03-04-2016 Sandy Springs Reporter

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MAR. 4 - MAR. 17, 2016 • VOL. 10 — NO. 5

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► Mayor: Traffic congestion is a challenge PAGE 13

► Glenridge Drive study suggests bike lanes PAGE 15

EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATOR | P20

Construction cranes: Who keeps them safe? BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

Several times each workday, the long blue arm of a construction crane at One City Walk swings a hundred feet above busy Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. It’s one of dozens of cranes dotting the skyline—and often working above busy streets and buildings—in this north metro Atlanta construction boom. It’s easy to imagine the destruction if one of those cranes collapsed because it happens sometimes. Two “tower,” or fixed in place, cranes like those sprouting around the Perimeter Center area fell in New York City in 2008, killing nine peo-

PUBLIC SAFETY Deadly crashes convince some local police agencies to review chase policies Page 2

ple. Mobile cranes on wheels or tracks tip over more frequently, including at a Buckhead construction site last fall and in a Manhattan accident in February that took a pedestrian’s life. Neither the state of Georgia nor any of its cities require crane operators to be licensed, and federal efforts to establish a national certification system are stalled until at least next year. But federal and private inspectors and trainers say that’s no cause to worry. Any crane operator on a major construction site almost certainly has training from the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators, an indus-

When spring comes, you can see all the dogwoods bloom. It’s like snow. We call it ‘spring snow.’ KAZUMI FUJISAWA THE JAPANESE EMBROIDERY CENTER IN SANDY SPRINGS PAGE 7

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try nonprofit whose work is the basis for the national standards underway. And the crane equipment undergoes several federally mandated inspections, ranging from daily to annual ones. In collaboration with an independent training company, Heede Southeast, the North Carolina company that operates that One City Walk tower crane, trains its own operators with written and practical tests for NCCCO certification and at least three weeks of “seat time” in a working crane with a certified operator. “We’re not just throwing any Tom, Dick or Harry into the crane as operaSee CONSTRUCTION on page 16

OUT & ABOUT Road Trips

5 nearby gardens where you can enjoy spring flowers Pages 10-11

At Lost Corner, city finds its newest park BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net Before her death in 2008, Peggy Miles had a final wish: preserving Lost Corner, her family’s historic, 24-acre Sandy Springs property, as a public park for future generations to enjoy. That wish comes true on March 17, when the city cuts the ribbon on its newest park, Lost Corner Preserve. A recent preview tour showed the fruits of six years of city and volunteer labor at Lost Corner, located at 7300 Brandon Mill Road. Nature trails wind through woods. Gardens—of both the community and landscape variety—are ready to bloom. A new stone parking area and paths lead to the picturesque, nearly century-old cottage where Miles lived and died, now renovated into a rentable community event space. “I think Peggy would have been absolutely delighted… I think this is exactly what she wanted, exactly what she See LOST on page 18

2/18/16 12:36 PM


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