Atlanta Intown - February 2022

Sarah Pierre, Katie Rice, Clare Richie, Tim Sullivan, Amy Wenk

Submissions

Article queries should be emailed to collin@atlantaintownpaper.com.

Steve Levene Publisher Emeritus Keith Pepper Publisher keith@springspublishing.com

Amy Arno Director of Sales Development amy@springspublishing.com (404) 917-2200, ext. 1002

Rico Figliolini

Creative Director

Harry J. Pinkney Jr. Graphic Designer

Deborah Davis Office Manager deborah@springspublishing.com

Advertising For information call (404) 917-2200 ext 1002 sales@springspublishing.com

Sales Executive Jeff Kremer

Circulation

Each month, 27,000 copies of Atlanta Intown are mailed to homes and distributed to businesses in and around ZIP codes 30306, 30307, 30308, 30309, 30324 and 30329. For delivery information, delivery@springspublishing.com

On the Cover

A first-time homeowner struggles with buyer’s remorse

I’ve lived in my Midtown condo for almost eight months and it still doesn’t feel like “home.” I wake up every morning wondering how all my belongings wound up in this Airbnb. That’s how it feels: interim or like a way station on my journey elsewhere.

I realize part of this feeling is because I lived in my last apartment for 16 years. I got very comfortable and settled there, so leaving was traumatizing, especially since the purchase and move were bookended by my cancer surgery and treatment.

Editor’s Letter

Collin Kelley has been editor of Atlanta Intown for almost two decades. He’s also an award-winning poet and novelist.

I always said I would never own a home because I didn’t want the burden of property. That burden has presented itself in numerous maintenance issues that have required me to shell out cash, including a broken dishwasher pump.

And while I prided myself on repairing the French doors, another issue presented itself during the winter storm. A crack appeared in the doorframe and the winddriven rain was pouring in like Niagara Falls. I did a bit of research on the repair and gulped at the likely cost. I really miss the days of dialing the maintenance line at my old apartment and leaving the problem in their capable hands.

collin@AtlantaIntownPaper.com

Don’t get me wrong: I like the location and the space itself. In the morning, the light is dazzling. The view is amazing. I like how quiet it is, even in the heart of Midtown. I like how I’ve been able to decorate it and find space for artwork and items I previously had in storage.

And yet…

I’ve found myself making little detours to drive past my old apartment building. I’ve investigated how soon I could sell the condo and move back. I talked to a good friend who has bought and sold multiple homes in the last decade in search of the “right place” and is never satisfied. I thought she was crazy, but now I get it.

Most of my friends think I’m the crazy one. They see my condo, the location, the view – and they swoon. They tell me to be patient, that I’ll grow to love it, that expensive repairs are an investment. When I mention selling it and moving back to an apartment, they react in horror. Who does that?

I decided I’m going to try and stick it out for two years. I’ve already been here for nearly a year, so I think I can handle one more. I’m really hoping that in that time I’ll fall in love with the place. That one day I’ll walk in the door and swoon. But I also know that life is too short to live somewhere that doesn’t bring you joy, and I’m not going to be embarrassed by whatever choice I make.

On a brighter note, I am absolutely gobsmacked by our gorgeous cover portrait of artist Shanequa Gay by regular contributor Isadora Pennington. In 28 years, we’ve never had a black and white portrait on the cover, so the minute Isadora sent over the file, I might have swooned over that a bit. You can read about Gay’s art on page 34.

We’re also happy to welcome new contributor Maija Ehlinger with Hypepotamus – the go-to source for startup and technology news in the Southeast. Maija will be profiling new startups and providing news briefs on Atlanta’s growth as a major tech hub. You can read her first piece on page 16.

For this Valentine’s Day, I hope you get your heart’s desire. Whatever that may be.

Counter Moves

New mayor, city council tackling Buckhead secession head on

Councilmember Keisha Sean Waites introduced legislation last week at the council’s public safety committee meeting to resurrect and expand the Public Safety Commission. The body was created last spring, but “never got off the ground,” Waites said.

Waites’ legislation would amend the Public Safety Commission’s membership to include business leaders and neighborhood associations to collectively address many of the public safety related issues impacting all of Atlanta.

But the discussion devolved after more suggestions were made on adding additional members to the commission beyond those listed in Waites’ legislation. Councilmember Alex Wax likened it to “making sausage” and made a motion to send the legislation back to the public safety committee.

By Collin Kelley

New Mayor Andre Dickens and the radically changed Atlanta City Council went to work the same day they took their oaths of office on Jan. 3. At the top of the agenda: keeping the city unified.

The Buckhead cityhood movement was delt a serious blow last month when Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan assigned the bill to a Senate committee made up entirely of Democrats, who are likely to bottle it up. However, at press time, a similar bill is also in the Georgia House where it will get a more welcome reception from Republicans, many who are championing the Buckhead secession movement.

Dickens said he was “elated” by Duncan’s move but said during a Martin Luther King Jr. Day address that he also wasn’t “naïve” about the potential for Buckhead cityhood to reach the referendum stage this fall.

Within days of his inauguration, Dickens also presided over the opening of a new Atlanta Police precinct in Buckhead,

fast-tracked from its planned opening this summer. The move was in direct response to proponents of Buckhead cityhood who have listed crime as their main reason for secession.

Located near the intersection of West Paces Ferry and Peachtree roads, the Zone 2 mini-precinct will be staffed with a dozen officers focused on traffic calls to allow other officers to patrol Buckhead and handle more serious crimes.

“We started to work on day one, addressing the issue of crime in our city,” Dickens said. “This is a concern of all of ours. And while some may want to use this to break us apart, we know that as a city, we are stronger together.”

The Atlanta City Council also took steps to win back the hearts and minds of Buckhead residents at its first full meeting on Jan. 18, but not without some contentious debate.

The council voted 14-1 to establish a Buckhead Public Safety Task Force, but sent legislation that would expand the city’s dormant Public Safety Commission got sent back to committee. That legislation could resurface on the Feb. 7

agenda.

Newly seated Councilmember Mary Norwood and Councilmember Michael Julian Bond introduced the Buckhead legislation in what is widely seen as an effort to counter the Buckhead cityhood movement

Norwood said the task force would operate for 90 days and include law enforcement, business, and community leaders to formulate recommendations to solve Buckhead’s increase in crime.

Councilman Antonio Lewis, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said he believed the creation of the Buckhead task force was unnecessary and that a citywide response to the surge in violent crime would be better addressed by standing up the city’s Public Safety Commission.

“Despite the media frenzy, crime is actually down in Buckhead,” Lewis said, citing a recent report from APD that crime was down 6% in 2021. “The Buckhead legislation should not pass by itself because it’s telling the rest of the city they don’t matter.”

“We need to be thoughtful about this and do the work in the committee,” Wan said, who also suggested that different communities could benefit from “hyperlocal” task forces like the one approved for Buckhead to address specific crime prevention needs.

Councilmember Howard Shook said he found Councilmember Lewis’ comments about the Buckhead Task Force dividing the city “offensive” and “divisive.”

“Separating one neighborhood from the rest of the city is offensive to me,” Lewis shot back.

Waites said she supported the Buckhead legislation, and Norwood urged the council to pass Waites’ legislation.

“The Public Safety Commission is already law,” Norwood said. “I’d like to see us pass this legislation today and we can modify the composition of the task force going forward. I think the city needs to see that we are addressing their concerns.”

Waites echoed those sentiments. “The surge in crime is affecting us citywide. We don’t want to send a message that we’re putting the needs of one community over another.

The Atlanta City Council waits to take the stage at the swearing-in ceremony at Bobby Dodd Stadium on the Georgia Tech campus. (Courtesy City of Atlanta)

Right, Mayor Andre Dickens at the opening of the Buckhead police precinct. (Courtesy City of Atlanta)

News RoundUp

The city is mourning the death of MARTA CEO and general manager Jeffrey Parker, 56, who committed suicide on Jan. 14 by stepping in front of an oncoming train at the East Lake station. Collie Greenwood was named interim general manager by the transit agency board.

The Atlanta Police Department opened a new precinct at One Buckhead Plaza in January with 24 officers on duty. The precinct will focus on trafficrelated calls, helping to free up other officers for high priority calls and investigations.

Gov. Brian Kemp wants to use a record state budget surplus to cut taxes. The Republican governor proposed $1.6 billion in tax refunds worth $250 for state income tax single filers and $500 for joint filers.

A committee is exploring the possibility of creating The City of DeKalb in the southern part of the county.

MARTA unveils customer-chosen design for new rail cars

By Collin Kelley

MARTA has unveiled the customer-chosen design for 254 new rail cars coming to the fleet beginning next year.

The reveal was made during its annual State of MARTA event on Wednesday, which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 surge. Riders were given the opportunity to vote online to choose the design of the carriages.

According to MARTA, the car interiors will have an open gangway so riders can move freely between cars, forward and inward seating, spacious luggage and bicycle areas, and large, accommodating ADA doorways and spaces.

The new trains, designed and built by Stadler, will also have charging stations for phones and devices, digital system maps and service information, and improved heating, cooling and lighting systems.

The exterior of the care will feature the “minimalist” design with a stripe of MARTA’s

colors chosen by customers. The most prominent feature is a lighted “smile” on the front of the train that denotes the color of the rail line – Red, Gold, Green or Blue – so riders will know from a distance that their train is approaching.

The new trains are part of a busy year for MARTA as the transit agency moves to open the city’s first bus rapid transit (BRT) along Hank Aaron Drive from Downtown through Summerhill; introduce high-capacity transit along the Campbellton Corridor and in Clayton County; and station rehabilitation projects at Airport, Indian Creek, and Bankhead rail stations.

Emerson

Link

The Mike & Margie Team Top Team, Companywide

David Vannort & Associates Top Team, Midtown

Dana Link Top Individual, Companywide

Cam McCaa Top Individual, Midtown

FILM

BeltLine secures $300 million to complete trail by 2030

By Collin Kelley

The Atlanta BeltLine has secured $300 million in local, federal, and philanthropic funds to complete the trail by 2030.

The funding will be used for real estate acquisition, design, and construction of the 22-mile paved multi-use trail.

In a statement, BeltLine officials said the $300 million mark was crossed less than one year after the Atlanta City Council, approved legislation creating a Special Service District (SSD) to tax commercial properties and apartment complexes along

including affordable housing, transit, parks, art, and equitable economic development.”

Atlanta BeltLine Partnership (ABP) also secured an $80 million contribution from The Robert W. Woodruff Foundation to help fund the completion of the trail and the Legacy Resident Retention Program, which mitigates displacement by assisting homeowners with property tax increases through 2030.

In November, the City of Atlanta and ABI also received a $16.46 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for construction of the

STREAMING and IN THEATERS AJFF.ORG

the BeltLine.

Bonds financed by the SSD along with the additional tax will generate a total of $100 million.

“Passage of the SSD and the subsequent funding it has unlocked are critical to

In accordance with ABI’s equity and inclusion priorities, the passage of the SSD enables up to $45 million in additional affordable housing funds, up to $12 million in additional small business support, and up to $150 million in construction and design funds targeted towards minority-owned contractors.

Completion of the trail corridor is expected to deliver a total economic impact of $10 billion and approximately 50,000 permanent jobs for the City of Atlanta.

keeping the overall BeltLine project on track,” Atlanta BeltLine Inc. (ABI) CEO Clyde Higgs said in the statement. “They provide the financial certainty we need to proceed aggressively with trail implementation and allow us to use TAD funds to advance the full BeltLine vision,

Officials said an additional $50 million is needed by 2030 to fully complete the corridor and they would be working to secure the remaining funds from local, federal, and philanthropic resources.

Dr. Hogai Nassery with the IRC’s Fiona Freeman, Christopher Carpenter, Shannon McGuffey and Ayaz Ahmed

Southside Trail.

Joggers on the Westside Trail. (Photos courtesy Atlanta BeltLine)

Bike riders on the newly paved section of the Southside Trail.

EDUCATION BRIEFS

The YMCA of Metro Atlanta has opened a storefront at the Junior Achievement Chick-fil-A Foundation Discovery Center in Atlanta. As the largest childcare provider in the state of Georgia, the Y will have the opportunity to reach aspiring business leaders through the collaboration and showcase its Early Learning and After School programs within the storefront. The Atlanta location serves students in Atlanta Public Schools, Fulton County Schools and DeKalb County Schools, and allows middle school students to develop skills to successfully navigate today’s complex economic environment and discover how decisions today can impact tomorrow.

Georgia State University’s Creative Media Industries Institute will offer a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in digital filmmaking with a concentration in virtual production and visual effects, addressing the workforce needs of the growing film industry in Georgia. The three-year graduate program aims to shape candidates into skilled visual effects (VFX) artists who possess a thorough understanding of production and post-production.

Chick-fil-A announced that four Atlanta organizations have been named 2022 True Inspiration Awards grant recipients for their remarkable work in the community. Teach One to Lead One, The Stewart Foundation, Bloom Our Youth and Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta are four of 34 organizations being recognized for their commitments in the areas of education, hunger or homelessness.

Kadiant Georgia has opened its newest center specializing in Applied Behavior Analysis therapy (ABA) for children and adolescents diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at 2711 Irvin Way in Decatur. The Decatur location features individual treatment rooms and a group therapy room; a fully-functional adaptive living space, including resources to address independent self-help skills such as sorting and folding laundry, using a washer/dryer, and a simulated grocery store experience; and so much more.

▲Center Parc Credit Union has become the exclusive sponsor of One Love Learning Foundation’s (OLLF) community garden, situated on the rooftop of Maynard Jackson High School. Also known as Jackson Park Farm, the garden will provide fresh produce to those in need in the community as well as to Kevin Gillespie’s neighboring restaurant, Gunshow. The garden supports the school’s science curriculum as well as helping students fulfill their volunteer hour requirements. A select group of student interns also earn a paycheck. Gillespie’s engagement will extend to mentoring student interns to expand their understanding of the restaurant business and food preparation.

the Rollins School of Public Health. Fallin will join Emory on July 1. Fallin currently serves as chair of the Department of Mental Health for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is the Sylvia and Harold Halpert Professor and Bloomberg Centennial Professor. She holds joint appointments in the Bloomberg School’s Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine’s Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry. Fallin is also director of the Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities and has led the center since its establishment by the Bloomberg School in 2013.

▲Emory University has appointed M. Daniele Fallin, an internationally regarded researcher and educator, as the new James W. Curran Dean of Public Health at

A snow day away makes up for cancelled Christmas

Timmy Daddy

Tim Sullivan

Tim Sullivan grew up in a large family in the Northeast and now lives with his small family in Oakhurst. He can be reached at tim@sullivanfinerugs. com.

We took down the Christmas Tree on Jan. 1, which must be a calendar record for our family. I wish I could say it was thanks to a spirited commitment to productivity in the New Year but in truth our Noble Fir had entered a rather ignoble phase. The needles were turning brown, and it was so dry that a sturdy sneeze might have completely disrobed it if a wonky candle didn’t set it ablaze first.

I saw it as an opportunity to put our houseguests to work, too. We sat around so much that week that this was going to count as an activity as much as watching Maine Cabin Masters did. Typically, the de-Christmasing session is sort of a sad task but with the help of Kristen’s sister and her family it was sort of fun. I think.

A few of my siblings had plans to come down here from the Northeast for Christmas but cancelled in early December as the Covid Delta wave torched their region. We had planned on having a Holiday party with close friends and neighbors before the Omicron surge set siege on the Southeast. So dutifully we cancelled that too. Our Christmas dinner with extended family? Cancelled due to a couple of positive cases. We are cancel culture! May all the stockings be filled with rapid tests!

So now we’re on to 2022. The silver lining is that at this point in the pandemic we’re well practiced at being homebodies. I’ve settled into something of a sweatpants complacency and at times I feel guilty for kind of relishing it. We consumed the entire new season of “Cobra Kai’ in four sittings and SPOILER ALERT – this year the AllValley tournament has a special musical guest! But really, to all my friends who I do indeed miss—it’s not you, it’s me and my sweatpants and my disciplined, courteous, responsible laziness.

Elliott and Margo’s schools boldly returned to in-person learning. Margo did have two days of virtual, pajama pants learning while the school was short staffed but somehow, they are holding it together. We take a deep breath before opening

the daily Covid reckoning emails from the principals and prepare ourselves for whatever might come next. Same goes for basketball season. I’m coaching both kids’ teams, but practices have been canceled for a few weeks to limit gatherings. So, I see my players for games only and try to cram a week of coaching into an hour, from a distance, through a high-quality mask. It’s less than ideal.

But this week I heard a wise man

say that his motto for 2022 was to “control the controllables.” Some things lay beyond our control and a pandemic certainly qualifies but how we treat our minds and our bodies is something we can exert a lot of influence on. Okay fine, it was a Peloton instructor, but it does make sense! And while I’ve settled into this purgatorial existence where I never feel particularly high or low anymore my kids haven’t entirely given in to that. So what is within our control?

Perhaps the weather?

On MLK Jr. weekend our area was expecting the rare snowstorm. In town there is always the chance that it is just a dusting, or the temperature stays a little too warm and it is just a bummer of a winter rainfall. But in the mountains, it was looking like a sure thing. So, at the last minute Kristen rented us a little place and we chased the storm, trading in our sweatpants complacency for spirit lifting, snow pants euphoria. I can’t control how difficult it will be to get back (car is currently snowed in). But I got us here and there is a foot of snow and the kids are having a blast and for a day or two at least, nothing will be cancelled.

Atlanta Public Schools using ‘test-to-stay’ COVID protocol

After a delay returning to in-person learning after the holidays due to the COVID-19 surge, Atlanta Public Schools has implemented new protocols to mitigate spread of the virus.

The new “testto-stay” protocol is ongoing at all APS schools, requiring students who come into contact with someone testing positive for COVID to quarantine at home for 10 days unless a parent or guardian consents to daily testing after exposure.

While surveillance testing is mandatory for employees, there will be voluntary testing for students twice per week with parental consent.

Officials said state-of-the-art air filtration units will be installed in every classroom of all APS traditional schools beginning the first week of February.

Collin Kelley

Margo in the snow at Sky Valley

Two Decades of Growth

Transplanted seed factory flourishes on the Westside

By Kathy Dean

For seed factory, the new year began with a new home. Since it opened 20 years ago, the Westside shop has offered a thoughtfully chosen collection of modern baby clothing, toys, books, furnishings, gifts and essentials, making it a favorite drop-in for local families.

Right time, right place

Rachel Baba, owner of seed factory, said that the time was right for her to act on what she wanted for her business — “a sense of intimacy with my customers and neighbors, ease of use with pull-up parking and that sense of peace and calm we work toward inside the shop. I wanted the move to be very intentional, and Trabert has those key ingredients.”

She explained that she has worked hard over the years to establish and grow her business and, along with all of her neighbors, grow the Westside. “I love this little shop and its community so much,”

Baba said, “and we hope everyone enjoys the new spot.”

Customers seem to be right at home with the new location. “We have been excited to watch as families visit for the first time to see if the children notice the new space, and it makes me so happy to see them jump right in and enjoy the shop,” she added.

The move didn’t happen quickly; it began in November 2020, when Baba received a call from Randy and Courtney Talinski of Bungalow Classic, telling her that they planned to relocate their shop to Trabert in the spring — and they felt that the space next door would be a perfect fit for seed factory.

“At the time I was unsure, since I still had a year on our lease and the course of the pandemic was so unknown,” Baba said. “But things like this have a way of falling into place. By March 2021, we had signed a lease and were prepared to make a move from our longtime spot to this new home.”

20th anniversary plans

In August, seed factory will mark 20 years of success. “We definitely plan to celebrate,” Baba said. “We’ll kick off the fun with a month full of giveaways but keep an eye on our website and social media as we get closer for more!”

Visit seed factory at 763-D Trabert Avenue in Atlanta. For more info, go to seedfactoryatlanta.com and @seedfactory.

Rachel Baba

Midtown Promenade announces slate of new restaurants, retail

By Collin Kelley

Midtown Promenade – home to Trader Joe’s and Midtown Art Cinema – will have a slate of new restaurants and retail when renovations are complete at the 111,000 square foot shopping center next fall.

Asana Partners and SRS Real Estate Partners announced that new eateries will include Snooze, Alici, Yumbii, and The Queso Shop. On the retail roster are Heyday, Restore Hyper Wellness, and Les Mains Nail Bar, while Intown Animal Hospital and The Whole Dog Market will cater to pet owners in the area.

The renovations also include a pedestrian walkway to connect the property to the Atlanta BeltLine Eastside Trail. Green space surrounding an exterior plaza, façade renovations and a new

breezeway are part of the improvements.

About the new businesses:

■ Colorado-based breakfast and brunch restaurant Snooze will have a menu of favorites like huevos rancheros, breakfast pot pie, omelets, sandwiches, and pancake flights.

O v e r a D e c a d e o f B u y i n g & S e

T h e B r o c k w a y G r o u p h a s b e e n n a v i g a t i n g r e a l e s t a t e i n A t l a n t a ' s I n t o w n n e i g h b o r h o o d s l i k e O l d F

r s a n d g e t t o p d o l l a r f o r s e l l e r s i n t o d a y ' s m a r k e t

■ Alici will be the first Amalfi Coastinspired seafood restaurant in the area from The Porchetta Group’s Pat Pascarella.

■ Yumbii, a taco food truck turned brick-and-mortar, and sister concept, The Queso Shop, will face the Eastside Trail in adjoining spaces with an expanded patio.

■ Intown Animal Hospital will offer a complete range of veterinary services including routine, major and emergency medical and dental services along with vaccinations.

■ The Whole Dog Market will

specialize in holistic raw, freeze-dried and conventional foods at optimal price points.

■ Les Mains Nail Bar will occupy a 2,500 square-foot space and offer services including manicures, pedicures, hair removal, and massages.

■ Heyday, a one-stop facial shop, will debut in Georgia at Midtown Promenade and offer a personalized experience with skilled skin therapists. Services will include microdermabrasion, chemical peels and gua sha, an ancient detoxifying massage.

■ Restore Hyper Wellness will offer full-body wellness services including cryotherapy, IV drip therapy, red light therapy, and more.

Approximately 12,000 square feet of retail and creative office space remains available at the center.

The Brockway Group donates a percentage of our proceeds towards the Atlanta Children's Shelter We are passionate supporters of their mission to break the cycle of poverty for families facing homelessness by building pathways to long-term self-sufficiency, and providing quality early childhood education

e r

|

I f y o u h a v e a b r o k e r a g e r e l a t i o n s h p w t h a n o t h e r a g e n c y t h s i s n o t i n t e n d e d a s a s o l i c i t a t o n A l l i n f o r m a t o n d e e m e d r e l a b l e b u t n o t g u a r a n t e e d E q u a l O p p o r t u n t y H o u s i n g P r o v d e r E a c h o f f i c e i s i n d e p e n d e n t l y o w n e d a n d o p e r a t e d

Zeto brings text-based solution to homeowners’ to-do lists

By Maija Ehlinger

Christian Ries is no stranger to building at the intersection of property and technology. His latest startup, fresh out of Atlanta Ventures Studio, is designed specifically for the “busy technology-savvy homeowner.”

Zeto launched in Atlanta as a home management company that uses text messaging to get homeowners connected to the services they need around the house.

Each homeowner is given a “Home Manager” who in turn deals with the scheduling and managing of maintenance and other work that needs to be done.

A user might text about a growing number of household tasks – like calling a plumber, getting a new HVAC unit, or ordering firewood – and that home manager will handle working directly with a trusted vendor.

Opting for text message communication came from a better understanding of how households think about getting through a growing “to do” list. Zeto was born from the lessons Ries learned as the founder of property management startup Jonny On It, which he closed during the pandemic.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

West End mixed-use development Lee + White has added three new tenants to its roster. Southeastern Management, Inc. and Westside Dental are slated to open in 2022, while Honeysuckle Gelato has relocated production operations within development and signed a second lease as the first food hall tenant.

Choate Construction has launched its Building Up program on the heels of raising $1.26 million in charitable funds in 2021. Through both company wide initiatives and office-specific “passion projects,” Choate employee-owners have dedicated countless hours volunteering to pack thousands of lunches for Meals on Wheels Atlanta, providing holiday gifts alongside Bright Futures, and much more. ►Dental office Tend has opened a new location in Atlanta at Ponce City Market as part of an East Coast expansion. The modern dental “studio” uses state-of-the-art technology, convenient online booking, price transparency, top-rated clinicians, streaming entertainment, noisecancelling headphones, and premium brush bags to take home. Find out more at hellotend. com.

▲HIPFit – now open at 742 Ponce de Leon Place – specializes in and trains with high intensity, low impact pilates for beginners to advanced. The workouts are designed to strengthen core muscles, increase muscle mass, improve flexibility, and prevent musculoskeletal injuries. For more information, visit hipfitatl.com.

Atlanta Intown has partnered with Hypepotamus, the go-to source of startup and technology news in the Southeast. hypepotamus.com

He told Hypepotamus that the Zeto team spent significant time during the customer discovery phase, learning how families and homeowners “interact with their homes.”

Atlanta’s booming housing marketing makes it a prime location to launch such a venture, says Ries. It is also a unique place to grow a startup dedicated to what the future of IoT looks like within a home.

“It’s the marriage of people and technology in the home service industry. The advances to the industrial internet have accelerated the capacity to deploy, automate, orchestrate and secure all different types of technology behind the scenes allowing us to put people first. There’s a level of efficiency and transparency that today’s consumers demand, and we believe there’s an opportunity to meet that demand,” added Ries.

Zeto has been building within the Atlanta Ventures Studio alongside Intown Golf Club and Greenzie.

Other scaling startups in Atlanta Ventures’ portfolio include Hazlnut, Grayscale, Offbeat Media Group, Infinite Giving, Voxie, and Reframe.

The Home Depot Foundation has announced it will give a $1 million grant to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The grant will be used to support the Downtown museum’s expansion and increased community education and training programs. “The Home Depot Foundation and The Home Depot have been partners of the Center since our institution was just an idea,” said Jill Savitt, president and CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. “They have ensured we are able to help people tap their own power to change the world, and this generous gift will expand our exhibitions, our reach, and the breadth and depth of our programs. The Home Depot shares our commitment to protecting the rights and dignity of every human being, and this gift will help us fulfill this mission.”

▲Hyatt Centric Buckhead Atlanta has opened in Buckhead near Lenox Square. The 15-story hotel features 218 guestrooms, including seven suites, two dining concepts from James Beard Award-winning chef Hugh Acheson and more than 3,700 square feet of meeting and event spaces.

Toys for Tots of Atlanta received a donation of 250,000 bottles of hand sanitizing products totaling a value of $130,000 from Medline Industries, an Illinois-based medical supplies manufacturer and distributor, in effort to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and infections in underserved communities throughout Atlanta.

Climate and Justice: ‘The fierce urgency of now’

of registered voters in Georgia.

Atlanta’s New Mayor

Above the Water Line

Sally Bethea

Sally Bethea

is the retired executive director of Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and an environmental and sustainability advocate.

As we marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January, the civil rights leader’s eloquent and powerful words were on my mind as I wrote this column. Nearly sixty years ago, he talked about “the fierce urgency of now” in his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. As he called for equality and racial justice, he warned against “the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”

King could just as easily have been talking about global climate change. In fact, the two crises – racial injustice and global heating – are intimately connected. As Hop Hopkins with the national Sierra Club has written: “You can’t have climate change without sacrifice

zones, and you can’t have sacrifice zones without disposable people, and you can’t have disposable people without racism… if we valued everyone’s lives equally, if we placed the public health and well-being of the many above the profits of a few, there wouldn’t be a climate crisis.”

Socially and economically disadvantaged people face the greatest risks from climate change, which threatens their physical and mental health, air, water, food, and shelter. In the United States, these vulnerable groups are largely communities of color, immigrants, low-income communities, and people for whom English is not their native language.

The fate of the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better Act – and its transformational investments in climate action to reduce carbon emissions and meet targets in the Paris Climate Agreement – is uncertain. It appears that passage of the bill, in its current form, will not occur, missing what could be our last chance to mitigate future catastrophic impacts of global heating with significant federal initiatives and funds. Observers have noted that Congress “disproportionately represents” climate skeptics and fossil fuel interests – even though two-thirds of average Americans think that government should do more on climate, including 77%

While progress with some climate initiatives at the federal level has been frustratingly slow, there is hope that Atlanta’s new mayor, Andre Dickens, will quickly and fully embrace climate and equity programs; his strong statements on this subject as a candidate and his years on city council are encouraging. Because cities consume 78% of the world’s energy and produce 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions, they must transition swiftly to renewable sources.

A decade ago, Atlanta took advantage of the federal Better Buildings Challenge and developed one of the strongest resilience offices in the country. In 2017, the city council voted unanimously to transition to 100% clean energy by 2035 – prioritizing energy efficiency, renewable energy, and eliminating reliance on burning fossil fuels to meet all energy needs in the city. (Clean energy comes from efficiency, wind, solar, existing and low-impact hydroelectric, and geothermal sources.) An impressive Clean Energy Atlanta plan was adopted by the council in early 2019.

Today, Atlanta’s Office of Resilience is a shadow of its former self with a smaller budget and a staff one-third its previous size; the office is no longer a member of the mayor’s cabinet. While some good progress has been made in recent years – solar panel installations on city buildings, heat-mapping surveys, and more equitable access to clean energy – the overall slowdown in momentum (read: gradualism) is troubling. Ranked by Bloomberg in 2017 as the “most [economically] unequal large city in the United States,” Atlanta must make a serious commitment now to invest in climate action – and help reduce the

high energy burden on disadvantaged communities in the city, meaning the percentage of income spent on home energy bills.

Achieving Resilience

Climate resilient cities are those that develop the capacity to absorb future shocks and stresses, while maintaining their functions and systems. In Atlanta, we may not have to worry about sea level rise – as millions do around the world –but we must address the adverse impacts of more intense storms, flooding, extreme droughts, and worsening heat waves. These scenarios present very real threats to public health, property, and municipal budgets.

Extreme heat kills and sickens more people in the U.S. than hurricanes, tornadoes, and other weather-related events, but these risks are not distributed evenly in cities; poorer neighborhoods have more unshaded asphalt, less tree canopy, and fewer parks – in addition to less access to air-conditioning. According to Georgia Tech’s Dr. Brian Stone, trees are the most effective strategy that we must guard against heat in cities.

Mayor Dickens and the city council can set Atlanta back on the road to becoming one of the most sustainable and climate resilient cities in the country by prioritizing these actions:

■ Build back the Office of Resilience: Restore the office to cabinetlevel; hire a strong, experienced leader for the open chief sustainability officer position; fund re-staffing.

■ Update Atlanta’s 2015 Climate Action Plan and 2019 Clean Energy Plan: Update these plans this year; fully fund and move more aggressively on their specific actions.

■ Engage with the Georgia Public Service Commission: Intervene in this year’s required planning process to negotiate more renewable energy options from Georgia Power, especially for lowincome communities, to reach the city’s 2035 goal; today, Atlanta customers are offered few renewable options, such as affordable retrofits and additional roof-top solar.

■ Protect Atlanta’s Tree Canopy: Stop the years of developer delay and arguing by convening stakeholders and securing an agreement on the much-needed overhaul of the city’s tree protection ordinance, prioritizing vulnerable neighborhoods.

We can do these things and more if we embrace the fierce urgency of global heating and racial injustice now.

Atlanta Bicycle Coalition gets equitable transit grant

Eight mobility advocacy groups – including Atlanta Bicycle Coalition – received grant money from the Mobility Fund to advance equitable and sustainable transportation.

The Mobility Fund, which supports community-based advocacy around sustainable and equitable mobility, handed out more than $760,000 to local and regional non-profits working to make transit, biking, and walking convenient, safe and accessible for more people.

The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition received $72,500 for its “Expanding More Equitable Transit in Atlanta.

The initiative seeks to create deeper collaboration between the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, MARTA Army, and the Partnership for Southern Equity to inform, educate, and empower community residents to advocate for more equitable, accessible transit in Atlanta.

Collin Kelley

National park working on first trail plan in history

By Amy Wenk

Under a new leader, one of the country’s most visited national parks is working on a plan to revamp its trail system.

The Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA) spans 48 miles along the Chattahoochee and includes 15 land units. In 2020, it saw 3.5 million visitors, making it the country’s 16th most visited national park. It also contains about 20% of metro Atlanta’s greenspace and is home to hundreds of bird species.

“It is beloved by many,” said Ann Honious, who in August 2021 was named superintendent of the CRNRA. “This is a special place in the entire country.”

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Honious came to CRNRA after serving as the deputy superintendent at the National Capital Parks – East, a series of parks in Washington, D.C. and Maryland. She also previously worked at Gateway Arch National Park in Missouri, where she oversaw a $380 million rehabilitation project.

Now, she will help lead CRNRA through its first comprehensive trails management plan, which will provide direction for improving trail conditions within the park’s more than 5,200 acres (or

about 7,000 acres if you count submerged areas).

“I see taking this great, beloved park and elevating it for the future,” Honious said. “That is through strategic planning for projects, dealing with deferred maintenance, as well as creating awareness so that the community supports and appreciates what they have.”

work by a group that called themselves the River Rats. “In the 1970s, they were watching the development starting to occur in this area and worked very hard to protect the river and the land along its sides,” Honious said.

But the park has yet to have a cohesive trail plan. As a result, the myriad of usercreated social trails lacks connectivity and

The trail plan also considers the Chattahoochee RiverLands project, a proposal to build a 125-mile multimodal trail running from Buford Dam to Chattahoochee Bend State Park. That would include a “Greenway” that follows the river, connecting 19 cities across seven counties. The Greenway is being proposed by the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Trust for Public Land, Cobb County, and the City of Atlanta.

“Our trail management plan is our plan and framework to then work with communities that want to build part of that greenway, and have it touch or go through the national park,” Honious said, adding they are supportive of the effort.

Today, there are about 64 miles of trails that run through the park. Most are legacy social trails established before President Jimmy Carter signed the national park into law in 1978.

CRNRA has a long, interesting history. It was the culmination of years of advocacy

is prone to erosion, among other issues.

Now, the hope is to create a better experience and grow the trail network to almost 90 miles over the next 20 years. The National Park Service had started the trail plan in 2018. A draft could be ready in March 2022.

As for CRNRA’s trail plan, a key group called the Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy (CNPC) will help raise money for projects once it’s finalized. The Conservancy was established in 2012 as the official “friends group” of the national park. In its 10 years, the nonprofit has spent $180,000 on park improvements, including rebuilding three river outlooks in the Cochran Shoals unit. It has a big fundraiser planned for March 8 at SweetWater Brewing Co.

CRNRA will also seek funding from the National Park Service and volunteer help from various groups.

A scene from the Chattahoochee River. (Special/Tom Wilson) Ann Honious. (Special/Melissa Lyttle)

Nothing Compares.

ECO BRIEFS

The Georgia Water Coalition has released its 2021 Dirty Dozen annual report highlighting the politics, policies and issues that threaten the health of Georgia’s water. From coal ash contamination and mining operations to sewage leaks and climate change, the list includes most of the state’s high-profile bodies of water. On the list: Chattahoochee River, Ocmulgee River, Ogeechee River, St. Simons Sound, Okefenoke Swamp, Georgia’s Coast, Whitewater Creek, Flint River, Coosawattee River, Conasauga-Oostanaula, and issues with groundwater toxins. The full report is available online at gawater.org/resources/ dirty-dozen.

▲The PATH Foundation will get $28 million in funding for trails throughout the City of Atlanta after a vote by the Atlanta City Council in December. PATH’s Executive Director, Greta deMayo, remarked, “The PATH Foundation is thrilled to see the City of Atlanta prioritize its trail network by allocating funding to enhance local and regional connectivity to Atlanta.”

◄The Georgia Iris Society will meet at St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church, 1790 Lavista Road, on Feb.12 at 2 p.m. The guest speaker will be Rose Guerra, a Georgia Audubon Society Environmental Educator and Master Birder. She will present “Love is for the Birds”. For more information, call (770) 414-4766.

DeKalb County has adopted a resolution to transition to 100% clean energy by 2050, making it the sixth local government in Georgia to make such a pledge. The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the resolution at its December meeting. The commitment calls for the county government to transition to using 50% renewable energy by 2025 and 100% by 2035. Additionally, the resolution calls for 100% clean energy community-wide by 2045. The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners also included details on an equitable transition, ensuring benefits to low-income citizens and prioritizing a just transition for those currently employed by the energy sector, currently reliant on fossil fuels.DeKalb County joins Atlanta, Athens-Clarke County, Augusta-Richmond County, Clarkston, and Savannah in pledging to transition to 100 percent clean energy.

Katina Asbell & Evia Golde

Atlanta Fine Homes, LLC fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Each franchise is independently owned and operated.

Building permit, financing secured for key development in South Dwntn project

By Collin Kelley

Real estate investment firm Newport has secured $75 million in debt financing and a building permit from the city for a key development – the mixeduse 222 Mitchell – in the South Dwntn project.

222 Mitchell will be a 330,000-squarefoot mixed-use campus, including a new park and a 27,000-square-foot rooftop with panoramic views of Downtown.

The combination of a 1909 brick building and two mid-century modern buildings spanning a full city block, the project plans to return the building to a highly activated and connected street, with vibrant restaurant & entertainment venues, retailers, offices, mixed-use spaces & a rooftop experience, all while retaining the character & historical relevance of the area.

“We believe 222 Mitchell will be a significant catalyst for the return of South Downtown’s prominence, and we’re committed to reintroducing a fully modern Class A building while preserving

the culture and history this neighborhood has acquired along the way,” said Kevin Murphy Executive Vice President of Newport. “Great partners, and creative lenders like BridgeInvest, who align with our transformative vision and believe in what’s to come are essential for our work moving forward.”

JLL Capital Markets arranged the financing on behalf of Newport and its brokerage team is handling leasing efforts

for both the office and retail opportunities throughout South Dwntn.

Pre-leasing of the 250,000 square feet of Class A creative office is currently ongoing, led by Brooke Dewey and David Horne, with the limited remaining retail inventory being leased by Coleman Morris and Iggy DeQuesada.

South Dwntn has already signed leases with arcade and game bar Pins Mechanical, a modern diner and cocktail

lounge from Slater Hospitality, chicken sandwich eatery How Crispy, carry-out pizza shop Pizza Clementine, and cocktail bar Thirteenth Floor. Ohio River South, a high-stakes strategy firm, will be relocating its headquarters to the Sylvan building within the development.

Balfour Beatty has started construction for 222 Mitchell which is slated for completion in early 2023.

Former Methodist chapel, offices become loft apartments

The former headquarters of the North Georgia Methodist Conference at 159 Ralph McGill Blvd. in Downtown has been transformed into the newly opened Revival Lofts.

Braden Fellman Group, Choate + Hertlein Architects, and Beacon Construction are the team behind the project.

The office and 12-sided octagonal chapel were originally completed in 1967 but sat abandoned for 20 years when the Conference moved its headquarters to Gwinnett County

The complex is now home to 51 studio and one-bedroom apartments with covered parking, a clubhouse, fitness center and more. Rents range from $1,170 to $1,678 per month.

For more, visit revivallofts.com.

Builder: Arlene Dean Homes

Collin Kelley

8

During these uncertain times, HammerSmith is here for you and your family. We provide safe, essential services, architectural designs and home renovations. Start planning today for how to live better in a changed world.

Your Next Home Could Be In… Stone Mountain

By Collin Kelley

Where is it? A 30-minute drive east of Downtown in DeKalb County. Just look for the big rock (it’s a 350-million-year-old quartz monzonite dome monadnock, if you want to get technical about it).

What’s the history? The granite outcropping was already a tourist destination for early settlers in the 1830s, with the Macon Telegraph describing it as a “stupendous pyramid.” Many visitors were so drawn to the mountain, they set up a village near the base. The railroad would then bring even more tourists and created the need for hotels, restaurants, and shops. The bas-relief carving of Confederate generals on the side of the mountain, sculpted from 1915 to 1972, has faced renewed calls for removal as symbols of the Confederacy and white supremacy are dismantled nationwide.

What’s happening over there? Stone Mountain Village is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has a quaint main street full of shops and restaurants (steaks and pasta at Stone Mountain Public House; German fare at The Village Corner; Stoned Pizza Kitchen; Cherokee Rose BBQ; Outrun Brewing Company, Gilly Brew Bar) worth exploring. Despite the controversy over the carving, the park remains a favorite destination for hikers, golfers, and campers.

What about homes? “Everyone is moving to Stone Mountain” is something we keep hearing, and it’s easy to see why: homes are plentiful and relatively inexpensive for its proximity to the red-hot Atlanta real estate market. You can get a condo or townhouse around $100,000, while ranch-style homes are in the mid-toupper $200,000s. If you’re not afraid of a fixer-upper, Stone Mountain might be your next home.

Uplifting architecture through advocacy and design

Perspectives in Architecture

Melody Harclerode

Melody Harclerode, FAIA enjoys connecting the public to wondrous places as an award-winning architect, author, and executive director of Blue Heron Nature Preserve.

Stanley, Love-Stanley, PC is located in modest one-story building in Midtown, yet the architectural firm founders, William J. “Bill” Stanley III and Ivenue Love-Stanley, tower in significance.

Bill became the first African-American graduate of the Georgia Tech School of Architecture in 1972. Ivenue is recognized as the first African-American woman to graduate from the Georgia Tech School of Architecture in 1977 and to become a licensed architect in the Southeast.

Recipients of the Whitney M. Young Jr. Award from the American Institute of Architects, they were elevated as Fellows, one of the highest honors in the

90,000-member organization in the US; and Fellows in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

Professional experience with architect John Portman and multi-discipline firm Parsons Brinckerhoff along with an entrepreneurship spirit from their families spurred the newly married couple to establish Stanley, Love-Stanley, P.C. Their architectural firm has earned numerous awards designing a diverse body of projects with Bill as lead designer and Ivenue as principal of construction administration since 1978, including the Southwest Atlanta Community Library (1990), Fort Valley State University Health and Physical Education Facility (2004), and the MLK

Sr. Community Resources Center (2012).

As part of a design team, Stanley, Love-Stanley, PC has created ambitious local projects, such as the Olympic Aquatic Center at Georgia Tech (1995-1996) and the renovation and expansion of Grady Hospital in the 1990’s, yet one of their most ambitious projects lies overseas. The firm contributed design, construction administration, and funding to develop Wilberforce Community College in South Africa. The African continent and its history have influenced the firm’s designs for projects, such as the New Horizon Sanctuary (1994-1999) at Ebenezer Baptist Church and the Lyke House Catholic Student Center at the Atlanta University Center (1999). An African meetinghouse inspired

the building form for the Horizon Sanctuary, the site of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Celebration. African motifs embellish the building exterior and interior building form. The rock-carved Church of Saint George in Ethiopia is referenced with the building form for the Lyke House Catholic Student Center. Vast religious architecture experience and international travels of both architects will benefit their ongoing work to modernize Cascade United Methodist Church in Atlanta. Understanding the importance of African-American architects for more insightful public engagement and architectural designs in communities across the country, the Stanleys support the development of the next generation of African-American architects and firm leaders. They are providing scholarships at their alma mater and mentorship for students. Ivenue says, “To whom much is given, much will be required.” Stanley Love-Stanley PC is uplifting the architectural profession through advocacy and design.

Agarista populifolia evergreen shrubs surround tree trunk

Highland Terrace NE Sold for $1,875,000

Ivenue Love-Stanley and Bill Stanley

New Horizon Sanctuary at Ebenezer Baptist Church

How to plant a tree, and not just on Georgia Arbor Day

The Environmental Gardener

Tree planted too deep Tree with loosened roots

Greg Levine co-executive director of Trees Atlanta, describes himself as happiest when his hands

too deep. I have seen trees planted more than 3 inches too deep in a pot and it is a sure way to slowly kill your tree if you plant it without finding that root flare first.

If your new baby is root-bound, try one of two following solutions.

are in the dirt.

It’s February and the cold weather makes for tough gardening. But getting out there is half the battle. To celebrate Georgia Arbor Day on Feb. 18, consider finding time to plant a tree.

There are many canopy trees that can be planted in deep shade, such as beech, northern red oak, and some hickories. These trees can be your garden’s next generation canopy.

There are some flowering trees, such as redbud, buckeye, and the south’s favorite tree, the dogwood, that tolerate a lot of shade, but like most any flowering plant they prefer just a bit of sun.

I have planted a lot of trees and have made my share of mistakes, so I am going to share two important details to remember

about preparing the root ball, a crucial part of the planting process.

Number 1: Find the root flare so that you can plant the tree at the right depth. The root flare is the point where the trunk transitions into the roots and it should be level with the top of the hole. When in doubt, erring on the higher side is less risky for the tree’s survival.

With a containerized tree, you may have to remove some root mass that grows around the trunk of a tree or shrub, if it was planted too deep in the pot. It is better to remove or pull away those roots than plant

Number 2. Cut or unwind a circling root system. Roots of containerized trees often end up winding around the inside of the pot, and sometimes they even encircle the trunk. You end up with either a mass of roots that don’t expand beyond the root ball once it’s planted, or the circling roots actually choke the trunk and shorten its life.

What to plant

Unravel and unwind those roots. When you plant the tree, spread them out like rays (roots) leaving the sun (the trunk). When I plant trees for my own garden, I wash off the soil or soak in a tub of water to get all the soil off the ball to make roots easier to fan out. I have white oaks planted 20 years ago that are over 40 feet tall, and I am sure it is the result of this planting method. Another easier and faster method is to make four vertical cuts (every 90°) from top to bottom of the root ball with a saw. The depth of the cuts depends on the size of the ball; 2 inches into a 15-gallon is about right. Make a crosscut at the bottom of the root ball and, if the bottom of the ball is solid roots, cut a 1/2” pancake off the bottom of the ball.

Find that tree you have been looking for and get to planting. Happy Arbor Day!

The secret of a green thumb is simply planting plants the right way in the right location.

◄Northern red oak (Quercus rubra)

There is always room for another tree! If you think you have too much shade, this oak is the most shade tolerant. It is one of the best for a red to maroon fall color and remember the oak leaves feed over 500 species of caterpillar. Its bark has a light striping on a darker gray background that reminds many of ski slopes running down the tree. This unique pattern is both beautiful and a great way to identify the tree in any season.

►Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis)

This is our first native tree to bloom in the year. It is in the legume or bean family and the white to pink flowers are edible, which can help make a pretty salad while adding a mild refreshing flavor. The tree can grow in deep shade but does best on the edge of a woodland or part shade with average, well-drained soil. Like all legumes, it fixes nitrogen in the soil, adding nutrients for the rest of your garden. There are many cultivars selected for leaf and flower color, weeping form, and even heat tolerance.

◄Native pachysandra (Pachysandra procumbens) I love this native groundcover, perfect for deep to light shade. There are none more beautiful. It is evergreen with a larger leaf and a more fragrant flower than its Asian cousin, but it is a slower grower. Soil with average moisture, drainage, and nutrients will work as long as it gets enough shade, which means it is a great plant for the tree lover. The biggest challenge is simply finding it in the nursery trade, but I promise it is worth the time.

REAL ESTATE BRIEFS

Street. An existing one-story building at the northeast corner of the site will be converted to retail/restaurant use. A new central greenspace bisects the block with an accessible pedestrian connection.

Employees from the Atlanta division of homebuilder Taylor Morrison partnered with HomeAid Atlanta to transform a metal storage facility into five micro apartments for girls transitioning out of the foster care system. Builder Captains Ronnie Cline of Taylor Morrison and Austin Lineberry of New River Building Co. led the renovation. Taylor Morrison has volunteered over 500 hours and donated over $80,000 over the last three years in building supplies, furniture PAC contributions, and essentials to HomeAid.

▲Vecino Group Southeast and Capitol Hill Neighborhood Development Corporation have been selected as the team who will develop an affordable housing complex at 104 Trinity Ave. across the street from Atlanta City Hall. The team will build an 8-story, mixeduse development with 218 residential units – 186 of which will be designated for affordable housing – and affordable ground-floor retail space for small, local businesses that “provide essential services and lifestyle amenities.”

Alliance Residential Company has completed Broadstone Pullman, the first residential development in Kirkwood’s Pratt Pullman District. Broadstone Pullman offers 354 studio-, one- and two-bedroom apartments across three residential buildings. The apartment homes feature an industrial aesthetic with custom cabinetry, decorative tile backsplashes, veined quartz countertops, mixed metal finishes on the fixtures and electronic locks throughout the community. Select units will also feature brick accents. ►A new mixed-use office/retail tower is planned for 887 West Peachtree St. between 7th and 8th streets. Cousins Properties and architects HKS and Pickard Chilton introduced the 26-story during the December meeting of the Midtown Development Review Committee. The project will feature 408,000 SF of office and 14,000 SF of sidewalk-level retail. Retail spaces will be at the northwest and southwest building corners with a shared lobby facing West Peachtree St. A podium deck is accessible from 8th St. and via a raised bridge and existing alley to Cypress

The Greater Atlanta TransitOriented Affordable Housing Preservation Fund provided financing for Lincoln Avenue Capital to acquire GE Towers preserving 201 affordable housing units within a 10-minute walk from MARTA’s West End station. The loan to an affiliate of Lincoln Avenue Capital is $24.7 million. The historic loft property, named for its location at the site of the

▼Alliance Residential Company has purchased 2.53 acres at 230 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to develop Broadstone Metal Works, a 278-unit apartment community adjacent to Georgia State University’s soccer facility. Designed by Dynamik Design, Broadstone Metal Works will welcome its first residents in summer 2023. Broadstone Metal Works will be a five-story building with a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments averaging 790 square feet.

▼Toll Brothers is building Park 108, a new community of 33 condos located near Park Place and East Lake

Drive in Decatur. The development will have studio, 1- and 2-bedroom residences with 1-2 baths ranging from 504 to 1,364 square feet. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to preserve the building’s historic 1930s structure through a compelling adaptive reuse as a residential condominium,” said Jonathan Carter, Division President of Toll Brothers in Urban Atlanta.

former General Electric plant, is located at 490 Glenn St. in the Mechanicsville neighborhood.

▲Selig Development and real estate company GID have partnered to build a new apartment building at The Works, Selig’s 80acre adaptive reuse development on Atlanta’s Upper Westside. Construction on the 306-unit residential project is already underway, with the project completion slated for 2023.

The Next Big Thing

Pinky Cole’s Slutty Vegan expanding, new cookbook on the way

By Collin Kelley

Aisha “Pinky” Cole is fast on her way to having the next big deal in fast food with her plant-based burger chain, Slutty Vegan. Vegans and

meat-eaters alike stand outside the restaurant’s locations (Westview, Edgewood, Jonesboro, and now Duluth) for hours or follow the Big ‘Ol Slut food truck to get her saucily named burgers like the “One Night Stand,” “Sloppy Toppy,” “Fussy Hussy,” “Hollywood

NEW RESTAURANT RADAR

Big Game, from the creators of Bantam Pub, is open at 720 Ralph McGill Blvd. at the Anthem on Ashley building serving up “sustainable herd” meats including elk, boar, and reindeer. It’s hunting lodge meets sports bar on the BeltLine. Find out more at @bantampub on IG.

►Charleston-based coffee shop The Daily has opened an Atlanta outpost 763-C Trabert Ave. in the Berkeley Park neighborhood. Along with coffee drinks, the menu includes breakfast sandwiches, bowls, wraps, and salads. Find out more @thedailyatl on IG.

Hooker,” and “Super Slut.”

She’s also got a vegan cookbook on the way, a charitable mission to provide life insurance to Black men, and a new partnership with Varo Bank to help entrepreneurs launch and sustain their businesses. All this from a Baltimore kid who used resell the McDonald’s $1 menu for $2 to her classmates and rake in the cash by hosting teen dance parties. Hustle is the Clark Atlanta University graduate’s other nickname.

And, of course, we got her In the Mix playlist, and it’s full of choice cuts from Kendrick Lamar, Moneybagg Yo, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Meek Mill and more. Be sure to check out the playlist by searching for Atlanta Intown’s channel on Spotify.

You just opened a new location of Slutty Vegan in Duluth, and another is coming to Athens. How do you choose where to go next?

I’m very strategic on how I open up Slutty Vegans. I like to choose food insecure areas and food deserts, areas that aren’t so attractive to developers, and help raise the community up. The Gwinnett and Athens locations do just that. It’s an opportunity to scale the business, and it shows more people are interested in vegan options. That’s what makes me the most excited.

Tell us about your new cookbook, “Eat Plants, B*tch.” How did you pick the recipes to include?

I partnered with Simon & Schuster

Black Coffee is now open at 131 Walker St. in Castleberry Hill serving up coffees, teas, pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and more. Details @blackcoffeeatl on IG.

►Desta Ethiopian Kitchen has opened its third location at Westside Village, 2250 Marietta Blvd., serving up tibs platters, fish dulet, and beef or lentil sambusas. More details @destaethiopiankitchen on IG.

Pinky Cole

to do my first cookbook, “Eat Plants, Bitch.” Yes, I said it! It’s a cookbook to help meat-eaters find recipes that are plant-based and cruelty free. There are so many people who are flexitarians, vegetarians, and meateaters that sometimes want to try plantbased options, but don’t necessarily want to go vegan. I took all the hassle and agenda out of it to create something for people who want to have healthier options that taste good, and you don’t have to compromise that good flavor.

When you’re not eating at Slutty Vegan, what are your other favorite places to eat in Atlanta – especially vegetarian and vegan?

My house! No, I’m kidding. There are so many vegan restaurants in Atlanta that are really, really good. Tassili’s Raw Reality Café has the best spinach wrap –they call it the Punany Wrap. I also love Bakaris Plant-Based Pizza, Chin Chin, and Soul Vegetarian. You’ll fall in love with these foods just like I did. And I’m so glad they’re growing just like Slutty Vegan.

The Pinky Cole Foundation is helping to empower entrepreneurs of color. Tell us about some of the success stories.

I started the Pinky Cole Foundation in 2019 as a way to help bridge the generational wealth gap. Since our founding, I’ve partnered with the Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation to provide lights for families, given out thousands of pounds of fruits and vegetable to families in need, as well as thousands of coats. I paid the rent for local businesses during the pandemic, so they didn’t have to close their doors.

When Rayshard Brooks was murdered in the Wendy’s parking lot, I partnered with another local business owner to provide life insurance for the family, provided scholarships for the family, and bought them a new car. I’ve paid the

balances of 30 Clark Atlanta University students so they can walk across the stage. We’ve given cars, scholarships and so many other resources through the foundation. That is worth so much more to me than money in the bank. It gives me great joy and pride that I can utilize my resources to help an eco-system of people to be better. You can find out more at pinkygivesback.com. Can you tell us about your plan to provide life insurance to Black men in Atlanta?

I’ve partnered with Derrick Hayes of Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks [and who coowns Bar Vegan at Ponce City Market with Cole] to provide every single Black man in Atlanta with life insurance they don’t have to pay for. They get to pick their beneficiary and their policy. We did this to make sure Black men have the tools to know about financial literacy and mental health.

Tell us about the partnership with Varo Bank.

As part of my December Days of Giving, Varo made a donation to help 40 Atlanta entrepreneurs launch and sustain their small businesses. Last month, we launched a community-based sweepstakes to provide opportunities for greater financial and professional empowerment. Prizes included one year of mentorship from me for an entrepreneur or professional, a year of financial coaching from Varo’s personal finance advocate and best-selling author Kevin L. Matthews II, plus additional cash prizes.

What’s your new year’s resolution?

To continue helping people learn about financial literacy. I plan on providing more job opportunities in Atlanta and beyond, more work with Varo. More of what I’ve been doing but turned up to a thousand. Because 2022 is the year that Slutty Vegan and Pinky Cole are going to become household names.

Who says ‘Dryuary’ has to be so terrible?

Women + Wine

January is here to stay. For some, it’s a big change in hopes of reaching even bigger results. According to Sean Goldsmith, cofounder of Zero Proof, Atlanta’s newest non-alcoholic beverage company “...roughly 49 million Americans participated in Dry January last year.” That number has increased in 2022 with nearly 1 in 5 adults abstaining from alcohol. For a company like Zero Proof, that’s a great boost in sales right at the beginning of the year!

Neighborhood Market, to discuss why she decided to take a month off of alcohol.

Hidinger started the year off alcohol free to clear her mind and, well, her liver. “Let’s get honest, my alcohol consumption (like so many others) increased dramatically over the course of the pandemic. I needed to create a little time and space to let my body rest.”

With the holidays behind us and our bodies begging for a bit of a reprieve, 31 days of no alcohol sounds pretty refreshing. But then reality hits and you wonder how you’ll actually go an entire month without your favorite adult beverages. Good news

Unlike the January-only sober bunch, Sean Goldsmith made the decision in 2018 to modify his lifestyle and stop drinking for an undetermined time and little did he know, this decision would change his whole life. Sean hasn’t had a drink since and is pretty sure he’s never going to again. He’s found clarity, energy, deep sleep, and productivity. Sean and his best friend turned business partner, Trevor Wolfe, who also doesn’t drink alcohol, soon realized that there

As wine retailers, we’ve heard this from many of our clients who share the same point of view. The pandemic was no joke, and a little break has never hurt anyone. Many might say, the biggest challenge is actually staying on track. Hidinger loves that she has accountability partners. “I am participating in a month free of alcohol with my mother in Indiana and my sister-in-law in LA. We check in regularly with one another via text & during our weekly Friday night family zoom calls. We started the family calls when the pandemic started and still routinely have them so we can stay connected. I absolutely

bitters, and spices resulting in a complex, fruit forward, acidic beverage that resembles your favorite glass of wine. Be sure to try the Zephyr when you’re in the mood for a refreshing glass of “rosé” or the Velvet which might be the most complex of the 5 available in Atlanta giving you fruity mocha coffee vibes. Serve chilled in a wine glass and enjoy for up to 10 days after opening. Made in Canada.

Château del ISH Sparkling White: You never need a reason to pop a bottle of Champagne, and same goes for the days you’re not drinking alcohol. Château del ISH Sparkling White is a blend of Pinot Blanc & Silvaner grapes that has been dealcoholized to make a beautiful sparkling “wine” that satisfies all your needs when you just want a glass of bubbs.

for all; there are lots of nonalcoholic options available that will satisfy all of your adult beverage cravings.

Over the last decade, in the United States and Europe, January has become the month devoted to cleansing – encouraging people to take a break from alcohol in the new year. A kickstart to a healthy and happy 365. Not only is alcohol consumption eliminated, but many also remove sugar and processed foods from their diet, participate in Whole 30, and even a new trend we’ve seen this year called the Daniel’s fast which is based on the biblical book of Daniel.

Whichever method is chosen, Dry

was a huge void in the beverage industry for booze free drinks. They knew right away that they wanted to provide a solution not only for themselves, but for the other mindful drinkers and abstainers.

Across Atlanta, you can find a large selection of non-alc cocktail and retail wine options, including 3 Parks Wine which currently carries over 30 nonalcoholic beverages. There are so many options available that have the complexity of your favorite mixed drink or glass of wine, hangover not included.

We reached out to one of Sarah’s longtime friends and former work colleagues, Kara Hidinger, owner of Staplehouse

love it,” she says.

Hidinger’s been staying hydrated with her favorite non-alcs that are sold at Staplehouse: Kea Kombuchas (Atlanta made!), Casamara Club Sodas, Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Riesling and Athletic Brewing Company Run Wild IPA.

With lots of options available in Atlanta, try your hand at some of our favorites:

Acid League Proxies: You’ll never have a craving for a glass of wine if you have Proxies on hand at all times. Proxies are unlike many other non-alcoholic products in that it never started with an alcohol base. Proxies are a unique blend of juices, herbs, teas,

SpritzISH Canned Non-Alcoholic Cocktail: Bring on the booze-free cocktails! It may be winter, but it’s always Spritz season! SpritzISH may be one of our favorite canned cocktails, with or without alcohol. Be sure to try all of the ISH canned beverages. You’ll be in for a treat. ISH products available: SpritzISH, DaiquirISH, GinISH & Tonic.

Weingut Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Sparkling Rosé: One of Atlanta’s favorite zero proof sparkling rosé. This sparkling wine is refreshing with red fruits and minerality. Also available in cans.

Katie Rice & Sarah Pierre

Rice owns VinoTeca in Inman Park and Pierre owns 3 Parks Wine Shop in Glenwood Park.

Kara Hidinger Courtesy Kaitlin Kolarik

▼Zesto, a fixture in Little Five Points for 58 years, has permanently closed. The burger,

QUICK BITES

salt along with flavors like cheddar, caramel, white chocolate and more.

MARTA has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to fund operation of its Fresh MARTA Markets and expand the program to provide greater food access in DeKalb County. MARTA currently operates markets at West End, H.E. Holmes, Bankhead, College Park, and Five Points rail stations in the cities of Atlanta and College Park. The $851,677.10 grant will continue operations at those markets and pay for additional markets to be established at Kensington and Doraville rail stations next spring.

Atlanta-based Portfolio Beverages has launched a line of infused teas, Real Good Tea, formulated with all-natural ingredients including botanicals, vitamins, and highquality hemp extract. For more information, visit realgoodtea. com. Zesto, a fixture in Little Five Points for 58 years, has permanently closed. The burger, hot dog, and soft-serve ice cream joint at the corner of Moreland and McClendon said the pandemic, road work, and a fallen tree that damaged the building all contributed to the decision to close. Owned by Jimbo and Linda Livaditis, Zesto also has locations in Buckhead, East Atlanta, Forest Park and Tyrone.

The Fantastic & Divine Southern Black WomenThe Artwork of Shanequa Gay

By Isadora Pennington

What does fantasy look like from the perspective of a strong, confident, southern Black woman? That’s just one of the questions that multimedia artist Shanequa Gay asks with her work.

Inspired by her family history and African American traditions, Gay embraces a sense of play when conceptualizing her colorful works. Using a range of materials that include oil paints, acrylics, photographs, watercolors, fabric, spray paint, vinyl, and even hair weave, she crafts figural works that pose open-ended questions and entice the viewer to consider their own perceptions.

Hybridity is a theme that Gay explored in her work for more than a decade. Her first body of work that involved hybridity was called “The Fair Game Project” and dealt with social issues surrounding the African American male body.

Ultimately, Gay began experiencing

outrage fatigue and moved away from the theme, though she never abandoned the concepts behind the work. Later, when pursuing her MFA from Georgia State University, she found herself reevaluating the work she produces. “Hybridity wasn’t something I wanted to let go,” she said, and she found ways to explore that theme in new ways.

Gay’s current body of work features Black women’s bodies topped with otherworldly animal heads often in celestial settings. She explained that by combining two figures that are sometimes villainized in popular culture to create whimsical and wise characters she was able to grant them an ethereal majesty.

“I began to develop these figures called the ‘devouts’ by kind of pulling from the women in my family and ancestors and those who are living: my mom, my grandmother, my aunts,” Gay continued. “They all have these

characteristics of strength, of elegance, and of beauty.”

The animals she chose also exhibit those same virtues, and by uniting them she magnifies their significance.

“Currently they have these kind of gazing ancestral eyes, and all sorts of tropes of what it means to me to be African Atlantan,” said Gay.

Gay is also inspired by a conversation between Gloria Steinem and bell hooks in which Steinem talked about how, over the course of 3,000 years, Egyptians began to take divinity away from women and animals. Hooks then talked about how African Americans cannot ever truly decolonize their minds if they can’t imagine themselves as divine.

Gay’s portrait subjects have a majestic air about them, observing, celebrating, and uplifting icons of Blackness. She wants to grant women and girl-child figures a “language of divinity” as well as celebrate native animals.

Continued on page 36

“the unnameable, unspeakable divine ascension”

Pray & Play Atlanta Drum Academy is a family affair for kids and teens

By Clare S. Richie

At a rainy Sunday rehearsal in early January, about two dozen members of Lil’ Rascalz drumline grouped by drum were hard at work with a joy and pride in their

Continued from page 34

Gay grew up in a deeply religious household cloaked by belief (her mother is a pastor), and while she doesn’t untie herself from her Christian background, she has given herself permission to ask questions in a way that she was not allowed to as a child.

The elements of fantasy that arise in Gay’s work highlight a disparity in popular culture: the lack of portrayals of Black women as protagonists, especially in fantasy and futuristic worlds. “The only time I ever saw women who look like me in space travel was ‘Star Trek,’” said Gay.

“Very rarely are we centered, so I wondered, what does that look like?”

In essence, these works that cross between realism in the depictions of female form, recognizable representations of the African American and specifically southern Black experience, animal iconography, and bold, graphic design elements, constitute an on-going conversation that Gay has with herself. At times she uses her artwork and her platform to bring attention to worthy causes that are often devastating in nature.

One such example is an altar of sorts that she created with paper flower artist Bolanle Pace to honor the life of a young Clark Atlanta University woman, Alexis Crawford,

efforts.

Parents, siblings, and caregivers of the 3 to 12-year-olds watched from the hall or seated on matts inside a metro karate dojo, where the Atlanta Drum Academy (ADA) meets since it outgrew its space.

“New students, I’m gonna put you

on the drum that fits your skill set,’ said James Riles III, ADA Executive Director, arranging students on the snare, bass, tenor, duo, and other kits. “You are here to be part of a family.”

All eyes were on Riles as he taught skills, crescendo and footwork “with swag” in a manner that was inspiring, strict and fun. Riles’ teenage sons, Sadarien and Darius,

moved through the drumline to provide personalized instruction. An hour later, The Squad drumline, ages 13 to 18, started to arrive for their rehearsal.

“Listen to each other,” Riles instructed the drummers. “Many drums should sound like one.”

The drumlines are preparing for competitions. The Squad traveled to the

who was brutalized and murdered by her roommate and her boyfriend. The exhibition at Mint gallery back in 2019 featured a stark black wall and floor that was painted with the woman’s portrait and complemented by paper flowers. Gay then encouraged visitors to write notes on flower petals to honor lost, missing, and murdered Black girls.

Another particularly moving and haunting work was the 2016 “Ode to Kathryn Johnson” performance piece where Gay donned a blue bull head and read poetry, danced, sang, prayed, and shared readings. The intent of this exhibition was to bring attention to the life of Kathryn Johnson, the 92-year-old Black woman killed by Atlanta police officers during

an illegally obtained warrant who later planted drugs in the house.

“Being able to stretch myself in my work is really important,” Gay said. “I don’t want to be stagnant, so the ability to be able to speak about different things through different media is really important to me. That is who I have been all my life. Growing up I wrote plays, I wrote poems, I played violin, I painted, I sang, I danced, I was the drill team captain… I did 50 million things as a kid, so being able to engage and speak in a variety of different ways has always been important to me.”

With an extensive CV that includes more than 16 solo exhibitions, 17 group shows, 20plus listed collections (including Elton John), along with 12 listed awards and grants, Gay

is certainly an esteemed and prolific artist. In October 2021 she participated in an Af-flux Transnational Black Biennial called Monde Bossale in Quebec, Canada. The exhibition sought to highlight Black communities and their contributions to the contemporary art world, and the invitation to exhibit highlights just how instrumental and important Gay’s work is both locally and abroad.

“There is a lack of people who look like me in a lot of spaces that are white walled with only white males. My narrative belongs there as much as anyone else’s,” affirmed Gay. “I belong there, I think I belong in the canon. I believe in my work enough to be bold enough to say we can send this out into the world.”

Members of the Atlanta Drum Academy.

Atlanta Drum Academy on “Little Big Shots” show.

“What Remains” at Mint Gallery

“Mother Johnston’s Front Yard”

“Heaven’s Gate”

Clash of the Drumlines in Dallas, Texas in late January. Lil’ Rascalz have two coming up in Georgia: Millennium Live ATL on Feb. 20 and Georgia Has Talent, a cancer research fundraiser on March 12. And ADA is working on a reality show pitch for Netflix.

“We’ve already filmed a lot of the performances and now we are filming the kids’ and parents’ testimonials,” Riles said. He was also a performer and composer for the movies “Drumline” and “Drumline 2: A New Beat.”

Sparked by his love of playing and teaching drums, Riles started ADA in 2011 to offer lessons and prepare drumlines to perform and compete.

“I’ve been playing drums all of my life,” Riles said. “My parents purchased my first real drum set when I was 5 – a drum set they had to take out a loan to purchase.”

Growing up, Riles performed for family, at church and in school concerts, marching and jazz bands – which earned him a scholarship to Morris Brown College.

“In 1999, I had my first chance to teach at a summer camp, Camp New Beginnings,” Riles said. “I just fell in love with teaching and that’s what I’ve been doing since.”

Riles taught in Clayton County Public Schools for 10 years, starting a drum program while at Lake Ridge Elementary. Today, ADA drummers come from all over

metro Atlanta – Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett counties and more – drawn in by social media, word of mouth and ADA performances.

ADA’s big break came in 2018, when a dozen kids ages 5 to 13 performed on “NBC’s Little Big Shots” with Steve Harvey.

“It was a big hit on social media. We got a lot of exposure from it. It was hard because I could only take like 12 students and I have 50-60 students at a time, so I had to make choices.”

He also made the choice to leave teaching in 2018 to pursue ADA full-time. His drummers have continued to capture attention.

Former ADA Section Leader Jasmine Bowens earned a scholarship to Hampton University and appeared in friendly snare drum battle on YouTube at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Bowens joined ADA as a 5th grader.

“ADA is not just an organization to me, but a family that encourages respect, sacrifices, heart and selflessness, and this is why I play,” Bowens said.

Destiny Boyd, who joined ADA in high school, played Mika in Nick Cannon’s recent VH-I holiday movie, “Miracles Across 125th Street.”

“She has the same work ethic as Jasmine,” Riles said. “Playing drums is usually dominated by males so when a female comes in, I guess they feel they

have to work two times as hard to prove themselves.

Riles is ready to take ADA to the next level by purchasing a building easily accessible by MARTA, offering more classes, and serving more kids in a safe space.

“We want it to have a game room, a family life center where our parents can come and use computers, a gym and classrooms so kids can learn how to produce, take pictures – anything dealing with the arts,” Riles said.

All this is done with the motto of “Pray and Play.”

“We believe that the gift of drumming comes from God and we dedicate our gifts back to God,” Riles said. “We’ve been to so many places and done so many things that if it wasn’t for God blessing us with ADA, we would have never done it.”

Learn more on Facebook (Atlanta Drumacademy) or atldrumacademy.com.

James Riles III with sons & ADA co-owners Sedarien, left, and Darius.

Hush Harbor Lab seeks to nurture Black artists

By Dyana Bagby

When enslaved African Americans finished a day of hard labor, they would often use hand signs, passwords and messages not understood by white people to signal to others where to meet deep in the nearby woods. These meeting pockets, surrounded by trees and far away from the reality of slavery, were known as “hush harbors.”

“In the antebellum era of enslavement, many enslaved people, after they worked from sunup to sundown, needed to find a place where they could just be free, where they could express themselves without a white gaze upon them,” said Addae Moon, associate artistic director at Theatrical Outfit.

“They went into these ‘hush harbors’ to perform their traditional spiritual practices, they would sing, they would praise and rejoice,” Moon said. “It was a way for them to really stay sane in such a hostile environment that chattel slavery in America was.”

It is in this tradition that Moon and Amina S. McIntyre, both Atlanta-based playwrights, founded Hush Harbor Lab in early 2020. The company is an incubator for the development and production of new and innovative digital, live, and multimedia performance work by Black Atlanta-

based artists.

“Hush Harbor was really founded to be a new play development program, but also a company that focused on assisting Black Atlanta based writers and giving them the opportunity to explore and develop their work,” Moon said.

PONCE CITY MARKET APP

“There’s so few new play development opportunities available, and nothing that centers some of the specific cultural elements of African American storytelling and tradition,” Moon said. “We felt that especially being in Atlanta, we had a very unique niche.”

Last year, Hush Harbor partnered with Atlanta’s Théâtre du Rêve, a professional theater company focused on bringing French culture to the stage, to workshop the company’s 2019 play, “Code Noir: Les Aventures du premier Comte de Monte Cristo (Black Code: The Adventures of the first Count of Monte Cristo)” into a screenplay. The play is based on the life of Alex Dumas, the son of a French nobleman and an enslaved African woman in St. Domingue, known today as Haiti.

The workshop included a virtual reading and discussion of the story and laid the groundwork for a film of “Code Noir,” shooting this winter and set to premiere in March. The partnership was Hush Harbor’s first commissioned work.

Last year, Hush Harbor also unveiled a workshop performance of McIntyre’s one-woman show “Nina” about American singer-songwriter’s Nina Simone. Hush Harbor is also collaborating with Found Stages to present a production of Moon’s “Cassie’s Ballad” in March. The play centers on the Atlanta child murders.

Hush Harbor continues seeking more opportunities with other companies and finding ways to nurture Black artists to tell new stories.

“When Amina and I got together to form Hush Harbor, we both have been lucky enough to be involved in new play development processes,” Moon said. “But that’s not necessarily a common situation for writers of color in general to be engaged in.”

Most plays being produced about African Americans tend to be period pieces, about the Civil Rights movement or something that includes music, Moon said. Black artists writing outside of these parameters have a hard time getting investors interested in the development process.

“We wanted to provide a development process for Black storytellers to tell a diverse range of stories that a theater company or another development company might not support,” Moon said. For more, visit hushharborlab.com.

“In the antebellum era of enslavement, many enslaved people, after they worked from sunup to sundown, needed to find a place where they could just be free, where they could express themselves without a white gaze upon them”

Addae Moon

Associate Artistic Director

Addae Moon Amina S. McIntyre

Obama portraits on view at the High Museum

By Collin Kelley

“The Obama Portraits Tour” has arrived at the High Museum of Art for an up-close look at the iconic paintings of former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama by artists Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald, respectively.

Organized by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, the portraits will be on view through March 20 in the High’s Stent Family Wing special exhibition galleries.

“We are honored to present these portraits as the exclusive Southeastern venue for the tour and to afford our

audiences an intimate experience with the works,” said Rand Suffolk, the High’s Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., director. “They demonstrate the

incredible talents of Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley, two artists the Museum holds in high esteem, and serve as important records of a historic period in our nation’s history.”

Also coming to the High:

“Postcards from Paris” will bring together photographer André Kertész rare carte postale prints. These nowiconic works offer new insight into his

ROBERT WUN

early, experimental years and reveal the importance of Paris as a vibrant meeting ground for international artists. The exhibition will run Feb. 18 to May 29.

On view March 25 to Aug. 14, “What Is Left Unspoken, Love” juxtaposes works that represent watershed moments in the history of contemporary art. The exhibition will include nearly 70 works, including painting, sculpture, photography, video, media art and installation, by more than 35 diverse and multigenerational artists based in North America, Europe and Asia.

For tickets and more information, visit high.org.

Photo by Zhong Lin

& Völkers Atlanta

From walk-by hellos with our neighbors and local philanthropic initiatives, to celebrating record breaking sales in the Morningside community, 2021 proved to be a year of great success and relationship building for Engel & Völkers Atlanta. We can’t thank our community enough for the amazing support they’ve given us this last year.

Building a rich collection of city-owned art

Inside the Arts

Camille Russell Love

Camille Russell Love Love has been executive director of the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (@atlantaoca) for more than two decades.

Among the many programs housed within the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA), the Art on Loan Program is one of the office’s signature activities. The Art on Loan Program supports the

presentation of public art by purchasing works of art from local, regional, national and, on occasion, international artists. The goal is to make fine art available to Atlanta residents and employees by displaying pieces from the collection in public spaces.

The processes by which art is selected and acquired are varied. Most often, a jury is empaneled to select and purchase works. In my capacity as executive director, I sometimes come across works of art in galleries and other venues and make recommendations to staff for consideration. Other times, our office will issue requests for proposal (RFPs); thereby casting the broadest possible net in our efforts to identify diverse artists.

To date, the collection consists of over five hundred works and is on display in

every City of Atlanta department (like Public Works and Finance), and in municipal buildings –including recreation centers. Previously, staff installed art based on individual preferences, availability and/or a combination of both.

Lately, Program Manager Kevin Sipp invites staff from departments interested in the program to work with him to select the pieces that will hang on the department’s walls. In the process, staff not only participate in “curating” the office gallery, but also, they learn about the artwork and the artists who created it. Thus, the program serves as a de facto crash course in art appreciation.

As a result, staff often better value the art in their office and can share information about it with those who visit. An unforeseen benefit of Kevin’s strategy is that he has uncovered a bevy of working artists within the ranks of City of Atlanta employees.

Perhaps the most visible and consequential space for which the Art on Loan Program provides art is the Mayor’s Executive Suite. When a new mayor is elected to office, OCA staff work with the incoming administration to select art that best reflects the taste and personality of the city’s top executive. Under the previous administration, Mayor Bottoms sought to rethink how the most powerful office in the city could better support Atlanta artists. To that end, she asked our staff to remove the portraits of previous mayors and to install a diverse assortment of artworks – including recently purchased works.

The strategy worked. The City of Atlanta Mayor’s Executive Suite is now a premier art gallery. At any given time, visitors will see artwork that is among the best in the country and represents Atlanta’s diversity. Included in the Executive Suite’s art rotation are historic images from the municipal court—images that not only contextualize the City of Atlanta’s current legislative activities, but also images that connect those living today with previous generations, as individuals will often recognize a face, a building and/or a location.

Mayor Dickens spoke openly and plainly about his desire to strengthen and broaden the arts in Atlanta. We are excited to see the role the Art on Loan Program will play during his administration – not only in the Executive Suite, but throughout the city.

As new municipal buildings come online, we will have opportunities to beautify them and to educate employees and the public about the artworks and the artists who create them. Through the program’s activities, we raise awareness and make art more accessible.

“Hard Days Work Shack” by Beverly Buchanan at Studioplex

“Yes, We Can” by Robert Clements at Webster Park

“Signs of the Times, The Daily Agenda” by Kevin Cole at City Hall

In-person camps gearing up for summer

By Bob Pepalis

Most summer camps in metro Atlanta will be in person in 2022 with health safety measures in place, including face masks and limits on the number of campers.

As guidelines from the CDC and the Georgia Department of Public Health may change between registration and the start of camps, parents and campers should check with camp organizers for updated health safety requirements.

The Atlanta History Center’s summer history and writing camps will be in person at the Buckhead campus. Each session will be limited to 15 campers, who are encouraged to wear masks.

History camp themes vary from the ancient world to the history of space, and writing camps range from basic writing skills to learning how to create fictional and fantastical stories.

Campers are encouraged to bring their own writing devices, but it’s not required.

Alliance Theatre’s camps once again will end with a final live performance that families can attend at the Woodruff Art Center. Satellite camps are also available throughout the city to reach more families.

The age-specific camps range from

4-year-olds to high schoolers, with offerings from improv comedy to film to musical theatre, and themes inspired by artists ranging from Olivers Jeffers to Jimi Hendrix.

The Alliance Theatre is monitoring safety guidelines. All staff and artists will be fully vaccinated.

“All of our camps are designed to awaken the intrinsic creativity of the campers and instill in them not only a love of this art form but a life-long confidence in their abilities,” Alliance spokesperson Mashaun D. Simon said.

The Spruill Center for the Arts will partner with Stage Door Theatre for the first time.

“Since we share a home here, it just makes sense that we’re working together to give as many kids as possible the chance to learn skills in all the arts,” said Leontyne Robinson, summer camp director.

Camps cover topics including a wide variety of arts, fashion, photography, ballet, acting, musical theatre and science. They will be held in the Dunwoody Cultural Arts building.

Safety precautions include staff and campers wearing face masks. Campers will be asked about any symptoms before entering.

Continued on page 46

Camp Flix

Marist School in Brookhaven

Continued from page 45

Camp Flix returns for in-person sessions of its filmmaking Summer Camp 2022 in Atlanta at Emory University and Oglethorpe University. The one-week, real-world experience immerses kids, ages 11-17, to the techniques, language, and processes of filmmaking and acting.

The day camp and overnight camp for tweens and teens will be led by a group of industry professionals, many of whom have taught in film departments and worked for companies like WarnerMedia, Hulu, Adult Swim, Point Grey Pictures, and MTV. Campers get personal instruction, from idea pitch to final cut.

Brandon Hall in Sandy Springs offers a summer program that includes a Rockets and Robotics STEAM Camp and a Spanish Language Immersion Camp. For students wanting to improve their English, the ELL Global Village balances classroom study with daily cultural and educational experiences around the Atlanta area.

Brandon Hall’s summer Center for Global Youth Leadership and Social Entrepreneurial Studies is designed to “inspire middle and high school students to be crafters of ideas and not simply consumers that marketers target.”

Marist School in Brookhaven has added science, advanced basketball skills

and wrestling. Other offerings include sports camps (baseball, cheerleading, diving, football, lacrosse, soccer, tennis and volleyball); sports medicine camp; ceramics camp; music technology & production camp; fun camp; personal essay start-up; and SAT/ACT boot camp.

The school will implement mitigation measures to cut the incidence and spread of COVID-19 on campus.

Full-and half-day weekly camp sessions will be offered from June 6 to Aug. 5 for children ages 5 to 17.

The City of Brookhaven will again partner with the Ashford Dunwoody YMCA to host summer camps in city facilities. Students ages 3-16 can participate in the camp activities. Swim camps and sports camps – with gymnastics, cheerleading and sports-specific camps – are scheduled by age group. Traditional camps and specialty camps, such as hip hop dance, junior travel, and health and wellness, are on tap.

Media camps include video instruction, photography, music and culinary opportunities. Those attending babysitting camp will become American Red Cross certified babysitters, while C.I.T. (Counselors in Training) will work in departments at the YMCA to develop skills that can apply to careers working with children and in customer service.

By ELIANA PIPES

By LYDIA R. DIAMOND

Directed