¡ Opening
– Meeting opened at 7:07 with new attendee introductions
– April meeting minutes approved
- Later noted that minutes stated Beer Fest date of 5/11; should be 5/17
¡ Committee Reports / Announcements
– EAVFM, Lolly
- The market is averaging 550 people/market
- EACA has hosted a booth each week, with various activities, including children’s activities
- New vendors
¡ Pearson Farms (pecans, peaches)
¡ Smart Chicks farms
- EAVFM accepts and doubles food stamps
¡ Experiencing a record high EBT redemption rate
- New guests get $5 to spend at the market
- Events
¡ Peach Jam coming up on June 26th
¡ Rose Bigelow doing chef’s demonstration this week (5/15); Fred Heurtin will be doing a demo 5/29
- EAVFM leadership is available for outreach
– Public Safety
- Lt. Floyd, APD Zone 6, evening watch commander
¡ 25% decrease in crime in Zone 6
¡ Burglary issue, which has been prevalent in East Atlanta, has improved—4 burglaries in 28 days; 1 robbery in the same period (Flat Shoals corridor)
¡ Improvements are due to increased police presence
¡ Tactical Traffic Unit has been active, helping to deter crimes
¡ Q&A
– Steve asked about the triple home invasion follow-up
– Question about joint efforts with DeKalb police outside of City limits
- Some safety checkpoints, etc. during the night; respective forces are occupied with issues during the late afternoon / evening
- Lt. Floyd believes some of the issues in East Atlanta last year have been pushed to DeKalb County since criminal activities aren’t successful in East Atlanta
- Nextdoor.com – posting some updates on police activity / success stories
¡ Nextdoor is like Facebook for neighborhoods; East Atlanta has a page
– East Atlanta Beer Fest this Saturday, May 17th, 1 to 6 PM
- EACA will have a popcorn booth to raise money
- Beer Fest supports our community in various ways, through grants and donations ($500k in the last 10 years)
¡ Neighbor in Need, BATL, East Atlanta Kids Club
¡ Please come support the festival, tell your friends to come, social media, etc.
- On track to hit last year’s ticket #s, but still down from previous years
- Still taking volunteers
¡ Primary needs are for Friday and post-festival (6 PM after the festival, or Sunday morning)
¡ Get a t-shirt, pint glass, volunteer party, free beer!
- Uber will be on-site
- Streets around Brownwood Park will be closed
– Membership, Rose Bigelow
- Membership is up
¡ Membership is only $10 / household, members get discounts in the neighborhood
¡ Only members can vote at meetings
- Planning to host a membership social later in the year
- Visit eaca.net to join / pay dues
– Parks & Green Space, Susie Aquino
- Workday on May 10th, installed bocce courts
- Love Your Block grant from City of Atlanta will be going to disc golf course in the park
- Planning another workday in June; details to follow
- To volunteer or for more info, email parks@eaca.net
– Events, Jeanne Fore
- Great American Backyard Campout Day, June 28th at Farmer Red’s (Berne)
¡ Forming a committee shortly, email Jeanne if you’re interested in helping
– Beautification, Brandy Smith
- Upcoming clean-up days will be announced in the newsletter
- 7 dead trees, Nancy contacted Councilmember Archibong’s office (Ted Bradford)—City will be replanting
- Thanks to Nancy for her independent clean-up efforts in the Village
- To volunteer or for more info, email beautification@eaca.net
– LUZ, Andy Schneggenburger (landuse@eaca.net)
- Q&A
¡ Historic Preservation Planner asked about the Gordon School redevelopment plans
– Project is well beyond any rehabilitation efforts; would have been economically unfeasible given the size, age, and condition of the school
– Plan is to demolish and rebuild
– Old fire station has also been purchased and will be demolished
– No updates from Paces on the project
– Lori asked about reuse of the bricks; Andy didn’t have any info on this
– Ralph pointed out that EACA didn’t have any leverage due to zoning questions
– EACA has definitely been involved in trying to shape the development, but we don’t believe
– Henry pointed out that EACA has a long history of advocacy, including for Gordon School
- Both Gordon School and old fire station were proposed for a list of historic buildings; APS and City of Atlanta vetoed them
- Flatiron and Martha Brown were added to the list; Madison Theatre also vetoed
– Other business
- Thaddeus Petry, Georgia State Ambassador
¡ Work with students and staff to do transportation, business-to-business escorts, emergency situations, crowd control
¡ Interested in bringing a similar Ambassador effort to the Village
– 3-4 staff in the Village nightly, possibly starting with weekends
¡ Mary asked for commentary to be emailed to president@eaca.net
¡ Q&A
– Henry asked when this would start
- Thaddeus has the staff ready, so it’s really just a question of funding
¡ Staff have public safety background
¡ Thaddeus would like the business community to help fund; 10 businesses at $50/night would be a good start
– Nancy said it would be great to have parking lot patrol
– Scott asked about insurance / liability; suggested legal guidance will be critical
– Scott Petersen, Prison Farm update
- Prison Farm is 1.5 miles south of East Atlanta
- Movement to preserve Prison Farm as 300 acre multi-use park
¡ Owned by City of Atlanta, but in a dilapidated state
¡ Lots of great activity
– 3 tours, 60 visitors in the last few months
– Hand carved marble stones from Carnegie Library found at Prison Farm
– Have gotten interest from Park Pride, other groups; need politicians to get involved
¡ Scott is looking for volunteers to help with various activities
– Public relations, outreach / tours
– 404.368.6700, scottpetersen@yahoo.com
- Q&A
¡ Is the site adjacent to the Beltline?
– No; Beltline is entirely in Fulton County
¡ Brandy mentioned the group pushing to extend the Path up from the South River Trail to Brownwood Park
– Jack Gruendler and Joe Peery are facilitating that initiative within EACA
– Email them at transportation@eaca.net
¡ Lori asked if the police have confronted the hiking groups
– No issues as long as you’re not messing with the buildings
– The buildings are quite dangerous (asbestos, etc.); Scott hopes the buildings will be boarded up
– Grady Thrasher, Crowdvested
- Startup real estate company making investment opportunities in communities available to the residents
¡ Traditionally funded by banks, other financial services firms, high net worth individuals
¡ Georgia law has been amended to allow for individual investments
- First project is in EAV with Paces Properties; Paces has acquired the block on the southern side of Glenwood, between Joseph and Gresham (excluding Graveyard)
¡ Previous landlord managed poorly; Paces will be retenanting empty parcels (80% vacant)
¡ Paces is opening a portion of the funding to the community via CrowdVested
- Free beer and appetizers at The Glenwood this Thursday (5/15) with Paces
- More info at Crowdvested.com
- Q&A
¡ Andy asked how the deal came about between Paces and CrowdVested
– One of CrowdVested’s advisors, with Central Atlanta Progress, connected them; originally going to work together on the Gordon School
¡ How does investment work?
– CrowdVested will pool together investments through a special purpose LLC; investors will have ownership rights in the property
– Paces is projecting 12% annual returns with quarterly dividends
¡ What’s the total funding?
– $3.5M total; 60% from banks, $200k from Paces, $250k through CrowdVested
– Paces does have alternatives
¡ Ralph raised the concern about Paces seeking variances / re-zoning, and the possible conflict of interest if community members are torn between their vote and their investment
– Grady agreed it was a valid concern
¡ Question about hair salon moving in; will the tenanting process be open to the community / investors?
– Paces doesn’t control the property yet
– Paces looking for quality, long-term tenants; Paces is looking for input from investors into what type of tenants the community wants, but investors won’t have veto rights
¡ Jonathan raised concerns about moving forward with these plans before getting community feedback, anticipates potential negative reactions
– Concerns are understandable; the last thing they want is a negative feedback loop between Paces and the community
¡ Are there design ideas at this point?
– Minimal structural changes; goal is to give a healthy facelift to the buildings, in keeping with the community
– Buildings currently aren’t tenantable, or the tenants that would take them aren’t going to be desirable in the community and/or wouldn’t last
– Sembler Properties, JP Guzzardo
- Sembler is seeking to develop southwest corner of Glenwood and Moreland; already have option to purchase
¡ Includes old Masonic Lodge, Buffalo China, 2 houses on Glenwood, 2 houses on Portland
- JP has already presented to NPU W LUZ and SAND; Andy confirmed we’re not voting tonight, just seeking feedback
- Timeline
¡ Capture feedback from EACA tonight; take EACA, SAND, and NPU feedback and revise plans
¡ Present revisions to community for further feedback / vote
Previously talked about as 525 Project, which didn’t move forward
