Inside Go for a ride
Buckhead Reporter www.ReporterNewspapers.net
JAN. 24 — FEB. 6, 2014 • VOL. 8 — NO. 2
City to offer bicycles for rent to locals, tourists COMMUNITY 2
Buckhead beauty Developer investing millions in project’s streetscape COMMUNITY 3
PERIMETER BU S pages 7-
INESS
11
Fans having fun Golf course, tennis center tee up major renovations BY COLLIN KELLEY The Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods got its first look Jan. 9 at the master plan for major renovations and upgrades to Atlanta Memorial Park, which encompasses the Bobby Jones Golf Course and Bitsy Grant Tennis Center, along Northside Drive. Expected to take 10 years and cost from $10 to $15 million to complete, the most significant part of the master plan is an overhaul of the golf course. Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy Vice President Marty Elgison said the course hasn’t been updated in more than 80 years. Elgison and Atlanta Memorial Park President Roxanne Giles Smith presented two plans for the golf course – an update of the current 18-hole course or a more controversial nine-hole course with a driving range. There would also be a new clubhouse. “There’s an emotional feeling that the course should stay 18 holes,” Elgison said, “but there is also demand for a driving range, since the closest one is more than 10 miles away. Both camps have been very vocal about the design of the course, but it’s evenly split on wheth-
Hot ticket Jewish Film Festival runs Jan. 29-Feb. 20 OUT & ABOUT 14
Mark my words Pastor teaches reading skills to youngsters MAKING A DIFFERENCE 15
Dining out t
ew
rant Re
vi
Res
au
SEE GOLF COURSE, PAGE 22
Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy in for the long haul
Our reviewer visits Brookhaven’s ‘Smash’ RESTAURANTS 16
BY COLLIN KELLEY
Paris passion
PHIL MOSIER
Holy Innocents’ senior loves all things French STANDOUT STUDENT 18
Lizzie McNairy and her son Mac, 3, take a quick break from the action on the court during The Westminster Schools boys’ junior varsity basketball game against Mount Pisgah Christian School on Jan. 18. Mount Pisgah won, 50-48. More photos on page 19.
The nonprofit Atlanta Memorial Park Conservancy spearheading the renovations at the Bobby Jones Golf Course, Bitsy Grant Tennis Center and Atlanta Memorial Park has only existed for little more than a year, but organizers say they have completed a large amount of work in that relatively short time. “We’ve been going like gangbusters,” Roxanne Giles Smith, Atlanta Memorial Park president said. “It’s been a banner year.” The AMPC pulled together the separate organizations for the tennis center, golf course and the six neighborhoods around the park into one unified group to create a master plan for the 190-acres of parkland – which is crossed by both Peachtree and TanSEE RENOVATIONS, PAGE 5