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MEETINGS
The Atlanta City Council meets July 5 and
July 17 at 1 p.m. at City Hall, 55 Trinity Ave.
Information: citycouncil.atlantaga.gov.
The Atlanta School Board will not meet
in July but will resume Aug. 7 at 2:30
p.m. and for a community meeting at
6:30 p.m. at 130 Trinity Ave. Information:
atlantapublicschools.us.
The Decatur City Commission meets
in open session on the first and third
Mondays of each month at City Hall, 509
North McDonough Street, at 7:30 p.m.
Information: decaturga.com.
NEWS
The Fulton County Board of
Commissioners voted unanimously on
June 21 to freeze property assessments
at 2016 levels.
Mayor Kasim Reed announced in June
that MARTA will take over operations of
the Atlanta Streetcar at a date to be
determined.
The Atlanta City Council has unanimously
approved a $2 billon 2018 operating
budget, which includes salary increases for
firefighters and raises the city's minimum
wage to $13 per hour beginning July 1.
The Georgia Dome
will be imploded
on Monday, Nov.
20, at 7:30 a.m. to
make way for a
community greenspace and parking next
to the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
A set of resolutions to create a Downtown
Atlanta Entertainment District and allow
lighted "Times Square-style" signage and
video boards were approved by the city
council at its June 19 meeting. The boundaries
of the new district will be Cortland Street on
the east, Ivan Allen Boulevard on the north,
Northside Drive on the west and Mitchell
Street to the south. The idea for the district
comes from Central Atlanta Progress, which
wants to boost tourism and nighttime
activity in Downtown.
Pavement Cracks
PEDS advocates for sidewalk repairs and pedestrian safety
By Grace Huseth
If you’ve ever walked in Inman Park, Old
Fourth Ward or just about any other Intown
neighborhood, you’ll notice that many of
Atlanta’s sidewalks are in poor shape.
The current city sidewalk ordinance
requires homeowners to repair sidewalks
adjacent to their property — even when the
sidewalk isn’t technically their property.
“More and more cities are replacing
laws similar to Atlanta’s with ones that treat
sidewalks as shared resources,” said Sally
Flocks, President and CEO of PEDS. “If
they can do it, so can Atlanta.”
Flocks and nonprofit PEDS, originally
known as Pedestrians Educating Drivers,
have made it their mission to make Atlanta’s
sidewalks, bus stops, streets and crosswalks
safe and accessible to everyone who walks.
PEDS has called on the City of Atlanta
to take responsibility for fixing broken
sidewalks and to allocate funding that makes
it possible. Flocks said 2017 is an election
year, and mayoral candidates should commit
to replacing Atlanta’s sidewalk ordinance
and including a $25 million line item for
sidewalk repairs in the annual general fund
budget.
Flocks said that voter approved sales
tax increases will help fund numerous
street upgrades, including new sidewalks.
FFowever, none of the tax money has been
allocated for routine maintenance on the
city’s miles of sidewalks.
Due to epilepsy, Flocks hasn’t driven
most of her adult life. She gets around by
walking and using public transportation,
but grew weary of getting cut off in the
crosswalks by drivers.
“I assumed the problem was that drivers
didn’t know people had the right
of way in crosswalks, but I quickly
learned that it also has to do with road
design,” Flocks said. “A lot of the work
PEDS has done since then focuses on
road design.”
Now she serves on the technical
advisory committee with Atlanta’s
Transportation Plan to better design
the city with pedestrians in mind.
PEDS has reached many
milestones in 21 years, from inspiring
agencies to use crosswalk beacons to
providing workshops that have helped
transportation officials design for
pedestrian safety.
“What I have is the perspective of
a pedestrian,” Flocks said. “I come in
as a user and someone who walks for
transportation, which gives me a closer
understanding of what it’s like for
people who don’t drive cars.”
Two decades of pedestrian
advocacy has resulted in making
high visibility crosswalks the state
standard and better compliance with
crosswalk laws, at least in Intown
neighborhoods. Flocks and others at
PEDS have inspired agencies to install
median islands, high-tech beacons and
other safety improvements on Buford
FFighway, Ponce de Leon Avenue and
other streets.
Flocks said safety for pedestrians
in the city has increased under new
Public Works Commissioner William
Johnson. Fie has paid attention to
permits and many streets under
construction include covered walkways
and plastic barriers in the road. “It’s
not perfect,” Flocks said, “but we’re
seeing big improvements.” QD
New city parking management program launches
By Collin Kelley
SP Plus Corporation (SP+) has been
selected to manage the City of Atlanta’s
on-street parking program, which will be
called ATLPlus. The municipal division
of SP+ will provide parking enforcement,
meter maintenance, collection and citation
processing services.
The new program replace the
controversial PARKatlanta, which was
criticized by residents and business owners
for its heavy-handed and inconsistent
enforcement.
“With the addition of upgraded
equipment and integration of smartphone
apps, ATLPlus will minimize the time it
takes for residents and visitors to safely and
legally park their vehicles,” Mayor Kasim
Reed said in a statement. “In addition,
customers will now have an opportunity to
dispute tickets through an administrative
review process. We are confident that SP
Plus will bring a new level of experience and
service to parking in our city.”
ATLPlus will allow customers up to 14
days to contest a citation online, in person
or by mail. Each contested citation will
be reviewed by the Department of Public
Works’ Administrative Review Process to
determine if the citation is valid or invalid.
Administrative reviews will be conducted
by specially trained staff in the Department
of Public Works and within 15 business days
each contested citation will be reviewed and
individuals will be notified of the validity
of their parking citation. Citations that are
invalid will be dismissed, while citations that
are upheld can be paid or further disputed at
the Atlanta Municipal Courts.
SP+ will upgrade the city’s 2,400
metered parking spaces, including
upgrades include the conversion
to a program using license
plate recognition technology
for enforcement. Over
the coming months,
SP+ plans to meet
with neighborhood
stakeholders to discuss
the impact of the new
program, enhanced
customer service and
operational efficiency.
“We are excited to
have earned the City’s
trust to make needed
improvements to this
valuable public service.
Our objective will be to
enhance the parking experience
for customers by deploying new
equipment while our staff maintains the
southern hospitality for which Atlanta is
known,” said Thomas FFagerman, Executive
Vice President for SP Plus.
For more information, visit
spplus.com. QH
8 July 2017 | na
AtlantalNtownPaper.com