I had a glorious Saturday morning and I hope you enjoyed yours as well! Trying to keep my body from falling apart, Saturday is my dedicated, (try real hard not to miss), 7 a.m. Endurance Ride at Cyclebar Dunwoody where the class is a 75 min long, music thumping, heart pumping/calorie burning struggle to kick my own ass. I usually succeed. If you ever want to join me, the first class is free - just reach out.
Next stop is usually Starbucks for my morning coffee to cool down to get caught up on e-mails, news, and social media. Sometimes it's the Village but this morning I hit up the shop on Chamblee Dunwoody & 285. Sitting there on a stool still dripping with sweat, a father and teenage son come over asking if I was Heneghan? I quickly popped up to introduce myself and chat city business. Though the son was wearing Concorde Soccer gear and a Dunwoody High ball cap, they were unaware of the two new artificial turf soccer fields being constructed over at Brook Run Park, but they were completely overjoyed at the news. They appreciated the conversation, thanked me for the service and I let them know that I appreciated the fact that they allow me to serve the community!
As I sat in Starbucks, Facebook lit up telling me that Dunwoody Councilwoman Lynn Deutsch was live streaming the Dunwoody Farmers Market and introducing all of the vendors. As I was about to head in that direction, someone tagged me in a tweet concerning ongoing troublesome intersection at for pedestrians and especially runners at Nandina and Mount Vernon as the drivers like to believe that the stop sign there doesn't apply to them. I had dealt with this complaint previously and after asking for a full engineering study for improving the safety, we figured clearing the vegetation so the cars approaching the stop sign could see the pedestrians might effect positive change along with police enforcement. After today's near miss, it looks like more needs to be done and I will be discussing with Public Works other options like a stop bump or a raised crosswark. After some back and forth on Twitter with a promise to follow up, I was off to Brook Run to check out the Farmers Market.
The Farmers Market is a great addition to the community with numerous vendors selling baked goods, prepared foods, fresh produce, honey, meats, cheeses, coffee, juices as well as a few craft and candle sellers. Today the visitors were entertained by the musical stylings of Mr. Alex Gordon and there was free face painting too (but the line was a little long for me as there might have been just one person in line. Maybe next time?) As I checked out the various booths, I saw numerous people I knew walking around, lots of neighbors from my Dunwoody North community located directly across the street from the park, council members, people heavily involved in the community like Alan Mothner, Adrienne Duncan and Susan Wittenstein, people with dogs out on their walk, lots of strollers and little kids dressed in their finest soccer apparel. I talked to vendors like Shelly at Pastry Shells who just informed me that she is now being featured by Crate & Barrel, and Matt at Press Blend Squeeze who is about to open another store and Tina Walden of who is looking forward to selling her artwork at the Dunwoody Art Festival next week. After making my rounds, it was time to make a few purchases and looking back at my choices, I think I need to learn to not to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach after working out. My wife loves Great Harvest Bread, so two loaves of bread were the first items in my bag, followed by one of Shelly's cookies, I then bought my Indian crafted lunch items including a spicy green chili chutney to top Spinage samosas. Walking around with low blood sugar, I then sampled a few snacks and cakes - purchasing way too many sweets. Lesson learned?
As I was talking to various neighbors, a friend mentioned that there were electric scooters over at Pernosal Park and asked if they were legally allowed? We quickly discussed the problems of scooters left haphazardly on sidewalks in Atlanta and that some communities were outlawing them but I informed her that in Dunwoody we haven't seen them, nor are they a problem, therefore, we were not going to regulate them until it makes sense to do so. I informed my friend that I was in favor of the scooters and could see them as a tool for last mile connectivity. I especially see the benefit in Perimeter Center & Marta for short trip transportation as well as at the parks for entertainment. Since the Lime scooters were there, I needed to test them. I pulled up the Lime app, registered and had access to the scooter within minutes. I jumped on and then decided to ride the entire three-mile trail to test drive the scooter. I was impressed, the driving was smooth for my 6 ft 4 in frame weighing 250 lbs and the scooter moved quite quickly except for the steepest hills where I think I actually heard the scooter crying. The entire loop (I shortcut the section around the playground), included stops along the way to talk to Lynn Deutsch and some Mormon Missionaries (they always impress me.) took about 30 mins and cost $6.10. I hope to see more.
3 comments:
Hi John,
I'm glad you've had a good first impression of the scooters. My frequent encounters with them have largely been otherwise. Several near misses when driving my motorcycle or car when they cross against the lights with no thought given to oncoming & crossing traffic, many times on sidewalks with pedestrians desperately leaping aside to avoid being bowled over, and abandoned scooters left lying across busy sidewalks for folks to trip over should they fail to see them, has been my lot. I also gather the injury rates are absurdly high in cities where studies have been undertaken. However, I would be the last to discourage folks from transportation methods that are more risky than cars, given my many years with only a motorcycle. That came to an end, amusingly enough, after a spill in bad weather on I-20 last fall, resulting in bruises, a few broken ribs, and some slightly torn organs. Full recovery for what its worth, though it took until recently before I'd regained my strength & stamina.
I'm impressed that council has decided to take a wait and see approach because it is possible that we'll not experience what I've seen in town and in other cities where I've encountered the scooters. It would be nice because that last mile connectivity piece is still needed for folks who can't or don't want to walk such distances. Sometimes it is because they are burdened or the weather is poor. Of course, the scooters won't help the weather, but they'll save time for folks in a hurry to keep appointments. I'm still frequently a pedestrian around here given my proximity to perimeter center so I'll keep an eye out if or when those scooters begin to appear on Ashford Dunwoody Road.
https://atlanta.curbed.com/2019/5/6/18531236/e-scooters-poll-regulations-last-mile-connectivity
2/3rd of poll responders say Atlanta is better off with e-scooters
"a recent study shows that, in March alone, 30 percent of the more than 380,000(!) miles Atlantans traveled on dockless vehicles replaced car trips."
LOL! I'm glad not all governing is done by polls. That being said, it wouldn't be the first time I was more dubious than my fellow homo sapiens about the impacts of new gadgets and ideas. If they are to be here in Dunwoody, I can only hope that folks will be a bit more conscientious and courteous in using and parking the things. If I begin to see them around here, I'll recommend to friends sufficiently fit to give them a whirl, though I think I'll pass and keep walking.
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