UPDATE: Resident - 'What is going to become of Smyrna Heights?'

Update: Jan. 31, 2012

By Mary Kirkendoll

I very much love diversity. My favorite areas - Decatur, Chamblee, Norcross, Inman Park and Oakhurst - are all very diverse communities.

A good mix of people in a community is what should be sought. It also needs a good mix of businesses and jobs. Otherwise, as jobs leave an area what remains are many unemployed or underemployed people who don't have the means to open businesses, repair houses or support local businesses, shops & restaurants. Rental homes tend to go without remodeling and only see minimal repairs.

I described the gentleman that purchased the foreclosure next door on Oakview because he was indeed from India, was an investor hunting cheap properties, and his statement to me was that he doesn't 'live' in this area, which I took as it was 'beneath' him.

I am very familiar what happens to a neighborhood when people bury their heads in the sand. From 2001 to 2005, my Smyrna Church Road neighborhood deteriorated into rental boarding houses with the mac daddy next door to me. When neighborhoods close their eyes to reality, you can very well end up with a 'super meth lab' run by a dangerous drug cartel in the house next door. The investors that owned the Church Rd. home lived in a gated community in Alpharetta!

I welcome ANY home ownership by ANY persons or nationality in our free country. The problem we are having in the Smyrna Heights neighborhood, though, is the large amount of rental homes. This can no doubt bring a neighborhood to much lower economic standing and lowers house values.

Anyone who does not understand the detrimental effect a disproportion of rental houses can have on an already struggling community should educate themself before preaching to the community.

Smyrna Heights is in desperate need of a TRUE neighborhood advocate in city hall.

Thanks again,

Mary

UPDATE: Jan. 19, 2012

By Mary Kirkendoll

My right to address the city officials comes from the fact I am a citizen and taxpayer in the city of Smyrna and is not from whether I decide or not to be a member of a neighborhood group.

I do believe there are many good people living in Smyrna's neighborhoods. I do believe they/we need a city that is working with us and for us and to help protect our assets, our environment, our freedom and our FUTURE!

I do not think the city of Smyrna has presented the citizens with a quality plan or vision that encompasses the city as a whole, one that addresses traffic, transit, biking, pedestrian corridors, natural environments, neighborhoods, parks, entertainment, natural trails, schools and jobs and how these all mesh together to create our city.

If there was such a plan, the Jonquil Village should be a prime example of how the city is committed to bringing a quality mixed use development into the main downtown area, that will forever guide the direction of Smyrna's future.

City officials should be visionary enough to eliminate a Publix grocery store from that project. Jonquil is the perfect location for a true live/work community. It needs offices and loft condos above street retail and businesses. Even the name could be more hip, like the Jonquil District!

It needs to be modern, different and pedestrian (not car) friendly.

It needs to catapult the Concord Road project into a pedestrian friendly corridor. Concord Road traffic will not become calmer or less congested by adding a median. Concord Road is a neighborhood road. It cuts through the middle of Smyrna Heights.

Concord Road has the opportunity to become like SoCo of Austin, Texas. The hip area of South Congress Avenue is full of older bungalows turned into coffee shops, bookstores, restaurants and art galleries. All I ask is...20 million dollars to achieve what?

I feel we are all in the dark. The city can't show us plans, because they themselves aren't sure of the plan.

Mr. Murphy is talking restaurants with outside seating and street trees, all of which I agree. The problem will be, with a Publix anchor, the restaurants will likely be McDonald’s or Taco Bell.

Belmont Hills should be part of the whole vision, too. The whole plan. Now that there's a large school at Belmont Hills, it could easily incorporate the Publix, a Marriott Suites type hotel and several entertainment venues like a theater and live music venue.

Keep Jonquil as a walkable, livable, enjoyable, aesthetically pretty destination similar to Woodstock’s downtown and you never know... Market Village could revive and spring to life!

Smyrna needs to strive for the best, not settle for whatever might come this way. Wide cement, treeless sidewalks are not the way. Cutting down a forest, to build a LEED-certified school is not the way. Wider roads cutting through neighborhoods is not the way.

There really is another way!

ORIGINAL POST: Jan. 17, 2012

By Mary Kirkendoll

To Smyrna Heights residents,

We are in the midst of losing all our house value. I moved to Oakview Road in 2007. The reason I picked here was the indication from the that it was quickly moving forward with the Concord Road improvements. I attended the Croy meeting June or July ’07 and they had a clear plan that was set to begin with Jim Croy stating the completion date would be about two years.

Anyone that doesn't see clearly what is happening needs to really pay attention.

The $8.2 million from the original 2005 SPLOST (was an extraordinary amount in the first place) certainly should have produced an awesome neighborhood corridor. Somewhere in August 2009, the city changed plans and instead of creating a vibrant street for small businesses and restaurants, decided to buy out many of the businesses along Concord Rd. (without notifying the residents of Smyrna Heights about the new direction or asking for input).

I have the acquisitions list and think Smyrna Heights residents should want to see it. The city avoids sharing much needed information on the city website.

The total spent to buy 20 properties was $5.4 million! We taxpayers paid $670,000 for the carwash that was next to Ace Hardware.

My concern is since 2005, not one solitary improvement has been made along Concord. And now the city has added $11 million more from the 2011 SPLOST, also for this same small strip of Concord Rd.

Who doesn't agree with me that if we, the neighborhood, had had a shared input with the Concord Rd. plan, we could have totally transformed this area with the $5 million?

I think way too much money is being misspent. And I will be more than glad to let anyone who wants to look at the 2005 check registry that I have see it...and I have studied very closely. The widening of Concord is an unnecessary waste. We deserve a neighborhood walkable/pedestrian corridor.

Please take some time to go see how communities around Atlanta try to slow traffic and discourage cut-through traffic through neighborhood streets. And Concord is our neighborhood street.

Turn off Peachtree St. onto Dresden Dr. and you will see a great example of street design surrounding the new mixed-use Brookhaven Village. Also, Woodstock has followed with a beautiful pedestrian, walkable footprint throughout their downtown district.

Alpharetta is breaking ground on changing its main street from a four lane, to a two lane with on-street parking, surrounded by a new downtown/parking deck/mixed-use. (what Jonquil should become - not a Publix shopping center!!)

Folks, I don't complain just to complain. We (Smyrna Heights) residents are being harmed by the lack of a neighborhood advocate in city hall.

What prompted me to write this is on my street, Oakview Drive, the new rental house across the street has several men that seem to possibly have dangerous dogs at the house. I was in my yard (Saturday) and they were trying to get a huge mastiff under control, along with a German shepherd. The dog was larger than the guy trying to hold it back on the leash. At 9 p.m. they were back out walking these animals around the 'hood. I called the police just to ask if we could have a patrol car 'take a ride' through the neighborhood - to just give us some feeling of security. My request basically fell on deaf ears. The dispatcher said if the dogs were off their leashes that was an animal control issue. She didn't seem to understand that my request was for a police patrol through the neighborhood to help the neighborhood feel safer.

It's a neighborhood issue, and with conditions so poor and rundown along our main corridors, we will lose more and more of our homes to 'iffy' rentals that will continue to drag down any hope of retaining value!! The house next door to me sold for $84,000 foreclosure and now has 'For Rent' sign. An Indian man bought the house and told me he does not live in the area. Two new 'For Rent' signs went up just (Saturday) on McCaully.

Look, if anyone has taken the time to read this, this isn't something that can be talked about in years to come. Smyrna Heights is in a fast decline, and I'm not really prepared to be a homeless person due to losing my house value.

I would rather see the Smyrna Heights group bring realistic and immediate ideas before our council. And get some immediate beautification projects started and repair our neighborhood to make it look more inviting to a class of people that will want to live here, invest money into their homes and help turn things back around.

A gentleman at a recent meeting stated "don't expect the city - you gotta do it yourself." I DISAGREE! The City of Smyrna must help and work with the residents and listen and partner with them and spend some funds in and around Smyrna Heights right away!

Otherwise, we will end up in a situation like Highlands Apartments or Hickory Lakes. We will become so rundown and devalued, someone, whether the city or a developer, will come and buy us all out.

These houses are no different than the quaint houses surrounding the city of Chamblee, Brookhaven and Decatur. Those areas feel like neighborhoods. Go ride around and see the difference. There are neighborhood restaurants, shops and entertainment. The street trees and winding walkways feel homey. Many houses are remodeled and added onto. Small houses mix with big houses. Parks have neat little sitting areas and nice looking organic wooden fences and rock walls, native landscaping and small neighborhood community gardens. Everyone pitches in to bring up the area to a higher standard.

I appreciate one local resident’s work on a Linear Park plan. I do. I just think it’s too extravagant, too much for now. What we need now is the city working on our corridors on a regular schedule corner to corner, block by block. Just planting some street trees would be a start!

What kind of businesses do any of you think will come into this area when the demographics are steadily changing to rental? And with Brown Elementary closing, a Publix shopping center in the middle of what should be a walkable/pedestrian area and wider, faster streets - what is going to become of Smyrna Heights?

I think we need to sit in small groups quickly and come up with some immediate plans of action.

Have a great day,

Mary Kirkendoll