12 | Community
Grammar Snob I am a coffee snob. I am a chocolate snob. And when it comes to grammar and punctuation, I am an annoying snob. I am one of those people who can Robin Conte is a writer ruin a good and mother of four outing by who lives in Dunwoody. complainShe can be contacted at ing about robinjm@earthlink.net. improperly punctuated signage. Put more genteelly, I have a cultivated appreciation for a properly punctuated sentence and for pronouns in their objective form. So in my column for today, I am going to extol the virtues of grammar and punctuation. I am going to use words and phrases such as “aforementioned,” “as it were,” and “grammatically speaking.” I am going to use the serial comma. And, as a bonus, I am going to give you a free
Robin’s Nest
Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News grammar lesson. Here it is: “For you and I” is grammatically incorrect because “for” is a preposition and thus takes the objective form of a pronoun. “For you and me” is correct, grammatically speaking. Always. There. Now that that’s out of the way, I will proceed to signage. I enjoy a pithy phrase as much as the next person, whether it’s embroidered on a kitchen towel, stamped on a stack of cocktail napkins, or painted on reclaimed wood. For instance, I bought a sign for a sommelier friend of mine that read, “A meal without wine is breakfast.” It’s funny and correctly written, so it passes my test. But not all signs are so spot-on. I will find signs with misplaced modifiers and participles dangling all over the place, signs that pay no attention to punctuation (witness: “Weekends are a girls best friend”). I find others, such as “Blessed,” “Family,” and “Chardonnay” that apparently have no idea what to do with a phrase and play it safe with single words. Then I will come across a plaque that’s selling for $24.95, and, while I might agree with the sentiment, I will develop a nervous tic at the sight of a poorly punctuated phrase and will continue exhibiting physical symptoms of stress at the mere memory of it until I am at last compelled to correct it in writing … and per-
haps publish that correction, as it were. Take this sign, for instance: “But first coffee.” Now I ask you, what is first coffee? Is first coffee a drink that is served on a first date while performing first aid for a firstclass first impression? No. No, it is not. What I want is a sign that says this: But first, coffee. Add a comma and you have created a sign that I can get behind. If you really want me to buy it, you can write this: But first … coffee. That SPECIAL Robin brushes up on her grammar lessons. gives me more of a pause, more of an “ah and sip” of the aforementioned sign to plummet. moment with which to begin my day. And annihilating sales of signage is not And because my theme today is splitmy goal here, for I respect anyone’s right ting hairs, I will continue with an examto print words on wood and make a few ple of a questionably punctuated humorbucks. I only want to heighten your awareous sign: “You had me at merlot.” ness of signage punctuation to the point This, of course, is a clever and amusthat when you pass a poorly punctuated ing play on the “Jerry Maguire” line, “You one, you, too, will develop a nervous tic. had me at ‘hello,’ ” and thus, in my gramBeyond that, my goal is simply to hold matically uptight world, should be puncyour interest in grammar and punctuatuated with “merlot” in quotation marks. tion enough to keep you watching for my Therefore, I believe that the sign should next column, which will be dedicated to be written like this: “You had me at ‘merthe Oxford comma. lot,’” which would naturally cause sales
Brookhaven council denies proposed Johnson Ferry townhomes BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
The Brookhaven City Council voted unanimously Aug. 22 to deny a developer’s request to build 17 townhomes on Johnson Ferry Road near Pill Hill because the proposed development does not fit in with the comprehensive plan for the area. The council vote follows the city’s Community Development Department recommending denial of the proposed development and the Planning Commission’s vote to recommend denial based on land use. The property is near the I-285/Ga. 400 interchange and includes Nancy Creek at its southeastern boundary. Tom Platford, representing developer Majestic Investment Corporation, requested a 60-day deferral at the council meeting so the developer could look over the plans and gather more input from area residents who oppose the proposed development. “We’ve also retained counsel to advise us,” Platford told the council. Majestic Investment Corporation was seeking to rezone 1611, 1621 and 1659 Johnson Ferry Road, near Pill Hill in Sandy Springs, from R-100 (single-family residential) to R-A5 (single-family residential) to allow for 17 townhomes that would be priced between $650,000 and $850,000 per unit, according to city documents. The property takes in about 13.5 acres. City staff members say the development
would cover about 1.5 acres, but representatives of the developer told the city Planning Commission the development would cover about 4 acres. Councilmember Linley Jones made the motion to deny the request. “I have followed this process since its genesis … and unfortunately I’ve not seen Majestic make any significant effort to work with the community,” she said. “The community’s interests have been completely disregarded.” A two-month deferral would only delay the inevitable, she said. “All along the city has been clear in its denial of this application and the inconsistency of this application with the goals of the city,” she said. “This application has wasted a lot of the city’s time and investment already.” The property is in the Lakes District, where townhomes are discouraged, according to the character area of the district set out in connection with the city’s comprehensive plan. The plan recommends that future development within the Lakes Character Area be permitted only if it maintains the single-family detached character of the surrounding neighborhood, according to a Community Development Department memo. Councilmember John Park restated what he has told developers in the past – to bring their “A” game at the beginning of any proposed development.
CITY OF BROOKHAVEN
A rendering of the townhomes that a developer wants to build on Johnson Ferry Road near Pill Hill. The City Council denied the application at its Aug. 22 meeting.
“And that should have happened 60 days ago,” he said. “If you want a new entitlement … you have to demonstrate the benefit to the community. That has not been done.” Prior to the vote, several residents spoke out against the proposed development. Fay Ann Sherris said she was speaking for hundreds of single-family homes surrounding the property and also for those who live downstream on Nancy Creek, but who may not live in Brookhaven. “We started off not being opposed to development on this land,” she said, “however through the course of this process we have been so distraught by how the developer is approaching it and handling it. And then after seeing the flooding two weeks ago … I don’t think this land can be developed.” Sherris accused Platford of being inconsistent in what he has planned for the
property, including filing paperwork with the city that states development would occur on 1.5 acres of the 13.5 acre property, but then telling the Planning Commission the total acreage for development would be more like 4 acres. She added that she and her neighbors are “gravely concerned” about flooding in the area, especially after the area saw severe flooding during recent heavy rains. Bill Gannon, who lives in Sandy Springs and near the Johnson Ferry property, said he was speaking on behalf of the High Point Civic Association and other homeowners associations. He told the council that in 2011, after DeKalb County denied a special land use permit to build a soccer complex on the site, the city of Sandy Springs requested a hydrology study be conducted on the property by future developers. SS