Interstate in your Backyard

How did Sidney Marcus and John Howell Parks come to be?  Why on North Pelham are there a group of homes looking as though they were built in the 80s among 1929 bungalows?  Why was the MLPA originally created?

All neighbors should read this very interesting 2003 article by the MLPA about I-485 – the highway (yes highway) that almost was.  It’s hard to believe that there was a time when bulldozers were in our backyards.

Thank you Park Pride!

Park Pride recently awarded the Morningside Parks Commission a Micro-Grant for a toddler play area at Sidney Marcus Park.  MPC is also grateful for NPU-F’s endorsement of this project.  The Park Pride Micro-Grant program is made possible through the generous support of the Cecil B. Day Family Foundation and provides matching grants to neighborhood groups to implement park improvement projects.  Thanks to the support of Park Pride, we are on our way!

Please remember to support Park Pride, your Neighborhood Planning Unit, and the MLPA.

Parks | 2.0

MPC is now fully integrated with the various Web 2.0 resources.  When the latest MPC news hits the net, each post will be automatically distributed to your preferred 2.0 connection.  We invite you to join/follow our Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn pages to stay informed and to participate.  Now Get Outside!

Parks Atlanta Rescue Coalition

Among the 25 largest cities in the United States, none has a smaller percentage of its land dedicated to parks than Atlanta.  That’s right.  Atlanta.

On top of that, since 1993, the City of Atlanta has cut the number of parks and recreation employees in half.

That’s why the Morningisde Parks Commission has endorsed the Parks Atlanta Rescue Coalition (PARC)’s (a coalition of community leaders, park advocates and environmental organizations) three-point plan for Atlanta’s Parks – the 2009 Act to Save Atlanta’s Parks (ASAP)!:

1.  ENSURE THE QUALITY OF ATLANTA’S PARK SYSTEM BY DEDICATING 1 MIL OF EXISTING PROPERTY TAX TO OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE – BY 2012

2.  ESTABLISH DEDICATED FUNDING FOR LAND ACQUISITION AND PARK DEVELOPMENT SO THAT ATLANTA’S PARKLAND NO LONGER RANKS LAST AMONG THE NATION’S 25 LARGEST CITIES – BY 2013

3.  TAKE CONCRETE STEPS TO MAKE ATLANTA’S PARKS SAFER – BY 2010

For more information on how you can improve the quality of life, public health, environment and economy of our city by endorsing the 2009 ASAP and working to create a world-class park system in the City of Atlanta, please visit PARC’s website.

Get Outside

The nature movement is alive and well in Atlanta.  Richard Louv, author of the popular Last Child in the Woods and creator of the Children and Nature Network, spoke this month at Buckhead’s Trinity Presbyterian Church to a packed house.  Mr. Louv’s thesis is simple – children today do not spend enough time outdoors.  

Mr. Louv’s premise starts with childhood memories of the woods near his home, which predictably were soon marked with surveyor stakes, then bulldozer tracks, and then a stripmall.  He describes his sense of loss and longing for “his” woods throughout his book.  Even his son wonders, “Dad, how come it was more fun when you were a kid?”  Mr. Louv hopes that today’s children will begin to turn away from the cycle of indoor electronics-based play, obesity, and resultant health problems, and reconnect to all that is green.  Ted Turner, speaking at the Piedmont Park Conservancy’s Landmark Lunch on May 13th, echoed Mr. Louv’s memories when he described the woods near his Savannah childhood home, which were similarly lost to development, and called for Atlanta to vigorously support its parks and green spaces – especially in these tough economic times.

MPC hopes that the City will continue to join Mr. Louv’s movement and that we get outside!  For more information on the Children and Nature Movement, you can visit this site and watch this short video.