Johns Creek hosts Korean War memorial
St. Vincent de Paul food drive rescheduled in July
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J u l y 9 , 2 0 2 0 | T h e C r i e r. n e t | A n A p p e n M e d i a G r o u p P u b l i c a t i o n | S e r v i n g t h e c o m m u n i t y s i n c e 1 9 7 6
Mayor discusses lessons learned from first months of COVID-19 By CARSON COOK carson@appenmediagroup.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch discussed the lessons she has learned while leading a city during a public health crisis at a virtual event organized by the Dunwoody Perimeter Chamber. The June 25 event was the last installment of the Chamber’s “Returning to the Perimeter” series. Deutsch speculated on how COVID-19 might change the city long-term but emphasized that the community is not out of the woods yet. “We’re still so much in the thick of this public health crisis, it’s hard to see what’s on the other side,” she said. “Everyone still needs to take care — wash your hands, wear your mask, continue to social distance, stay home if you don’t feel well — but we’re going to get through it together.” When asked what the hardest choice she has had to make since becoming
DUNWOODY PERIMETER CHAMBER/SPECIAL
Dunwoody Mayor Lynn Deutsch, right, answers questions about the city’s response to COVID-19 and the community’s path forward at a virtual event June 25. The even was organized by the Dunwoody Perimeter Chamber, and the conversation was moderated by the city’s Communication Director Jennifer Boettcher, left. mayor at the beginning of the year was, Deutsch named the decision to essentially shut down the city in mid-March.
She thanked the city staff for making the transition as seamless as possible from a city operations standpoint.
“I’m really proud of how prepared our city staff was,” Deutsch said. “They saw that something might need to change for how people worked, so they prepared for people to work from home, with the proper security, and that everybody had the needed technology. When we shut down around March 13, the work of the city continued uninterrupted.” She said she was also proud that the city kept its parks and trails open. “It was very important to me that residents had a place to go where they could safely exercise,” Deutsch said. “Mental health is just as big of a concern as physical health, so keeping our trails and green space open was key to allowing people to exercise.” The biggest shortcoming of the initial response to the crisis, Deutsch said, was the lack of coordination with surrounding cities, the county and state government.
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Deadline nears for revised list of ATL transit projects By PATRICK FOX pat@appenmediagroup.com ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The metro region’s transit planning agency will close entries July 10 for a Call for Projects it issued last month to give project sponsors the opportunity to submit new or make updates/changes to existing projects. The Atlanta Region Transit Link Authority (the ATL) is studying close to 200 projects for funding in the 13-county metro region, including DeKalb, Fulton
and Forsyth counties. The newly submitted and updated projects will form the basis of short-term (six-year) and longterm (20-year) transit priorities for the region. The prioritized project lists are
designed to give the agency a strategy to help target additional state and federal investments, according to Deidre Johnson, ATL public information officer. The final plan will be submitted to the Atlanta Regional Commission late this year for inclusion in the federally required short-range Transportation Improvement Program and the long-range Regional Transportation Plan. The documents guide allocation of federal, state and local funding for all regionally significant transportation investment in the Atlanta Region.
At its June board of director’s meeting, the ATL board reviewed a timeline that will allow it to finalize a regional transportation program report by the end of the year. Over the course of the summer, projects will be prioritized based on the ATL’s Project Performance Framework as well as prioritized by the project timelines identified and submitted by individual agencies, cities and counties.
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