May 27, 2004
You can never satisfy treehuggers
Piedmont Park in Atlanta is a park not unlike New York's Central Park or Chicago's Lincoln Park in terms of size and scope. It's midtown Atlanta's back yard amid the zillions of trees in this part of the country.
The northern part of the park has been nearly overgrown with kudzu (remind me to tell you about kudzu one day) and other plant life; very few people go over there. There's a city of Atlanta maintenance garage over there, and it backs up to subdivisions and a shopping area on the northern end of the park.
Also adjacent to the park is the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The Garden along with the Park as a whole, are in need of additional parking space.
The Garden has designed a garage with six levels of parking for 800 cars that will stretch over an acre; the garage will be built in a way that minimal impact will be placed upon the land. People will still be able to enjoy the park, and there will be less impact on the surrounding area as people try to find places to park. The garage will be built in a way that it is concealed from the surroundings, with an earthen berm and 25-foot tall trees surrounding it.
But, as you can imagine, the treehuggers are still not happy.
"We don't care that it's green and beautiful," said Susan Abramson of Friends of Piedmont Park. "We know it's concrete and steel underneath, and we know there will be cars coming in and out."If a car parks, and you don't see it, is it still offensive?
Just damn.
Posted by mhking at May 27, 2004 01:58 PMCars are the reason Western Civilization has destroyed the planet. According to Al Gore, the internal combustion engine is the worst thing to happen to mankind since the snake in the Garden of Eden.
So. Now you know. Cars are bad. Wherever they are.
Posted by: erp at May 27, 2004 03:35 PMOf course, since AlGore is trying to justify his continued presence on the national stage, anything he says can be taken with a grain of salt. Especially since he probably invented salt...
Posted by: mhking at May 27, 2004 03:49 PMA garage means people can drive to the park and <shudder> use it.
That's what they're really objecting to.
Posted by: McGehee at May 27, 2004 08:05 PMAh, kudzu. Ever since I moved to NJ I miss the kudzu, can you believe?
Posted by: Fausta at May 28, 2004 10:33 AMWhat do they expect us to do, ride Marta and hoof it the 8 blocks with little kids and all the stuff that comes with a trip to the park? Cause the next thing they'll want to do is stop the buses. I suppose they live in houses made of straw bales and work in mud hut buildings instead of "concrete and steel". Yeesh!
Posted by: nonford at May 30, 2004 11:09 PM