Heneghan’s Dunwoody Blog

Thursday, October 31, 2013

City of Dunwoody Parks and Recreation provides few services directly to residents yet we should be providing a quarterly activity guide.

http://newpointmediadigipub.com/publication/?m=19588&l=1

On October 17th, I posted an idea for a community activity guide (much like shown above for the City of Duluth) and have been working with staff and a few vendors to attempt to turn an idea into reality.

My thinking is that if the City is not going to offer much programing, we should be consolidating and offering information on activities offered by local nonprofits to the residents so that they can be aware of what is available.

The Dunwoody recreation staffing model is very lean and this project would probably be contracted out. An electronic directory or version of the information would be available on line and then maybe a hard copy of the document could possibly be delivered to every drive way by the City organ, The Dunwoody Crier.

Mayor Davis is very supportive of the idea but ideas need to be flushed out, how will this be put together, published and finally how will it be funded.

Thoughts?

Dunwoody Election Day is this Tuesday Nov 5th from 7 am to 7 pm

Election Day is fast approaching on Tuesday and because there is only a single item on the ballot voter turnout is expected to be low. Only the the three local Dunwoody City Council seats are contested and then you only get to vote in the district in which you are registered.

Above is a map pulled from the Dunwoody GIS System identifying the three city council districts with the actual voting precincts whereby some precincts are split between several city council districts.

The polls will open for the November 5, 2013 Municipal General Election at 7:00 a.m. and will close at 7:00 p.m. at your designated voter precinct. If no candidate receives a majority vote in Districts 1 & 2, then a runoff election will be held on Tuesday, December 3, 2013 at the same precinct locations.

At about 7:30 the polling workers are required to post a paper tape of the results behind a glass window or door upon closing therefore runners are typically assigned to wait for the results and call them into a central location for unofficial tallying.

By 8 pm, the results will be known.

Real question is are you ready to vote? Have you researched the candidates in your district?

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Two Lane Roads with dedicated Bike Lanes make Dunwoody a safer community for everyone.

The City of Dunwoody will not be four laneing our major roads to alleviate our rush hour traffic jams, instead we will be adding turn lanes where appropriate along with additional street width for dedicated bike lanes. As a member of the City Council I hear quite a bit of negative feedback on us spending money on the bike lanes that we are attempting to add to our main thoroughfares and let me tell you that the investment is not just for our spandex wearing bikers.

These lanes are there for everyone to use in the case of an emergency; as it is those lanes which will allow drivers enough room to move to the right to allow an emergency vehicle through. Grid locked streets without a means to allow emergency vehicles to pass, is poor planning therefore bike lanes are part of the long term solution. This message though communicated before, needed to be repeated as I believe it was one aspect that has been forgotten about in our conversations of government spending.

Below are drawings for Mount Vernon Rd with 11 ft lanes and 4 ft "bike lanes" and a foot and half gutter on each side for a total of 33 feet curb to curb.

A typical car or SUV is 7 to 8 feet wide. A fire truck needs about 10 feet for passage. So most places on these streets could conceivably allow for two cars and a fire truck side by side but the planned cross section would certainly allow for a fire truck to operate with a little more room which would likely benefit response time.

Mayor Ken Wright addresses Council on Dunwoody Village Parkway

Dear Council,

First & foremost, I wanted to express my family’s gratitude and appreciation to you for your service. Serving at the local level is the most demanding, raw, and unfiltered level of service available in this great country of ours. It's you, your loved ones, your friends, your neighbors and your community as your stakeholders.

It's like an extended Thanksgiving get together: You've got your know it all Aunt who has all the easy answers, your drunkard distant step grandfather who believes the world revolves around him and his personal entitlements, to hell with the rest of the family, your over bearing mother, and of course your siblings that have their own very strong and always right personal opinions on every topic of discussion.

In a nutshell, it's a tough crowd to feed and peacefully coexist. You're tasked with keeping and moving the family together in the most thoughtful, forthright and best manner you can, no easy job.

As far as Dunwoody Village Parkway is concerned, let me lend you this family member’s opinion: When Dunwoody Village parkway was cut, the thought was that all Dunwoody major roads would soon be four lane, it was "forward thinking" at the time.

Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Roberts Drive, Peeler, Tilly Mill, North Peachtree, Spalding Drive, Dunwoody Club Drive, Cotillion, Shallowford, Peachford, Mount Vernon all are major Dunwoody roadways and are only two lanes.

In fact, most of us love our two lane roads here in Dunwoody. In the 70's, a group of citizens fought like hell to prevent Ashford Dunwoody Road from becoming 4 lanes, they fought to have bike lanes and sidewalks instead. They lost, and Central Perimeter exploded. The irony is that many of these same protesters now vehemently oppose Dunwoody Village parkway becoming two lanes, a walkable / bikeable area.

Dunwoody Village Parkway is not Ashford Dunwoody Road and Dunwoody Village is not Perimeter Mall. I imagine Dunwoody Village is called a Village and not a mall because it is surrounded on and abutted by all sides by thousands of homes. In those homes are kids and adults, many wanting to get out, walk, and bike around “the village.”

To what extent and what ultimate form the remake of Dunwoody Village Parkway takes shape, if any, is in your hands, that's why you were elected, that's why you make the big bucks.

I firmly believe one thing is for sure, Dunwoody Village Parkway, in its current form, is unacceptable now and for future generations.

I wish you all the best.

Founding Mayor

Ken Wright

Dunwoody City Council Recap for October 27, 2013

Everything on the agenda passed as presented with the only changes to the budget being a few minor revenue changes to the positive. We heard of additional delays on the CAD to CAD project, we heard a preliminary report that an independent school system based on Dunwoody's revenue and expenses to be not only feasible if implemented at the current levels but would be running a surplus which could be lowered by reducing taxes or we could reduce the proposed class sizes to improve the services provided. The final report on the feasibility of an independent school system should be available around Thanksgiving and when presented to me I will post. We approved the final contract to the Dunwoody Village Parkway.

Shooting video tonight was hit or miss as I was knocked off for lack of bandwidth a number of times but that being said, there are 7 video segments available here.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/dunwoodycc

Monday, October 28, 2013

Video - Young Families of Dunwoody City Council Candidate Q and A Session

Entire Political Forum Video