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Buckhead Reporter
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Hindu holiday Diwail is all about lights FAITH 16
An eye on you
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OCT. 30 — NOV. 12, 2015 • VOL. 9 — NO. 22
Ready for a soft landing Brady Chan is poised for liftoff at the annual Sarah Smith Elementary School Fall Festival on Oct. 24. The event featured carnival games, activities such as a haunted hall, tattoos and laser tag, and included an International Travelers week table, celebrating the country of Mexico. PHIL MOSIER
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Residents fight Galloway athletics facility in Sandy Springs BY JOE EARLE
joeearle@reporternewspapers.net
The Galloway School’s proposal to build an athletics facility in Sandy Springs is drawing sharp attacks from neighbors who argue it will create runoff problems and bring unwanted traffic. “There is not one single person in this community who wants you here,” Sandy Springs resident Sheila Cornelius told Galloway officials during an Oct. 27 meeting at Sandy Springs City Hall. “We don’t want you here. This is not good for our community. We want you to expand and grow your program, but we want you to go somewhere else.” Many among the more than 60 Sandy Springs and Buckhead residents who crowded into the City Hall meeting room applauded her. Galloway officials want to build a softball field, tennis courts, a concessions stand and SEE RESIDENTS, PAGE 3
Renovated Atlanta History Center opens its new front door BY JOE EARLE
joeearle@reporternewspapers.net
The Atlanta History Center is reopening its front doors. One recent Friday afternoon, construction workers were putting finishing touches on the building’s new 5,300-squarefoot atrium. One worker touched up drywall on the new ceiling. Another worker spray-painted letters to highlight the names of major donors that had been carved into the new limestone walls. Standing near the new front door, Jackson McQuigg, vice president of properties for the history center, pointed out how the new entrance and 30-foot-tall, glass-walled atrium would take future visitors directly to the large hallway leading to the center’s exhibits, and to the gardens and displays beyond. “It’s all coming together,” McQuigg said. “And it’s so exciting.”
After about 14 months of construction, the history center’s new entryway, part of a $21 million renovation of the building, is scheduled to open to the public on Nov. 7. The opening marks roughly the halfway point in a renovation and expansion that officials say is intended to make the history center’s home on West Paces Ferry Road more inviting and less, well, stodgy. “It’s not just the physical changes, it’s the cultural changes and the mindset changes we’ve had at this organization,” said Hillary Hardwick, vice president of marketing communications at the center. “It’s all about the visitor.” The new atrium is roughly twice the size of the old entryway and the design of the new facade – a curve of glass and limestone set on a granite base – is intended to make the building SEE NEW, PAGE 4
SPECIAL
Nancy Ballew highlights names of major donors carved into limestone walls in the Atlanta History Center’s new 5,300-square-foot atrium.