Hugo Arango Bridge Tree Planting and Plaque Dedication Ceremony this Saturday

The following is a press release from Councilwoman Donna Pittman:

On Saturday May 31, the City of Doraville will be honoring slain Detective Hugo Fernando Arango with a 10:00 AM tree planting followed by a plaque dedication ceremony slated for noon at the Hugo F. Arango Bridge on Oakcliff Road. On hand, will be City and County officials, law enforcement representatives, business leaders, other dignitaries and, of coarse, the family of Detective Arango. All citizens and members of the media are encouraged to attend.

Ceremony organizer and Doraville councilmember, Donna Pittman, said the ceremony was supposed to be held last year, but the event was hampered by the drought’s water restrictions. Pittman said that it was important that the tree planting went along with the plaque dedication in order to “enhance and beautify the area.” DeKalb County has donated 30 trees of various types, and Advanced Disposal Services have offered to water them. Pittman said the goal is to ultimately plant 75, but the drought has taken a toll on local tree farm supplies.

May 29, 2008 | Joseph Geierman | 2 Comments »

GM Puts Doraville Plant for Sale

At the end of September, the Doraville GM plant will finally close its doors for good. In preparation, the auto maker has put the property up for sale and has submitted Requests for Proposals to various developers. According to the AJC, GM hopes to have the property sold by the end of the year.

The way this site is redeveloped will be a “make or break” moment for Doraville. CB Richard Ellis, the real estate broker that GM has brought on to help them with the sale, has set up a website called The Doraville Project that explains the site to potential developers. Here’s what they say:

  • Located along I-285 northern arc, on the inside of the loop
  • 165+ generally level acres
  • Dramatic I-285 frontage with unobstructed visibility at grade
  • Drive-by traffic counts of over 270,000 cars per day
  • Full-motion expressway interchanges flanking the site east and west at major four-lane North/South regional surface highways, which connect Atlanta’s CBD with its outer suburbs
  • Expressway on/off-ramps and dedicated site access road sized for major facility “rush hours”
  • Adjacent to MARTA rail station at the northeastern line’s point of origination
  • In-place utilities robust enough for a small city and included redundancies
  • A line-up of city, county and regional governments supportive of dense redevelopment
  • Potential for public sponsored financing that would substantially offset infrastructure costs
  • Dramatic good-will potential for “going green”
  • Situated along Peachtree Road, metro Atlanta’s most celebrated street

    • It’s obvious from all of this that what the GM site really has going for it is its close proximity to transportation — right off 285, Buford Highway and Peachtree Industrial Blvd, it is also adjacent to the Doraville MARTA station. Definitely prime real estate that is currently not living up to its full potential. In fact, the Atlanta Business Chronicle quotes Dan Reuter from the Atlanta Regional Commission as saying:

    “Its access to MARTA is such an advantage [...] if you look at development trends in the coming decades, and gas prices that are likely going to keep rising during that time, this site’s access to mass transit is a tremendous opportunity, and that’s what makes it such an important site for Doraville.”

    I hope the current credit crisis doesn’t affect what gets developed. It would be a shame if the current (hopefully temporary) economic situation ends up having a negative effect on our city for the next 30 years.

    Edit (3:44pm) – I just received the following press release from the Mayor’s office regarding the GM Plant:

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 22, 2008

    Contact: Luke Howe 770-883-8452 or luke.howe@doravillega.us

    Statement from Mayor Ray Jenkins on GM plant redevelopment

    In 1947, General Motors opened its 165 acre assembly plant, transforming Doraville from a sleepy community into a formidable industrial center. Since that time, the City and GM have forged a strong bond and an even stronger friendship. GM made Doraville and it will be sad to see them leave. Much like their arrival, GM’s departure will signal a defining moment for the City.

    Our partnership with GM is as strong as ever and we will continue to work closely together throughout the post closing process. We share a common vision with GM, a vision for a transit oriented, mixed-use development complete with office complexes, a new town center and much more.

    Doraville is a major gateway into the heart of Atlanta. It is a city teeming with redevelopment opportunities, and we are gearing up for major work throughout the City. At the center of our redevelopment activity, of course, will be the GM property.

    Its redevelopment presents many opportunities and it will certainly have a ripple effect throughout the New Peachtree/ Shallowford corridor, an area that is also ripe for revitalization.

    We look forward to an upcoming meeting with representatives from GM, at which time we will discuss all the details reflecting our common vision. After the property changes hands, we fully intend to work as closely with the new owners as we have with our friends at GM.

    As developments happen, the area news agencies will be the first to know.

    May 23, 2008 | Joseph Geierman | 7 Comments »

    Sink Holes & Pot Holes

    On Tuesday morning I sent an email to City Hall and to the City Inspector regarding the pot holes and sink holes on Central Avenue. When leaving City Hall on Monday evening as I was dodging the sink holes I almost hit a pedestrian coming from the Marta Station. Since I did not know the procedure to go about fixing these as well as the installation of the sidewalk that we desperately need, I asked that someone advise me.

    I did hear back from Council member Donna Pittman yesterday morning and she said she would call or email Dekalb County.

    Within 12 hours the pot holes are repaired!! Hats off to Donna for getting this done. I’ll know who to call in the future, Council member Pittman.

    Susan and Brian would you please advise your neighborhoods.

    Thank you Donna,

    Respectfully,
    Pam Fleming
    Council member District 1

    | Pam Fleming | 1 Comment »

    Atlanta Lab Rescue – Bark for Art

    There are an overwhelming number of unwanted dogs in metro Atlanta. The current housing crisis has made an already bad problem worse, as families are evicted from houses and opt not to take their pets with them when they leave. Each day, many of these dogs are caught and eventually euthanized because there are no homes for them. The scope of the problem can be overwhelming.

    Even so, there are organizations out there that are trying to make a difference – whose main goal is to rescue dogs and find them loving homes. One of these is Atlanta Lab Rescue. I’ve been fostering dogs for them since the Fall, and it’s been a very rewarding experience for me to know that I am doing my part to help at least a few of the abandoned dogs in the area experience a safe and normal home-life. Taking care of two dogs (our dog and a foster) has not been that much harder than taking care of one. And the rescue group pays for medical expenses and other costs, so all we really pay for is the extra food our foster dogs consume. I feel like we are repaid many times over by knowing we’ve done something to help a previously homeless canine.

    Unfortunately, Atlanta Lab Rescue has recently lost several of its foster families, leaving them unable to save adoptable dogs from kill-shelters. In a nutshell – Atlanta Lab Rescue needs your help. In order to continue saving dogs from euthanization, they need more people who can open up their homes to foster some of these great animals–even for just a weekend so the ones who are currently in shelter-care can get a break. If you can’t do that, they still could use help from people who can drive dogs to adoption day, walk dogs, or do other things to help out. If you can do any of these things, please contact them by sending an e-mail to “info @ atlantalabrescue.com” (remove the spaces when sending the e-mail).

    Also, if you’re interested in helping out in another way, you could support the Atlanta Lab Rescue Fundraiser, Bark for Art. On May 31st they’ll be having have their 4th annual Bark for Art again at the Galleries of Peachtree Hills. It’s a gallery crawl with great food, cocktails and live music. If you’ve never been, it’s one of the best parties of the year. For details and to buy tickets, check out the event website. They’re adding new sponsors and silent auction items daily so keep checking.

    May 22, 2008 | Joseph Geierman | 1 Comment »

    CHANGE THE ZONING

    In regard to Stuart’s longwinded sticky posting . . . In short, he was halfway through his presentation (which, sorry, Stuart, I couldn’t actually hear from my seat) when the new city attorney felt there might be something inappropriate about the format/timing of his speech, and it was ‘nipped in the bud.’

    As an observer and resident, I would like to point out the elephant in the room: The Apix group wants to come to Doraville and nestle in near the tank farms to separate the solid grungy stuff from the liquid grungy stuff in the grease droppings from restaurants. This will entail comings and goings of large trucks, unknown odors, and upping the odds of colliding with tanker trucks which are already a cause for concern. Not exactly what we lie awake nights hoping for in Doraville. More garbage, pardon the pun. Now, the elephant: If we CHANGE THE ZONING in that area, we will NOT be shutting down or harming or ousting any businesses already operating there – we WILL be closing the door behind the garbage-oriented businesses already there and stopping future dumps/grunge-separators/trash transport stations from coming in.

    When I spoke to the Apix petitioner in the parking lot last night, I asked him why he wanted to open his business here instead of where he lives (in Dunwoody) and he said that Dunwoody’s zoning wouldn’t permit such businesses. Well, of course not!

    If I’m missing something, someone please fill me in. Otherwise, why not change the zoning to allow only tank farms? We can always open it up to other businesses that petition later.

    May 20, 2008 | Susan Crawford | 2 Comments »

    M2-P

    last night the Work Session was pretty interesting there was discussion of an alternate tanker rout from an awkward intersection passed R-1 and state waters, leading to another awkward intersection that would require a red light in an R-1 district; that council member Alexander and Chief King deftly put to rest. There is an answer; if the annexation goes through, but nobody asked me about my raised hand and the M2-P zoning will have a positive affect on the concern raised by item 4 of last nights agenda, at any rate.
    Annexation committee makeup and participation. Announcements about the mission statement and about the web site; 40 links or some such, large any way, soon. There was discussion of charitable gift policy and my name wasn’t raised as a recipient so i went to studying my little presentation.
    Attachments:
    The ‘short’ version is my verbal presentation from last evening.
    4min and 58 seconds, with some inflection; still has my elocution cues in it and in any case pretty well sums up future consideration, current situations and my intention [or as one of my friends would say anticipation] to ask the City Council to take up the matter of a re-zoning in the tank farm area, the ability specified by our section 1602. Probably read it first.

    The ‘long’ version is the same but with added background and is more pointed. The ‘long’ is what the city received yesterday as background for their consideration of this re-zoning.
    Both of the attachments are background informational only. If i’m allowed on the agenda, a proposal will occur on June 2nd.

    And what you non goers to the meetings missed was the real world entertainment that i’ll not comment on accept to say; hey they didn’t throw me out. Sausage making can be very entertaining.

    SHORT 5-19-08 C.C. VERBAL PRESENT.doc
    LONG SLIGHTLY POINTED VERSION 5-19-08 C.C. HAND OUT.doc

    | Stuart Anderson | Comments Closed

    District 81 Preview

    I have not written much here lately – mostly because we have a city council that is both responsive and that seems able to work together. I’ve heard from several council members that a major redesign of the city website is around the corner – a change that should give us the ability to pay for our garbage bills online and that will do a generally better job of branding the city. Along with that, I think they are working on a weekly e-mail that will go out to people who sign up for it – updating us on things that are going on in Doraville. Currently, I don’t have any major complaints about the city council.

    That leaves us with the state house race that is gearing up for the November election. Unsurprisingly, I don’t think Jill Chambers has any opponents going into the Republican primary. There are two Democratic candidates vying for the chance to take her seat, however. First of these is Chris Huttman – someone who is well known in the local Democratic scene and the political blogosphere. The other challenger is someone I’d never heard of before, but who is apparently known by at a least a few local Democrats — Cecilia Hailey.

    Jill Chambers is an incredibly popular and effective legislator. Combine that with her negative campaigning, and I think even the best candidates will have a hard time being competitive against her in the Fall. Because he’s a blogger, Chris Huttman has an electronic record of statements on various issues that he has made going back several years – it’s a pretty good bet that some of the choicest ones will be used by Chambers if he’s her opponent. Cecilia Hailey, on the other hand, has recently filed for bankruptcy and was sued by her brother for improper transfers of money out of her dead father’s bank account (a suit which she won) – the general election campaign literature of her opponent almost writes itself in her case.

    It’ll be interesting to see how things develop over the next few months till the primary. The only two things that I think may hurt Chambers in the general election are if there is especially high turnout because of Barack Obama being the Democratic presidential candidate or if people who supported Dunwoody incorporation are angry enough to vote her out (no word on whether Huttman or Hailey support the Dunwoody referendum).

    You can read more about this race at Radical Georgia Moderate and Georgia Politics Unfiltered.

    Update: May 18, 2008 - Someone sent me information that Cecilia Hailey also had a warrant issued for her arrest in passing bad checks (a felony) in December, 2007. I don’t see any other information in the case information, but log in to the Online Judicial System of Dekalb County and check out criminal case 07B44679 for more information. There’s also some civil case stuff against Hailey on the same site

    May 17, 2008 | Joseph Geierman | 2 Comments »