Scott Boulevard Bench Query
Decatur Metro | August 19, 2010Now this is hyper-local at its best!
Does anyone know why there is a small concrete (?) bench at the southwest corner of Clairmont Road and Scott Boulevard? There’s also one across Clairmont on the southeast corner of the intersection.
Is it some sort of relic of a early 20th century version of the now-defunct red-light camera at that intersection?
No but I’m going to go sit on it this afternoon and see what happens.
There used to be a similar bench at Coventry and Scott on the southbound side of Scott. Not sure it’s still there. There used to be a bus route to downtown Atlanta going up and down Scott. I think it was still running in the early 90s but I could be wrong. My elderly neighbors used to complain that they stopped going to downtown Atlanta once that bus route was terminated. What once took them 20 minutes on the bus and didn’t require much walking, took them and hour and a half when they had to take an infrequently running bus to the Decatur MARTA station, transfer to a train, and do a lot of walking and stair climging for folks with bad hips and canes.
It’s there for people to sit on.
Is that legal?
Depends on whether or not they are texting.
Depends if said sitter is acting funny or has strange items on his/her porch
Maybe there was a school bus stop there once? Kind of doubt it. Terrible place for a school bus stop.
I could have used several padded versions of this bench on my way home from Twains; like in front of the Dairy Queen and at the corner of College and Candler, it would have been great at the corner of Winnona Drive and Candler, Boucher and Candler, Kirk and Candler.
As a public transit user and walker, I will say loudly that their needs to be way more of these (but make them more comfortable please). This city (all of them!) does very little (actually nothing) to make it easier to use any transportation other then your dinosaur burning car.
Amen! I can agree 100% with you on the lack of people-friendly bus stop accommodations in Decatur… Very few have shelter from sun/rain/wind, much less a bench.
Maybe the City Folks & the Marta Folks could partner up on a bus stops initiative. (Since Marta can access their improvements funds, just not their dang funds to run it.!
I don’t know how a public bench could be made softer. Build it out of used tires perhaps? :0)
Interesting approach elsewhere:
“Newest round of arty bus stops an homage to Athens’ musical roots”
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/071910/new_677881790.shtml
I must disagree with you on this point. As an avid cyclist, I’m aware of many efforts by the city to make Decatur more bike-friendly. They’ve added U-shaped bike racks all over the city, and intend to install more. Fred Boykin is a bike shop owner and city commissioner, and he helped work on better intersections for bikes and pedestrians along the PATH along Howard. And there have been many Safe Routes to School activities that help pedestrians and cyclists.
Is it perfect? Of course not. But the city realistically knows that most people in town are not walking or biking to their destinations. I think this city has more walkers and bikers than almost any place in metro Atlanta–with the possible exceptions of Stone Mountain and the Silver Comet.
I agree that our fair city is more advanced then most in this area, but still could do much more, especially outside of the CBD, to make it easier to choose public transit.
I guess I should have been a bit more specific in my question. I assumed it was a bench for people waiting for the bus, but where did these two come from?
As others have pointed out, there aren’t many around town. So, why here?
That should probably read: There aren’t many LEFT around town. My guess is that a more thoughtful public works team was assigned to these road widening projects.
I always wondered if the home for the elderly up there had put them in….