A noted irony of this whole situation is that some homeowners had no qualms about purchasing a house with backyards that border overhead transmission power-lines when with electromagnetic radiation some research has implicated exposure in a number of adverse health effects, but are up in arms at the thought of a path being paved under these same power-lines, that in all likelihood would enhance their property values, all because of some illogical fear that some boogieman will traverse that path who just as well could walk down the street or sidewalk past their front yards.
Here's 37 studies of greenway trails done by a government agency, or by academics. The studies showed an overall approval of the trails after they were built. The general result was that fears about decrease in property value and increase in crime were seldom voiced after those concerned read the studies.
Divide the five mile route into 1/2 mile segments to create seven neighborhood groups. Appoint local home owners who are both pro & con to act as liaisons. Conduct local discussions. Walk the route. Take fieldtrips to see our neighbors' trails and talk with their police about crime along the trail. Review the studies cited above.
For an entire generation, children have been using the power lines in Dunwoody to walk to school safely. Austin Elementary kids walk on it every day. And Kingsley uses it to cross around the lake, too. I have heard that many parents from Austin would welcome paving their trail in-between the power lines.
In the North Fulton Trans Plan, Sandy Springs has approved a "Tier One" project building a trail along the power lines from Morgan Falls Park on the Chattahoochee connecting both to Roswell and to Dunwoody.
Suwanee - one the "Best Places to Live" has a Greenway. Go up to see them or the Roswell/Alpharetta Big Creek Greenway just north of Holcomb Bridge Rd. You'll see both of them with segments running behind private homes.
The Dunwoody power line easement is around 250-ft wide with dual towers. In the very center in-between each tower the distance is appx. 90 feet. A trail needs only to be be 10 ft wide, with 2 feet shoulders for drainage on either side. That's 14 feet divided in the middle. Add privacy fences and leyland cypresses if the residents want them.
Maybe after conducting separate local meeting and discussions with each of the seven groups, you just might find a segment that is willing to build a trail. So take one 1/2-mile segment and build it. Let the local residents along that 1/2 mile use it and then take a survey, get interviews and demonstrate to the rest of the Dunwoody residents that building the trail was just about the best thing that happened to their neighborhood.
Joe-- Clearly you are very passionate about your lifestyle and want to share it with the world. That's a good thing.
However you seem to be blind to opinions and POVs different from yours. That's not a good thing.
My property won't be affected by your recommendations one way or another. But what DOES concern me is the idea (promoted by certain city council memebers) that, "By God, I know better than you what's good for your land and I'll keep at it until you give me what I want from it!!" That may not be your intention, but that is the message coming across.
What will you do if your "trail" plan doesn't work out the way you want? What if it doesn't have a postiive impact? What if you cajole some homeowners into giving up a part of their land and the results are disastrous? What will you (and the City Council members supporting you) do for the homeowners then? This isn't California. Never will be. You can have all of the studies you want but if a homeowner thinks you're ramming an idea down their throat, there's going to be resistance.
How about taking another approach? Like - maybe chilling out for a little bit and showing some respect for the homeowners who aren't gung-ho for your idea. Because that's the one thing I haven't seen yet, from you or from Rob W., and I dont' know that John won't change his mind on the "ED" option.
John has an opinion on ED? Does that mean he favors Viagra over Cialis?
Seriously, lets have the discussion. Not fight, discussions. Private property rights are real and no one should throw around ED as a simple solution.
Just how much is a piece of your land worth?
If I were the homeowners affected, I would start at a million bucks. Sounds crazy? So does throwing ED out as a solution before any discussions start. Betcha Doug T wishes he could take all that back
Lets all remind ourselves that 2 years ago this side of town was also told it would be a great idea to allow a 2 story liquor store in the area. We actually had to remind city council that we were in fact a part of Dunwoody and wanted the same respect they would give themselves on the good side of town. Now we are being told for the good of everyone; we in the lowly Dorwoody area should give up property rights for the luxury of higher property taxes and less privacy. This again seems to be a case of the old analogy of one man's trash is another man's treasure. What some see as hard to sell, lower priced houses under death causing power lines. Others see as guaranteed privacy due to the power lines themselves and moderate property taxes and less traffic. Despite all the sugar coating about this issue, plenty of facts are not being taken into consideration for the long term. Here is just a few off the top of my head:
#1 the taking of private property by the city for the good of everyone. This is a mayor who did not want his own backyard view obstructed by neighbors building a deck. I for one, do not want my tax monies going to bully other members of the community. Higher property values equals higher property taxes. So for long term residents of the area this is not really an incentive.
#2 Security. Plain and simple this will increase crime in the area. From car break ins, to robbery, to even rape and murder; yes these things do happen on walking trails. It is the false feeling of security on walking/biking trails that make them an easy target (Jennifer Ewing's rape and murder on the Silver Comet trail) for crime. Goggle any trail and put the word crime after it (every one Joe Seconder lists in fact has crime on it and around it due to trails including attacks and a rape in Suwanee) for some quick results. So on that note, Dunwoody will be forced to provide security to the trail and the parking lots. How much is that cost? Will we depend solely on the police or we will hire private security to walk the trail? Also how will we keep people off of it? Will there be times when it's opened or can people be walking it at oh say 3AM?
#3 Restrooms & Sanitation. Will restrooms be provided at some point along the trail? If so, who will police and not to mention clean these? Will we hire janitorial crews for them as well as trash pick up along the trail? Guess we'll also be buying some special small trash pick up's like Decatur has for that as well. Again how we will keep people out of these places at night when the trail is closed? Or can anyone looking for a 3 A.M. hook-up cruise the trail and bathrooms? How much will all this cost over the long run?
#4 Lighting. No matter how small the piece of land you are trying to muscle out of property owners; the fact of light pollution is still not being mentioned. The trail will have to be lit, most likely 24/7 for safety purposes. Even if closed at some hours in the middle of the night, the lights will still have to be on. So on top of forcing home owners to accept people walking on what used to be their property, the constant noise of people and mowers; they must also accept light pollution 24/7. Just much will constant lighting, security and sanitation cost per year to the city for a so-called free walking trail?
All these are questions that need answering, but the sad part is most cannot be answered now in a real factual way and were not even on the cities radar to begin with. There are to many personal egos and interests vested in this and most city issues to get real answers or facts.
Hmm, "3 A.M. cruising the trails and restrooms for a hook-up", that's quite an explicit contention to list, but a very authentic causatum for concern once the trails are in place.
That is a very good point. I hadn't thought of that. I try not to - but being from the big city I know it's a reality.
I guess in order to curb that type of activity, Dunwoody cops would have to bring in a separate vice squad that would either have some of their force act the part of the female harlot to capture the "johns" in the "johns" or sit on the "johns" and await toe tapping US Senators in the next stall.
I sure wouldn't want to be the tactical officer assigned to this one.
I attended tonights meeting and felt it was a waste of time seeing that we the citizens could not ask any questions about the Greenway.We did get to mark in red or green marker areas we did not want it to run through and I must say it was pretty much the entire area of Kingsley.I truly hope all the councilmen get it seeing the large number of people who were there to oppose it.By the way I did not see councilman Doug Thompson in attendance tonight.Was this just another example of how weak his character is to not come and listen to his constituentes or did the other councilmen ban him from the meeting afraid he would say something more stupid than his last Eminent Domain comments.
I attended the Greenway Meeting and I am so sad to say that not even at drunken fraternity parties have I ever witnessed such rude, greedy, piggish behavior.
I'm tempted to edit my video taken of the meeting and post it on youTube in order that the world may witness as well that the residents of our city are of no more quality than the spoiled teens from MTV's "My Sweet Sixteen" show.
We really have to be better than the absence of character that was displayed at that meeting. I am really embarrassed to say I hail from Dunwoody anymore.
That meeting had nothing to do with exercising our democratic rights. It was just boorish behavior with people shouting about ME ME ME! We are not a community but a bunch of Paris Hilton clones.
What I had wanted to express at the greenway meeting was that I really believe that those homeowners that border the power-line easements should reconsider the greenway trail proposal.
When we were looking for homes in this area, we avoided the houses that bordered the power-lines as we had young children.
But I would think that having a trail that winds it way under and by the power-lines with other community children trekking on it would make the overhead high-voltage towers and lines seem less nocuous or insidious and would maybe even improve the property value of the bordering homes and increase their chances of a resell. So much so that it would outweigh what little bit of their land that they would have to give up to accommodate the establishment of the trail.
10 comments:
A noted irony of this whole situation is that some homeowners had no qualms about purchasing a house with backyards that border overhead transmission power-lines when with electromagnetic radiation some research has implicated exposure in a number of adverse health effects, but are up in arms at the thought of a path being paved under these same power-lines, that in all likelihood would enhance their property values, all because of some illogical fear that some boogieman will traverse that path who just as well could walk down the street or sidewalk past their front yards.
Here's my detailed research on the proposed trail http://www.scribd.com/doc/49257795/GA-Pwr-Easement-Terrain-Maps-Outreach-Examples
Read these testimonies from adjacent landowners who formerly opposed them, now supporting them:
http://www.railstotrails.org/ourwork/trailbuilding/toolbox/informationsummaries/firsthand.html
Here's 37 studies of greenway trails done by a government agency, or by academics.
The studies showed an overall approval of the trails after they were built. The general result was that fears about decrease in property value and increase in crime were seldom voiced after those concerned read the studies.
http://www.brucefreemanrailtrail.org/trail_plans/rail_trail_studies.html
Divide the five mile route into 1/2 mile segments to create seven neighborhood groups. Appoint local home owners who are both pro & con to act as liaisons. Conduct local discussions. Walk the route. Take fieldtrips to see our neighbors' trails and talk with their police about crime along the trail. Review the studies cited above.
For an entire generation, children have been using the power lines in Dunwoody to walk to school safely. Austin Elementary kids walk on it every day. And Kingsley uses it to cross around the lake, too. I have heard that many parents from Austin would welcome paving their trail in-between the power lines.
In the North Fulton Trans Plan, Sandy Springs has approved a "Tier One" project building a trail along the power lines from Morgan Falls Park on the Chattahoochee connecting both to Roswell and to Dunwoody.
Suwanee - one the "Best Places to Live" has a Greenway. Go up to see them or the Roswell/Alpharetta Big Creek Greenway just north of Holcomb Bridge Rd. You'll see both of them with segments running behind private homes.
The Dunwoody power line easement is around 250-ft wide with dual towers. In the very center in-between each tower the distance is appx. 90 feet. A trail needs only to be be 10 ft wide, with 2 feet shoulders for drainage on either side. That's 14 feet divided in the middle. Add privacy fences and leyland cypresses if the residents want them.
Maybe after conducting separate local meeting and discussions with each of the seven groups, you just might find a segment that is willing to build a trail. So take one 1/2-mile segment and build it. Let the local residents along that 1/2 mile use it and then take a survey, get interviews and demonstrate to the rest of the Dunwoody residents that building the trail was just about the best thing that happened to their neighborhood.
Joe--
Clearly you are very passionate about your lifestyle and want to share it with the world. That's a good thing.
However you seem to be blind to opinions and POVs different from yours. That's not a good thing.
My property won't be affected by your recommendations one way or another. But what DOES concern me is the idea (promoted by certain city council memebers) that, "By God, I know better than you what's good for your land and I'll keep at it until you give me what I want from it!!" That may not be your intention, but that is the message coming across.
What will you do if your "trail" plan doesn't work out the way you want? What if it doesn't have a postiive impact? What if you cajole some homeowners into giving up a part of their land and the results are disastrous? What will you (and the City Council members supporting you) do for the homeowners then? This isn't California. Never will be. You can have all of the studies you want but if a homeowner thinks you're ramming an idea down their throat, there's going to be resistance.
How about taking another approach? Like - maybe chilling out for a little bit and showing some respect for the homeowners who aren't gung-ho for your idea. Because that's the one thing I haven't seen yet, from you or from Rob W., and I dont' know that John won't change his mind on the "ED" option.
My recommended approach that I stated is to engage the local residents and have low-level discussions. There's no timeline here.
John has an opinion on ED?
Does that mean he favors Viagra over Cialis?
Seriously, lets have the discussion.
Not fight, discussions.
Private property rights are real and no one should throw around ED as a simple solution.
Just how much is a piece of your land worth?
If I were the homeowners affected, I would start at a million bucks. Sounds crazy? So does throwing ED out as a solution before any discussions start.
Betcha Doug T wishes he could take all that back
Lets all remind ourselves that 2 years ago this side of town was also told it would be a great idea to allow a 2 story liquor store in the area. We actually had to remind city council that we were in fact a part of Dunwoody and wanted the same respect they would give themselves on the good side of town. Now we are being told for the good of everyone; we in the lowly Dorwoody area should give up property rights for the luxury of higher property taxes and less privacy. This again seems to be a case of the old analogy of one man's trash is another man's treasure. What some see as hard to sell, lower priced houses under death causing power lines. Others see as guaranteed privacy due to the power lines themselves and moderate property taxes and less traffic. Despite all the sugar coating about this issue, plenty of facts are not being taken into consideration for the long term. Here is just a few off the top of my head:
#1 the taking of private property by the city for the good of everyone. This is a mayor who did not want his own backyard view obstructed by neighbors building a deck. I for one, do not want my tax monies going to bully other members of the community. Higher property values equals higher property taxes. So for long term residents of the area this is not really an incentive.
#2 Security. Plain and simple this will increase crime in the area. From car break ins, to robbery, to even rape and murder; yes these things do happen on walking trails. It is the false feeling of security on walking/biking trails that make them an easy target (Jennifer Ewing's rape and murder on the Silver Comet trail) for crime. Goggle any trail and put the word crime after it (every one Joe Seconder lists in fact has crime on it and around it due to trails including attacks and a rape in Suwanee) for some quick results. So on that note, Dunwoody will be forced to provide security to the trail and the parking lots. How much is that cost? Will we depend solely on the police or we will hire private security to walk the trail? Also how will we keep people off of it? Will there be times when it's opened or can people be walking it at oh say 3AM?
#3 Restrooms & Sanitation. Will restrooms be provided at some point along the trail? If so, who will police and not to mention clean these? Will we hire janitorial crews for them as well as trash pick up along the trail? Guess we'll also be buying some special small trash pick up's like Decatur has for that as well. Again how we will keep people out of these places at night when the trail is closed? Or can anyone looking for a 3 A.M. hook-up cruise the trail and bathrooms? How much will all this cost over the long run?
#4 Lighting. No matter how small the piece of land you are trying to muscle out of property owners; the fact of light pollution is still not being mentioned. The trail will have to be lit, most likely 24/7 for safety purposes. Even if closed at some hours in the middle of the night, the lights will still have to be on. So on top of forcing home owners to accept people walking on what used to be their property, the constant noise of people and mowers; they must also accept light pollution 24/7. Just much will constant lighting, security and sanitation cost per year to the city for a so-called free walking trail?
All these are questions that need answering, but the sad part is most cannot be answered now in a real factual way and were not even on the cities radar to begin with. There are to many personal egos and interests vested in this and most city issues to get real answers or facts.
Hmm, "3 A.M. cruising the trails and restrooms for a hook-up", that's quite an explicit contention to list, but a very authentic causatum for concern once the trails are in place.
That is a very good point. I hadn't thought of that. I try not to - but being from the big city I know it's a reality.
I guess in order to curb that type of activity, Dunwoody cops would have to bring in a separate vice squad that would either have some of their force act the part of the female harlot to capture the "johns" in the "johns" or sit on the "johns" and await toe tapping US Senators in the next stall.
I sure wouldn't want to be the tactical officer assigned to this one.
I attended tonights meeting and felt it was a waste of time seeing that we the citizens could not ask any questions about the Greenway.We did get to mark in red or green marker areas we did not want it to run through and I must say it was pretty much the entire area of Kingsley.I truly hope all the councilmen get it seeing the large number of people who were there to oppose it.By the way I did not see councilman Doug Thompson in attendance tonight.Was this just another example of how weak his character is to not come and listen to his constituentes or did the other councilmen ban him from the meeting afraid he would say something more stupid than his last Eminent Domain comments.
I attended the Greenway Meeting and I am so sad to say that not even at drunken fraternity parties have I ever witnessed such rude, greedy, piggish behavior.
I'm tempted to edit my video taken of the meeting and post it on youTube in order that the world may witness as well that the residents of our city are of no more quality than the spoiled teens from MTV's "My Sweet Sixteen" show.
We really have to be better than the absence of character that was displayed at that meeting. I am really embarrassed to say I hail from Dunwoody anymore.
That meeting had nothing to do with exercising our democratic rights. It was just boorish behavior with people shouting about ME ME ME! We are not a community but a bunch of Paris Hilton clones.
What I had wanted to express at the greenway meeting was that I really believe that those homeowners that border the power-line easements should reconsider the greenway trail proposal.
When we were looking for homes in this area, we avoided the houses that bordered the power-lines as we had young children.
But I would think that having a trail that winds it way under and by the power-lines with other community children trekking on it would make the overhead high-voltage towers and lines seem less nocuous or insidious and would maybe even improve the property value of the bordering homes and increase their chances of a resell. So much so that it would outweigh what little bit of their land that they would have to give up to accommodate the establishment of the trail.
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