Community Corner

Letter to the Editor: Smyrna Heights Resident Sounds Off on Concord Road

In a letter to the editor Mary Kirkendoll said Concord Road has damaged her neighborhood.

 

This is a complete and utter abuse and waste of over 20 million of taxpayers dollars! What standard is the city using to guage 'improvements'? The medians along Spring Road from Atlanta to Campbell Road haven't improved any of the existing neighborhoods, nor resulted in attracting any new, quality businesses. We-buy-Gold shops, pawn shops, smoke shops and mega gas stations don't qualify as 'improvements', in my book. 

The only 'improvement' I can figure, is the bank accounts of the contractors and engineers working on the long, drawn out project. Or the improved commute of people that live far outside of the city limits of Smyrna and Smyrna neighborhoods. I would prefer the improvements improve OUR lives, instead of theirs! 

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Visiting other cities & surfing the web results in an abundance of alternative options that would have greatly 'improved' Smyrna's image & Concord Road, at a much smaller cost and shorter timeframe. 

Concord Road IS a neighborhood street that cuts through the center of Smyrna Heights 400 of so bungalows and ranch homes. This neighborhood should have been preserved as just that, a neighborhood.

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Is there NOONE in city hall that understands the importance of retaining and enhancing quaint, village-style neighborhoods, as a core attraction to residential home buyers? A mere 2-3 million dollars could have designed a wonderful 10 block, pedestrian friendly corridor w/ 17 million leftover to beautify and design other negleted areas thoughout Smyrna. 

What could we have seen done for 3 million , you ask?

If comparing 1,000's of similar sized projects done for between 2 and 3 million, this is what should have resulted by 2007 or 2008 from the 2005 SPLOST.

1) A clean, vibrant corridor that defines sense of place for the neighborhoods along Concord Road.

2) An asthetically appealing commercial corridor for the city of Smyrna.

3) Realigned roadway, w/ clear turnlanes, clear stripping, more marked, enhanced pedestrian crosswalks and buildouts for pedestrian safety.

4) On road, seperated , stripped  BIKE LANEs.  (these would continue along Spring Road to Cumberland Blvd. in  place of the redundant sidewalks at the curb)

5) Pedestrian enhanced walkways w/ benches, landscaping , decorative street lighting and directional sinage.

6) Street trees, street trees, street trees!! (bioswales & native, drought tolerant plantings, too!! No sod along roadway)

7) Facade improvements for existing businesses.

8) Incentives for new 'neighborhood' style businesses & resturants. (this should iclude art galleries, botiques, clothes & accesories, household goods & patio style resturants)

9) Entrance signs for all neighborhoods, including Forrest Hills & Smyrna Heights

10) Left turn on King Road w/ arrow ONLY!This could have already been a completed and attractive asset to Smyrna. As it stands now, and hearing more of the same, 'non anwer' answers from the city officials and engineers,.. this project has turned into the biggest UNimprovement and DRAIN on the city and citizens of Smyrna that will hurt for years to come. 

It needs to be STOPPED, CHANGED (w/ the help of the surrounding neighborhoods input)  and COMPLETE by the end of 2013!

We don't have a few more years of house value left , to allow this project to continue to look like it does. Enough is enough!!

-Mary Kirkendoll

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