04-27-18 Brookhaven

APRIL 27 - MAY 10, 2018 • VOL. 10 — NO. 9

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City in civil rights battle over nightclubs

BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net

The city of Brookhaven fired its latest salvo in its raging war on Buford Highway nightlife by threatening to suspend the alcohol licenses of eight businesses unless they pay $100,000, the new alcoSee CITY on page 14 City Attorney Chris Balch, far left, with Deputy City Clerk Sandra Bryant after the April 24 City Council meeting, speaks to business owners facing losing their alcohol licenses unless they pay a new $100,000 fee. Luis Munoz, center, Pedro Cordova and Ramon Burgos, owners of Don Pollo Mexican Bar & Grill, La Casa Restaurant Bar & Lounge and Acapulco Tropical, respectively, say they intend to appeal the city’s decision.

EXCEPTIONAL EDUCATOR Unscrambling math for diverse learners

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You knock yourself out for 20 years, staging multiple birthday parties at recurring intervals ... and all they will remember is that Barney didn’t come to their fourth birthday party.

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DYANA BAGBY

Ashton Woods may go to court over Boys & Girls Club project

BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net A controversial redevelopment plan for the Boys & Girls Club on North Druid Hills Road could be headed to court after the Zoning Board of Appeals denied variances developers say they need to build the project, which was already approved by the City Council.

The ZBA on April 18 voted to deny two variances requested by Ashton Woods seeking to reduce front yard setbacks along street frontages and between single-famiSee ASHTON on page 22

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Pine Hills residents fear townhomes would worsen flooding

BY EVELYN ANDREWS evelyn@reporternewspapers.net

A proposal to build six townhomes near Peachtree Creek and Buford Highway has drawn concerns from Pine Hills residents, who say it could increase flooding and doesn’t fit the character of the neighborhood. Atlanta City Councilmember Howard Shook said the area needs special protection due to flooding concerns and held up the proposal in the April 25 zoning committee.

“It’s an extraordinarily environmentally sensitive piece of property,” Shook said.

Some Pine Hills residents have called for the lot to be preserved and sold to the Peachtree Creek Greenway or donated to the neighborhood to be used as greenspace.

The owners wrote in the rezoning application that the site plan includes an easement for a 10-foot multiuse path for a potential connection to the Peachtree Creek Greenway, a park envisioned to run along the north fork of the Peachtree Creek and connect Brookhaven to Chamblee and Doraville as well as to Buckhead’s PATH 400 and eventually to the Atlanta BeltLine. Construction on the first mile of the path, within Brookhaven, is expected to start this year.

“In all honesty, the property deserves to be rezoned,” Cheryl Faerber said.

The 1.6-acre property is located at 2621

Shady Valley Drive near Buford Highway.

The developers are requesting the property be rezoned from single-family residential to multifamily to build the townhomes. There is a large townhome development across the street from the proposed development site, but most of the Pine Hills neighborhood, which is partly in the city of Brookhaven, is single-family houses. A liquor store and storage building are also nearby.

Nelson Faerber, the developer, said the proposed townhome development would provide a “nice transition” between the commercial and single-family uses.

“We believe we actually would improve and be consistent with the character of the neighborhood,” said Nelson Faerber at the April 12 Atlanta zoning review board meeting.

The property is currently undeveloped with many overgrown trees, which would have to be removed for the development.

Shook said that it would be a “substantial loss” of trees.

“These are the last remaining trees to the entrance to our neighborhood that provide riparian buffers, light, noise and air pollution protection and stormwater mitigation,” said Melanie Bass Pollard, a resident on the Brookhaven side of the neighborhood.

The site is near the southern entrance to the neighborhood, and the residents say the

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GOOGLE MAPS

The proposed townhome development would be at 2621 Shady Valley Drive near Buford Highway. The site is shown in red.

development would change the entire area.

“The proposal, as currently drawn, dramatically increases the risk of flooding in the area and stands to dramatically alter the gateway to Pine Hills,” Pollard said.

City planning staff and the developer, which is Chattahoochee Home Company, say in the application that the proposal fits the character of the neighborhood. The developer did not respond to an interview request.

“Given that the lot is at the corner of a local street emptying into a major artery, Buford Highway, the townhomes will allow for the continuing growth along the Buford Highway and Cheshire Bridge corridors,” the Department of City Planning wrote in its recommendation that the city boards approve the proposal.

The six townhomes would each have three bedrooms. They are estimated to sell in the range of $500,000 to $800,000 each, according to the application documents.

Shook said he would ask for the case to be deferred at the Atlanta City Council zoning committee April 25 so the proposal could continue to be tweaked. Both the applicant and the neighborhood say they are open to compromise, he said.

“We are a single-family neighborhood.

But we’ve supported development all along Lenox Road. We like the mix,” said Nancy Bliwise, the chair of NPU-B and a Pine Hills resident, at the April 12 zoning review board meeting.

Atlanta’s NPU-B voted to recommend the city deny the application due to the concerns about flooding and changing the character of the neighborhood, said Bliwise, who is also a member of the neighborhood association.

“Pine Hills Neighborhood Association has worked for many, many years on the development of that corridor. We don’t oppose development, but want to

preserve the character coming into our neighborhood welcoming into Shady Valley Drive,” Bliwise said.

The developers are asking for a 20-foot setback, which the neighborhood association opposes because other developments on Shady Valley Drive within the city of Atlanta have a 40-foot setback, said Jerry Cooper, chair of the PHNA zoning committee.

Residents are concerned the proposal would worsen flooding in the neighborhood by creating more impervious surface, removing trees and being close to the creek.

The developers are asking to encroach on the Peachtree Creek stream buffer.

The neighborhood already experiences frequent flooding that is sometimes several inches, residents said.

“Pine Hills has a major flooding problem,” Shook said.

The city is preparing to conduct a study of the flooding to find the problems and recommend fixes, Shook said.

Arthur Freeman, a Brookhaven resident, said he believes there are enough regulatory bodies to control and protect the creek, and is not concerned flooding will increase. He supports the development, he said at the meeting.

The site is currently undeveloped and attracts homeless encampments and littering, Nelson Faerber said.

Pollard is concerned the flooding will soon be worse as the large, nearby Isakson Living and Ashton Woods developments are built. The two developments have been noted for their clear-cutting of the land and Ashton Woods’ easement into the city-owned Peachtree Hills Park for a private drainpipe.

“This case, like the Peachtree Hills case, is important as it continues to set precedents throughout the metro area that it is ‘OK’ for developers to build out areas that are not feasible for sustainability,” Pollard said.

BK

APRIL 27 - MAY 10, 2018

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Community | 3

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Community Briefs C IT Y T O B EG IN OF F ERI N G ON L I N E DEVELO PM ENT SERVICES

The city of Brookhaven will begin offering online development services to contractors and residents through Open Counter Development Services, a new portal on the city’s website, beginning May 21.

The Community Development Department will hold information sessions on how to use Open Counter Development Services at City Hall, 4362 Peachtree Road, for developers, builders and trade contractors on Thursday, May 3 from 8:30 to 10: 30 a.m., and to residents on May 3 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The information sessions will cover how to use the portal for electronic applications and plan submittals, payments, scheduling inspections, and tracking the status of projects. Open Counter Development Services users will be required to register for a portal account.

“We’re always striving to make our processes more efficient for our residents, businesses and staff,” said Mayor John Ernst in a press release. “This is another step toward making Brookhaven more business-friendly.”

The transition day to install the new software is Friday, May 11. On that day there will be a hiatus in work on existing permits and cases and there will be no issuances of permits and certificates of occupancy. New applications, payments, and inspection requests will not be accepted. However, inspections scheduled in advance for May 11 will be performed, according to the release.

allege. One of the suspects was wanted for an outstanding entering auto warrant. Another suspect was charged with possession of drugs.

Property which could be identified as belonging to a victim was returned.

The suspects arrested are: Shyheim Xavier Weddle, 21, charged with entering auto, financial transaction card theft; Brandon Michael Tyson, 18, charged with entering auto and financial transaction card theft; and Trayvon Crews, 18, charged with entering auto and financial transaction card theft.

The Open Counter Development Portal will provide these services: ■ Submitting plans, and documents electronically.

■ Applying for building permits, land development permits, land use petitions, and administrative permits online instead of at City Hall.

■ Downloading plan review comments and approved plans from the portal.

CITY OF BROOKHAVEN

Mayor John Ernst and the City Council welcomed Girl Scout Troop No. 16502 to bang the gavel to begin the April 24 City Council week as part of Georgia Cities Week.

■ Making fee payments online.

■ Scheduling inspections from a mobile device 24/7.

■ Checking permit status and inspection results from the field at the user’s convenience.

■ Receiving email notifications about review comments, permit approvals, code enforcement case updates and inspection results.

■ Viewing open permits, zoning cases and code enforcement cases on the portal map.

TH R EE S US PEC TS C H A RGED WI TH CAR B R EAK-INS

Brookhaven Police made three arrests on entering auto charges, with the help of security video from nearby residents, according to a press release.

Police responded to a call on April 21 at about 3 p.m. regarding three young males with hoodies and backpacks looking into cars around the Hobknob at Town Brookhaven, but officers could not locate the suspects, according to a press release. While in the area, another call was received regarding young males looking into cars on Saybrook Drive. Police found suspects matching the descriptions a block away.

“It appears the suspects cut through backyards onto Leconte Drive from Saybrook Drive to elude police, but we were able to connect the suspects to the attempted break in through video surveillance obtained from the homeowner,” said Police Chief Gary Yandura in a press release.

“We recovered stolen property from a car break-in from a third location that had not been discovered by the homeowner yet,” he said.

Each suspect was in possession of a debit card that belonged to someone else, police

G IR L SCO U T ‘G AV EL G A NG ’ PA R TI C I PATES IN G EO R G IA C IT IES WEEK

Members of Brookhaven Girl Scout Troop No. 16502 gaveled in the April 24 City Council meeting and led the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance as part of earning their Inside Government Junior Badges and as part of Georgia Cities Week.

Georgia’s Cities Week, a statewide campaign by the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) to bring awareness about local government, was held April 22-28.

Other city activities include hosting a flute concert at Oglethorpe University’s Conant Performing Arts Center, conducting a lunch and learn on Brookhaven Connect and GIS Open Data and “pizza with police.”

CORRECTION

In the March 30 story “Protestors denounce ‘comfort women’ memorial during Brookhaven festival,” it was reported Yumiko Yamamoto had ties to Zaitokukai, named by Japanese police as an anti-Korean extremist group, according to the British newspaper The Guardian. Yamamoto said she has not been affiliated with the Zaitokukai organization since 2011. Also, Shizuko Culpepper of Duluth has no affiliation with Zaitokukai and is only a member of the Japanese Women for Justice and Peace. The Reporter apologizes for the error.

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Saturday, April 28th 3-7pm To purchase tickets, visit www.eventbrite.com and search Best Of Town Brookhaven.

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4 | Education

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Cross Keys High to move to former Briarcliff High site

BY EVELYN ANDREWS evelyn@reporternewspapers.net

The new Cross Keys High School is slated to be built at the former Briarcliff High, despite objections from the three board members closest to the area who said traffic will make access a challenge. The district appraised and considered purchasing several apartment complexes and houses for the new school site.

The school board voted April 16 to build the new Cross Keys High at the former Briarcliff High site, located at 2415 North Druid Hills Road in DeKalb County. The site is about two miles south of the current Cross Keys High, which is located at 1626 North Druid Hills Road and is set to become a middle school.

Several Buford Highway apartment complexes and the single-family houses along Brookhaven’s Bramblewood Drive were among the sites considered by the DeKalb County School District for the new Cross Keys High School, according to an appraisal document obtained through an open records request. The district said buying a new property would have been too expensive and would displace hundreds of students from their homes.

The vote was 4-3. Board members Marshall Orson, Stan Jester and James McMahan, who represent the area, voted no.

“Thousands live on the north and west side of I-85. We’d be pushing them through what has historically been ranked one of the 10 worst transportation corridors in metro Atlanta,” Orson said.

Brookhaven Mayor John Ernst said he was disappointed that the school will now be outside of the community it serves.

“All indications were that [the new school] would be along Buford Highway and then all of a sudden it wasn’t,” Ernst said.

The city has had a good relationship with the school system, but the school board “pulled the rug out” from under the city, Ernst said.

The Brookhaven City Council urged the school district in an April 24 resolution to build the school in the city.

“The city of Brookhaven has made improving the life of Buford Highway residents a top priority,” the resolution said.

“The mayor and city council believe there are strategies and tools to collaborate with the [Board of Education] to construct a new Brookhaven High School along the Buford Highway corridor.”

Rebekah Morris, a former Cross Keys High teacher who founded the Los Vecinos de Buford Highway, an organization seeking to empower apartment residents living along the corridor, supported the decision to move to Briarcliff.

In a recent blog, Morris wrote, “It can-

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DEKALB COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

A site plans shows a possible configuration of the former Briarcliff High site.

not be a best practice to tear down student homes in order to build schools.”

The apartment complexes appraised by the district were Esquire, Brookstone Crossing, Regency Woods, Epic Gardens, Northeast Plaza Apartments and Terraces at Brookhaven.

The former Briarcliff High site, which would be sold by the district if it had decided to buy a different property, was appraised at $21 million. The Adams Stadium and parking are not included in that appraisal.

Purchasing a new site would have been more expensive, costing $19 million to $38 million more than using the Briarcliff site, according to the DeKalb Schools document. Purchase costs for the candidate sites ranged from $36 million to $53.5 million.

The school district has allocated nearly $85 million in ESPLOST funding for the new 2,500-seat school. It is needed to alleviate overcrowding at the current Cross Keys High.

The sites were grouped into several different plans that included combinations of apartment complexes and the 32 single-family residences on Bramblewood Drive, a street that is adjacent to the current Cross Keys school and intersects with Buford Highway.

Variations of the “Marquis Crossing” plan included different combinations of Brookstone Crossing, Esquire, Regency Woods and the Bramblewood Drive houses. The Marquis Crossing name is an apparent reference to a former name of Brookstone Crossing.

The plan that grouped Esquire, Brookstone Crossing and Regency Woods apartments, which included about 400 units and would have displaced 523 students, was appraised for $45 million, including relocation costs.

The two plans that included Bramblewood Drive properties would have displaced 265 or 400 students. They were appraised for $45 or $53.5 million, including relocation costs.

The Bramblewood houses are already proposed for a townhome redevelopment and considered by the city of Brookhaven for a new police headquarters.

All three “Marquis Crossing” plans noted that, due to an unwilling seller, the district could have needed to take the property by eminent domain.

Another plan, called “Epic Gardens,” included Epic Gardens, Northeast Plaza Apartments and Terraces at Brookhaven, which includes 456 units and would have displaced 391 students. The properties were appraised at $50 million.

A variation of the plan that excluded Epic Gardens would have included 321 units and displaced 344 students. That plan was appraised at $36 million.

Orson, who represents Cross Keys High, said he is concerned the school district is only thinking of the budget and not what would be best for the students that attend the school. The location is too far for many students and is outside of Cross Keys’ current attendance zone, Orson said.

The community has concerns that there were not enough opportunities for public input, and those concerns are valid, Orson said in an interview.

The decision can still change, Orson said. The board could vote again to instead purchase a new property if that is what the community says that it wants, he said.

The school is in area with a historically high Hispanic and immigrant population, which often has more difficulties with transportation, sometimes due to not having the legal status necessary to acquire a driver’s license, he said at the meeting.

The board members expressed concern about the increased traffic that upcoming developments, including the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hospital at the I-85 and North Druid Hills Road interchange, could bring.

In addition to the traffic and access issues, Orson said he is concerned that the school district would be again underserving a historically underserved community.

“We know that we’ve had a historic inequity in this community,” Orson said.

“I’m concerned that as we work to address some of that inequity, that we’re not going to do a job that is complete and fair.”

– Dyana Bagby contributed

Education | 5

APRIL 27 - MAY 10, 2018 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net

North Springs Charter High School recommendations come in over budget

BY EVELYN ANDREWS

port, and Klein said, in an interview, they wish the district would have been more transparent throughout the process. She would like for the community and teachers at the school to also be able to see the report.

“For them to be the final judge and jury on it makes no sense. If we could see, at least we would be able to put our comments in,” she said.

Although CFANNS will push for improvements it feels are vital, getting a completely new school is still the main goal, said Sandy Springs City Council member Jody Reichel, who is also a member of CFANNS, in an interview.

“Any investment that isn’t a new school is a deal breaker,” Reichel said.

The district has said that an expansion and renovation is what was approved by voters in the E-SPLOST referendum and that is what the district is legally bound to do.

CFANNS argues that not building a new school is a waste of taxpayer money because all the improvements cannot be made with the current budget, leading to building a new school or making more renovations in the near future.

“We’re not asking them to build a Taj Mahal,” Klein said. “We have been a team player. We’re not asking for anything glorious.”

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FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

The entrance of North Springs Charter High School, located at 7447 Roswell Road.

After they got past the initial confusion, Klein said CFANNS supported the engagement process and thought it was useful.

“Once we understood the process, we were all on board,” Klein said.

CFANNS now doesn’t understand why the district would not keep all the consultants’ recommendations that they determined are needed through the engagement process, Klein said.

CFANNS has also not seen the re-

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meetings and interviews with students and school faculty.

The engagement process got off to a rocky start due to miscommunication about what the first meeting would discuss. Residents attending the meeting believed the meeting would discuss the possibility of building a new school, but instead it was meant to be a “visioning” meeting about what type of school the community wants to have.

OR

After recommendations for North Springs Charter High School renovations came in millions over budget, the district said it will cut them back to reduce costs.

The announcement prompted advocates to ask why the district is not heeding all the consultants’ recommendations.

Consultants with architecture firm CDH Partners recommended in a draft report that North Springs High receive $32 million in renovations, exceeding the district’s budget of $19 million, according to a statement made by Superintendent Jeff Rose at the April 12 school board meeting, as seen in a video of the meeting. The district will make changes to reduce the cost, Rose said at the meeting.

“This design is a work in progress. As always, to be fiscally responsible to all taxpayers in Fulton County, we are exploring ways to manage costs through additional design solutions. Once the concepts are final, and cost estimates are complete, our staff will be able to evaluate options and present a recommendation to the Board of Education in June,” Rose said in a later statement.

The district’s Capital Plan 2022, funded by the E-SPLOST, includes a major renovation and addition at North Springs.

The project addresses deficiencies at the school in areas like fine arts, labs, performing arts, music, physical education and parking, according to the statement.

The draft report was not presented at the meeting and has not been released. An open records request for the document was estimated to take two weeks to fulfill.

The original plan was to present preliminary designs in June, but at the request of the school board, the architects accelerated their work and completed a draft report and initial concept in April, according to a press release about the draft report.

Betty Klein, a member of Citizens for a New North Springs, said in a public statement at the meeting that she doesn’t understand why the district wouldn’t try to use all the recommendations, according to the video. CFANNS has been advocating for a new school because they don’t believe renovations will solve all of the schools’ problems.

“I cannot tell you how disappointed I am to hear that statement from you,” Klein said. “Why would you reduce what they tell you we need?”

Julia Abes, the co-president of Spartan Nation, the school’s PTO, said she is disappointed the recommendations will be cut back.

“Nineteen million dollars barely cuts the surface of what needs to be done,” Abes said.

Julia Bernath, the school board member for the area, directed questions to the board president and press office.

The community engagement process for the school improvements was completed in March after months of public

Meet three-time Olympic gold medalist Gail Devers at the event May 5 - Piedmont Park Learn more at atlantatrackclub.org

6 | Education

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Liz Walsh The Howard School

Exceptional

Educator

Liz Walsh is a creative teacher of math at The Howard School, which serves children with language-based learning differences and disabilities.

“Liz’s approach to teaching math concepts is amazing, compassionate and instills in our students an interest in numbers. She’s a real treasure,” said Nancy Davis, the school’s director of advancement.

Liz Walsh has been a teacher at The Howard School for 19 years, and an educator for over 25, formerly serving in the Peace Corps stationed in Tunisia.

The school is located in Atlanta’s Blandtown neighborhood, but over half of its students come from Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and Brookhaven.

erything I teach. They push me to understand even the simplest mathematics in new ways as I consider what manipulatives might represent a concept, what images might best recall it, and what words most clearly describe it.

I am enriched by the collaborative, team-based approach to teaching students with learning differences. I work with speech-language pathologists, literacy specialists and psychologists, as well as gifted teachers, and I benefit constantly from their expertise as we share observations and discuss priorities.

Q:

cause we had relatively intact language, memory, and attentional systems. What we didn’t understand, we memorized; we followed steps in order and plugged numbers into formulas. For students with learning disabilities, that might not be an option. As I teach math, I try to ensure the math is meaningful, the language is clear, and that students have tools for retrieving what they know.

What drew you to teach at a school geared toward children with languagebased learning differences and disabilities?

A: I have the privilege of working in a

school where I never stop learning. I work with bright students who face challenges in language processing, memory, or executive functioning and they require me to be thoughtful about ev-

Q: How does that change your approach to how you teach math?

A: Many of us got by in math classes be-

Students who have difficulty sequencing the steps of a procedure must develop internal “self-talk” that they use to guide themselves through complex problems. I help students create consistent scripts they can use to remind themselves of how to start and what to do next.

Q:

What keeps you going year after

year?

A: What other field is brand new ev-

ery day? Every child, every brain is different. I teach elementary mathematics, and each student I encounter pushes me to recognize that even a simple a problem like “12-4” demands a cascade of cognitive responses. For most of us, this processing happens automatically. For students with learning differences and disabilities, one or more of these understandings requires targeted instruction. Ascertaining the right approach for each child is both challenging and — when you find it — incredibly rewarding. Sharing that “ah-ha!” moment with a student brings me great joy.

Liz Walsh, a math teacher at The Howard School.

SPECIAL

Q:

What do you hope students learn from you?

A: I want my young, neuro-diverse math-

ematicians to know that being “good” at math is not the same as being “fast” at math. I want them to learn that the correct answer, while important, is rarely the most interesting part of a math problem.

More generally, I want all my students to know that their own thinking is interesting, and that there is great satisfaction to be found in learning about how others think as well. I hope I can help students develop awareness of the ways they learn best and skills to create environments — including, when appropriate, enlisting the support of friends or adults — in which they are most successful.

Q:

Do you have any special programs you use?

A:

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At The Howard School, we draw from many sources as we attempt to support diverse learners. Research in effective interventions for students with learning differences in mathematics lags far behind that for reading interventions, and we are constantly looking for better ways to reach students.

Q: What is your favorite memory at The Howard School?

A:

Every day there are new favorite memories. Today’s came after a 9-year-old struggled through a two-step word problem, and finally, looking at his paper covered with erased numbers and sketches, smiled and said, “I am so good at math.”

A program of Jewish Family & Career Services

Editor’s note: Through our “Exceptional Educator” articles, Reporter Newspapers showcases the work of some of the outstanding teachers and administrators at our local schools.

If you would like to recommend a teacher or administrator to be the subject of an Exceptional Educator article, please email editor@ReporterNewspapers.net.

Education | 7

APRIL 27 - MAY 10, 2018 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net

Education Briefs DEKALB SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS PROTEST FOR RAISES, BENEFITS

Hundreds of DeKalb County school bus drivers staged a three-day sick-out that began April 19 in an effort to get raises and better benefits. The district is working to make an agreement with the drivers.

The district was able to pull together enough bus drivers from other systems to fill some of the absences from bus drivers calling in sick, but students still experienced delays getting to and from school, the district said.

Seven bus drivers were fired for encouraging the protest, the district said in a release.

“We have been clear from the beginning. We will keep an open dialogue with employees provided they work collaboratively and keep our children safe by reporting to work. Unfortunately, some employees chose another route, and that carries serious consequences,” said Superintendent R. Stephen Green.

Sheila Bennett, one of the bus drivers leading the effort, said at the March 16 school board meeting, which is archived in video online, that the drivers deserve better raises and to be included in school district appreciation events that celebrate teachers and other staff.

“Why is it that drivers are eligible for food stamps when we carry the most precious cargo of all?” Bennett said at the meeting.

Green said that the district is working with the drivers to make an agreement, including by bringing in experts to review the drivers’ retirement plan. He also proposed bringing back awards for “bus driver of the year” and perfect attendance, he said.

He said the drivers’ pay is comparable or better than most other neighborhood school districts, except for Cobb County.

“The numbers don’t lie. The retirement plan may be another scenario, however,” he said.

LO C A L S C H O OLS PA RTI C IPATE I N L ATEST WALKO U T

The Galloway School, Atlanta Girls’ School, The Westminster Schools and North Atlanta High School were among the schools that participated in the latest walkout to call for gun control measures.

The National School Walkout was held at schools across the country at 10 a.m. on April 20, the 19th anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine High School.

It is the latest in a series of protests held in the wake of a school shooting in Parkland, Fla. that killed 17 people, including a nationwide school walkout and march. Several local schools participated in the previous walkout, which were student-led.

About 200 Westminster students participated in the walkout, said Justin Abraham, a spokesperson for the West Paces Ferry private school. A 17-minute moment of silence was held, followed by four student speakers, Abraham said.

About 300 students at North Atlanta High participated, said Seth Coleman, an Atlanta Public Schools spokesperson. The students held a 30-minute protest on the football field, Coleman said.

S TUD EN T S C H A RGED I N RI VERWO O D FIG HT

Two Riverwood International Charter School students were charged with simple battery after a fight on March 7.

Two students attacked one victim in an unauthorized area during lunch, said Principal Charles Gardner in a letter to parents. Steps have been taken to ensure students can no longer access that area, Gardner said.

announced April 19.

The church’s volunteer service arm, the Red Dot ministry, chose Lake Forest as their focus school for tutoring in reading and math, teacher assistance, event volunteering and mentoring. The Red Dot initiative aims to link the congregants to communities across metro Atlanta.

Volunteers are matched with a teacher and class for the entire school year.

“We have a great partnership with Lake Forest and our goal for our PPC Red Dots is to support the school — staff, students and community. Our Room Friend program does more than just your typical room parent duties; we build relationships with the students and teachers.” said Raechel Moorhead, an elder at the church, in the release.

NO R TH SPR ING S W INS PR O M SAFETY CO MP ETI TI O N

North Springs Charter High School students won a prom safety campaign competition sponsored by Fulton County.

The competition was open to all senior classes in Atlanta and Fulton County schools. For the school’s winning campaign encouraging students to not drive impaired or while texting, it was presented with a $1,500 check on April 20 from Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the American Auto Club, a press release said.

The competition was sponsored by the Fulton County Youth Commission.

In addition to the check, “The Voice” actor and singer Nick Hagelin performed at the school’s SPECIAL prom, which was held April 20.

One of North Springs Charter “It’s exciting to have won and we thank the FulHigh School’s prom safety posters. ton County Youth Commission and all the sponsors involved,” said Principal Scott Hanson in the release.

LOCAL STUDENTS HONORED IN CONGRESSIONAL ART COMPETITION Several local students’ art was celebrated by U.S. Rep. Karen Handel’s (R-Ga.) office in the Congressional Art Competition.

Each spring, high school students from around the country are asked to submit entries to their representative’s office, and panels of district artists select the winning entries.

Winning works are displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol, according to a press release.

Logan Maiolo, a senior at St. Pius X Catholic High School, a school outside Brookhaven, won third place. Shannon Kang and Sophia De Lurgio, also of St. Pius, won an honorable mention, as well as Albert Zhang, a senior at The West“Rags” by Logan Maiolo minster Schools, the release said.

The art was judged by Steve Penley, a local artist. The winners were recognized at an April 20 ceremony, the release said.

First, second, and third place winners are awarded scholarships of $12,000, $7,500 and $3,500, respectively, according to the release.

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Commentary / Staying on track with a new regional transit plan Historically, the Atlanta area has played one indisputable role in the Southeast U.S. region: Because of its location, it has always been the regional transportation crossroads. Atlanta started as an 1840s rail hub and for the next 150 years, it was the regional leader in transportation innovation.

In the 1920s, its airport emerged and it eventually grew into the world’s busiest. In the 1940s, it started planning an urban interstate well before President Dwight Eisenhower, after seeing the role Germany’s Autobahn played in moving its World War II troops from point to point, launched the national interstate highway system. In the 1950s and ’60s, leaders here started planning the region’s first heavy rail transit system.

Atlanta’s success vis-à-vis neighbors like Birmingham, Charlotte, Nashville and others came because it capitalized on its ability to connect people, places and goods.

Then, in the 1990s, we quit. We quit planning, building and innovating in surface transportation. So, for almost 30 years, the metro area continued its burgeoning population growth, but never built the infrastructure needed to support it.

Until the pain of congestion got so intense, the Georgia Legislature, whether controlled by either party, was unwilling to approve the financial resources this area needed.

Now, the pain has reached intolerability. So, the General Assembly has stepped up. First, it gave us House Bill 170, which generated more than $1 billion in new state transportation road funding and allowed local governments to seek voter support for resources to fix bottlenecks and other challenges at the neighborhood level.

Rapid transit has been hampered by the management and reputational deficiencies of MARTA; political leaders and voters had no faith it could management what it had, much less a larger system.

That problem was largely solved by the previous MARTA general manager, Keith Parker. New General Manager Jeff Parker pledges to continue the path set by his predecessor.

Secondly, MARTA’s rail network was designed when people lived in the suburbs and worked downtown. Now, people live many places and are more likely to commute to the suburbs than the urban core.

The system simply cannot move people efficiently to where they need to go.

This year, the Legislature gave us House Bill 930, which marks a path forward toward a true regional 13-county transit system. Under these state guidelines, the Fulton Commission and the county’s mayors have worked for three years to address the backlog of transportation needs. Together, we placed a 0.75 cent sales tax to fund community-level road improvements before voters, who approved it.

Through HB 930, we’re now working on the transit piece of the transportation puzzle. We have agreement that north Fulton will extend MARTA’s current rapid rail beyond the North Springs terminus with Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to offer highspeed transit using the managed Ga. 400 lanes planned by GDOT. At some point, voters will be asked for a fifth of a penny for the $300 million capital costs of building transit stations up

ing the flexibility to incorporate, over time, evolving transportation innovations such as autonomous vehicles, which make possible synchronized vehicular movement; ridesharing; smart Rusty Paul roads; satellite is the mayor traffic control of Sandy Springs. systems; maglev propulsion; and whatever other technologies emerge.

Timing, however, is crucial. We must put transit in the existing Ga. 400/I-285 corridors and use the managed lanes GDOT is planning because we have no

An illustration from a 2017 presentation about the Fulton County Transit Master Plan, a partial blueprint for the type of regional transit recently authorized by the General Assembly.

Ga. 400. MARTA will pay for the operational and maintenance costs out of current revenues.

Meanwhile, planners will answer questions such as how this North Fulton plan fits within the larger 13-county network.

Where will the BRT stations go? What about — a crucial question for Sandy Springs — east-west connectivity between Gwinnett/Doraville and Cobb, important sources of traffic here?

Fortunately, the 30-year drought in surface transportation planning and discussion has ended. We can’t recapture lost time. However, we can move now with the needed infrastructure, while retain-

other acceptable locations. GDOT is designing those projects right now, planning to place them under construction in the next five years; to integrate transit into those plans, we need fast decisions, or we may lose the opportunity — possibly forever.

This process is on a fast track, but not so fast that we won’t take the time necessary to make wise decisions about the best, most cost-efficient process for moving a growing metro population more effectively.

The future success of our region and our community depends on getting this process done and done right.

Have something to say?

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APRIL 27 - MAY 10, 2018

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On Mother’s Day, remembering what your kids will forget Robin’s Nest

To all you mothers of youngsters out there — you they will quash me with what I forgot. brave women in the trenches — a word from a veteran: I will remember singing them a lullaby every Robin Conte is a writer night; I will have forgotten that it was “Tears of You won’t remember a darn thing.

You might recall a few snippets from your child- and mother of four who a Clown.” rearing years, but what you remember and what your lives in Dunwoody. She And thus evolves in our house a distinct, “What I can be contacted at remember/What I forgot” pattern. children remember will be entirely different. Because memory is a fickle thing … so fickle, in fact, that Barba- robinjm@earthlink.net.

What I remember: We played inside games. ra Streisand sang a song essentially glorifying its fickWhat I forgot: Our favorite one was “Name that leness way back in the ’70s. A tattered old cat had a Smell.” long run on Broadway singing about it, too.

What I remember: I always fed them healthy Alas, the curious tenet of memory is that you food. will remember a thing one way, and others will reWhat I forgot: Except when I wanted a few member it another. This paradigm applies most aptminutes to myself — that’s when I’d hand them a ly to child-rearing. carton of ice cream and a spoon.

Years from now you will be scrolling through phoWhat I remember: I watched my language. tos, quietly reminiscing with yourself and rememberWhat I forgot: They caught me using an expletive ing what a great mom you were, pausing every now while driving them to preschool, and I told them that and then to form a congratulatory grin at how wonderI only cuss when I’m turning left. fully attentive, creative and energetic your younger self What I remember: We played “Hide and Seek.” was, that she was constantly doling out pearls of wisWhat I forgot: My regular hiding place was under a dom whilst kissing boo-boos and whipping up healthy dinners. blanket on the couch. When it was my turn to “seek,” I stayed there Your kids, however, will remember you at your worst. Like a … and took a very, very long time to find them. nosey hiker peering under wayside rocks to discover the nesting What I remember: Spending quality time with each of my maggots there, your kids will pry beneath the glossy memories children. and reveal the unflattering bits nestled beneath.

What I forgot: It was typically in the waiting room of the ER. For instance, you knock yourself out for 20 years, staging mulThe moral here is that you can’t win. You will flip through tiple birthday parties at recurring intervals, careful to evenly bal- the photo albums, happily recalling your fall family outing to ance the themes and expenses among your offspring and to choose the pumpkin patch when your little darlings were all dressed parties which are relevant to the interests of each child and yet up in gingham and overalls and played gleefully amongst pertinent to the time of year and the social milieu of the day, and chrysanthemums and orange gourds, and they will remember all they will remember is that Barney didn’t come to their fourth that you didn’t let them have a funnel cake. birthday party. You, naturally, will have forgotten that.

Cheer up, moms, and happy Mother’s Day. You’re doing a great Lately, when my kids catch me reveling in what I remember, job … no matter how your kids will remember it.

Check out Robin’s debut book, ‘The Best of the Nest’ Robin Conte’s “Robin’s Nest” column is one of the best features in the Reporter, readers often tell us. Now we’re pleased to offer you the best of the best — a book gathering Robin’s selected columns.

“The Best of the Nest” offers 49 of Robin’s witty essays on suburban family life, organized by seasons. They include some of the pieces that won Robin the first-place Lifestyle/Features Column award in the 2017 Georgia Press Association contest.

Robin, a Dunwoody resident, is a mother of four children who may or may not be aware of how frequently their adventures show up in her columns. If you’re looking for a great Mother’s Day gift, or just a good bedside or beach book with a warm and humorous take on family life, this is the collection for you.

To order the book and to follow updates on Robin’s bookrelated appearances, see her website at bestofthenest.net – John Ruch, Managing Editor

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Letter to the Editor

MARGIE KESSLER BARBARA CHRISTIE

These are desperate times for Americans, who are overwhelmingly miserable. Meanwhile, the happiest people in the world are found, according to worldwide polling, in Scandinavia. It is time for Americans to confront the fact that America is a profoundly savage place compared to the much more humane Scandinavia. Compared to America, Scandinavia is an absolute paradise with free, universal health care, paid family leave, free education and five weeks vacation.

It is time for a second American Revolution. The grim reality is that the top 10 percent of Americans own 90 percent of America’s wealth. That is an absolute scandal.

In America, so few own so much and so many Americans have very little. That is why Americans are miserable. One of the most obscene things about America is this repulsive deference that many Americans show the rich. The rich have turned America into an oligarchy of, by and for the rich. It is time for Americans to rise up and overthrow the tyranny of the rich. Wouldn’t it be great to see Donald Trump and his family forced to apply for food stamps? The money seized from the evil rich should be used to provide universal health care coverage for all Americans. Paid family leave should, also, be covered with the proceeds from the takings of the 1-percenters. Depending on how much money is raised from the takings, free, higher education for all should be offered.

As a result of the first American Revolution, America achieved political democracy.

The goal of the second American Revolution should be to achieve economic democracy. America can no longer continue to be such an unequal society. Actually, America is growing more unequal by the day with growing economic inequality. Remember, the Bible condemns the rich. The Bible says it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Throughout the Bible, the rich are condemned. Yet many Americans seem to worship the rich and show shameful deference to the rich in the expectation that they may become rich themselves.

The reality is that very few Americans will become rich. There is very little economic mobility in America, certainly less than in Europe. Thus, the goal of the second American Revolution should be to bring about a much more equal society for the vast majority of Americans and ensure that America no longer caters to the few. The only way to end the misery of Americans, in contrast to the happiness of the Scandinavians, is to make America more like Scandinavia.

It is especially the duty of America’s college students to overthrow the tyranny of the 1-percenters and bring about economic democracy. College students should organize, hold rallies and demonstrate. College students are the vanguard of American society. As such, they should be in the lead in addressing the widespread misery that is rampant in America.

Redistributing the ill-gotten gains from the 1 percent and making America more economically equal is the moral issue of our time. The American people are miserable in today’s inequality. It is time to make the American people happy by restructuring the America financial structure. No longer should so few own so much while the vast majority live in misery. The 1 percent pose the greatest threat to America. Their vicious tyranny must be ended. It is time to end the misery of the American people. Rise up, America!

Keith Watkins Brookhaven

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APRIL 27 - MAY 10, 2018

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VOTERS GUIDE 6TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Four Democrats are competing on the May 22 primary ballot for the right to challenge Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Karen Handel in the 6th Congressional District this fall. Candidates Bobby Kaple and Lucy McBath did not respond.

KEVIN ABEL KevinAbelforCongress.com Occupation: Founder, Abel Solutions Previous experience holding elected offices: None Other community service experience: ViceChair, New American Pathways; Chairman, Small Business Council, Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce; Board of Directors, Davis Academy; Board of Councilors, Carter Center; Leadership Atlanta Class of 2006.

Why should the voters choose you for this position?

I’m an immigrant to this country and I have been so fortunate to live the American dream, but I’m afraid that dream is unavailable to so many, and will be even less accessible for future generations. I’ve been deeply involved in the civic and community life of the district for 26 years, built and sold a business, and raised a family. I believe that I am the strongest candidate to take on Karen Handel in November and that with my pragmatic, business-minded approach I can win the independent voters we’ll need to win this election.

What is the biggest issue facing the district and how will you address it?

Access to affordable healthcare is the single biggest issue facing not just our district, but our country. President Trump has purposefully undermined healthcare markets and caused numerous providers to pull out of the marketplace right here in Georgia. The ACA was a great starting place, but as with any legislation, it has room for improvement. We need to reinstate the individual mandate, continue to promote Medicaid expansion, allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, and expand the use of Accountable Care Organizations, which incentivize providers to measure outcomes based on quality of results and not quantity of care delivered.

The opioid drug addiction epidemic has been a major issue in the district and nationwide. What strategy do you believe the federal government should pursue to reduce or end the opioid epidemic?

We need to treat the opioid epidemic, and drug addiction in general, like the public health crises that they are. The single biggest obstacle to addressing this issue is lack of access to affordable and comprehensive care, which prevents people who suffer from this disease from accessing the treatment they need. We also need to address the over-prescription of highly addictive painkillers and punish pharmaceutical companies and doctors who irresponsibly push and prescribe these drugs beyond their necessity in order to increase profits.

Do you believe Congress should authorize such military action as President Trump’s recent military strikes in Syria, and how would you have voted in this case?

America cannot be the world’s police force, but we cannot sit idly by as despots gas their own populations. I would vote to take precise and targeted action, in concert with our international partners, against the Syrian regime to send a message that the world community will not tolerate these horrific crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Assad regime.

BK

Community | 11

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to 6th Congressional primary race For full answers from the candidates, see ReporterNewspapers.net.

STEVEN KNIGHT GRIFFIN GriffinforCongress.com Occupation: Former Policy Coordinator/Mgmt & Program Analyst, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Previous experience holding elected offices: None Other community service experience: I am an executive board member at For the Kid in All of Us, a wonderful metro Atlanta charity that provides school supplies and toys for children and families in need. I have also held memberships with employer-based LGBTQ organizations such as GLOBE.

Why should the voters choose you for this position?

Firstly, I am the only person in my primary with government and public policy experience, which means I’ll be an effective legislator. Secondly, I know the community very well, having lived here for over 25 years.

Thirdly, voters seem to agree it is time for new blood and fresh perspectives — and I believe millennials like myself and the youth more generally are poised to provide it. Lastly, I provide a contrast — we’re all tired of celebrities and the wealthy running this country into the ground. The best cure to the current kakistocracy is everyday people running for elected office.

What is the biggest issue facing the district and how will you address it?

Two issues concern a majority of residents: healthcare and education. There are over 75,000 uninsured individuals in the district. Many politicians like to talk about access to healthcare; that doesn’t mean much in the absence of coverage. We need to expand coverage by restoring the public option and negotiating Medicare drug prices, applying the savings to reduce premiums, increase subsidies and close Georgia’s non-Medicaid-expansion coverage gap.

On education, we’re one of the most well-educated districts in the nation; consequently, we also have many students burdened with loan debt. We must make college more affordable via grants and interest rate reductions.

The opioid drug addiction epidemic has been a major issue in the district and nationwide. What strategy do you believe the federal government should pursue to reduce or end the opioid epidemic?

Nearly 400 individuals died of opioid overdoses in our district in 2016. Our first step should be to equip first-responders and the public generally to save lives, providing naloxone kits in exchange for training in proper administration and overdose identification. Secondly, we should focus on and fully fund harm reduction initiatives, addiction recovery services and pharmaceutically-assisted withdrawal treatment. Lastly, we should investigate underlying causes and address them, as well as research and deploy effective alternatives to opioids, such as medical cannabis. A recent UGA study confirmed that legal medical cannabis reduced prescription opioid use and abuse.

Do you believe Congress should authorize such military action as President Trump’s recent military strikes in Syria, and how would you have voted in this case?

It is the sole prerogative of Congress to authorize and fund any offensive military action, and our legislature has unconstitutionally delegated this authority by providing blanket authorization and funding for the use of military force by the executive branch. Each and every military strike has human consequences and real potential for blowback — and so decisions should be supported by evidence and considered thoughtfully. I believe it is right and proper for the international community to punish crimes against humanity, but we should never do so alone. We must also be wary of further inflaming regional and international tensions.

12 | Commentary

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Memories of historic Lynwood Park

BY PETER SCOTT JR.

down and replaced by mini-mansions or full-scale mansions.

The changes also have produced a multi-cultural group of residents who are interacting in a way that I did not know growing up. Traveling through my old neighborhood now, I wonder how former residents would feel seeing black

worked. Three of my other older brothers were in the Army and fought in the KoreIn the early 1950s, my family moved an War. to the Lynwood Park community from When we moved to Lynwood Park, my a rural area outside Athens, Ga. Relocatfamily included 13 siblings. Two additioning brought huge differences to our dayal children, twins, had died shortly after to-day lives. Although it still embarrassbirth. Big families like ours were not unes some in my family to admit it now, I usual. The Dix family, along with the Boyds, had my first use of running water, inside Sims, Rices, Wrights, toilets and bathrooms after we moved to Hollands, Calloways, what was then called North Atlanta. And Fields, Cantrells, Colno one had to go break up blocks of coal berts, Dillards, Hoods, for the fireplaces used to heat our home.

Holseys, Summerours, Our new home on House Road (now Wallaces, Truitts and Windsor Parkway) was in a neighborthe Ezzards, all came hood we called “The Sub,” a shortened, close to our doubleslang version of “the subdivision.” At the digit number of chiltime, Lynwood Park claimed more than dren.

1,000 residents and was known as DeKalb The community County’s oldest all-black community. had its share of role In his book, “Expression of Hope, The models.

Mel Pender Story,” fellow former LynHerschel Turner, a wood Park resident Mel Pender Jr., an veteran who lost the Olympic gold medalist and U.S. Army use of his legs, had his captain, described our old neighborhood car retrofitted so that as a combination of New York’s Harlem he could use a round in its heyday and television’s Mayberry. stick, about three feet When I was a boy, we built treehouslong, to operate his es in the woods and raced our bikes, with gas pedal and brakes.

PHIL MOSIER no chains or brakes, down dirt hills. Our Quinton Clark rides a horse in the 2017 He worked as a cab parents and neighbors worked both inLynwood Park Community Day parade. driver to support his side and outside the community at a family. wide variety of jobs: construction workand white people living next door to one One of my teachers, Mrs. T. P. Grissom, er, brick mason, carpenter, landscapanother. My early memories of race reonce came to our home and convinced er, auto mechanic, seamstress, policelations go back to a time when fearful my dad to buy me a dark blue gabardine man, educator, nurse, cook and domestic black women urged their sons to hurry suit to wear to a school event. Her closing worker. We even had our own unofficial home after news circulated that Emmett argument was: “If you go ahead and get historian in Edgar Jones.

Till had been lynched in Mississippi. that suit, he can wear it to everything — I’m 73 years old now. Over the years, my In those days, almost all boys who were church, funerals, weddings, a date when old community has changed dramatically.

12 or older worked, even if the job was just he gets old enough, and for things like It’s now part of the city of Brookhavtrying to sell copies of the Atlanta Daithat.” His response was something like, en and has about half as many people as ly World newspaper or Jet magazine or “I’ll see what I can do.” He bought the suit. it did in my youth, including many reshelping an older sibling with yardwork.

One of my former Sunday School idents who are not African-American.

One of my five older brothers, Clarence, teachers, Mrs. Mabel Lott, once had a Gentrification has meant many of the tugged me along to help him cut grass and wire fence that was filled with muscasmall modest homes that once dotted buff floors at homes where he or my dad dine grapes that were free to us, if she did our community have been sold to be torn not catch us getting hands full of them. A shortcut through her yard passed by the fence. We never cleaned the vine because we knew she needed some muscadines to make her jelly and preserves.

There were celebrities, too, Comedian George Wallace, race-car driver and singmiraDry in May! er Wallace “Fox” Jones, fur coat model Ask for a miraDry Maudine “Peaches” Horton, Pender and consultation guitarist Albert White Sr. all lived in Lyntoday wood Park at one time or another.

Our neighborhood had some of the best cooks ever. On Saturday nights, when some were cooking in preparation for Sunday dinner, the neighborhood aroma of food was outstandingly good.

I still marvel today at how my mother, PERMANENTLY REDUCE UNDERARM as if by magic, could wake before dawn, SWEAT, ODOR AND HAIR get dressed and be ready to go to work, while preparing a breakfast table with huge platters of big biscuits, bacon, eggs and grits or oatmeal, every morning.

School was an important part of our community.

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through overgrown fields, but some, who lived in Chamblee or Doraville or off Johnson Ferry Road, rode the bus.

At our combination elementary and high school, with an estimated 800 pupils, teachers knew most of us and our parents. Some even visited our homes on both good and bad occasions. No child in my family, or any other, ever wanted to get in trouble at school. We experienced “butt alerts”: a spanking at school guaranteed two whippings at home by your parents.

In 1961, the school building from which I graduated was transformed into the Lynwood Community and Recreation Center. Kudzu ran wild in woods behind the school but was never cleared when I was a child. Now the area is the site of a well-used ballfield and swimming pool.

Churches, too, were a cornerstone of the Lynwood Park community. For years, residents supported activities at each other’s churches, and still do this today.

There are three remaining churches in the community: China Grove First Missionary Baptist Church, Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, and the Lynwood Park United Church of God in Christ.

Our way out of the community was walking to the end of the bus line near a funeral home on Peachtree Road to catch the 23 Oglethorpe bus or to go up Osborne Road to the liquor store at the corner of Osborne and Peachtree Road.

The fare was 15 cents for the ride downtown, where we’d catch a movie and buy doughnuts, also for 15 cents.

Lynwood Park was, and remains, a community where residents know each other and work to maintain a sense of concern and caring. When there is a community event, wedding or funeral, Lynwood people come home.

Over four decades, Lynwood Park Community Day has been one event that pulls people back. Thanks to the hard work of people such as John Chapman, Pat Martin, Pat Carter, Cathy Wells, Cassandra Bryant, Janice Duncan, Leonard Walker, Napoleon Wallace, Gary McDaniel, Adria Williams, Sabrina Boyd, Dianne Williams, Veronica Jean Redding, brothers Edgar and Oscar Perry Jones, John Wright and Brenda Boyd, the event continues.

And, thanks to many others, so does the community known as Lynwood Park.

Lynwood Park Community Day Saturday, May 5, noon to 6 p.m.

Parade, cookout, family activities. Free admission. Lynwood Park Community Center, 3360 Osborne Road. Info: brookhavenga.gov.

Peter Scott Jr. is a retired journalist whose work has appeared in Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal. As a reporter with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Scott was honored for his coverage of education and the plight of black farmers.

BK

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Community | 13

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Georgian Hills gets improvements; more parks advocacy coming

BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net

BK

Nine laps around the new Georgian Hills Park walking trail gets you one mile, should you be counting.

That’s what Parks and Recreation Director Brian Borden noted during a recent stroll through the park at 2800 Georgian Hills Drive, where $1.2 million in improvements wrapped up this month after eight months of work. The improvements include a new picnic shelter with ceiling fans and lights, a natural playground area and even two hammocks for those wanting to snooze in the sun.

“We’ve now created a big, open space where families can come out with their kids and play ball, play frisbee, or just relax while their kids play on the playground,” Borden said.

Granite steps lead to Clairmont Road where a new, wide sidewalk was installed as part of the city’s bike-pedestrian plan as well, Borden said.

“This is truly a neighborhood park and those who live in the area walk here,” he said. There are a few parking spaces available as well as some street parking for those wanting to visit from elsewhere.

The finished Georgian Hills Park is one of 12 site-specific parks master plan projects the city is undertaking.

Others in the works include a new open space field at Murphey Candler Park and a brand-new Skyland Park. If good weather holds out, Borden said both of those projects should be complete by next month.

“This is a park director’s job dream, to come into a job and do a lot of projects,” he said. “It’s nice to see a community have such a passion for their parks and we want to continue to provide great facilities for people to enjoy.”

The city recently contracted with Park Pride, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that provides programs and leadership to help communities activate neighborhood parks, for $19,540.

Park Pride will work with local park conservancies to provide resources such as finding volunteers for a cleanup day as well as fundraising efforts, according to Michael Halicki, who spoke to the City Council at its April 24 work session.

“Our whole focus is to engage communities to activate parks,” Halicki said.

Park Pride works with parks in Atlanta and DeKalb County and had a relationship with Brookhaven before the city incorporated in 2012. The city is now reestablishing the partnership.

Park Pride is already meeting and working with the city’s Parks & Recreation Coalition (PARC), an organization of members of various city park conservan-

cies, to determine ways to move forward.

“Having Park Pride return to our community is like a reunion of familiar friends,” said Sue Binkert, chair of PARC, in a prepared statement. “PARC’s members and the city will benefit from having Park Pride’s expertise to leverage community efforts, thereby advancing the quality and function of Brookhaven’s parks.”

Steve Peters, who heads up the Murphey Candler Park Conservancy, said while he was not involved with Park Pride when it was previously working with Brookhaven, he was excited about the resources the organization is expected to provide.

The resources include financial “tool boxes” where Park Pride can assist conservancy groups to have materials, such as wheelbarrows, donated or sold at lower costs from a major retailer, he said.

Before Brookhaven incorporated, Park Pride provided support and resources to Friends of the Parks groups and organizing volunteer clean-ups.

“Members of Brookhaven’s Friends of the Parks groups are extremely dedicated to their parks,” said Ayanna Williams, Park Pride’s director of Community Building. “There was, and still

City Parks and Recreation Director Brian Borden welcomes residents to the new walking trail circling Georgian Hills Park.

exists today, a deep understanding of and appreciation for the benefits that well cared for parks and green spaces bring to communities.”

City Manager Christian Sigman said at the work session that contracting with Park Pride is intended to infuse energy into residents to want to take

DYANA BAGBY

care of their parks.

“In a nutshell we have some great parks, but we have a huge range in dichotomy in engagement in parks,” he said, noting the Peachtree Creek Greenway, expected to open in two years, will also need a dedicated group of volunteers.

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City in civil rights battle over nightclubs

PHOTOS BY DYANA BAGBY

The Don Pollo Mexican Bar & Grill, above, is located adjacent to the Pink Pony strip club, its signature sign to the left, on Corporate Boulevard. Don Pollo, as well as the businesses at right, Josephine, Pegasus Restaurant & Lounge and Acapulco Tropical, are among the Buford Highway corridor businesses targeted by the city to pay $100,000 in alcohol license fees as part of Brookhaven’s revamped alcohol ordinance.

Continued from page 1 hol license fee required for what are now classified as “entertainment venues.”

The suspensions were announced days after a federal lawsuit was filed against the city accusing it of discriminating against black-owned restaurants located at Northeast Plaza on Buford Highway, now also classified as “entertainment venues” because they include either a DJ booth, dance floor or stage.

An uptick in crime during late night and very early morning hours on and near

Buford Highway can be blamed on these “entertainment venues,” according to the city, and is the reason it is cracking down on venues catering to a nightlife crowd and now requiring a $100,000 alcohol license fee, citing increasing costs to provide police coverage to the area.

The federal lawsuit claims the city was unfairly targeting certain businesses. It notes that several businesses now included in the city’s recent sweep of alcohol license suspensions had no problems getting their alcohol licenses renewed at the beginning of the year. Those clubs were after apparently passed over by the city as part of its

unequal treatment, the suit states.

Three of the eight business owners facing losing their alcohol licenses showed up at the April 25 City Council meeting to ask about the alcohol ordinance and say if the city follows through, they will be put out of business.

“I’m a retired, disabled vet. This is not what this country is about,” Ramon Burgos, owner of Acapulco Tropical, told the council during public comment. “You guys are shutting me down out of nowhere.”

After the meeting, City Attorney Chris Balch approached the three men — Burgos, Luis Munoz, owner of Don Pollo Mex-

ican Bar & Grill, and Pedro Cordova, owner of La Casa Restaurant Bar & Lounge. He told them that all they had to do to not pay the $100,000 fee was to get rid of either their DJ booth, dance floor or stage.

“All it takes to comply … to leave your license where it is, is to remove any of the three physical attributes to your businesses,” Balch told them. “And if you do those things and you commit to us you are going to, then we can have a conversation about your suspension. But all of that has to be done before the deadline, he said.

“To keep any of those three, that’s the $100,000,” Balch said.

The city is holding an Alcohol Board hearing on May 14 to hear any appeals from the eight businesses, the deadline Balch was speaking of.

“But I’ve had my business for 17 years.

Why are you trying to tell me to change my business now?” asked Munoz.

Balch said when alcohol license renewals went out to businesses last October, there was information included of the city’s changes to its alcohol ordinance, including the creation of the “entertainment venue” category.

He also explained “entertainment venues” are not allowed to sell alcohol on Sundays.

“That’s a double burden on entertainment venues,” Balch said.

Cordova, who said he’s owned his business for 20 years, asked Balch where he could get in writing that if he agreed to get rid of a DJ booth and dance floor that he would not have to pay the $100,000 fee.

“If you say you are not going to [have those], we can put that in your license file and that will be part of your file and part of the agreement,” Balch said.

After Balch left and asked if the businesses would remove those items, Cordova shrugged and said he could not afford

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$100,000.

“We are going to fight,” Munoz said, interrupting him.

The three have spoken to an attorney and plan to be at the May 14 hearing, Munoz added.

The other five businesses targeted in the latest round of alcohol suspensions are El Ocho Billiards, Nina’s Bar & Grill, Pegasus Restaurant & Lounge, Confetis Restaurant & Bar and Arif Lounge.

On a recent Saturday night at about 11 p.m., loud Latin music blared from the Don Pollo Mexican Bar & Grill on Corporate Boulevard off Buford Highway as the icon-

ic Pink Pony neon sign lighted up Don Pollo’s nearly empty parking lot.

Munoz said the rollback of hours to 2 a.m. from 3 a.m., also part of the alcohol ordinance rewrite, was hurting businesses, noting the nearly empty venue. The city’s intent to make some businesses pay $100,000 for an alcohol license was “trying to kill their businesses,” Munoz said.

Police Chief Gary Yandura said the additional revenue is needed to provide police coverage on Buford Highway.

“The crimes associated with these latenight entertainment venues drain police resources, and the burden of the costs are on the shoulders of Brookhaven residents,” Yandura said in a statement.

Federal lawsuit

Community | 15

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The federal lawsuit against Brookhaven was filed by Josephine Lounge, Medusa Restaurant & Lounge and XS Restaurant & Lounge on April 13 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

“To stem what it perceives as an influx of ‘hip hop’ restaurants, the city of Brookhaven has adopted and enforced a set of confusing, content-based ordinances that it believes will cripple the city’s restauBK

rants which cater to African Americans,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit also includes instances of alleged harassment by the city and police through frequent licensing checks and zoning requirements.

The city denies any racial profiling.

“Brookhaven police do not engage in racial profiling of any sort. To the contrary, the department is renowned for its outreach in minority communities,” Communications Director Burke Brennan said.

Attorney Cary Wiggins, representing the three venues, said he will see the city in court.

“The federal lawsuit is based on months, even years, of data review; it was not filed without careful thought,” Wiggins said in an email. “The facts will be fleshed out in court.”

The businesses state they are restaurants and are only required to pay an approximate $5,000 alcohol license fee as they have in years past and that charging $100,000 for an alcohol license is illegal.

The lawsuit also brings up the city’s 2014 settlement with the Pink Pony, a strip club where alcohol is served. The Pink Pony, which “caters to a predominantly white customer base,” states the lawsuit, agreed to pay the city $225,000 a year for six years at which time the business is expected to close or move out of Brookhaven.

The entire agreement between the city and the Pink Pony was: $225,000 a year for six years to cover public safety costs, reimburse the city for its legal fees, donate land near the club along Peachtree Creek for the Peachtree Creek Greenway linear park and contribute up to $75,000 for that park.

City officials have said the 2014 agreement excludes the Pink Pony from adhering to the new alcohol ordinance until 2020 and the strip club is open and pouring until 4 a.m. seven days a week.

The Pink Pony has a DJ, the lawsuit states, but did not obtain an “entertainment venue” alcohol license and “the city’s decision to allow the Pink Pony to continue operating in its format, while denying the restaurants the same treatment, is irrational and indeed purposefully discriminatory.”

The lawsuit also alleges free speech violations for, among other things, prohibiting the businesses to employ DJs who are protected by the First Amendment, the suit states.

Restaurants, under the new alcohol code, are only allowed to feature live music, for example. However, many restaurants in Brookhaven catering to African American customers frequently employ a “turntablist” (or DJ) or sound engineer to select and play prerecorded music, frequently hip hop, the lawsuit states.

“The city has targeted the restaurants (and other African American and Latino restaurants) for heightened law enforcement efforts based on the speech and protected expression offered by the restaurants in a way that would chill [an ordinary person],” the suit argues.

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16 | Art & Entertainment

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“MY FAIR LADY” BROOKHAVEN

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BUCKHEAD

PERFORMANCES

•

DUNWOODY

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SANDY SPRINGS

Thursday, May 3 through Saturday, May 5, 7 p.m; Sunday, May 6, 3 p.m.

Dunwoody United Methodist Church Performing Arts delivers a staged concert version of the award-winning musical “My Fair Lady,” which tells the tale of a cockney flower girl transformed into an elegant lady. $15 online or at the door.

1548 Mount Vernon Road, Dunwoody. Info: dunwoodyumc.org/parts.

“WHAT WAR ZONE”

“BIG FISH”

Thursday, May 3, 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Through May 6

Orbit Arts Academy and Orbit Theatrical students present the musical “Big Fish,” the tale of a man who leads an extraordinary life — according to the stories he tells his son. $25.

Providence Place, 590 Mount Vernon Highway N.E., Sandy Springs. Schedule info: orbitartsacademy.com.

Comedian Benji Lovitt presents a hilarious picture of Israel at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta by deconstructing cultural differences and the immigrant experience in his home country. $18 members; $24 nonmembers. 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. Info: atlantajcc.org.

FRANKLIN POND CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT Sunday, May 6, 3 p.m.

The finale concert of this program for talented string students features 22 middle-school and high-school musicians coached by a faculty from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Atlanta Opera. Free. Kellett Chapel of Peachtree Presbyterian Church, 3434 Roswell Road, Buckhead. Info: franklinpond.org.

SUMMER CONCERT SERIES - SUNSET RIDE Saturday, May 12, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The Dunwoody Nature Center launches its summer concert series with the band Sunset Ride and its mix of retro and current hits. Seating available on a first-come, first-served basis in the meadow or on the back porch. Outside food and drink welcome. $5 adults; $3 students; free for members and for children 3 and under. Craft beers, sodas and water available. 5343 Roberts Drive, Dunwoody. Info: dunwoodynature.org.

APRIL 27 - MAY 10, 2018

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Art & Entertainment | 17

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SUNDAYS ON THE RIVER

TOUR OF HOMES AND MARKETPLACE

Sunday, May 13, 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The 1920s style Dixieland jazz band Blair Crimmins and the Hookers performs at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Take a blanket or chairs and have a picnic. Cash bar available. Sundays on the River concerts take place on second Sundays monthly from May to September. $12-$16.

9135 Willeo Road, Roswell. Info: chattnaturecenter.org.

Continued on page 18

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day, you will look back and realize they were the big things.”

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Tour five unique homes within the Big Canoe Community including the 2018 Designer Showcase Home May 18 & 19, 2018 9am – 5 pm, Friday, 9 am – 4 pm, Saturday Tickets and information: www.bigcanoelegacy.org Hosted by the Big Canoe Chapel Women’s Guild to benefit local charities.

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Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News Continued from page 17

CONCERTS BY THE SPRINGS

Sunday, May 13, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Gates open at 5 p.m.

Heritage Sandy Springs launches its 22nd series of free summer concerts on Mother’s Day with the band Banks & Shane. The concerts are held one Sunday evening each month in May through September on the Sandy Springs Society Entertainment Lawn at Heritage Green. Arrive early to picnic. Blankets, lawn chairs and coolers welcome. No outside tables permitted. Additional food, beer, wine and sodas available for purchase.

No pets, except for special assist animals. 6110 Blue Stone Road, Sandy Springs. Info: heritagesandysprings.org.

GET ACTIVE FAMILY CANOE DAYS

Saturdays, May 5 and May 19, 10:30 a.m. to noon.

Get an introduction to canoeing with tips on paddling techniques and equipment and a canoe trip at the Chattahoochee Nature Center’s Beaver Pond. All equipment provided. Races and games included. Ages 5+. $15 general public; $10 nature center members.

Register by the Thursday before each class. (Limited spaces.) 9135 Willeo Road, Roswell.

Info: chattnaturecenter.org.

With so many things to do, we suggest getting an early start on your want-to-do list.

There’s a lot to do at The Piedmont Retirement Community — clubs, events, socializing, and more.

So, go ahead and make your want-to-do list.

But please don’t include a bunch of chores.

We’ll take care of most of those for you.

We invite you to see all that The Piedmont has to offer (including assisted living services if needed) at a complimentary lunch and tour.

Please call 404.381.1743 to schedule.

LYNWOOD PARK DAY

Saturday, May 5, noon to 6 p.m.

The Lynwood Park community hosts its 40th annual community heritage celebration in partnership with the city of Brookhaven with a parade featuring the Miller Grove High School marching band and with live music, horses, a Corvette Club and a variety of activities and vendors at the Lynwood Park Community Center. Free food, free drinks, free admission. The parade starts at noon at the Lynwood United Church of God in Christ, 1424 Windsor Parkway, and ends at the community center, 3360 Osborne Road, Brookhaven. Info: brookhavenga.gov.

I n de p e n de n t & A s s i s t e d L i v i ng

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DUNWOODY ART FESTIVAL

Saturday, May 12, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, May 13, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This Mother’s Day tradition in Dunwoody is back for its eighth show, rain or shine, in Dunwoody Village. Artist market, live music, food court and “Kidz Zone” with activities and rides. Dunwoody Village Parkway, Dunwoody. Info: splashfestivals.com.

APRIL 27 - MAY 10, 2018

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Art & Entertainment | 19

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Saturday, May 12 and Sunday, May 13, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Celebrate Mother’s Day with this annual self-guided tour featuring private home gardens, from tranquil woodland settings to intimate urban oases, throughout metro Atlanta, including Buckhead and Sandy Springs. Rain or shine. Benefits the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Tickets and info: atlantabg.org.

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LEARN SOMETHING “BARBECUE NATION”

Saturday, May 5 through Saturday, June 16.

In celebration of National Barbecue Month, the Atlanta History Center opens an exhibition that reveals the complexities of one of America’s favorite foods with artifacts, images, and oral histories from across the country. Related special programs include an opening celebration on May 5 and a screening of the Southern Foodways Alliance film “Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ” with a barbecue panel discussion on May 23. 130 West Paces Ferry Road N.W., Buckhead. Schedule and ticket info: atlantahistorycenter.com.

FREE FIRST SATURDAY: FARM TO TABLE

Saturday, May 5, 11 a.m. to noon.

Get gardening tips ranging from growing herbs to squash and explore the benefits of composting kitchen scraps in a free session at the Dunwoody Nature Center.

Make miniature pots from newspaper and take some seeds home to get your garden started. 5343 Roberts Drive, Dunwoody. Info: dunwoodynature.org.

“BLOOD MOON: AN AMERICAN EPIC OF WAR AND SPLENDOR” Monday, May 7, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Author John Sedgwick discusses his book, “Blood Moon,” the story of the century-long blood feud between two rival Cherokee chiefs from the early years of the U.S. through the infamous Trail of Tears and into the Civil War. $10 public; $5 members. 30 West Paces Ferry Road N.W., Buckhead.

Info: atlantahistorycenter.com.

VOLUNTEER HOST A FRENCH STUDENT Friday, July 6 to Thursday, July 26

Paris-based LEC (Loisirs Culturels A l’Etranger), a French organization offering international cultural experiences, seeks host families in the Atlanta area for 20 French teens who speak English. Hosts are compensated for providing room and board, hospitality and friendship. Retired French teacher Linda Farmer and a French chaperone will oversee the program. Info: Linda Farmer at lgfarmer@aol.com or 770-973-2452. Also see lec-usa.com.

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20 | Community

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After Atlanta cyber attack, other cities prepare defenses Dunwoody

BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

In the wake of a March 22 cyber attack that caused chaos on city of Atlanta computer systems, other local cities say they are prepared for similar threats, which occur almost constantly. Dunwoody says it has seen a “marked increase” in one type of suspicious computer activity since the Atlanta incident.

In the Atlanta attack, unknown criminals penetrated city computer systems, encrypted various files, and demanded a ransom in exchange for the key to unlock them, in what is known as “ransomware.” It remains unclear whether the criminals directly hacked into the system or used “phishing” — a deceptive email containing a link that, when clicked, installed the ransomware on the computer.

The ransomware shut down systems for paying water bills and handling city court cases, and rendered useless the computer files of some City Council members, among other impacts. Most of the systems are back in operation, but some files may never be recovered, and water bills still can’t be paid online.

The city has declined to say whether it paid the ransom.

Dunwoody previously experienced its own, less damaging hack on Thanksgiving Day in 2016, when hackers believed to be from the county of Turkey altered the city’s website to display a photo of the Turkish president and flag.

The website is hosted on a third-party server and was restored after about two days. City spokesperson Bob Mullen said that is one attack of dozens per day that are unsuccessful.

Mullen said the city’s IT team “estimates hacker attempts on the website occur about 10 times per day and hacker attempts on the city’s firewall or systems occur about 40-50 times per day.

The majority of these attempts are passive attempts usually from [automated software] ‘bots’ versus individual human hackers attempting to break into the systems.”

“There has been a marked increase in spam received and stopped by the city’s filter safeguards since the Atlanta attack,” Mullen added. In response, the IT team has boosted its digital security, including “added protections for emails and spam, as well as reinforced antivirus and firewall protections.”

Brookhaven

The city of Brookhaven said it also sees hacking attempts regularly, but has not noted any increase since the Atlanta attack.

“The cyber attacks and ransomware attempts are fairly commonplace, and the city of Brookhaven sees them regularly, especially the phishing variety such as the email that entices the recipient to click on a link, which releases the virus [or] ransomware, etc.,” said city spokesperson Burke Brennan.

“Because we have multiple preventative measures in place, it is almost impossible to ascertain the exact number of unsuccessful attempts made,” Brennan added. “Anecdotally, it does not appear that there has been any increase or decrease since March on the obvious email attempts.”

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has “enlisted the resources of several IT security and services companies to perform security assessments and/or monitoring, and ensure that we maintain current anti-virus software on all of our desktop, mobile and server computers. These security firms would also assist in the restoration of programs and data, if a breach was successful.”

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Sandy Springs has not seen an increase in hacking attempts since the Atlanta attack, said spokesperson Sharon Kraun. Citing security concerns, she declined to describe the defensive measures used by the city. But she said the city is well aware of such threats.

“Maintaining a secure infrastructure is a top priority, and the city uses a variety of security measures, both cloudbased and local, to ensure the safety of our data,” Kraun said. “There is an ongoing threat of being hacked, not only for Sandy Springs, but for any business or municipality which utilizes online services. Knowing this, we mitigate the risks by implementing multiple layers of protection.”

The Atlanta attack had an effect on some Sandy Springs citizens, as the city’s water service is provided by Atlanta.

APRIL 27 - MAY 10, 2018

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Personal & Professional Services Directory

Reporter Classifieds HELP WANTED

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

Computer / IT - Principal Architects, (Atlanta, GA) Employer HQ Atlanta, periodic relocation and travel required. Apply online: www.itorizon.com.

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LAWN CARE Bill Bartlet – Landscaping, design, maintenance, retaining walls, sod & pressure washing for all of your lawn care needs. Call 404-787-2690.

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REAL ESTATE Leasing Sandy Springs Independent Senior Living condos – Newly renovated. Mount Vernon Village…$2295 to $2695 per month.

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Driveways & Walkways – Replaced or repaired. Masonry, grading, foundations repaired, waterproofing and retaining walls.

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22 | Community

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Ashton Woods may go to court over Boys & Girls Club project

CITY OF BROOKHAVEN

A rendering of the townhome and single-family development on the former Boys & Girls Club property as seen from Sylvan Circle.

Continued from page 1 ly detached lots despite recommendations to approve by the city’s Community Development Department. Two other variances were withdrawn and one variance, to delete the transitional buffer zone, was approved.

The ZBA vote follows the City Council’s vote in December to rezone the 6 acres of the former Boys & Girls Club site from R-75 (single-family residential) to RM-100 (multifamily residential) to make way for the redevelopment.

“We’re looking at options, but more than

likely we will appeal to DeKalb Superior Court,” said Carl Westmoreland, the attorney representing Ashton Woods. “The plan the City Council approved can’t be built.”

The project at 1330 North Druid Hills Road includes 54 townhomes, eight detached single-family lots and 10 “manor home” units.

Westmoreland said in an interview that the original site plan Ashton Woods submitted to the city had no variances. But after months of meetings and redrawing plans trying to gain support by residents, the final plan that was approved by the council to meet their requests needed sev-

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eral variances.

“We had a plan with no variances, but the neighbors did not like it,” Westmoreland said. “We pushed and pulled to try to get what everyone wanted.

“The irony of the whole thing is that we are being punished for being cooperative,” he said.

The original site plan submitted to the city in July included 74 townhomes before being modified after community meetings to 64 townhomes. Within the 64 units were a five-unit “manor house,” or condo building. The condo units would range in size from 900 to 1,400 square feet and cost ap-

proximately $300,000, to accommodate Mayor John Ernst’s request for more affordable housing.

The main entrance for the development was also moved off Sylvan Road to Briarwood Road with the fire access road located on Sylvan Road.

In October, however, the Planning Commission recommended denying approval of the project because of the density and concerns it did not fit in with the character area of the Brookhaven Heights and Brookhaven Fields neighborhoods.

After receiving a deferral from the council, the developer went back to the drawing board and came up with the final plan in December that did get approval — a development including 54 townhomes, eight detached single-family lots and 10 “manor home” units.

Westmoreland said a “quirk” of Brookhaven’s zoning process is that a developer must first get a rezoning request approved by the City Council, but the City Council cannot approve variances.

The site plan approved by the council in December included variances, Westmoreland said, but due the city’s current bifurcated zoning process — where the council can only approve rezonings and the ZBA can only approve variances — can result in such a zoning clash.

“It’s an odd system,” Westmoreland said.

“And if we modified the plan, we would have to come back to the City Council because it would not be the plan they approved.”

The City Council vote in December was not a popular one with residents, with many from Brookhaven Heights and Brookhaven Fields packing City Hall to argue the development did not fit in with the character of the area that calls for protecting, preserving and maintaining singlefamily neighborhoods.

Several people also spoke out against the variances as well as emailed the Community Development Department and ZBA members to voice their opposition.

Erin Halka, president of the Brookhaven Fields Civic Association, stated in a Jan. 16 email to the ZBA that the organization opposed approving the variances.

“This property has already been given exceptional consideration by rezoning it from R-75 to RM-100 and the request for these variances is purely a financial desire to add more units to the property, not a hardship,” she stated.

Fred Leo put his thoughts more bluntly, also in a Jan. 16 email.

“If you approve [the variances] for a project that was already railroaded against huge opposition, most will conclude that there is no point to having zoning regulations at all,” he stated.

The Boys & Girls Club closed its Brookhaven site, where it had been located for 40 years, in December and relocated to a larger space in Chamblee.

BK

APRIL 27 - MAY 10, 2018

■

Public Safety | 23

www.ReporterNewspapers.net

Police Blotter / Brookhaven From Brookhaven Police reports dated April 15 through April 21. The following information was pulled from Brookhaven’s Police-2-Citizen website.

T H E F T A N D B U R G L A RY

stolen from a car.

3100 block of Buford Highway — On

April 18, in the early morning, a street robbery involving a gun was reported.

1400 block of Briarwood Road — On

April 15, in the afternoon, an entering auto incident took place.

3500 block of Buford Highway — On

2700 block of Caldwell Road — On

April 15, in the early morning, a battery incident was reported.

April 15, in the afternoon, a theft was reported.

4300 block of Ashwoody Trail — On

1200 block of Druid Knoll Drive — On

April 15, in the afternoon, an entering auto incident took place.

April 15, at night, a battery incident was reported.

1800 block of North Druid Hills Road

3500 block of Buford Highway — On

— On April 19, in the morning, a verbal dispute was documented.

April 15, in the evening, someone reported their car stolen.

ARRESTS

2900 block of Buford Highway — On

April 15, at night, someone reported a street robbery involving a gun.

2600 block of North Druid Hills Road

— On April 16, a non-forced entry burglary to a non-residence was reported.

1000 block of Pine Grove Avenue —

On April 16, in the afternoon, a theft was reported.

3200 block of Mae Avenue — On April

16, in the afternoon, someone reported mail stolen from their mailbox.

3100 block of Lenox Park Circle —

On April 17, in the morning, someone reported a forced-entry burglary to a home.

5100 block of Lenox Park Circle — On

April 17, in the morning, someone reported a forced-entry burglary to a home.

4300 block of Chamblee-Dunwoody

Road — On April 17, in the afternoon, an entering auto incident was reported.

1800 block of Fairway Circle — On

April 17, in the evening, an entering auto incident was reported.

4000 block of Peachtree Road - On

April 17, in the evening, items were stolen from a car.

1400 block of Northeast Expressway

— On April 17, at night, a shoplifting incident was reported.

1900 block of Fairway Circle — On

April 17, at night, someone reported items were stolen from his or her car.

1200 block of Druid Knoll Drive — On

April 17, at night, an entering auto incident was reported.

1100 block of Oglethorpe Drive — On

April 17, at night, items were reported BK

A S S AU LT

3200 block of Buford Highway — On

April 15, in the early morning, a man was arrested and charged with reckless driving.

3200

block of Buford Highway — On April 15, in the afternoon, a man was arrested and charged with obstruction and interference.

3600

block of Buford Highway — On April 15, in the afternoon, a man was arrested and charged with driving without a license.

2600

April 17, in the evening, a man was arrested and charged with orchestrating a drug-related transaction.

3900 block of Peachtree Road — On

1800 block of Northeast Expressway

Leconte Drive — On April 21, in the

— On April 17, at night, a man was arrested and charged with driving without a license.

early morning, three men were arrested and charged with financial transaction card theft.

2800 block of Buford Highway — On

3200 block of Buford Highway — On

April 18, at night, a woman was arrested and charged with driving without a license.

April 21, in the morning, a woman was arrested and charged with driving unlicensed.

3600 block of Clairmont Road — On

1700 block of Briarwood Road — On

April 19, in the afternoon, a man was arrested and charged with shoplifting.

April 21, in the afternoon, a man was arrested and charged with driving unlicensed.

3500 block of Buford Highway — On

April 19, in the evening, a prostitute and her pimp were arrested.

2000 block of North Druid Hills Road

— On April 19, a man was arrested and charged with driving with a suspended registration.

1400 block of Dresden Drive — On April 19, at night, a woman was arrested and charged with speeding.

1200 block of Dresden Drive — On April 20, in the early morning, a man was arrested and charged with driving with a suspended license.

block of Buford Highway — On April 16, in the early morning, a man was arrested and charged with violating probation.

1200 block of Thornwell Drive — On April 20, in the morning, a man was arrested and charged with driving unlicensed.

3600 block of Buford Highway — On

1200 block of Thornwell Drive — On

April 20, at night, a man was arrested and charged with driving unlicensed.

3700 block of Buford Highway — On

April 21, at night, a man was arrested and charged with marijuana possession.

OT H E R I N C I D E N T S 3900 block of Peachtree Road — On

April 15, in the morning, a criminal trespass warning was issued.

3600 block of Buford Highway — On

April 16, in the morning, someone reported a peeping tom incident.

3100 block of Druid Hills Reserve

Drive — On April 16, at noon, fraudulent activity was reported.

4300 block of Peachtree Road — On

April 16, in the evening, a criminal trespass warning was issued.

3100 block of Buford Highway — On

April 17, in the morning, damage to private property was reported.

3500 block of Buford Highway — On

April 17, in the morning, damage to private property was reported.

2300 block of Colonial Drive — On

April 17, in the evening, officers responded to a suspicious vehicle.

April 16, in the afternoon, a man was arrested and charged with failing to stop for a school bus that was unloading students.

April 20, in the morning, a man was arrested and charged with not having his license on his person.

3300 block of Buford Highway — On

April 20, in the morning, a woman was arrested and charged with making false statements and concealing facts.

1800 block of Corporate Boulevard —

1800 block of North Druid Hills Road

3100

April 16, at night, a man was arrested and charged with obstruction and interference.

1800 block of Northeast Expressway

— On April 17, in the early morning, a man was arrested and charged with driving without a license.

400 block of Lincoln Court Avenue —

On April 17, in the early morning, a man was arrested and charged with creating a noise violation.

3600 block of Clairmont Road — On

2600 block of Buford Highway — On

— On April 20, in the afternoon, a man was arrested and charged with impersonating an officer .

2800 block of Clairmont Road — On

April 20, in the evening, a woman was arrested and charged with shoplifting 3400 block of Buford Highway —- On

April 20, at night, a woman was arrested and charged with driving unlicensed.

3800 block of Peachtree Road — On

April 17, at night, a criminal trespass warning was issued.

On April 18, in the morning, a criminal trespass warning was issued. block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On April 18, in the afternoon, a criminal trespass warning was issued.

3600

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On April 18, in the evening, a hit and run incident was reported.

2500 block of Dresden Drive — On

April 19, at night, a hit-and-run incident took place.

24 |

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