JANUARY 6 - 19, 2017 • VOL. 11 — NO. 1
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Friends group plants seeds for new Pine Hills Park BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
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Joe Santifer was thrilled when the city in recent years purchased 4 acres of leafy Lenox Road property in his Pine Hills neighborhood to turn into a new park. “I’ve been watching this property,” he says. “I was just curious what they’re going to do with it.” The real question, he soon learned, was what he and his neighbors were going to do. While the city is happy to buy land for the “Buckhead Collection” — the master plan for adding 106 more acres of local green space — it’s up to volunteer residents to plan and fund actual construction of new parks. So a few weeks ago, Santifer and some neighbors formed Friends of Pine Hills Park. Their goal is to spend 2017 planting the seeds for a community park to blossom. That includes doing some basic cleanup work, getting public input on what type of park it should be, drawing up a plan and calSee FRIENDS on page 13
20 UND E R 20 ST U DENT S T O RIES S TART O N PAG E 14