Extending Fairview Avenue
Decatur Metro | December 20, 2010 | 11:27 am
If you attended the city of Decatur’s Strategic Plan Open House a couple weeks back, you probably spent a majority of your time walking around the room, studying the proposed future development scenarios for Decatur’s commercial districts.
Maps of Downtown Decatur, East Lake MARTA Station, Downtown Oakhurst, and East Decatur Station decorated the walls of the room at Agnes Scott, giving residents the choice between two potential development scenarios: one denser than the other.
However, the most interesting proposal on any of the maps is the one I’ve illustated above.
The denser of the two Downtown Decatur scenarios showed the redevelopment of Gateway Homes – perhaps in the image of Allen Wilson? – and an extension of Fairview Road from West Ponce de Leon Avenue down to West Trinity Place.
This got me thinking. As I’ve publicly stated here before, the lack of connection – not to mention the FENCE – between downtown Decatur and the Gateway Homes cul-de-sac is one of the greatest wasted opportunities inside the city limits. Trinity, a burgeoning commercial district between East College Avenue and North McDonough Street, becomes an ignored no-man’s land the farther west you travel.
Now, the city is already making efforts to better utilize this second Decatur “Main Street”.
The narrowing of Trinity between West Ponce and McDonough, the redevelopment of Allen Wilson with street-front retail, and the new Beacon Hill Master Plan have all been recognized by separate groups in the community as welcome additions to Decatur’s evolution. But seen together, it’s also pretty obvious that this underutilized stretch in downtown is receiving new attention from city leaders and various interest groups. And the eventual redevelopment on Gateway Homes would be one of the final projects to re-energize this section of Trinity.
Please pardon me while I hypothesize here for a moment , but extending Fairview Avenue could multiply the effect; creating new commercial and residential development opportunities up and down the new street and extending the reinvigorated West Ponce commercial scene down on Trinity. (Not to mention what it would do to the land value of the current Gateway Homes.)
What do ya think?
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It would also provide sufficient land to address WePo parking once and for all so each new proposal along that stretch doesn’t have to be so contentious.
That’s not Swanton Heights that the extension would go through, right? It’s Gateway Homes, which are different from Allen Wilson Terrace and Swanton Heights. I believe that Gateway rentals are less of a subsidy and are more expensive apartments even though they are run by the Decatur Housing Authority. A lot of hard-working, totally employed, long-term residents live there. It’s a particularly good place for families with kids to live because it’s a cul de sac with no cut-through traffic. Lots of bike riding and scootering goes on there. When one of my kids was younger, it was a favorite hangout because so many kids lived there and would come out to play in the common areas. So what happens to Gateway families?
My first impression is that this looks like another of a series of development incentives to enrich someone at the expense of lower income working families. I am all for increased density. I do not see why the proposed road can not be moved over to keep away from the apartment building.
My first impression is that they were just extending Fairview Ave in a straight line, and this was not a nefarious plot by the Decatur Star Chamber to “enrich someone at the expense of lower income working families”.
By the way, who pays for the subsidy that those lower income working families depend on?
Re who pays for the subsidy: I do and I’m glad to do it and here’s why:
– Some of my favorite families in Decatur live or have lived there.
– I’m aware that there once was a vibrant African-American community in that area that was disrupted by “modernization” just like downtown Decatur was. Some reparations are appropriate.
– I like having income diversity in town.
– Many of the kids living there are going to be successful when they grow up and I am going to be able to say that I knew them when!
– If my family is ever hard up, I sure hope we have some opportunities to live in simple, safe, well-kept subsidized housing with access to a good school system.
By the way, my understanding is that Gateway is more expensive than much subsidized housing and it may not be subsidized at all for some who earn over a certain salary level. We are talking about folks who are working hard for ok but not luxurious housing, not folks getting a freebie.
The recession has been great for income diversity, hasn’t it? Neighborhoods once populated with high income professionals were “diversified” by all the layoffs.
HA!
I thought it was obvious that I was asking a rhetorical question. The point is to remind people that those who depend on the charity of others shouldn’t be claiming the others are trying to enrich themselves at their expense.
AR, could you elaborate on this “series of developer incentives”? I was under the impression Decatur has not previously used any incentives (tax or process) as part of downtown development and that everything in the past decade or two was “free market,” so to speak.
On what projects has Decatur given anything away or changed the rules for anyone?
Enter TAD, stage right.
That’s a future possibility but I’m not aware of it having been used in the past, and certainly not as “a series.” They didn’t even become an alternative until recently, right?
Scott:
I am just saying that many, if not most, public investments, like this proposal, increase property values somewhere. Usually someone wins, and often someone loses. Usually lower income renters are the loser. Maybe I should have been more precise and said public investments rather than development incentives. This investment is certainly a stimulant for private development. As for specific “incentives”, how about the TAD proposal, or the new housing being developed across from the DHS stadium, or on the existing townhomes on Commerce at Howard? I would say even Harmony Park was a public investment that provided an incentive for private investment. There have many incentives for private development in this town, and all towns. The incentives come from a variety of sources. I do not really have a problem with that, so long as the deal is transparent and there is an informed discussion of who wins and who loses.
I like the way you put this. If we are the caring, progressive community we tout ourselves as, we should care about our residents of all income levels and make sure all voices are heard and not just through politicos or administrators claiming to represent them. Low income folks work hard for what they have, some a lot harder than do some middle and high income folks. They pay income and retail taxes, sometimes also property taxes directly or through rent. When we make public investments that involve trade-offs, we need to know who will benefit and how, who will be disadvantaged and how. Then we can decide as a community what the best course of action will be, trade-offs and all.
You seem to be implying that you have reason to believe that we don’t care. I’m not sure all the steps taken by the Decatur Housing Authority with the most recent example Allen Wilson show that. Can you provide examples?
From what I’ve heard from residents at Allen Wilson, they were a little sad to see the old place go but ultimately agreed that an update was needed because the structures themselves were in pretty rough shape. And all residents were given the option to stay if they wanted. If the same thing were done at Gateway, in what additional ways do you suggest we demonstrate that we care?
And beyond all the rich v. poor discussions, isn’t it true that when you rent a piece of property, you really don’t have much of a say in how that property is used? That’s true whether you’re living in Gateway or in a Manhattan high-rise, no?
Don’t mean to imply that Decatur is not a caring community; I think it’s just the opposite. That’s why I think we really want all voices heard, even if consensus is never perfect.
Re being able to stay at Allen Wilson Terrace: I cannot speak first hand but I heard that folks felt pressured to take vouchers. But vouchers did them no good if they wanted their children to stay in acceptable schools because places that accepted vouchers were in failing school zones.
Re renting: No question that renters do not have the all the options of homeowners, but they still are important neighbors. Renters do have neighborhood power and influence in some cities, e.g. N.Y. and Los Angeles, especially if they have money and legal access.
Thanks for clarifying. I hadn’t heard about pressure to take vouchers.
BTW…you were right about Allen Wilson in the previous post. It was built in the 40s prior to the urban renewal efforts of the 50s and 60s that destroyed much of Beacon Hill. However, I believe the rest of the city’s Section 8 housing was built to replace the Beacon Hill displacement. Swanton certainly was.
Dang…you’re right!
As for what would happen to the families, couldn’t we assume the situation would be similar to what’s going on at Allen Wilson right now?
As for the cul-de-sac point, that’s a more basic argument of suburbs vs. connected urban areas, no?
Cul-de-sac was probably ethnocentricity on my part, although in my day, we called them “dead ends”. But Gateway really doesn’t have either, just parking lots with little traffic so they are a safe place to bike, walk, scooter, and hang out.. There’s probably other ways to retain safe biking and playing. But what I’d hate to see is for Gateway to just disappear without anyone noticing that it’s one more step towards reducing the number of African Americans living in Decatur. The idea that a cut-through could scoot around the Gateway buildings sounds like a good one to me.
Why is it assumed that it would reduced the number of African Americans in Decatur if they were all given the opportunity to live in the new development just like Allen Wilson?
A few thoughts:
– Will extending Fairview definitely be linked to major improvements at Gateway?
– How disruptive to the residents would improvements to Gateway be? Anyone at Clairemont saw several families of children not return to school once Allen Wilson Terrace started to be remodelled. Residents were encouraged to use vouchers to move elsewhere during the renovations although many were smart and insisted on staying in the unrenovated units until others were finished. Vouchers may sound okay but a lot of changing of schools is not good for students’ academic performance and I’ll bet many are now attending failing schools because those vouchers don’t cover the rent in Decatur, Druid Hills, Oak Grove, or even Medlock. If many of those kids return after the renovation is complete, it will be CSD’s burden to get the kids back up to speed academically. And even sadder if many of them just stay in failing schools.
– What does the African-American community in Decatur say about the impact of a road and renovations through Gateway ? A consensus there (vs the opinion of a politico or housing administrator) should be an important factor.
Maybe this is a good idea. Just throwing out considerations.
I can’t imagine any other scenario for that road being built than if DHA chooses to redevelop the Gateway property. Not fix up the buildings, but fully redeveloping the site. Otherwise, the numbers would never justify the infrastructure.
If they choose to redevelop, they’ll want to maximize the value of what they build, co-develop or sell, and that would necessitate a direct connection to downtown. So, consideration of the road’s pros and cons aside, If DHA isn’t a primary player at the table, it’ll never happen.
You make good points about school disruption, but that’s a matter of execution, not of whether or not the project should happen. If any city could pull it off with some degree of sensitivity, it’s Decatur. It would just take the right folks making clear that it needs to be prioritized.
Re “If any city could pull it off with some degree of sensitivity, it’s Decatur. It would just take the right folks making clear that it needs to be prioritized…” I hope you are right. But when a few folks started to worry about the fate of Allen Wilson Terrace residents as the time approached for renovating, there wasn’t much of a hue and cry. It was particularly ironic after the 2004 reconfiguration was touted as being about “all children in Decatur”. At this point, I wonder if we really don’t mean “all children except Decatur Housing Authority students”. I have heard chatter around the schools about how it’s getting easier to make AYP because of fewer DHA children attending during the renovation. It’s illogical thinking–having new kids from failing schools move into DHA housing is going to cost CSD more in the long run than keeping the students in whom they’ve already invested a lot of good instruction and support. Sometimes I fear that a lot of folks are just hoping that DHA fades away quietly, without their having to think about it. I ascribe this to the fact that many do not really know the DHA students because the parents are all working at jobs that don’t allow them to hang around for coffee on Friday mornings. We have been fortunate got to know Gateway students over the years who are just fine, fine individuals; some are outperforming their McRenovation classmates.
But I would be happy if a Gateway renovation is handled sensitively without displacing students. After all that it takes to interconnect a community like Decatur, I hate to see the connections jeopardized.
We really ought to remember that the reason these streets do not connect in the first place is because our city fathers wanted to keep the black people living in the housing developments segregated from the white people who lived in the neighborhoods north of Ponce.
They believed that it was for the “good” of both parties this way. Keeping these communities from being connected in order to preserve a “dead end” so the kids at Gateway can play sounds eerily similar.
While that’s certainly a valid historical perspective and an important piece of the urban environment’s history that should be considered in this discussion, I don’t believe for a moment that’s an ulterior motive of anyone commenting here.
Probably the best thing to do is ask the residents of Gateway themselves whether a renovation with more street connectivity seems more like an improvement than a disruption. The kids residing there have no trouble getting over, under, or through the fence, trust me, just like mine have no trouble getting through backyard fences in their way. But a bike path or walkway would make a lot of sense so that everyone within and without the community have more connectivity and north-south mobility. A road is a whole other level if it means a disruption of the community, temporarily or permanently.
I also think that we can oversimplify history. I used to to think that the order of events was that Beacon Hill came first, was dissolved by folks that didn’t care about African-American communities, then DHA was built for those displaced from Beacon Hill. Actually I guess the two co-existed for awhile. I don’t know the exact history myself but I’ve been told that the original DHA pre-dated the end of Beacon Hill and initially may have housed mostly white low-income folks. Meanwhile, Beacon Hill was the victim of the modern “development” of downtown Decatur. It was logical for some of those displaced from Beacon Hill to end up in DHA Housing but not the original intent of that housing. Anyone who understands this history better than I should feel free to correct it.
I don’t know if that bit of racial history is applicable to the Decatur Housing Authority. I have only lived in or around the City of Decatur since the late 1960’s (!). But my study of urban history and racial politics tells me that is the history in the City of Atlanta and most of America. Techwood Homes in ATL, opened by FDR and one of the first Public Housing projects outside NYC, was initially only for White folks. It would be interesting to know if that was the case here as well.
I do recall reading somewhere that Allen Wilson was a WPA project, so that certainly falls in line with that storyline.
I’m delighted officials are looking as favorable ways to address support for a vital business district, while keeping the “small town” feeling we have, making Decatur all the more priceless.
This sounds like car-based infrastructure to me. Surely we’d do better with a train between these two points. Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
“Train” sounds so silly. This is clearly a situation that calls for “light rail”.
What’s all this talk about rail? We could use a street car between those points.
To be followed by a traffic light at Fairview and Clairemont to handle the crush of cut-through traffic. A straight shot through the heart of several neighborhoods.
That doesn’t seem right. People coming from in-town Atlanta looking for a cut-through would use Ponce over Trinity to get on Fairview (otherwise they’re backtracking) and people coming from the east side of Trinity would take Commerce to get on Clairemont.
You are correct. Fairview doesn’t connect to Clairemont. I am new to town and still direction-impaired.
Light at Fairview and Clairemont ? How would this extension run into Clairemont ?
I get what you mean about cut through traffic. I do think people coming from the east side of Trinity might cut through the neighborhood rather than use Commerce. Commerce gets very backed up at rush hour. They’d take Fairview straight on to Oakland then Wilton to Clairemont.
There are pros and cons to it but I think this idea is worth some further study.
im 100% for extending fairview!
what were they talking about concerning east lake marta station?
I believe that The Marlay House is in the wrong place on that map, right?
correct; the Marlay House is tagged wrong on that map. It’s on the other side of Watershed/Farm Burger.
So what WOULD be consumed by an extension of Fairview? Sharian Rug? I think it would be bypassed–Isn’t that an historic building? It looks like Decatur Lock and Key and a solo medical clinic building would be the victims? The former is one of the most useful and service-oriented places in all of Decatur, those few times that you need it. It’s been at that location ever since I’ve been in Decatur. Hopefully, it could relocate.
Victims, eh? Man you’re really not into this huh?
Just so I have this straight, DM, this is purely a hypothetical on your part right?
No. This was a proposed development scenario by the city at the Strategic Plan Open House session.
I’m not necessarily negative. I’m reacting more to confusing which community is which and the comment about who’s paying for the subsidy than I am to the concept of better north-south flow. In fact, it makes sense to get rid of the fence and have a nice bike and walking path between Trinity/Gateway and Ponce. That would make sense for the Gateway residents and would make it a lot easier for north-south biking and walking for all. I just don’t want a road instead of homes. When that’s happened before in Decatur, it’s often not been for the best. And I have a feeling that displaced businesses will just move out of Decatur because they won’t be able to find a similar affordable location in the city.
“The former is one of the most useful and service-oriented places in all of Decatur”
The other one is my doctor. And I do believe he actually owns that property.
Since both those properties are owner-occupied and assuming the city didn’t exercise eminent domain, why would willing parties reaching agreeable terms on the sale of some land make anyone a “victim?”
Unless the street would have an odd curve to it, seems like this extension would need to take the medical office property and the Watershed/dry cleaners building.
It’s interesting that everyone seems to be discussing this as if it’s s done deal. It’s one of several concepts, folks, several years and many public meeting from any shovel being turned.
Kinda like a certain diner?
(sorry, couldn’t help myself.)
Has anyone told the feral cats?
Ha! There sure are many of them living along that creek!