include: • The 2.74 millage rate is unchanged. • The 2018 year-end General Fund reserve remains at 25 percent of expenditures. • $2.5 million is dedicated for the 2018 paving program. • Parks Master Plan implementation funding is proposed at $1.2 million. • The establishment of the Brookhaven Tourism Department. • Funding for the construction of Phase I of the Peachtree Creek Greenway set to begin in the second quarter 2018. The approved budget can be found online at brookhavenga.gov/city-departments/ finance/2018-proposed-budget.
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4 | Community
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I-285 transit meeting is latest cross-city planning effort BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
A new multi-city group may form to advocate for mass transit on the top-end Perimeter following an informal Nov. 8 gathering convened by Brookhaven Mayor John Ernst. And that’s just the latest regional idea to spin out of a new four-city nonprofit called the Peachtree Gateway Partnership, which is also looking at a possible self-taxing business district in the area of Buford Highway and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
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meet regularly” and bring in other organizations, such as the Georgia Department of Transportation and the self-taxing community improvement districts in Perimeter Center and Cobb County’s Cumberland area. Clarkson called the meeting a “great discussion” and added that “it’s always been a dream of mine to connect some form of transit, at minimum, from Doraville [MARTA] Station to Perimeter Center.” Chamblee is currently studying a possible transit circulator system for its central area, likely involving autonomous vehicles, said Clarkson. Noting a recent news item about the ride-rental company Uber’s study of flying drone taxis, Clarkson said that it is important for cities to keep up with the rapid changes in transit and transportation technology. “The Jetsons are here,” he said. “It’s no longer science fiction. It’s science fact.” Ernst said there was no presentation at the meeting, “just chatting.” While transit has long been a big topic around the Perimeter, and traffic and transportation is everyone’s top issue, these multi-city leaders had never been in the same room before, Ernst said.
Brookhaven Mayor John Ernst.
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The I-285 transit meeting, held at the Villa Christina event space in Brookhaven’s Perimeter Summit area included mayors and other city officials “from Smyrna to Tucker,” said Ernst. “It was about seeing if we had a common goal to look at transit and mobility around the region,” said Ernst. “Nothing was proposed. Nothing was foreclosed.” The multi-city gathering had no name, but the group “may be formalized” and meet again, Ernst said. Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul, a strong proponent of mass transit connections in the Perimeter area, was among the attendees. “I thought it was very productive and sets in motion what could be a multicounty leadership group to focus on east/west mobility and multimodal connectivity across the Perimeter’s northern arc from Cumberland to Doraville,” Paul said in an email afterward. Paul had mentioned the gathering at the previous night’s Sandy Springs City Council meeting, where he said, “The journey of a thousand miles has to start with a step,” and praised Brookhaven for starting a conversation. Chamblee Mayor Eric Clarkson, another participant, said that “everybody in the group agreed that we need to
Chamblee Mayor Eric Clarkson.
Various forms of mass transit and alternative transportation along and around I-285 have been proposed over the years, including multiuse trails, trains and even monorails — which Paul himself recently discussed again. This year’s opening of SunTrust Park in Cobb County raised the issue again, and there is a growing sense of urgency as the state plans to widen and add ramps to the I-285/Ga. 400 interchange take more right of way. “I think it’s a concern and an opportunity,” Clarkson said of the right of way concerns. Asked whether representatives from cities in Cobb County, which has de-
NOV. 24 - DEC. 14, 2017
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Community | 5
www.ReporterNewspapers.net use trail plans among the four cities so their systems will properly connect. Clarkson said the partnership also has a committee studying a possible new community improvement district, or CID, in the area between Buford Highway and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, possibly extending farther west to Dunwoody’s Georgetown area.
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Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul.
clined MARTA service in the past, offered any different perspectives on transit, Ernst said, “Everyone’s looking for different solutions.” Officials from that area did not respond to comment requests. Doraville Interim City Manager Regina Williams-Gates attended, according to city spokesperson Robert Kelley. He said the message from Mayor Donna Pittman is that “Doraville remains supportive of any transit options put on the table.” Tucker sent City Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem Michelle Penkava. “From our perspective, it was a good opportunity for representatives from these cities to get together and discuss a mutual challenge,” said city spokesperson Matt Holmes. While the I-285 transit meeting was unprecedented, it spun out of discussions by another regional group, the Peachtree Gateway Partnership, according to Clarkson. A public-private group, the partnership includes the cities of Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Chamblee and Doraville, along such major businesses as Georgia Power, Epps Aviation, the Jim Ellis automotive dealership and the development firm Integral Group. Incorporated last year as a nonprofit with assistance from the Atlanta Regional Commission, the partnership is modeled on similar efforts in Gwinnett County and around Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. It’s intended to promote regional planning and economic development among the cities. The partnership’s first effort is oriented toward alternative transportation. It involves coordinating multi-
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CIDs are districts where businesses tax themselves to fund various improvements to streets, landscape or public safety. The CID concept is being studied with matching funds from Mercer University, Clarkson said. The partnership recently launched a website at PeachtreeGatewayPartnership.com.
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6 | Education
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Christine McAleer, St. Martin’s Episcopal School Christine McAleer, who has been teaching English at St. Martin’s Episcopal School for five years, traveled to Washington, D.C., the past two summers for Smithsonian American Art Museum programs, and next year will take her seventh-grade students to the museum. “Only about half of the teachers who applied were selected, so I was honored,” McAleer said of the two summer programs. Through what she learned at the programs, McAleer has integrated art into her English classes and uses programs developed by the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she said. She also serves as the cosponsor of the school’s literary and arts magazine, Mosaic.
Q:
Why did you decide to become a teacher?
A:
I wanted to be a teacher when I was a little girl, but at college, I decided to learn as much as possible about literature and writing. Then, when my children were young, I worked part-time at the school they
Exceptional
Educator
attended, and the desire to teach returned. I enrolled at Mercer University and never looked back.
Q: What keeps you going year after year? A: No matter what happens outside of the classroom, family problems or the inevitable burnout we all feel at work occasionally, when the bell rings, and I close that classroom door … and turn towards those kids and think about the exciting and important and meaningful work we are about to do together, energy and happiness replace the stress, worry and fatigue. I also love to learn new ways to teach and new topics to cover.
Q:
What are you most proud of in your career?
A: SPECIAL
Christine McAleer.
I’m proud to teach at St. Martin’s. I’m proud of integrating art and inquiry into my curriculum,
and I’m really proud that our seventhgrade students will visit Washington, D.C., this May and tour the Smithsonian American Art Museum!
Q: What did you learn from the Smithsonian programs?
A:
We worked with the museum’s fabulous education department and spent time daily in the galleries, practicing the routines with the artwork. I designed a very successful lesson to help the students learn and apply literary terms like plot, metaphor, setting, narrative, personification, etc., to the painting “Achelous and Hercules” by Thomas Hart Benton. The students are always really engaged, and the discussion is amazingly deep and sophisticated. Both of the institutes have helped me bring a new dimension to my teaching. The students LOVE looking at, talking about and analyzing artworks.
Q: Do you use any special programs? A: My principal, Tony Shaffer, intro-
duced me to the “Making Thinking Visible” routines created by educators at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. At the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s summer institutes, we practiced these routines and learned some additional visual thinking strategies and global thinking strategies. Basically, these routines encourage a culture of critical, creative, empathetic, and collaborative thinking in the classroom through easily implemented questioning routines that range from asking the students, “What makes you say that?” to requiring them to play “Tug-ofWar” to encourage them to explore arguments for both sides of a dilemma. I also use lots of artwork in my lessons. My students learn to “read” art and to connect it to literature, history, and their own lives.
Q: What are the biggest challenges you face as a teacher?
A: The lure of social media and its sim-
plification of language and thought. Making reading and writing and literature relevant to my students in an increasingly inarticulate world, and teaching empathy and acceptance in our polarized society.
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Q:
What is your favorite part of teaching at St. Martin’s?
A:
Working with my middle school colleagues. We are a close community of dedicated, innovative, excellent teachers. The administration fosters this innovation and enthusiasm through our fabulous and generous professional development program. Of course, I can’t forget our wonderful students and their supportive families!
Education | 7
NOV. 24 - DEC. 14, 2017 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net
Cross Keys students join immigrant experience book project BY EVELYN ANDREWS evelyn@reporternewspapers.net
A nonprofit visited Brookhaven’s Cross Keys High School Nov. 10 to record the stories of students who immigrated to the U.S. and highlight the diversity of the community. The nonprofit, Green Card Voices, filmed students describing their experience moving to the U.S. and will later publish their stories in a book titled, “Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from an Atlanta High School.” It is scheduled to be released in April 2018. Tea Rozman Clark, the nonprofit’s executive director, said the goal of the project is to amplify the voice of immigrant students. “We want to create a system where people are empowered to tell their true story,” she said. “Once you know someone’s story, it’s harder to hate them or fear them.” Faysal Ando, a Cross Keys sophomore, who emigrated from Ethiopia 10 years ago, said he was nervous about speaking on camera and being photographed, but felt it was worth it. When people think of immigrants, they mostly think of immigrants from Mexico, but there are many people from other countries here, he said. “It’s a good way to teach people about the diversity here,” he said. “It’s for a good cause and I’m excited.” Clark interviewed Cross Keys students from more than 15 countries, including Bangladesh, Vietnam, Guatemala and Ethiopia. The three previous books have featured students from St. Paul, EVELYN ANDREWS Minneapolis and Fargo, The Green Card Voices team preps Cross Keys High Minnesota. The first two School student Saifa for her interview on Nov. 10. chapters of each book can be previewed online for free. The books cost $20 and the students featured in the books are compensated, Clark said. To view the already completed books, visit greencardvoices. com. The students’ video testimonies will also be posted on that site. Project organizers were contacted by a social work professor at Kennesaw State University, Darlene Rodriguez-Schaefer, who felt that Cross Keys would be a “natural fit” to film the stories given how many immigrant students attend the school, she said. The students are able to share their thoughts on common beliefs about immigrants to thousands of people, Rodriguez-Schaefer said. For the first time since beginning the project, Clark let a student respond in Spanish during her interview. The 15-year-old student had emigrated from Mexico a few months prior, bringing along her 4-month-old baby. This student cannot be identified because she is still in the process of receiving legal permission to reside in U.S. Her appearance in the book is contingent on her receiving legal status. Clark asked the last names of the other students not be used, but Ando provided permission to use his last name. Ando said he was excited to come to the U.S. — “a better country with better education” — and made friends quickly when he arrived. “Soccer has remained a constant in my life and I made a lot of friends through it,” he said. He said he plans to go to college and send money back to his family still in Ethiopia. “It’s really hard there right now. There’s a lot of political turmoil,” Ando said. “I got lucky coming here so I really want to help them. It’s a lot of pressure,” he said. Mario, who came to the U.S. from Mexico, said he is grateful he was able to come to the U.S. He said living in Mexico is dangerous and he probably would have dropped out of school if he still lived there. “I would probably be part of a drug cartel. With the current situation, it is dangerous to be there,” he said. Aleman said he hopes to major in computer science and design video games. Saifa, who moved from Bangladesh 10 years ago, said when she found out her family was coming to the U.S., she was scared and didn’t want to move. “I wasn’t able to say goodbye to my family and friends,” she said. “We were crying almost all the time. We missed everything. Everything was so unfamiliar.” Since then, she has made friends through clubs and started a dance club. If her family stayed in Bangladesh, Saifa said she thinks she would likely be dead. “It’s dangerous to go outside, especially for ladies and girls. There is killing every day,” she said.
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8 | Community
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Survey: How important are family traditions in your holiday celebrations? When it comes to holiday celebrations, local residents like theirs seasoned with traditional family events. In a cellphone survey of 200 residents in Atlanta, Brookhaven, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs conducted via 1Q.com, respondents chose celebrations based on or including family traditions by 3-to-1 over ones in which family traditions played little or no role. “The best way is to be with family and friends,” one 60-yearold Atlanta man wrote. “Laughing, sharing food and enjoying one another.” Food played a big part in holiday traditions described by many respondents. “Food! It’s all about food!” a 27-year-old Atlanta woman said. And what food! There’ll be turkey, of course. Lots of turkey. It’ll come roasted, deep-fried or smoked and with belt-bust-
ing stacks of side dishes: “I love all the fixings – turkey, ham, roast oyster dressing, giblet dressing, cranberry sauce, candied yams, cornbread, corn on the cob, potato salad, collard greens, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, red velvet cake, carrot cake and lots and lots of different beverages,” one 45-year-old Atlanta woman wrote. But turkey won’t be the only dish adorning holiday tables this as a family tradition. There’ll also be king crab, steaks, latkes, pozole, paella, prime rib, cookies, Chinese takeout, Waffle House breakfasts, lasagna, gumbo and home-made cinnamon rolls. “There’s something about sipping coffee and eating a cinnamon roll that brings back so many memories. It’s the little things!” a 22-year-old Atlanta woman commented. Others have created traditions linked to other culinary delights. “We always have a Hanukkah party each year and it is
catered by the Varsity,” a 63-year-old Sandy Springs woman said. “A family tradition and still going strong!” Some celebrants will return to mom’s house, or a relative’s house, or go to “different events at different houses.” Others seek exotic holiday locations: New York City, Orlando, the country. “We gather in the woods,” a 20-year-old Brookhaven woman said of her family’s traditional retreat from technology and electric devices. Still others plan to celebrate in ways that blend new and old. Some want to eat turkey, watch football and nap. Others will read Christmas stories, including the story of Christmas; or sing carols; or play family board or card games; or listen to ghost stories; or devote time to “putting up an aluminum Festivus pole, like on ‘Seinfeld’ ”; or drive around to admire holiday lights; or, as one respondent put it, to perform “drunk ka-
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Communion Services 12 pm, 10 pm | Kellett Chapel Traditional Candlelight Services 2 pm, 4 pm, 6 pm, 8pm | Sanctuary
Peachtree Presbyterian Church 3434 Roswell Rd NW Atlanta, GA 30305 Shuttle service and childcare provided for most services. For more details: peachtreechurch.org
SAINT MARTIN IN THE FIELDS EPISCOPAL CHURCH Christmas Eve: Sunday, Dec. 24
3:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist and Christmas Pageant* 5:30 p.m. Christmas Concert* 6:00 p.m. Festive Eucharist with Choir and Orchestra* 10:00 p.m. Christmas Concert 10:30 p.m. Festive Eucharist with Choir and Orchestra *Nursery is available for these services and programs.
Christmas Day: Monday, Dec. 25, 10:30 a.m. 3110 Ashford Dunwoody Rd • Atlanta, 30319 • 404-261-4292 • www.stmartins.org
NOV. 24 - DEC. 14, 2017
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Community | 9
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raoke.” “We always cook together and then watch a holiday-themed movie,” a 36-year-old Dunwoody woman wrote. “We kick our winter holiday off the weekend after Thanksgiving and we make it look like it’s snowing inside the house.” Several respondents had made movies part of their holiday traditions. Their families’ favorites ranged from “It’s a Wonderful Life” to “Die Hard” to “something picked 100 percent by the youngest member of our family.” One family, it appears, created a Christmas Day tradition of watching “Pulp Fiction” together. Respondents also cited more serious traditions highlighting the religious nature of the holidays. Some said they will attend midnight church services. “I usually don’t celebrate any holiday,” a 40-year-old Atlanta man wrote. “I cook for myself and just call my family. Other than that, I would volunteer to feed the homeless/hungry.” But most respondents said the holidays are family time. “It does not matter where we are,” a 41-year-old DeKalb County man commented, “as long as we are together.”
48.5
16%
%
SOMEWHAT
NOT VERY
We have traditions, but mix in our own practices.
Family traditions play only a small role in celebrations.
28%
7.5%
VERY
Our celebration is based mostly on old family traditions.
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We do our own thing or start our own traditions.
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HERE’S WHAT SOME OTHER RESPONDENTS HAD TO SAY “Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, same food every Christmas and Thanksgiving, using the same centuries-old recipes.” – 51-year-old Atlanta man “Every Christmas morning, we go as a family to Waffle House for breakfast. All in our PJs. We have been doing this for 16 years.” – 46-year-old Buckhead/Sandy Springs woman
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“My family tradition is to eat spaghetti the night before Thanksgiving and to also go out to eat the night after.” – 28-year-old Sandy Springs woman “Usually for the holidays we do different Latin dishes or another country’s dish for the main meals because our workplaces will usually do a traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas lunch.” – 30-year-old Sandy Springs woman
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10 | Commentary
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Commentary / GOP tax reform would help local families The House GOP’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is the first meaningful overhaul of the U.S. tax code in three decades. Today, the average American spends 17 hours completing their taxes, and our economy loses $400 billion in annual productivity as a result. Even worse, coming out of the worst recession many of us have seen in our lives, our economy continues to limp along with anemic growth and stagnant wages. But for economic growth in the 21st century, we need a tax code designed for the 21st century. The status U.S. Rep. quo is not good enough. Karen Handel The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a bold, transformative approach to tax reform that simplifies the code and reduces the tax burden on working Americans and middle-income families. The bill cleared the House Nov. 16 by a vote of 227-205, and I was proud to play a part in passing this historic legislation. H.R. 1 cuts federal income tax rates, eliminates loopholes and encourages investment in America’s economy. It replaces deductions and credits with broad tax reduction, eliminating a system that
has played favorites and distorted economic decision making for decades. Our plan is about Americans, especially low- and middle-income families, being able to keep more of their own, hard-earned money. We’re lowering federal income tax rates across the board — consolidating the existing seven tax brackets into four — while nearly doubling the standard deduction for individuals and married couples. According to Census data, the average family of four in the 6th Congressional District makes $132,066 per year. Under this bill, using the increased standard deduction, that family will take home an additional $4,658 per year. The bill also increases the Child Tax Credit from $1,000 to $1,600 per child and raises the credit’s annual income threshold from $110,000 to $230,000. Over 40,000 people in the 6th District already claim this credit, and even more will be able to under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. And the fact that this is a credit — rather than a deduction — means the money goes in your pocket whether you itemize or not. At the same time, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminates the Alternative Minimum Tax. The AMT currently impacts 26,877 filers in the 6th — almost twice the national average. Finally, our bill encourages economic growth and job creation by lowering
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small businesses’ taxes to their lowest rates since World War II. Unfortunately, those who cling to the status quo are already hard at work employing the same old scare tactics and false innuendos. Don’t fall for it. The Washington Post’s recent fact check gave Senate Democrats “four Pinocchios” for saying our plan raises taxes on Americans — its strongest possible rating. The Post wrote that anyone spreading the claim “should delete their tweets and make clear they were in error.” In the coming weeks, there will be conversations about changes to make our proposal better. One such change has already been made, restoring the adoption tax credit for families opening their homes to children from around the world. Again, some will focus on the fact that our plan eliminates most deductions in the current tax code. But, by broadly cutting rates and doubling the standard deduction, we ensure that the overwhelming majority of 6th District residents see their taxes cut — with or without individual credits and deductions. In fact, the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation recently confirmed that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would cut taxes for Americans at every income level. Over the years, Washington has created special-interest loophole after special-interest loophole, creating a system that benefits those whose lawyers and accountants can best navigate and exploit the tax code. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will remove those loopholes, adding fairness to the system and making the tax code so simple that nine out of 10 Americans will be able to file their return on a form the size of a postcard. The plan isn’t perfect. Few things are. Still, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is a critical step forward for families, small businesses, and for our hopes of modernizing America’s economy for the 21st century. As the House and Senate continue working on a compromise bill that can be signed into law by the President, I will remain focused on simplifying the tax code and lowering taxes on a vast majority of Americans. Our economy depends on it. Karen Handel represents Georgia’s 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district includes parts of Brookhaven, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. She serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
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NOTE TO READERS
The Reporter will publish one issue next month, on December 15. In addition to regular news coverage and features, the issue will contain a special section commemorating the city of Brookhaven’s fifth anniversary. BK
NOV. 24 - DEC. 14, 2017
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‘Friendsgiving’? Thanks, but no thanks. I was at the salon a few weeks ago for my seasonal haircut, engaging in mindless chit-chat with the cute young gal who was washing my hair, when she asked me about my plans for the Thanksgiving weekend. “Well, we have a pre-Thanksgiving chili night with neighbors on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving,” I began. She, being under 30 and thus recognizing all things “trending,” perked up and said, “Oh! You’re having a Friendsgiving!” “No,” I frowned, admitting to my own un-trendingRobin Conte is a writer ness. “It’s pre-Thanksgiving Chili Night with Neighbors.” and mother of four who I won’t have my fun chili night cheapened by a trendy cliché. lives in Dunwoody. She Friendsgiving, for those of you who are as un-trending can be contacted at as I am, is marketed as Thanksgiving, only better. A snarrobinjm@earthlink.net. kier definition is that it’s a Thanksgiving meal ostensibly shared with people you really WANT to eat with instead of with the people you really DON’T want to eat with … or something like that. It can happen anytime during the month of November: the Wednesday before or the Friday after, the weekend after, or really any day at all except on Thanksgiving … no, it can even happen on Thanksgiving. Friendsgiving has its own invitations, Pinterest pages, Wiki page and page on Merriam-Webster.com. It has its own set of rules on Buzzfeed and The Kitchn, created by people who write for Buzzfeed and The Kitchn. (Here I digress just long enough to wholeheartedly endorse a rule listed on both sites which states that if you are assigned to bring a dish, bring it completely prepared — do not bring its components and assemble it in the host’s kitchen. Thank you, social network site writers, for validating my personal pet peeve.) Southern Living has even gotten into the game, devoting a post to Friendsgiving recipes that look suspiciously like Thanksgiving recipes. So maybe our pre-Thanksgiving Chili Night with Neighbors doesn’t qualify as Friendsgiving anyway, because we don’t do the traditional turkey and sides. Either way, I like our plan much better. I have enough trouble cooking one turkey a year; I don’t want to do two in one month. Besides that, it will be July, and I will still manage to discover a Tupperware container of leftover turkey or SPECIAL sweet potato casserole in the back of Robin prepares a dish of Thanks Con Carne. the freezer — I don’t need more of the same from an identical dinner. Like a Disney sidekick, a bowl of chili provides a welcome relief to the barrage of leftovers on the one end and the barrage of preparations on the other. Back to our pre-Thanksgiving Chili Night with Neighbors, whose names I will now reveal as Lisa and Andy. We take turns hosting and supplying the chili; Lisa makes Cincinnati-style, and I make halftime-style. We also supply kids, parents, and occasional surprise guests, and we always have a great evening, unmarred by the fact that we are practically trending — but not quite. The only other snag in our Pre-Thanksgiving Chili Night with Neighbors is the clunky title. I admit that “Friendsgiving” is a whole lot catchier. So what shall we call it? “Chili Night” is too generic. “No Thanks-giving” is too harsh. Thanks Con Carne? Three Alarm Neighbors? Friends Five Ways? Let me know, and I’ll start my own trend.
Robin’s Nest
S Senior Life enior Life At lan Get fresh at ta
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Yoga to Fit Your Lifestyle page 16
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5| AtlantaSeniorLIFE.co MAY 2017 • Vol. 2 No. ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
eniorLife
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Theatre-To-Go delive rs Live Performance s
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page 6
page 10
page 14
Leng A Lifetime of Learni ss is more page 12
By Donna Williams
Lewis
Methodist Dunwoody United Gil Yates, about to begin at for his classmate Coast Indians was making a beeline A class on Pacific strode into the room, Church when a man OK.” approached. “Shuffling’sbuddy, who would not front row, center. said, as the man his “No running!” Yates is a year older than all in good fun. Yates The teasing was share his age: 91. with Perimeter Adults did but spring this name, classes reveal his 175 students taking The men are among most of whom (PALS). By Kathy for senior adults, Services education & Learning continuing the start.Dean year of providing been members from PALS is in its 25th need for of Dunwoody, have Wethe hear takes care of it all and his wife, Dot, and this kind of are 60-plus. Yates rings especially the time: less is more. The to help other people, phrase true for older “People our age want made lifelong friends.” adults who are empty nests and Yates said. “We have facing are4 ready to Continued on page fellowship,” Dot of their enjoy the lives. Intown and north metro second half many comforta Atlanta offer ble options for them. “Baby boomers have spent much working and of their lives building said Dawn Anderson their wealth for retiremen t,” , Realtor, Dorsey “As retiremen Alston Realtors. t becomes more of a reality, they plan their transition begin to to downsize. Ease and affordability of life, proximity are certainly the goals of most downsizing common boomers.” The trend of continues to grow, 55+ active adult commun ities Anderson said. well qualified “Baby boomers buyers and know are looking for.” exactly what they are Kim Isaacs, aged Avalon in Alpharet 58, said that her townhom e in ta gives her everything they and her husband want. “We had home in Johns lived in our previous Creek for 19 years. left for college, When our last we child and really didn’t decided that we wanted a change need a large house of us,” she said. for just the two
ACTIVE OLDER ADULTS
DOWNSIZE TO ENJOY LIFE
Continued on
BK
page 4
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12 | Community
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Council reverses vote, allows gated townhomes BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
The City Council has backpedaled from its opposition to a gated townhome project, reversing a decision that officials say was intended to send a message to developers, but was legally shaky. The council on Nov. 14 unanimously voted to reverse the decision it made last month to prohibit Ardent Companies from building a gated townhome development on Pine Cone Lane. The decision came after City Attorney Chris Balch said the city would likely lose if sued by the developer. “The method by which we pursued it was procedurally flawed,” City Councilmember Linley Jones said. Jones, who added the amendment at the Oct. 24 council meeting to deny Ardent Companies’ request to build a wrought-iron fence around a 22-townhome development on Pine Cone Lane, said the city will work toward creating a broad policy to consider whether the city should allow future gated communities as it works to create connectivity and promote walkability. Mayor John Ernst, who in a rare vote broke the tie at the Oct. 24 meeting to deny Ardent Companies’ request, said the way to make legislative change was not through an individual zoning case. “We will have staff take a look at an amendment to our code about not allowing gates outside the SLUP [special land use permit] process,” Ernst said. The new fencing means that the popular vehicle and pedestrian access of Burton Plaza Lane will be closed to the public. Under the developer’s plan, Burton Plaza Lane will be shifted slightly to the north and the new private street will be gated at Coosawattee Drive and Pine Cone Lane, according to city staff.
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Brookhaven has numerous gated communities today, but Jones has said she does not support new gated communities in the city because it inhibits connectivity. Ernst and Councilmember John Park supported her amendment last month because they also want to see more connectivity in the city. Councilmembers Bates Mattison and Joe Gebbia supported Ardent’s request to put up the fence. Mattison said the fence is needed because the townhome project is located near Buford Highway, where he said crime is rampant and the fence provides a sense of security to residents. He also said there needs to be considerable debate about gated communities in the city. Prohibiting fences citywide is contradictory to the city’s pedestrian-friendly policy because it encourages cut-through traffic in residential neighborhoods, he said. Ardent’s Neville Allison told the council last month that Ardent could already build gates along Pine Cone Lane and Coosawattee Drive as part of a 73-unit townhome development under construction where the Park Villa apartments were once located. He threatened to abandon the project if not allowed to build the fence and, while it was unsaid, he also appeared ready to take legal action. Allison said the decision to add the fence around the additional 22 units was made, in part, because the townhomes likely would attract younger, mostly female residents, who want gates for security and exclusivity. Ardent and Taylor Morrison have several townhome developments in the area. All of them are fenced.
Spend the day or evening on the Town! Discover over 50 shops, services and restaurants. Town Brookhaven is truly your one stop shopping and dining destination with a blend of interesting boutiques, delicious restaurants and useful services.
www.townbrookhaven.net Conveniently located on Peachtree Road adjacent to Oglethorpe University. BK
NOV. 24 - DEC. 14, 2017
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DeKalb legislators preview upcoming session BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
As state lawmakers prepare to return to the General Assembly in January, DeKalb lawmakers made a few predictions during a Nov. 14 panel discussion hosted by the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce and the Dunwoody Perimeter Chamber. The panel discussion was moderated by Greg Bluestein, political reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. All panelists agreed the 2018 session will likely be very short due to it being an election year and several legislators are running for higher office. Some key takeaways:
Transit
BK
The recent meeting with mayors and city leaders along I-285 at the top-end of the Perimeter to discuss the future of public transit was greeted overwhelmingly with approval by state lawmakers. “It’s wonderful to hear the mayors had a conversation,” said Rep. Meagan Hanson (R-Brookhaven), who added she thinks such a meeting should have happened long ago. State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (DDecatur), who serves on the 14-member state transit commission formed by House Speaker David Ralston this year to study Georgia’s transit needs and analyze ways to plan and fund those needs, said she was pleased with how leadership was coming together to find ways to fund transit. State Sen. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) added he was optimistic to see something happen soon with transit funding, but noted he didn’t think there would be state funding without regional governance of that funding. He added that DeKalb and Fulton counties have long paid for MARTA funding and it was time for other counties to pay. “The regional governance piece is crucial to getting state funds,” state Sen. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) agreed. Parent said she believes an important state leader, such as the governor, needs to make a public commitment to ensure funding of transit. “Until some really important leader commits to it I fear nothing is going to happen,” she said. Millar said that any new transit will not include heavy rail. He said he didn’t believe the long-talked about plans for heavy rail to Stonecrest would ever happen due to the cost, unless Amazon does relocate its second headquarters to the city. Oliver said part of the reason Emory wants to be annexed into the city of Atlanta is because of its commitment to fund public transit. DeKalb County does not have a good plan to get public transit dollars, she said, and she was looking for better leadership on the DeKalb County Commission.
Civil War monuments
Parent and Oliver have pre-filed bills in the House and Senate that would give local governments the authority to remove or relocate Civil War monuments. State law currently prohibits municipalities from doing so. The DeKalb County Commission approved a resolution 6-1 last month asking its legal counsel to find a way to remove or relocate a Confederate memorial located outside the former DeKalb Courthouse in the Decatur square. But who owns the memorial — the county or a private entity — is still being researched. DeKalb Commissioner Nancy Jester of Dunwoody cast the lone no vote. Millar said he does not think anything will happen in the upcoming session on Civil War monuments, other than a study commission possibly being formed. He added he thought the issue would be debated heavily because it is an election year. “You’ll see a lot of play on it,” he said. Rep. Howard Mosby (D-Atlanta) said there has been a groundswell of activism surrounding Civil War monuments that cannot be ignored, but added a great deal of work must be done before any legislation is passed.
Millar said he thought some parts of the bill were good, such as allowing religious adoption agencies to DYANA BAGBY deny same-sex couFrom left, state Rep. Michele Henson (D-Stone Mountain), state ples from adopting Sens. Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) and Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody), and state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) in a legislative a child because they preview panel discussion moderated by Greg Bluestein of the AJC. believe homosexuality is a sin. But that for a new Amazon headquarters as part also opened the door of a nationwide attempt by states to atto legal issues, he added. tract the corporate giant. He asked what Oliver said the attempt during the last levels of incentives are acceptable. session to update the adoption code failed Parent said an analysis of a project due to Republicans trying to add “religious including incentives should determine liberty” language to it in the final minutes what that project brings to the state and of the General Assembly’s last day. that the amount should be more than in“This is a very bad symptom of how decentives. “We should not be lining the structive these debates can be,” she said. pockets of a company that already has a lot of money,” she said. Incentives for She also noted that several big reAmazon HQ2 tailers, including Home Depot, are not Bluestein said the state submitted pleased about Amazon possibly coming the High Street site in Dunwoody and to metro Atlanta. the Doraville GM site as potential sites
‘Religious liberty’ bill
For the past several sessions, GOP legislators have brought up a “religious liberty” bill. In 2016, the bill was vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal. The bill, some say, is discriminatory, especially to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents of Georgia. Another argument against a “religious liberty” bill is that such a bill will harm the state’s economic development as corporations embrace LGBT equality for their employees. Numerous corporations in Georgia have also spoken out against such a bill. But the bill is expected to come up again in 2018, said Bluestein, who asked if the panelists believed such a bill would hurt the state’s businesses. “This is a complex issue,” Mosby said. “I don’t know how many different ways you can say no [to the bill]. This is extremely dangerous. We tout ourselves as the No. 1 state to do business. This [bill] is the No. 1 thing we can do to destroy that slogan.” Last year’s “religious liberty” bill called for the state to apply the federal Freedom Restoration Act passed in 1993 at the state level. Millar, who voted in favor of the bill in 2016, said he would not support a “religious freedom” bill this year, calling such a bill “DOA [dead on arrival].” “I think it’s a Republican primary issue. That’s about as far as it will go,” he said. “I don’t see it going anywhere in Georgia this year. The governor made the right decision.”
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14 | Community
Brookhaven Democrat to run for House District 80 BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
Brookhaven Democrat and political newcomer Matthew Wilson is challenging GOP incumbent Meagan Hanson for the House District 80 seat that includes Brookhaven, Chamblee and a sliver of Sandy Springs. Wilson, who lives in Brookhaven, is a personal injury attorney at the Akin & Take law firm. He said he’s running because he believes “it’s the right time and I’m the right person. I want to be the progressive champion our moderate district deserves.” SPECIAL Hanson, a Matthew Wilson. Brookhaven resident, said she is standing by her record. She is a member of the House Transportation Committee and the committee that oversees MARTA. She also co-sponsored the DeKalb County special local option sales tax, featuring a referendum to freeze property taxes, that was overwhelmingly approved by DeKalb voters Nov. 7. “I am proud of my record, and I look forward to continuing to work hard for House District 80,” she said. Wilson graduated from the University of Georgia and taught sixth-graders at a low-income school in TexSPECIAL as part of the Teach for America program before movMeagan Hanson. ing back to Georgia and getting his law degree at UGA. Wilson said he volunteered for former state Rep. Taylor Bennett in 2015 when he defeated former Brookhaven mayor J. Max Davis in a special election for the House District 80 seat. He volunteered again for Bennett last year when Hanson pulled out a slim victory. Wilson said he tried to recruit Bennett and two other friends to run for HD 80, but the timing was not right for them. “Then Taylor and some friends approached me and said, ‘You should be the one to run.’ I thought about it for several weeks ... and talked to people who knew me and knew the district,” he said. Wilson said he hails from a “working class” background. His father worked for the Henry County Sheriff’s Department for many years and then the Griffin Police Department. After he retired from law enforcement, his father worked as mechanic in Clayton County where he was injured on the job and was disabled. That led his mother, a respiratory therapist with two small children, to take on night shifts to help with family expenses, Wilson said. “I grew up very humble and my family was focused on education and public service,” he said. His twin sister worked for a time with the Griffin Police Department and now works for the Secret Service in Washington, D.C., he said. Wilson said teaching at the low-income school where 91 percent of the students were receiving free or reduced cost lunches was a “formative experience.” “I saw how hard families worked ... but I also saw the incredible obstacles educators have to overcome to close the achievement gap,” he said. Wilson, who is openly gay, said he is still listening to residents in the district before he plans to unveil a platform at the beginning of 2018. What he is hearing, however, is that residents are disturbed with the tone of legislators at the General Assembly who he said are not doing the work people want, specifically on education and economic policies. People want to see someone represent their concerns “rather than push divisive issues.” House District 80 is considered by some to be a swing district. Mike Jacobs was elected to the seat in 2004 as a Democrat, narrowly defeating J. Max Davis, but switched to the Republican Party in 2007 and was easily re-elected in 2008 and 2010. Bennett won the seat in a special election after Jacobs left to take a judgeship, and Hanson ousted him in the following 2016 election. “There’s no denying the district was drawn to be a Republican district,” Wilson acknowledged. But he said Hillary Clinton won the district by 12 points and Hanson only narrowly defeated Bennett by fewer than 250 votes. “Even though there are more Republicans than Independents or Democrats in the district, those Republicans will vote for the best candidate regardless of party affiliation,” Wilson said. Wilson said he keeps hearing from people he talks to that the issues that matter to them are not being debated in the General Assembly and that they want someone who will fight to improve public education and economic policies. “These are two things that are not being debated under the Gold Dome,” he said. “I want to focus on the issues that will move our communities forward rather than find issues that divide and distract us.”
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Local adult clubs sue to halt new tax BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
A group of adult entertainment club leaders — including from Brookhaven’s Pink Pony — is suing to stop a new tax that the state says will help victims of child sexual exploitation, but which the clubs say is unconstitutional and not based on evidence. Approved by voters last year, the tax is scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. The law requires strip clubs and similar venues to annually pay $5,000 or 1 percent of revenue, whichever is greater, to a new “Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund,” which aims to provide housing and services to child sex trafficking victims through means to be determined by a committee. The state’s rationale is that adult clubs have a “correlation” with child sex trafficking. But the Georgia Association of Club Executives says there’s no evidence of a link. The association’s executive director is Jill Chambers, a former Dunwoody state representative, and other local members are Mardi Gras in Sandy Springs and Oasis in Doraville. “GA-ACE encourages the Georgia Legislature to focus its efforts on finding and punishing the true perpetrators of these horrible crimes, rather than attacking legitimate Georgia businesses with no connection to the evils the Legislature seeks to prevent,” the group said in a press release about its lawsuit, filed in Fulton County Superior Court on Nov. 10. The lawsuit claims the tax is unconstitutional on procedural and free-speech issues. On procedure, the association claims, the law authorizing it originated in the Senate rather than the House, and contains multiple issues, both contradicting the state constitution. The tax violates free speech by discriminating against the content of adult entertainment, not other businesses, and by using vague definitions, the lawsuit claims. The suit was filed against state Attorney General Chris Carr and Department of Revenue Commissioner Lynnette Riley, whose offices declined to comment. The lawsuit specifically targets legal language introduced by state Senators Renee Unterman (R-Buford) and Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) that claimed that adult businesses are places where sexual predators find children. The claim is “baseless,” says the association, which is a Georgia chapter of a national organization that runs its own sex trafficking prevention program, which has drawn praise from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Unterman responded via a press release issued by the Senate Press Office, saying that the statements about child sex trafficking came out of hearings with experts. “My comment is that there is evidence — it’s shown that these unseemly activities do take place more often in and around adult entertainment enterprises, even if those enterprises are not condoning them,” said Parent, whose district includes the Pink Pony. Parent provided links to news stories from Florida and Pennsylvania about legislators and nonprofit program workers discussing sex trafficking. One story did not address children at all and the other linked child sexual exploitation broadly to commercial sex, which it described as happening in strip clubs as well as other businesses ranging from truck stops to Facebook.
City issues citation for Airbnb house rental
The city’s Code Enforcement department recently issued a notice of violation to the owner of the house at 1302 Brooklawn Road and ordered him to immediately stop renting out rooms and also to stop advertising the house on Airbnb. The notice, which accuses the owner of violating city ordinances, was issued Nov. 13 following an investigation started after the city received numerous complaints from neighbors and an on-site investigation by code enforcement officers. The house’s owner, Judd Vollbrecht, denied the allegations, according to city documents. He could not be reached immediately for comment. The notice of violation ordered Vollbrecht to immediately remove the Airbnb web advertisement of his house. However, on Nov. 20, the house was still listed on Airbnb and was advertised as a 5-bedroom house that can hold 12 guests. Rent was listed at $375 a night. The description of the house on Airbnb’s website also included a note that there was a finished basement set up as a studio apartment with a private entrance and that the owner sometimes stays there when renting the main house. Houses used as short-term rentals on a primary or consistent basis are considered a commercial application and therefore not allowed in a residential zoning, according to city code. Vollbrecht also was issued a notice of violation for not operating a home business in the house according to city code. Vollbrecht operates a business in the basement of the house where he meets with renters of the house, according to city documents. City code prohibits personal contact with customers in a home business. – Dyana Bagby BK
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Nightclub keeps license after city alleges gang ties Continued from page 1 city deemed the club a “danger” to city residents and businesses following a May 13 shooting in the parking lot. Among the city’s allegations was that Medusa served as a meeting place for an alleged renowned member of the Bloods street gang known as “G-Weed,” who celebrated his birthday at the Brookhaven club this year. The party included a massive red “Bompton” birthday cake served up by women in skimpy red outfits and wearing red bandannas, the colors of the Bloods. After a four-hour hearing on Nov. 8 and another week of contemplation, the volunteer-member Alcohol Board issued their ruling Nov. 16 and overturned the city’s revocation, stating there was not credible evidence employees of the club acted illegally. “The city is disappointed in the board’s conclusions and disagree with its deci-
specific nightclubs on Buford Highway, including Medusa. On May 13, a shooting occurred outside the Medusa club at closing time, about 3 a.m., led the city to revoke the club’s liquor license. The city’s case to revoke Medusa’s liquor license rested on two major issues: that Medusa violated city ordinances by hiring security guards that were not licensed to be armed; and that because an FBI-certified member of the Bloods street gang frequented the club as evidenced in social media posts, the club and its ownership violated city ordinance by not reporting illegal activity.
City alleges club affiliated with Bloods gang
One of those injured in the May 13 shooting was Shadeed Muhammad of Los Angeles, also known as “G-Weed” or “GWeeder.” As part of the investigation of the shooting, Brookhaven Police crime analyst Abby Bell testified she scoured social media, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and found numerous references indicating G-Weed was a member of DYANA BAGBY The Brookhaven Alcohol Board, from left, Kris Sokolowski, the Bloods and that Chair Joseph Patin and Richard Grice, voted to overturn the city’s he was heavily indecision to revoke Medusa Restaurant & Lounge’s liquor license. volved with Medusa promoters and their parties at the Brookhaven club. sion to allow Medusa to keep its alcohol liAlso testifying was Det. Jimmy Menecense,” city spokesperson Burke Brennan fee, a gang detective with the DeKalb said. “The city will continue to enforce all County Police Department. Menefee gave of its laws and codes to ensure the safety lengthy testimony and guided the Alcoof the public and maintain a high level of hol Board through a detailed history of the quality of life for Brookhaven residents.” Bloods and its rivalry with the Crips. He deCary Wiggins, who represented Medusa scribed how Bloods gang members will say at the Alcohol Board hearing, said he and “Bompton” rather than “Compton” when his clients were pleased with the board’s referring to the city where the Bloods were decision. founded as a way to show disrespect to the “We appreciate that the board lisCrips. An FBI “national gang registry” also tened to the evidence and arguments and shows G-Weed is a verified Bloods gang reached, I’m quite certain, the right result,” member, Menefee said. he said. “Medusa will continue to work Balch stated because Medusa’s owners with the community to be the best corpodid not report criminal activity at the club rate citizen that it can be.” between February and May, times when Medusa opened in late 2015 and has G-Weed was known to be at the club, they become a popular spot that attracts hipwere violating the city ordinance that rehop stars such as Lil Yachty, Young Joc, 2 quires illegal activity be reported to the Chainz, Gucci Mane and 21 Savage, as well city. The city did not report what, if any, ilas sports celebrities including former Atlegal activity took place at the club and did lanta Falcon Michael Vick, who held his renot present any evidence of illegal activity tirement party at Medusa, boxing champitaking place at the club. on Floyd Mayweather and several players When Wiggins explained to Menefee for the Atlanta Hawks. during cross examination that it was not The club has also come under the illegal to be a member of a gang, Menefee watchful eye of the Brookhaven Police Deresponded, “You’re going to be involved partment. in some kind of illegal activity” if you’re a The police department has presented member of a gang. reports to the City Council showing it reBalch also played for the board a video sponds to hundreds of calls a year at 10 BK
G-Weed posted to his public Instagram account of his March birthday celebration at Medusa. The video, taken with a selfie stick, shows women in red, revealing outfits wearing red bandanas carrying out a large, red decorated birthday cake spelling out “Bompton” in a crowded room with people cheering. In an awkward exchange, Balch asked Menefee if the decorations on the cake were blood dots. Menefee explained those were actually paisleys, a design used on most bandannas. “Membership in the Bloods ... puts you in the crosshairs of criminal activity,” Balch told the board. “You don’t randomly misspell Compton, California, unless you are signaling respect to a gang member.” Wiggins described the party as similar to a scene from a VH-1 video and described the social media postings as “puffery.” The board agreed with Wiggins. “While the board recognizes that substantial credible evidence was presented that members of a gang that is recognized by law enforcement authorities may have been present upon Medusa’s premises, such membership is not per se illegal and the board finds no evidence was presented so as to establish that Medusa failed to report any criminal activity to law enforce-
ment in violation of the city’s ordinance,” the board stated in its decision.
The security guards
According to police reports and testimony, the two Medusa security guards exchanged gunfire with a gunman on May 13 after a fight involving a group of people spilled out from the club and into the rear parking lot at closing time, about 3 a.m. Off-duty Brookhaven Police officers were also working security that night and immediately jumped into action to secure the scene and assist the wounded. Brookhaven Police later determined during its investigation that two guards, Thaddeus Tigner and Shayquan “Quan” Gooding, did not have a state license to work as armed security guards, violating city ordinances. They were charged with aggravated assault, according to police reports. The DeKalb District Attorney is still investigating the allegations, according to spokesperson Yvette Jones. There are no other Medusa cases pending at the DA’s office, she added. In its ruling, the Alcohol Board stated Medusa did not violate the laws the city cited because the laws do not apply to private individuals working for their employer. The board concluded “the city’s basis for revoking Medusa’s alcohol license for violating these statutes is in error and is overturned.”
16 | Out & About
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Dunwoody’s Stage Door Players present a hometown celebration of the season written by award-winning Atlanta playwright Phillip DePoy and based on the writings of Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Celestine Sibley. Adults $33; seniors $30; students $22; ages 12 and under $15. 5339 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody. Tickets: 770-396-1726. Info: stagedoorplayers.net.
BACK TO NATURE HOLIDAY MARKET
Saturday, Dec. 2, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More than 40 vendors of handmade and eco-friendly gifts for the holiday season will sell their wares at this Chattahoochee Nature Center event. A Holiday Market Cafe will offer sandwiches, salads and soups. Many vendors can only take cash or check and there is no ATM on site. No pets. Limited parking. Free admission day at the nature center. 9135 Willeo Road, Roswell. Info: chattnaturecenter.org or 770-992-2055 x238.
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Saturday, Dec. 2 and Sunday, Dec. 3, 12:30 to 5 p.m.
Covenant Presbyterian Church presents a market featuring handcrafted gifts, jewelry, home decor, Christmas decorations, fashion accessories, fair trade food products, baskets and more from around the world. Proceeds support the efforts of Ten Thousand Villages and the LaGonave Haiti Partnership. Free. Covenant Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, 2461 Peachtree Road, Buckhead. Free parking is available on the top deck of the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center, immediately south of the church. Info: covpresatlanta.org.
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ATLANTA NATIVITY FESTIVAL
Saturday, Dec. 2, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 3, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
This fifth annual event features a display of more than 200 nativity sets and crèches from around the world, artwork dedicated to the life of Jesus Christ, a children’s craft workshop, live nativity, and a music festival featuring jazz ensembles, children’s choirs and a Christmas carol sing-along. Free. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6449 Glenridge Drive, Sandy Springs. Info: atlantanativitycelebration.org.
HOLIDAY CONCERT AND DANCE PARTY
Saturday, Dec. 2, 8 to 11 p.m. Free beginner’s dance lesson 7 p.m.
The Atlanta Cajun Zydeco Association hosts the Carolina Gator Gumbo band for a concert and dance at the Dorothy Benson Center. Cajun/Creole food for sale. 6500 Vernon Woods Drive, Sandy Springs. $18; $14 active military; $5 students. Info: aczadance.org or 877-338-2420.
SWEDISH CHRISTMAS MARKET Sunday, Dec. 3, 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The Swedish Women’s Educational Association International showcases the culture and holiday traditions of Sweden at this event featuring Lucia processions, children’s activities and live entertainment. Swedish items for sale include baked goods, chocolates, traditional and modern handicrafts and used books. Swedish foods and drinks available. $2 adults, free for ages under 18 and for anyone wearing a Scandinavian national costume. Dorothy Benson Center, 6500 Vernon Woods Drive, Sandy Springs. Info: atlanta.swea.org/julmarknaden.
“MORE THAN A BABY” Sunday, Dec. 3, 4 p.m.
Dunwoody United Methodist church hosts its annual family Christmas extravaganza featuring children’s choirs, youth bells and choir, and tone chimes choir. Live nativity, food truck dinner and cocoa at the church Christmas tree lot. 1548 Mount Vernon Road, Dunwoody. Info: 770-394-0675.
SPARKLE SANDY SPRINGS
Sunday, Dec. 3, 5 to 8 p.m., continuing daily through Dec. 31
A holiday display of miniature houses decorated by local organizations and artists and illuminated at night. The Dec. 3 opening event will feature a fire pit, food trucks and music from the Riverwood International Charter School Band, the Ridgeview Charter Chamber Orchestra, and the School of Rock Atlanta House Band.
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Free. Heritage Sandy Springs, Entertainment Lawn, 6110 Blue Stone Road, Sandy Springs. Info: visitsandysprings.org.
“BELLS, BABS & BEYOND”
Friday, Dec. 8, 8 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 9, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The 37th annual Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus holiday concert features arrangements made famous by Barbra Streisand as well as “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria.” The Handbell Choir of Morningside Presbyterian Church will join the chorus, as will a guest string quintet. $15$50. A free ice cream social follows the concert. The Cathedral of St. Philip, 2744 Peachtree Road NW, Buckhead. Info: voicesofnote.org or 404-320-1030.
HANUKKAH BAZAAR
Sunday, Dec. 10, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Or VeShalom Synagogue is celebrating its 103rd anniversary and hosting its 42nd Annual Hanukkah Bazaar. Guests can sample authentic Sephardic/Mediterranean cuisine and handmade delicacies and pastries. Art, jewelry, crafts and used books will be for sale, and children can explore an art and game room. $3. 1681 North Druid Hills Road, Brookhaven. Info: email bazaar@orveshalom.org or visit orveshalom.org.
ENCHANTED WOODLAND WONDERS
Sunday, Dec. 10, 3 to 7 p.m.
The Chattahoochee Nature Center brings on the holidays with live reindeer, performances, crafts, reindeer games, a campfire, food trucks, and the launch of the Enchanted Woodland Trail featuring Fairy Houses and Gnome Homes. Included with admission. $10 adults; $7 seniors (65+) and students (ages 13-18); $6 children (ages 3-12); free for children under age 3. 9135 Willeo Road, Roswell. Info: chattnaturecenter.org or 770-992-2055.
CHRISTMAS CONCERT AT DUNWOODY UMC Sunday, Dec. 10, 4 p.m.
The Dunwoody United Methodist Church Chancel Choir and chamber group Musica Gloria present a concert featuring Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and other orchestral works. Free. Dunwoody United Methodist Church sanctuary, 1548 Mount Vernon Road, Dunwoody. Info: DunwoodyUMC.org.
A BUGLER’S HOLIDAY
Sunday, Dec. 10, 5 to 8 p.m. Doors open at 4 p.m.
Out & About | 17
er beverages available for purchase. $20 Heritage Sandy Springs members; $25 non-members. Heritage Hall, 6110 Blue Stone Road, Sandy Springs. Info and tickets: heritagesandysprings.org.
PERFORMANCES “HOME: AN ARTISTIC JOURNEY UNITING GALLOWAY ARTS”
Thursday, Dec. 7 to Saturday, Dec. 9, 7 p.m.
The Galloway School Arts Department presents a festival of music, theater and dance in three acts featuring more than 120 Upper Learning students in theatre, theatre tech, dance, chorus, band, orchestra, and visual art. The student-produced piece explores the students’ own concepts of home, drawing inspiration from personal accounts of teachers, parents, schoolmates and friends. All ages. Free, reservations required. Chaddick Center for the Arts, Galloway School, 215 West Wieuca Road NW, Buckhead. Tickets: gallowayschool.org.
KIDS AND FAMILIES DISCOVER NATURE LECTURE SERIES: WILDLIFE IN WINTER Sunday, Dec. 10, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Learn about some of the adaptations that allow local wildlife to survive Georgia winters and how you can make your yard a winter haven. Ages 6 and up. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. $5 individual; $10 family. Lost Corner Preserve, 7300 Brandon Mill Road, Sandy Springs. Info: 770-206-2035. Registration: registration.sandyspringsga.gov.
LEARN SOMETHING INTRODUCTION TO SCREENWRITING AND STORYTELLING Saturday, Dec. 2, 12:30 p.m.
Mark Staufer, former head of production at Universal Studios Networks and a Hollywood screenwriter and script doctor, will give tips on how to tell your story so it can be heard. Reservations required. Free. Buckhead Library, 269 Buckhead Ave. NE, Buckhead. Info: 404-814-3500.
TITLES @ TWILGHT: “AFTERMATH”
Tuesday, Dec. 5, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
George Weinstein, former president of the Atlanta Writers Club, discusses his book “Aftermath,” about a fictional woman who gets tangled in the secrets of a small Georgia town when she returns there as the inheritor of her murdered father’s valuable estate. Free. Garden Room at the Williams-Payne House, 6075 Sandy Springs Circle, Sandy Springs. Info: Melissa Swindell, mswindell@heritagesandysprings.org or 404-851-9111 ext. 2.
Renowned jazz trumpeters Cecil Welch and Joe Gransden join forces with guest vocalist Robin Latimore for Heritage Sandy Springs’ Heritage Winter Classics. Complimentary appetizers and SUBMIT YOUR EVENT LISTING WITH US AT desserts; beer, calendar@ReporterNewspapers.net wine and oth-
Healthy Holidays!! 5 TIPS FOR OLDER ADULTS TO STAY ACTIVE AND ENGAGED DURING THE HOLIDAYS • Physical activity: Taking a walk after a hearty holiday meal is a good idea for those of any age, but it is particularly beneficial to seniors. • Healthy diet: Lean meats, such as turkey breast, serve as a healthy alternative to red meat. Other “super foods” for older adults that are beneficial in holiday meals are blueberries, flax seed, carrots, eggs, nuts and salmon. • Sharp minds: Designing holiday festivities around skill-based games such as Scrabble, checkers, backgammon or Wii, not only makes the event fun for party-goers, but it can also help seniors enhance cognitive function. • Social ties: While group activities in family homes or senior centers can be the focus of holiday celebrations, aging adults can also benefit from receiving daily calls or emails to help them feel connected to those they care about. • Calmness and Purpose: For some older adults, participating in a religious service helps them maintain a calm center and focus on their life purpose; others may prefer practices such as yoga or meditation.
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NOV. 24 - DEC. 14, 2017
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20 | Community
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Local state judge makes Trump’s Supreme Court short list BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
Ultimately, it’s your experience that matters. To be sure, we’re proud of our 29 years of experience in senior living. But, to us, what really matters is your experience at our communities. We do everything with that idea clearly in mind. So, go ahead, enjoy yourself with great social opportunities and amenities. Savor fine dining every day. And feel assured that assisted living services are always available if needed. We invite you to experience The Piedmont for yourself at a complimentary lunch and tour. Please call 404.381.1743 to schedule.
Home for the Holidays Tour of Homes Saturday, December 2nd • 12:00pm Experience our community and take a tour of our residences. Afterwards, enjoy a chef-prepared lunch and a festive gift to go! To RSVP please call 404.381.1743.
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A judge who sits on the state’s highest court and hails from Sandy Springs has made President Trump’s short list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees. Georgia Supreme Court Justice Britt Grant, speaking at a Sandy Springs Bar Association lunch days before Trump’s announcement, declined to comment on rumors that she was being considered for a federal judgeship. “I hope my future [is] continuing to serve on this court for a really long time,” she said when asked more generally about her future in government service. Grant also described her conservative judicial philosophy and how it was shaped by the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, which were committed while she worked in the White House. “I remember from those days understanding our government was JOHN RUCH under threat,” as was the U.S. ConstiGeorgia Supreme Court Justice Britt Grant speaks tution, she said at the Nov. 9 lunch to the Sandy Springs Bar Association Nov. 9. held at Heritage Sandy Springs. At the time of the lunch, Grant had been named in media reports as on Trump’s threeperson list of candidates to replace retiring federal Judge Frank Hull on the Atlanta-based U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and that is the rumor she declined to comment on. On Nov. 17, the White House announced that Grant was among those added to Trump’s public, 25-person list of potential candidates to fill any vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. The White House describes the list as an attempt to “Make the Judiciary Great Again,” and Trump previously used the list to nominate the newest Supreme Court justice, Neil Gorsuch. Grant’s legal background includes clerking for a federal judge; serving in Georgia’s Attorney General’s office under Sam Olens and Chris Carr, including as solicitor general, or top trial attorney; and working in private practice. She also worked for current Gov. Nathan Deal when he was a congressman and served in President George W. Bush’s White House in domestic policy jobs. Deal appointed Grant to fill a Georgia Supreme Court vacancy last year. She took office on Jan. 1 and, along with the rest of the justices, must stand for election next year. At the Bar Association lunch, Grant spoke about her local ties. She said she is a descendant of the Burdett family, whose “milk house,” dating to around 1860 and preserved on the Heritage Sandy Springs site, is the city’s oldest unaltered structure. Grant was born at Buckhead’s Piedmont Hospital and attended The Westminster Schools before heading to Stanford Law School in California, which she jokingly described as a “foreign trip” from the conservative Georgia perspective. While working for Olens, she said, she had a “strong desire to sing the praises of Sandy Springs” as he talked so much about his home of Cobb County. Grant described her judicial philosophy as “separation of powers” and change by “democratic process rather than by judicial fiat.” “Our job is to respect what the text of the law is,” as well as jury decisions, she said. A big factor in her perspective, she said, is her service in all three branches of government at both the federal and local levels, “when you’ve been in the shoes of the person who had to make that decision.” Another big influence: the “unnatural disaster” of Sept. 11. “It affected me very deeply based on what I saw and heard that day,” said Grant, who was working in the White House’s West Wing at the time, while her husband Justin — also a Sandy Springs native — worked at the CIA. Grant recalled that even within the White House, information was scant and no one believed it was a deliberate attack until TV news showed the second plane hit the World Trade Center. “I remember being in the hall and [hearing] everyone scream,” Grant said. “I even remember hearing [then U.S. Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice saying, ‘Now we know it’s terrorism.’ ” She recalled CNN reporting that the West Wing had been evacuated, when in fact she and other staff members huddled in a basement room, holding hands and praying. Finally, she said, a Secret Service agent did evacuate them, saying, “You need to run. Ladies, take off your shoes.” Grant said the attacks reinforced her idea that the U.S. Constitution is something to defend. She said they also were followed by a time different from today’s “polarized politics.” “Such a comparatively short time ago, we all knew and believed we’re all in this together,” she said.
NOV. 24 - DEC. 14, 2017
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CHOA unveils plans for North Druid Hills campus Continued from page 1
to complete the entire development by 2026. What CHOA also will create with the massive development, argued some people who live near the campus at a Nov. 16 meeting that unveiled the detailed plan, is a tremendous amount of traffic. And despite CHOA’s promise to invest $40 million in traffic improvements surrounding the campus, some say nothing the hospital can do will save them and other drivers the headache of more congestion in an area notorious for bumper-to-bumper traffic. CHOA officials argue, however, they are helping accelerate traffic improvements that have been needed for some 30 years, including a study to redesign the I-85 interchange. Their funding is, however, tied to local matches. Localmatch funding can come from city, county, state and federal funds. Chris Chelette, vice president of Planning, Design and Construction for CHOA, has said CHOA would like to see a “diverging diamond” interchange, similar to the one at Ashford-Dunwoody Road and I-285, at the I-85 interchange. The Georgia Department of Transportation will make the final decision. At a Nov. 16 community meeting to reveal renderings and a master plan, Sonny Chaffin, an attendee who lives off Briarcliff Road, sparred with Chelette during a small-group Q&A session following the 45-minute presentation. He said CHOA should “apologize” to the surrounding community because he believes nothing CHOA can do will help alleviate the area’s notorious traffic. “You are going to be a major piece of the problem,” Chaffin said. “We are going to be a major piece of the solution,” Chelette responded. While Chelette said he would say he
was sorry to Chaffin, he disagreed and said CHOA is serving as a “catalyst” for traffic improvements that have been needed for years. “Their priority was never with a traffic plan. It was to find a campus to do good stuff and we appreciate that,” Chaffin said in an interview. “But they need to apologize to us.” “We certainly don’t think we have anything to apologize for and we will continue to work with the community,” CHOA spokesperson Brian Brodrick said. Not all residents are angered by a fear of coming traffic woes, however. Rick Bennett lives in the Executive Parkview Townhomes on Woodcliff Drive, which borders CHOA’s property. The townhomes were annexed a year ago into Brookhaven. He said he has attended numerous meetings with CHOA officials about its plans. “Generally, homeowners understand that we will have to deal with construction, noise and traffic issues over the next seven to eight years, however, ultimately, we think CHOA’s plans are going to be great for the kids, their families and our community as a whole,” he said. “Our owners might be inconvenienced for a while, but we admire the purpose of the hospital. CHOA’s mission on behalf of children surpasses any inconveniences we might experience in the future,” he added. Before any dirt can be turned, CHOA must first receive approval from the city of Brookhaven to annex and rezone some 11 acres along the I-85 Northeast Expressway to make way for an 8-sto-
Traffic improvements CHOA says it is willing to commit $40 million toward making. Local matching grants will also have to be made.
ry office building and 7-story parking deck. This “support” building will replace the office complex around Tullie Circle that will be torn down to make room for the new hospital. The Brookhaven Planning Commission in September deferred any recommendation on CHOA’s requests until they could see a master plan. Commissioners will consider the rezoning of the 11 acres, which now only allows for a 5-story building, at its Dec. 6 meeting. The City Council will consider the annexation and rezoning at its Dec. 12 meeting. Some variances are needed as well and will be considered by the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals on Dec. 20. It appears the proposed developments are close to a done deal. In a Nov. 16 press release about its future plans, CHOA included a quote from Brookhaven Mayor John Ernst, “Children’s North Druid Hills Campus is going to create a new front door for Brookhaven while providing a healing natural environment for children from Brookhaven and across the state,” he said. “We look forward to learning more about their plans in the next few months.” The campus will be anchored by a new $1.3 billion hospital with 446 beds in two patient towers, an attached medical office building and a consolidated AFLAC Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. The height of the hospital will be between 16 stories and 19 stories. “By building vertically, we achieve two important goals:
CHOA
preservation of green and open space and creating proximity and efficiency for our medical staff. Both of these are vital to improving outcomes,” Brodrick said. The new hospital will replace CHOA’s Egleston Hospital on Clifton Road near Emory University. Hospital officials say Egleston is running out of bed space and is landlocked in an area where traffic is worse than at North Druid Hills and I-85. Some other notable proposed traffic changes: moving the existing traffic light near the I-85 interchange south to a new CHOA entrance just south of the McDonald’s; and adding turn lanes on Cliff Valley Way and Briarcliff Road. Plans are to plant grass and hundreds of hardwood trees that are grown for urban environments to create 20 acres of green space that will include walking trails and paths for hospital patients, their families and staff. The lush environment is also part of creating “healing views” for children to see from their windows during hospital stays, said Bob Farrow, principal for HKS Architects. CHOA is also working with the city to create a path to the Peachtree Creek Greenway via the I-85 underpass. Campus plans will be submitted to the Atlanta Regional Commission for review as a Development of Regional Impact (DRI). CHOA expects that process to take four to six months. Construction on the campus will likely begin in 2020, with anticipated completion in 2026.
The site plan for the 70-acre North Druid Hills campus. CHOA BK
NOV. 24 - DEC. 14, 2017
■
Public Safety | 23
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Police Blotter / Brookhaven From Brookhaven police reports dated Nov. 12 through Nov. 18. The following information was pulled from Brookhaven’s Police2-Citizen website.
1900 block of North Druid Hills Road
3300 block of Buford Highway — On
— On Nov. 15, in the early morning, a robbery took place.
T H E F T A N D B U R G L A RY
100 block of Executive Park Drive —
Nov. 13, in the early morning, a man was arrested and accused of driving with a suspended license.
1900 block of North Druid Hills Road
— On Nov. 12, a car was reported stolen at midnight. 1400 block of North Cliff Valley Way
— On Nov. 12, after midnight, a street gun robbery took place. 4100 block of Gables Drive — On Nov.
12, in the afternoon, a burglary to a residence was reported. 1700 block of Briarwood Road — On
Nov. 12, in the evening, parts were stolen from a vehicle. 2100 block of Fairway
Circle — On Nov. 12, in the evening, a forced-entry burglary took place. 3100
block of Caldwell Road — On Nov. 13, in the morning, items were reported missing from a car. 3800
block of Peachtree Road — On Nov. 13, in the morning, a shoplifting incident took place. 1400 block of Northeast Expressway
— On Nov. 13, in the evening, items were reported stolen from a car.
3800 block of Peachtree Road — On
Nov. 15, in the morning, a shoplifting incident took place. 100 block of Executive Park Drive — On
Nov. 15, in the morning, a theft occurred. 3400 block of Clairmont Road — On
A S S AU LT 2900 block of Clairmont Road — On Nov. 13, at night, a simple assault took place.
4100 block of Ashwoody Trace — On Nov. 14, after midnight, a simple battery took place.
14, in the afternoon, a theft of services incident took place.
3500 block of Buford Highway — On
300 block of Windmont Drive — On
Nov. 15, in the early morning, a woman was arrested and accused of simple assault.
Nov. 14, at night, items were reported stolen from a car.
ARRESTS
1200 block of Druid Knoll Drive — On
Nov. 15, in the early morning, items were reported stolen from a car. 3600 block of Buford Highway — On Nov.
15, a car was stolen in the early morning.
Nov. 13, at night, a woman was arrested and accused of driving unlicensed. 1800 block of Briarwood Road — On Nov.
14, in the early morning, a man was arrested and accused of driving unlicensed. 2200 block of
Lake Boulevard — On Nov. 14, in the morning, a
Nov. 15, in the afternoon, a man was arrested and accused of forgery in the fourth degree. 3000 block of Buford Highway — On
Nov. 16, in the early morning, a man was arrested and accused of driving without headlights. 3700 block of Buford Highway — On
Nov. 16, in the early morning, a man was arrested and accused of driving under the influence of alcohol, impaired by .08 more than three hours later.
READ MORE OF THE POLICE BLOTTER ONLINE AT
www.ReporterNewspapers.net
Tr a n s f o r m y o u r s p a c e t o f i t Y O U
1200 block of Gables Drive — On Nov.
On Nov. 14, at night, a simple battery incident took place.
Nov. 14, at night, items were reported stolen from a car.
2400 block of Briarcliff Road — On
3000 block of Buford Highway — On Nov. 14, in the evening, an aggravated assault involving a gun took place.
2200 block Lake Boulevard — On Nov.
300 block of Windmont Drive — On
Nov. 13, at noon, a man was arrested and accused of failing to appear. 100 block of Brookhaven Avenue —
4100
100 block of Executive Park Drive —
Nov. 14, at night, items were reported stolen from a car.
Nov. 14, at noon, a man was arrested and accused of failing to appear.
2600 block of Buford Highway — On
3900 block of Peachtree Road — On
Nov. 15, in the evening, a forced-entry burglary to a business was reported.
2600 block of Buford Highway — On
block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Nov. 15, in the early morning, a man was arrested and accused of driving under the influence of alcohol.
4400 block of Peachtree Road — On
14, at night, a simple assault was reported.
3100 block of Clairmont Road — On
Nov. 12, in the early morning, a woman was arrested and accused of driving under the influence of alcohol.
On Nov. 13, at night, a woman was arrested and accused of driving under the influence of alcohol.
— On Nov. 14, in the morning, two burglaries to residences were reported.
Nov. 14, at night, items were reported stolen from a car.
3500 block of Buford Highway — On
Nov. 15, in the afternoon, items were reported stolen from a car.
1300 block of North Cliff Valley Way
1200 block of Druid Knoll Drive — On
BK
On Nov. 15, in the early morning, a theft was reported.
man was arrested and accused of marijuana possession charges.
200 block of Peachtree Road — On Nov.
12, in the early morning, a man was arrested and accused of violating probation. 1500 block of Johnson Ferry Road — On
Nov. 12, in the early morning, a man was arrested and accused of driving unlicensed. 3300 block of Buford Highway — On
Nov. 12, in the morning, a man was arrested and accused of public intoxication. North Druid Hills / Peachtree Road —
On Nov. 12, in the afternoon, a man was arrested for permitting an unlicensed person to drive, and the driver was arrested and accused of driving unlicensed.
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Opening Event celebration at Heritage Sandy Springs December 3 • 5-8PM
A magical, walkable mini-house and light display on display through Dec. 31
info at visitsandysprings.org BK