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A biker, a jogger and a car driver race from Inman Park to Piedmont Park. The biker and jogger use the new Beltline trail, while the driver takes to the streets. A cool little comparison courtesy of Fox5.

h/t: ATL Urbanist

I must say, I quite enjoyed reading Jonathan Lerner’s review of Piedmont Park’s recent expansion on ArtsCriticATL.com, partly because he explained that “the expansion also adds a kind of environment — and a sense of escape into nature — that’s been missing until now.”   However, I also enjoyed it also he used his review to readdress the whole Piedmont Park parking deck debate.  Here’s a quote…

…the parking deck is a fait accompli. If you are still steamed about it, a visit to the new extension — which makes the park big enough, meandering enough and woodsy enough to let you imagine getting safely and therapeutically lost — should go a long way toward calming you down. The expansion is a work in progress and will remain one for some time to come. But it’s already obvious that it’s a wonderful thing. This intown citizen’s opinion? Yes in Our Back Yard.

But I was left wanting more hi-res photos.  Fortunately, great Atlanta photographer Josh D. Weiss took a stroll through the expansion over the weekend and came back with a photo series that made all my fleeting online wishes come true!

Photo above used with permission

You may have heard about the mobs of people at Piedmont Park yesterday, but you haven’t seen photos like this yet.  From one of our favorite metro photogs, Josh D. Weiss! Check it.

photo used with permission

From CL’s Thomas Wheatley…

And it’s legit: Beltline officials expect to begin construction this fall on a bike trail that would connect Piedmont Park to DeKalb Avenue.

Mayor Kasim Reed, city councilmembers and project officials this morning accepted two checks — each for $2.5 million — from Kaiser Permanente and the PATH Foundation on behalf of Sarah and Jim Kennedy at a scorching event along the Beltline’s northeast segment near the Masquerade. A project spokesman says the trail would open to walkers and cyclists next summer.

Nearly two years in the making, the trail project will connect the city’s most iconic greenspace and the Morningside, Ansley Park, Midtown, Poncey-Highland and Old Fourth Ward neighborhoods before ending at DeKalb Avenue.

Wheatley hopes the donations bring more attention to the Beltline project and perhaps even help secure more Federal funding in the future.

Map courtesy of Beltline.org

Did you hear about the pillow fight in Piedmont Park last weekend?  No?  Me either.

Lucky for us, local photog Josh Weiss did, and with his camera in hand jumped headfirst into the chaos.  The results of his labor can be seen in an excellent series of shots over on his website.

h/t: AsianCajuns

Photo used with permission

Kathy writes in…

Atlanta Pride is this weekend, Oct. 31-Nov.1. It was moved to October this year because of restrictions at Piedmont Park during the summer due to the drought.

To make this a Decatur-related event, I’m enclosing a picture of the Digging Dykes of Decatur garden club from the 2007 Pride parade. Come out and support your many gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered neighbors (of which there are many in Decatur)!

More details can be found here.

A Decatur resident nearly fainted this morning after reading portions of a Fresh Loaf post about neighborhood opposition to a Beltline plan that would add a crapload of density at the edge of Piedmont Park at the intersection of 10th and Monroe.

The individual, described as a 30 year-old male with a passing interest in planning & zoning, told website authorities that after having read two paragraphs in a “gripping post” by Creative Loafing reporter Thomas Wheatley, he started having violent, uncontrolled flashbacks.

The following is a sample of the article, and should only be read by those with no history of zoning-coma disorder.

“Allowing any development at 10th and Monroe, let alone an eight story building and four story buildings on land that is currently designated as single family residential, will constitute the worst form of bait and switch,” Jenifer Keenan, a Virginia-Highland resident, recently wrote in a letter to Beltline officials (and here in Fresh Loaf comments.) More than 120 homeowners have already signed a petition opposing the Beltline proposal.

Keenan, who was part of the grassroots effort to block Mason’s plan for two 38-story towers at the same corner, says the resident opposition isn’t about NIMBYism, but protecting Piedmont Park and the neighborhood from inappropriate development. She worries that dense development would mar the charm of the city’s most iconic greenspace. She also says that the city risks establishing a dangerous precedent if it decides to rezone property it owns. (Last year, the city purchased the unused railroad tracks and nearly 66 acres in the corridor from Mason.)

Asked to recount what he saw during these flashbacks, the man replied through tears, “All I can remember is first seeing a giant 60s style skyscraper and a large empty parking lot. Then I saw a large group of people yelling at each other about building heights,  parking variances, NIMBYism and something called “Livable Growth”.  Then everything changed and I was outside of a university, standing in the middle of a giant 5-way intersection.  The people here were very nicely dressed, but were obviously very angry about something and kept screaming about character and density.”

And while this one individual claims to have regained his composure for the time-being, it is unknown how many near-faintings caused by density-fighting flashbacks go unreported every single day.