It opens with yet another public comment about lighting and noise for evening high school football practice and football games. So much time and effort has been spent on this, can we devote as many resources to other children's activities? So many kids in Sandy Springs are already or would like to be playing soccer or running track, performing in plays, playing music, going to math competitions or science fairs. Surely we can find children's activities other than contact football that the community wants to watch and celebrate that don't entail so much disturbance to neighbors. Or, what would it say about us if we can't?
At 11:00, there's a discussion and approval of $905,000 for Georgia Power to put power lines underground, as a component of Hammond Drive project. Maybe it's fine. But it does strike me that the city council is very quick to spend our money on road infrastructure for driving, but not for other (safer) modes of transportation. Nearly a million dollars just for electrical work for a short segment of road is a lot. I'm curious if they even have a firm metric in mind of how much congestion will be decreased, or in other words how much faster an average drive along Hammond will be at rush hour, a few years after this multi-million dollar project is completed? I predict it'll still be awful. Maybe total traffic volume on Hammond will be higher, possibly increasing crashes and definitely increasing emissions in the area, contributing to childhood asthma etc.
At 14:00 there's approval for some supplemental agreement with GDOT for Path400. I didn't follow the details but good that this project is proceeding. Key here is that funding is mostly coming from outside of Sandy Springs. There's a 20% city local match.
19:00, discussion of GDOT transportation alternatives and mitigation air quality competitive funding program, and the local funding match. This is only an application to participate in a federal program managed through the state. In past years this program was managed by ARC instead of GDOT, unclear why it changed. There are two different types of grants. First, Transportation Alternatives. Second, Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement. 20% local match required for pedestrian and bike programs. Increasing road capacity is not eligible, but unclear if transit is. Emphasis on decreasing emissions and increasing safety. City staff propose a project near Holcomb bridge. Seems fine by itself, although it does perpetuate a bias of parks and recreational infrastructure that neglects the southern half of the city.
-Vladimir
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