North DeKalb Mall community garden: more information

CrossRoadNews has a nice article on the community garden that has sprouted next to North DeKalb Mall. The article provides some information on the history of the garden and what's next for its members. This sounds very neat:

The garden, which had a trial run last year, has expanded and will now offer 250-square-foot Community plots and 1,000- to 1,500-square-foot Market plots.... The garden’s goal is to create a seasonal farmers market that includes outside vendors from the community. Read on @ CrossRoadNews

Pre-garden [GoogleMaps] and currently [GoogleEarth, image dated Oct. 31, 2012]. The garden is located on Orion Drive, between North DeKalb mall and the Stivers Decatur Subaru dealership. Click to enlarge.

Atlanta makes list of "most ambitious transit projects"

The Atlanta area gets a lot of grief for its transit issues, car dependence, pedestrian unfriendliness, etc. but we must also recognize that there is a lot of innovation under way.

We need look no further than the many trails that the PATH Foundation has created, including our own South Peachtree Creek Trail.

So, it is a little gratifying to see that Atlantic Cities has an article titled A Guide to America's Most Ambitious Transit Projects and that Atlanta actually gets mentioned in the Transit Space Race 2013 report. A clickable map allows you to see Atlanta-area projects in progress, most of which involve some type of rail transport.

The report was produced by Reconnecting America, "a national nonprofit that advises civic and community leaders on how to overcome community development challenges to create better communities for all."

If you are interested in urban design, also check out Reconnecting America's "Are we there yet?" report, released last October. Reconnecting America proposes that "complete communities" can be defined by 33 indicators (income, access to public transit and affordable housing, proximity to job centers, pedestrian/cyclist safety, access to parks, education level, etc.). Complete communities are ideal for people of all ages because proximity and public transportation allows independence (and financial leeway--they note that maintaining a car costs ~$8,946/year, per 2012 data). The report concludes by saying:

"If manifest destiny drove America’s ever-outward expansion, facilitated first by wagons and railroads and then by highways and suburban tracts of single-family homes in the last century, the younger generation and boomers alike seem to be driven by a need to
return to the center in the 21st century, redeveloping older communities to make them more complete, and making our economy more resilient and sustainable by doing things more efficiently across our regions."

At the bottom, but at least we made the list!
from http://reconnectingamerica.org/assets/PDFs/20121001AreWeThereYet-web.pdf

See full-size Atlanta Score Card @ Reconnecting America

The overall Atlanta-are report is... full of opportunity.

Intown Ace Hardware featured by Huffington Post

This feature describes how the owners of Ace Hardware Store didn't just cope but thrived in response to Home Depot's opening on Lawrenceville Highway. Their insights will keep them on top of their game when Walmart opens at Suburban Plaza:

"Jones decided to differentiate his store on the diversity and quality of its offerings. ...changed up his business plan, going from a building supply provider to something more like a general store. ... Today, the store does more than $3 million in sales, an increase of 285 percent since the mid-90s when Home Depot moved to the nearby location, Jones said. The store's success even garnered it recognition as the "Coolest Ace on the Planet" by the hardware franchise in 2012. Read on @ Huffington Post"

Coolest Ace on the Planet? Why yes:

And we agree: Intown Ace's customer service and (like the fancy blogs like to say) artfully curated inventory is the secret sauce!

Winter activities @ Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area

Although not in our neighborhood, the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area it is less than 20 miles away.

The winter program includes activities such as a ranger-led hikes (both daylight and moon-lit), exploration of old ruins and historical sites, archery and cooking. See the schedule at http://arabiaalliance.org/events/ for a full listing of events.

Arabia Mountain includes the Davidson-Arabia Nature Preserve, Panola Mountain State Park, the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, the Flat Rock Archives, and the Atlanta Wild Animal Rescue Effort (AWARE).