Cemetery Woodlands Mulch Path Gets Axed
September 17, 2008 | 1:34 pmWhat Jim mentioned in a comment yesterday, the City Commission summary has affirmed: The Cemetery Master Plan was adopted yesterday WITHOUT the mulch path in the designated woodland area.
Many Glendale residents had spoken out against the path because it would invite people into the area, which abbutted their property. But now, if there’s no access for pedestrians, I have to wonder what’s the point of spending the money to clean out all that kudzu?
It looks nice, but can someone tell me why the city needs to do this when we keep hearing about the need to increase tax revenues or cut services? Surely, if we had to make budget choices, this would not be a high priority. You can already take a nice walk in the cemetary, the kudzu is not exactly a threat to world peace, and there’s already green space adjacent to the pond. Not to mention Glenlake park itself is basically connected to the cemetary. It seems to me that if the city wanted to cut $1 million from the budget to make up for the lost revenue from the state, it’s sitting right here.
This is second-hand info since I was not there, but apparently Mr. Saxon indicated that kudzu removal would take five years, giving them plenty of time to revisit this concept. I believe that Commissioner Boykin proposed the revised motion with Baskett seconding. Initially only Commissioners Cunningham and Kemp opposed the concept of not having the walking path (which is interesting considering it’s not their district) but in the end all voted in favor of the revised plan.
This is great. Kudzu kills trees. I hope they do revisit the path concept…sounds like a great idea. You can really tell a community a cares about itself when it starts to take care of the little noticed areas of its environment. It seems subtle, but it is really a bold statement as to the high quality of the community people want Decatur to be that doesn’t just include its money making commerical areas.
I drove up 75N last year and noticed kudzu has literally covered and killed a huge number of trees around the freeway…meanwhile people just race by oblivous on thier way in and out of the ugly sprawl in which they live thier lives.
The work in the cemetery was already included in the bond issue passed last year, so it doesn’t come out of the current budget.
I am disappointed that the Commission allowed the selfish desires of 10 homeowners (or 82 petition signers) to trump the greater good of providing a walking path and new usable greenspace for all City of Decatur citizens.
What bothers me about the “vocal 10″ is their position that the mulch path will damage the woodlands (oh, and kudzu is so beneficial to it!) when it’s too clear that their argument is just a proxy for the real issue: they don’t want people who aren’t “like them” visiting their neighborhood and using “their” path. Their spokesperson said so– we don’t mind if a path appears naturally, we just don’t want it publicized.
So, I guess essentially all path users are created equal– just some are more equal that others. Sad, sad sad.
Even sadder that our leadership didn’t see thru their elitist argument.
Obviously, it is not clear enough, because anyone can go back there now..
I do not live along the cemetery, but I wade through back there all the time.
Anyone can currently do that. If you prefer a paved path, try Stone Mtn.
There was never any consideration of a paved path. But by all means, let’s restrict local recreation solely to that which emulates *you*.
Appreciate it!