As Mr. Wheatley mentions in his Fresh Loaf post, we’ve been chatting about what’s going on with all the construction at Deepdene Park – the eastern end of the Ponce Olmstead parks – for a while now; speculating whether its a bike path or a new park or just utility work.

Obviously if this was a city of Decatur project, lord knows we would have known about it years ago and already talked the thing to death. But since we’re wondering about a construction out in “the County”, the time-tested approach of contacting the proper officials doesn’t always bear much fruit.

But Wheatley’s got the mad journalistic skills of a beat-reporting ninja, so he was able to unearth a few details about this project.  Check it…

Is it a PATH trail, perhaps one that will offer Decaturites and Druid Hills and Fernbank residents a connection to Candler Park and the Freedom Park trail? The nonprofit trailbuilder tells CL no. We found a few details on this Olmstead Linear Park Alliance website, but were still left curious.

According to the county, the construction is part of a streetscape improvement that will — ta da! — result in an eight-foot-wide sidewalk similar to those winding through the other greenspaces along Ponce.

And the Olmstead Linear Parks website now has this blurb…

The proposed $4 million rehabilitation of Deepdene will be done in stages. Priorities include remediation of severe erosion and storm water problems, burial of utilities and construction of curbing. To make the park safer and more accessible, appropriate lighting and signage will be installed and a sidewalk and row of trees will be added along Ponce de Leon Avenue. In the interior, the path system will be realigned and expanded, and the proliferation of non-native invasive plants will be controlled.

So, is that the long and short of it?  Questions still remain unanswered.  Like, what will happen to the soccer field area?  Anyone know?

Christa at Pecanne Log and CL’s Thomas Wheatley recently designed – and auctioned off! – a bunch of Atlanta-themed cookie cakes for a recent Burnaway fundraiser.

The cookies themselves are definitely worth a look – especially the Beltline and Bike Shorts man – but nothing gets Christa’s creative writing juices flowing faster than getting to point out the inadequacies of her favorite Atlanta journo.

Thomas is still struggling with expressing himself in an efficient manner via decorative gel. It was really hard for me to hold back when I wanted to mentor him artistically yet not smother his creativity. Often he wanted to use hot pink buttercream frosting to recreate architecture that would look better in a more natural color and with a more delicate line, but I had to sit back and let the Olympic Spirit carry him. Sometimes I would lose my patience and covertly churn out a design (anything you see below that uses cursive script, obviously).

Photo courtesy of Pecanne Log

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

Thomas Wheatley reports that after 3 years of gridlocky nothingness, the issue of transportation funding has finally made it out of  committee and will be voted on by the state House and Senate tonight.  Wheatley lays it on the table…

It’ll be up to the voters to ultimately vote on the measure in 2012. So don’t get too excited if it does pass. Money won’t start trickling in for another few years.

Senate President Pro Tem Tommie Williams of Lyons said the revenue generated from the one-cent sales tax can’t be used to pay for the operations of existing transit projects. New transit projects, however, can tap the cash to run trains and buses. That means MARTA’s current financial woes won’t be helped by any new cash. Should the transit agency expand, however, that’s a different story.

The proposal also gives MARTA a three-year reprieve from using half of its revenue for capital improvement projects, even when it can’t afford to operate day-to-day.

Thomas Wheatley reports on Fresh Loaf that “All day tomorrow, buses and trains that are slated to get cut will be marked with a red “X” to show what the metro region stands to lose should the Gold Dome fail to act.”  Smart move.

According to this flyer (pdf), MARTA advocates will rally at Five Points Station tomorrow from 10a-12p and 6p-8p to encourage Georgia’s uninterested legislature to do something, ANYTHING, to help out Atlanta’s beleaguered transit agency.

Pic is from the flyer [h/t to Fresh Loaf for that too]

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.

Knowing my unfulfilled desire to see Governor Sonny Perdue visit the city of Decatur, Creative Loafing’s Thomas Wheatley forwards a press release from the Governor’s Office stating that Perdue will be joining Falcon’s quarterback Matt Ryan and a bunch of other dirty birds in Decatur tomorrow to sign the Student Health and Physical Education Act.

“But is it really Decatur?” you ask.

“Of course not.” I reply.

We’re talking Greater Decatur.   Specifically, Glenhaven Elementary down on Austin Drive in 30032.

But hey, he’ll be close!  Perhaps Sonny will want to swing by for a little lunch on his way back to the capitol.  Trust me, we’re not as mean and/or share-the-wealthish as we sound in an internet forum.  We can talk about family values!  Decaturites can’t get enough of that crap!  We even take the time out of our self-mandated busy days to bike our kids to school!  How freakin’ crazy is that?!