Westside Communities Alliance

A partnership between Atlanta's westside communities and institutions of higher education.

Washington Park – LCI Meeting

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Washington Park Neighborhood At Work

On Tuesday October 21st, around 30 Washington Park residents gathered at KIPP Ways School on Temple St. to discuss the Livable Centers Initiative grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission. The event was hosted by Christi Jackson, Executive Director of The Conservancy at Historic Washington Park and supported by Allison Duncan of the ARC, and Carlos Perez and Wesley Brooks of Perez Planning + Design.

Dr. Pearlie Dove, a long-time resident of Washington Park, gave a warm welcome and call to action, starting the meeting with a great quote from Henry Ford: “Coming together is the beginning, working together is progress, staying together will result in success.”

The Livable Centers Initiative comes out of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Community Choices program. The purpose of this meeting was to create a vision for the neighborhood with input from the residents. Once a report has been created, the group will identify strategies and sources for implementation.

ARC conducted an interactive survey using clicker remotes. Sample poll questions included: “What gives the community its character?”, “Why do you live in this community?”, “The community needs more…” etc. Following the survey, the attendees broke up into tables and discussed three questions:

1) What is it that you love about the neighborhood and do not want to see changed?

2) What is it that you do not like about the neighborhood that you would like to see changed?

3) What specific ideas and recommendations do you have about maintaining the things you love and/or changing the things you do not like?

The next meeting will report on the synthesis of the groups’ responses to the survey and discussion questions. It will take place on Monday, November 10th, 2015 at 6:30 pm at HAGAR Palace, located at 19 Joseph E. Lowey Blvd (the intersection of Lowery and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive).

 

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2015 Proposed Infrastructure Bond

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2015 Proposed Infrastructure Bond - Atlanta, GA

2015 Proposed Infrastructure Bond for Atlanta, GA

Will Atlantan’s have the change to vote on a proposed infrastructure bond? The Westside Communities Alliance staff attended one of the public information hearings on the 2015 Proposed Infrastructure Bond. The  bond would address Atlanta’s $900 million infrastructure backlog and pay for improvements and maintenance. Additional information on the bond and how it would impact Atlanta’s future can be found through the links below.

Notes from the meeting can be viewed here: InfrastructureBondMeeting_071614

Future public information meetings can be viewed here: http://www.atlantaga.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=14334

Information from the city can be viewed here: http://www.atlantaga.gov/index.aspx?page=1145

Location Affordability Portal

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The WCA office according to the Location Affordability Index.

 
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On July 16th, WCA staff was present at the Version 2 Pre-Launch of the Location Affordability Portal. The portal is a product of Sustainable Communities, the partnership between the Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of Housing and Urban Development and the launch was one of only two throughout the nation.

Research shows that the average American family spends 52 cents of every dollar is spent on housing and transportation. The tool is intended to give families an extra metric for decision-making when it comes to choosing where to live and work. It combines the Location Affordability Index and the My Transportation Cost Calculator to provide the public with access to data on housing and transportation costs.

Cicely Garrett, of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, made a good point to the presenter about one fallacy of the tool: not taking into account the value of time. Especially here in Atlanta, where the rail system is less extensive than other cities, a wait for a bus, a transfer, and a ride on the train may take significantly longer than a ride in a car. Josh Geyer of the HUD Office of Economic Resilience, argues that time spent on public transit can be better utilized than time spent driving a car.

To use the portal, simply go to http://www.locationaffordability.info/ where you can explore both tools. In the Location Affordability Index, you can view annual averages (including number of residents per unit, number of vehicles owned, vehicle miles traveled, and transit trips) for your region by inputting your address.

The Transportation Cost Calculator creates a profile for you and your family based on where you live and work and how often you use a car compared to transit. You can even make multiple profiles for different housing or work options to see how one location compares to another in terms of affordability.

See highlight statements from the second panel: LAP_Panel2

See hand-out from the event: LAPhandouts.

NCA Meeting on May 21st, 2014

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journalist

 

Last Wednesday, WCA staff attended the Northwest Community Alliance’s 2nd Reporter’s Panel featuring local journalists. There was lively discussion about the future of media and journalism, the current state of affairs in Atlanta, the history of development in the city, the role of anchor institutions in economic development and much more. Please see the notes for more detailed comments and questions.

NCA_May21_2014

Friendship Baptist Church Demolition Hearing

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On April 2nd, 2014, the Georgia World Congress Center published a notice of a public hearing in the Daily Report in accordance with OCGA 12-16-5. The public had previously been told to look at the GWCC website for any updates on important meetings. On Friday, May 1st at 2 pm, the GWCC website was updated with a notice of the public hearing regarding the demolition of Friendship Baptist Church for the New Stadium Project. WCA Staff attended the meeting. As of 6:30 pm on Monday May 5th (the day and start time of the public hearing), all doors to Building C were locked, until GWCC security was called to open the doors. The meeting was not video-taped and the only way people will hear about the comments made are via Kevin Duvall and Frank Smith of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority and State Properties Commission respectively. Below, find the Environmental Effects Report produced for the site, the notice of the hearing, the construction/demolition schedule, and the public comments as recorded by WCA Staff.

Public Hearing Notification

Environmental Effects Report

Demolition/Construction Schedule

FriendshipDemo_PublicComment