Chris Billingsley writes in…

In spite of the recent heavy rains, Glenlake Park is drying out and the renovation is showing great progress. The head of SportsTurf told me Friday evening that they will soon start the irrigation system for the lower part of the park. Once in, SprotsTurf can begin laying sod. All three bridges are now up. I am looking forward to using the park again for exercise, dogs walks (always on leash of course), and walking to the Glendale neighborhood. Mud dries out, negative attitudes improve, curmudgeons smile, jonquils bloom, and spring, and the opening of the park, will be here soon.

Thanks Chris!

I’m feeling a bit Jane Jacobs-y today, so I thought I’d throw this topic out for discussion.

Of Decatur’s many parks, which gets the most foot traffic and, more importantly, why?  Is it also the city’s most “attractive” park?

Also, flip the question on its head. What’s Decatur’s least popular park and why?

I don’t spend nearly enough time roaming our city parks to give a definitive answer, but I think the insane popularity of First Christain’s pocket park at the corner of Nelson Ferry and Northern provides a few valuable lessons on what makes a successful park.

Over at The Decatur Minute, Lyn gives two updates regarding the ongoing Glenlake Park improvements.

The first is that construction of the Glenlake bathhouse is finally complete, so the pool will reopen pool this Friday with free swimming from 5:30p-7p on Friday and all day (10a-6p) Saturday.

The second is an update on the restoration of Glenn Creek bank restoration, which looks to be coming along nicely.  Click over to see the new and improved creek (now without concrete walls!) and learn how the city is restoring the creek bank.  Pretty interesting stuff.  Lyn promises more pics as the project progresses.

After reading through some of the recent discussions on the site about Decatur’s green space, Scott decided to look beyond all the arguments and try to get a real hold of how well Decatur provides “green space” to its residents.

To do this, he used a planning tool that draws a circle with a half mile diameter over individual locations on a map. This allows the planner to see all residents that are within a 1/4 mile of that point, which as Scott has mentioned before, is the recognized standard of how far the average person is willing to walk before they start to consider other means of transportation. He included “all of our parks, playfields and other recreational green that are either public or provided through a public/private partnership”. He purposely excluded Courthouse Square, the cemetery, Agnes Scott and Columbia Seminary. The results are below.

Scott's (Revised) Green Shed Map

Bottom line? To me, it shows that while you may have personal opinions about individual green locations around the city, to assert that the city is lacking for parks/green space is a bit of a stretch. Looking at the map above, around three-quarters four-fifths of city residents seem to be within walking distance of a park or green space. Couple that with the Greenspace Commission’s recent accomplishments (including 12 acres of acquisition since 2001) and future plans to link our green spaces and you begin to see a very different and much greener picture of Decatur.

Coming tomorrow…a much more light-hearted “shed” from Scott.