Newspaper Page Text
Page 6A
LOCAL
The Champion, Thursday, May 14 - 20, 2015
ALECIA ASBURY
Weed
Alecia Asbury has been
volunteering with the Junior
League of DeKalb for only
two years, however she was
elected by her peers as co-
chairman of Community
Impact for the 2015-2016
year for the organization.
The 41-year-old joined
the Junior League of DeKalb
after hearing about the orga
nization through the Junior
League’s State Public Affairs
Committee (SPAC).
“SPAC is a committee
formed to educate and take
action on public policy is
sues,” Asbury said. “The
committee builds aware
ness and educates the public
about a pressing problem,
or as ambitious as sponsor
ing and writing a bill that
ultimately becomes a law.
As an advocate for girls and
women, aligning myself with
Junior League of DeKalb
could possibly place me in a
position to influence public
policy on the issues that are
most important to me.”
Asbury was the market
ing chair for Junior League
of DeKalb’s “Tour of Kitch
ens” event, and she has vol
unteered with Partners in
Action for Healthy Living,
Inc., Tea Cup Girls, Kids in
the Kitchen, National Drop
Everything and Read Day
with Clarkston Child Devel
opment Center, Day League
and International Womens
House.
Asbury is also a member
of the Board of Directors
at Day League, formerly
known as the DeKalb Rape
Crisis Center. She volunteers
with Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sorority Inc.-Nu Lambda
Omega Chapter, United Way
and National Black MBA
Association-Atlanta Chap
ter.
Asbury said volunteer
ing is important to her be
cause “it allows me to make
a substantial and ongoing
impact within the commu
nity.”
“I use each opportunity
to learn something new and
to utilize my talents to make
a significant difference,” she
said.
If you would like to nominate someone to be considered as a future Champion of the Week, please contact Andrew Cauthen
at andrew@dekalbchamp.com or at (404) 373-7779, ext. 117.
Brookhaven Councilmember Bates Mattison (center) talks about Brookhaven’s commercial development to the Council for Quality Growth’s DeKalb Advisory Committee. Photo by Carla
Parker
Brookhaven focusing on commercial
development and traffic reduction
by Carla Parker
carla@dekalbchamp.com
Brookhaven is continu
ally growing with new devel
opment of apartments and
townhomes.
The city had an increase
in renters of 46.1 percent
in 2013 to 46.9 percent in
2014. The city is now trying
to shift some of its develop
ment and redevelopment
plans to commercial office
space. Brookhaven Council
man Bates Mattison met
with the Council for Quality
Growths DeKalb Advisory
Committee May 7 to discuss
the city’s need for commer
cial development.
Mattison gave a presen
tation on the city’s growth
and demographics.
“I hope that they [got] a
little better understanding
of who Brookhaven is and
what some of our goals are,”
Mattison said after the meet
ing. “The Council for Qual
ity Growth is a group that is
interested in knowing about
development, and so it’s
important for us as a city to
give some leadership about
where we believe our great
est opportunities are for
redevelopment or new de
velopment, and some of the
things that we’re trying to
do [are] to create economic
incentives to spur that kind
of growth in our city.”
The city has a popu
lation of approximately
52,000, and is expected to
grow at 7.4 percent through
2019. The city has seen an
increase in traffic, and some
residents contend that is due
to development. Mattison
said that is not true.
“The traffic increases
because you’re in metro
Atlanta and you’re seeing
traffic increases throughout
the metro Atlanta area, and
we’re a cut-through city,” he
said.
To address that percep
tion, Mattison said the city
has to educate the residents.
We have to educate the
public about smart develop
ment and how it actually
decreases traffic, and how it
can bring jobs, more diverse
housing options, more res
taurants and retail,” he said.
Mattison said the city
has a “huge” shortage of
commercial office space.
“Our commercial cor
ridors are really three
spots—Perimeter Summit,
Peachtree Road and Buford
Highway,” he said. “If you
just look at Peachtree Road,
we have very little office
space available. How do you
attract employers here? Our
community does want to be
able to walk to work or walk
to the shops and not have to
get in their cars. But, right
now we don’t have those
places to work.”
Mattison said bringing
in new jobs through com
mercial developments could
help with the traffic issues.
“All of our residents are
having to drive just to get
to their own job [and it’s]
increasing traffic,” he said.
“There are also issues we
need to address as a city-
how do we get the commut
er traffic through our city
as efficiently as possible. It’s
actually through redevelop
ment options.”
Projects such as the
Brookhaven/Oglethorpe
MARTA station redevelop
ment and improving the
corridors at Dresden Road,
Peachtree Road and North
Druid Hills Road will be a
part of the redevelopment
process.
“[That will help] move
cars through our city more
efficiently so that our local
residents can preserve their
local neighborhood streets
and don’t have cut-through
traffic within it,” Mattison
said.