Friday, March 2, 2012
The Ward 7 City Council member updated his constituents about the state of the city and the status of some of its developments at a recent Bennett Woods neighborhood meeting.
Ron Fennel, Ward 7 City Council member, said he thinks Smyrna is well positioned to bounce back from the impacts of a sluggish economy. Residents of Bennett Woods and the surrounding neighborhoods brought their concerns and questions to Fennel at a neighborhood meeting Tuesday, Feb. 28 at City Hall. “We have a better positioning for the city of Smyrna than many of our competitive cities in Metro Atlanta to come out of these economic doldrums that we’re in,” he said. “I’m excited about the position we are in as Smyrna. We’re very business friendly. We welcome small businesses locating and relocating here or trying to help them grow.” Fennel explained that City Council members, four of whom are serving their first terms, mapped out …
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
The editor bids farewell as he relinquishes the reigns and allows a new editor the chance to breathe their own life into Smyrna-Vinings Patch.
Well Smyrna-Vinings (and you too Cumberland Community Improvement District), the time has come to say au revoir. This will be my final post as the Smyrna-Vinings Patch Local Editor as later today I will ease on southward down Atlanta Road towards the city to assume the same responsibilities with Midtown Patch. While I’m excited about the challenges ahead, I’m saddened a bit at bidding goodbye to this wonderful area, Smyrna-Vinings. It was 14 months ago last week that I helped birth this Patch, and this will be article No. 2,318 that has been published since. A lot has changed during this time. Smyrna has four new city council members, Campbell High and Smyrna middle school both have a new principals, Vinings Jubilee has a new Tower Stage, …
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Grand opening of new Smyrna grocery store brings a whole new shopping experience for local residents to explore.
Sure it’s only a grocery store, but it opened to a lot of fanfare and backslapping Wednesday morning in Smyrna. The 90,000-plus square-foot Kroger that anchors The Crossings at Four Corners development project is officially open for business. “We’re really excited about this,’’ Kroger Company District Manager Ken Young said to a gathering of a couple hundred people at the ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the store. “We hope that you will find we’ll give you no reason to shop anywhere else.” The store is the fourth largest in the state and features more than 55,000 unique items, including more than 20,000 items in the grocery department. A total of 24 rows span the store that also features a Starbucks and a Fifth Third Bank. With an expanded…
“I think the employees need to have a comfort level to know that their elected officials have their best interest at heart.’’ - Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon
Smyrna Finance Director Robert Porche told the city council last week that through the first six months of the fiscal year, the city is operating at a much more efficient pace this year than last. “Our revenue is down, but we’re spending a lot less,’’ Porche told Mayor Max Bacon and the council. “The sentiment here is that we need to live within our means.” Through Dec. 31, 2011, the City of Smyrna collected $26.1 million during the current fiscal year as opposed to $26.3 million last year. “Revenue is down as expected, however, expenditures are down,’’ Porche said. “We’ve expended $17.04 million, which is $683,000 less than we expended at this time last year.’’ He went on to explain how the city had collected 97 percent of its property …
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Community Development Department updates new elected officials; city working on introducing a second Opportunity Zone in Ward 3 to keep existing businesses.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Smyrna city council on Tuesday night tabled the public hearing on the Jonquil Village development site plan and zoning conditions until next month.
Smyrna officials are yearning to see the Jonquil Village development project begin construction, but more than anything, they want to make sure the long delayed mixed-use project at the corner of Atlanta and Spring roads is done correctly. That was the prevailing sentiment at Tuesday’s city council meeting, where council members unanimously approved tabling a scheduled public hearing to discuss Branch Capital Properties’ site plan and zoning condition on the project until Feb. 20. “I don’t think there’s a person in the city who doesn’t want to see something happen with the site…but it is so critical that we really be certain of what we’re doing,’’ said Councilwoman Teri Anulewicz, who represents Ward 3 where the project is located. With …
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
A look at the progress of construction projects across Smyrna.
The countdown continues for the new Kroger store to open next week at The Crossings at Four Corners. The 153,000-square-foot redevelopment project at the corner of South Cobb Drive and Concord Road will be anchored by a 93,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace. The ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for Wednesday, Jan. 25 for the new store and the new Kroger Fuel Center. Across the street, Kroger manager Daniel Thurmond and his employees are busy moving out of the 28-year-old, 42,000 square-foot store and making the move to the larger store, which is expected to bring about 100 new jobs to the city. On Monday, Jan. 23 the new traffic signal on South Cobb Drive in front of the Four Corners development will be in operation. As far as other local …
A concerned Jonquil City citizen opines about her neighborhood and city and what can be done to improve them.
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
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 …
Monday, January 16, 2012
Smyrna city council meets Tuesday; Cobb Chamber of Commerce still accepting nominations for Cobb's Top 25 Small Businesses of the Year.
As expected, the Smyrna city council has tabled a scheduled public hearing at Tuesday’s council meeting to discuss Branch Capital Properties’ site plan and zoning condition for the once-known Jonquil Village development project. There will be a public hearing concerning the city’s zoning ordinance to permit the outdoor retail sale of large outdoor products in a general commercial zoning district. The full agenda can be found here. The meeting is set for 7:30 p.m.in the City Hall building located at 2800 King Street. The public is invited, but the meeting will be televised live on Charter Communications Public Access Channel 19. Replays of council meetings air the second and fourth Thursday of the month on Channel 23 at 7 p.m. See the TV23 …
Saturday, January 14, 2012
The Smyrna state senator will conduct a discussion of the issues being addressed by the current Georgia General Assembly.
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Saturday, January 14, 2012
State Sen. Doug Stoner (D-Smyrna) will host a town hall meeting Thursday, Jan. 19, at 6:30 p.m. at Vinings Bank. Join Sen. Stoner at the bank, located at 4135 Atlanta Road in Smyrna, for a discussion of the issues being addressed by the Georgia General Assembly, and the impact of those issues on the local community. On his website, Sen. Stoner outlined Saturday how the senate approved two education-related bills this past week. SB 184, approved by the Republican majority on a party-line vote, would mandate how local school boards determine which teachers lose their jobs when layoffs are forced by budget cuts, thus taking away local control. SB 38, which passed unanimously, would authorize the state school superintendent to hire and fire …
Open Your Eyes
9:58 pm on Thursday, September 6, 2012
That is an interesting idea. I wonder how practical and fair the above idea would be though. Seems like it is very unfair to those businesses that rent cars to be supporting a few downtown businesses. It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul. Potential renters might choose just to rent in nearby City's instead. And I would guess that most car rentals in that location are not for tourist but instead … more ›