Wednesday, May 30, 2001
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Wednesday, May 30, 2001 |
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Tales of traffic and the PTC bubble By AMY RILEY The three biggest issues in Peachtree City today are traffic, proposed capital expenditures, and the looming blight on the extreme west side of town in the form of two unwanted big box stores. For a town that has done an exemplary job of planning and managing the world's largest bubble up until now, it seems lots of people these days are beginning to fear the unimaginable. Through a series of mistakes and maneuvers, a handful of people in the control room of local government today have had such a swelling of ego and power that they have disturbed the biosphere, and the bubble is threatening to burst. Miraculously though, just like any good science fiction tale, there is hope if only the superheroes can shut off the valve of pomp and circumstance in time to save the bubble. The first crisis in our little saga is relatively easy to solve. The multimillion dollar capital expenditure package being proposed by the mayor of the bubble isn't necessary for the survival of our biosphere. Right off the top of my head, I can't think of any other bubble that has its own cultural arts center. Usually arts centers are shared by all of the inhabitants within one county. Even though some of the inhabitants in our bubble haven't learned to share spaces, it can be done. I'm all for serving teens and retirees, too, but people who live in a bubble with limited resources need to practice conservation, especially in times when the atmosphere outside of the bubble is threatening economic meltdown. Why not use the gym at the Kedron aquatic center as a teen center on weekend nights? Install a snack bar, a few club lights, some sound equipment, and a DJ booth, and, voilà, a teen center. Have the same people who run the weekend club be available at the center during the week to mentor, tutor, or play basketball with teens. Most of the cost for staff and operation could be recouped over time by charging admission on club nights. This is a time when the bubble is reaching capacity. We need to learn to live within our means now that residential growth is slowing. It is a natural evolution in any biosphere and simply requires that we switch gears a little from fast paced development to finely tuned maintenance. The second two crises are a sci-fi double whammy. Traffic volume in the Ga. Highway 54 West corridor is producing bubble-bursting noxious fumes and hot tempers among biosphere residents. Developers who have promised to mitigate traffic problems caused by their big money ventures aren't living up to their end of the bargain. But the egos in the biosphere's control room are making a HUGE mistake if they rush in to do the work for them. The onus is on RAM development to repeat a full traffic study now that their outer galactic Nov. 2, 2000, traffic mitigation plan has expired. As residents of the biosphere, we appeal to mission control to abort the mission. Do nothing. Let RAM fail their second traffic impact study all by themselves. Yes, we want to improve the flow of traffic, but not in a way that enables the bubble-bursting big box developer to be the author of our own demise. Why not do some traffic mitigation that helps the residents, but probably won't help RAM in passing their traffic impact study? Take out the bulk of the median on Ga. Highway 74 southbound just north of Hwy. 54 and make two full lanes all the way up to Pike's Nursery, with the left lane as an eastbound turn lane only. Much of the traffic backup there could be alleviated if people weren't taking up through lane space for their chance to skirt into the tiny left turn lane. Though we love the landscaping, bubble residents would probably trade a few trees for better mobility. Mission control could donate the uprooted trees and shrubs to local schools who would appreciate the chance to beautify their environments. Parent volunteers could install the trees for free. As for RAM, by the time the Department of Transportation widens Hwy. 54, maybe their contract with Home Depot and Wal-Mart will have expired, too. Maybe they could replicate the highly successful, bubble-enhancing development, The Avenue, on their commercial property. Let's see, how about Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn, Eddie Bauer, Gymboree, Laura Ashley, Barnes and Noble and Old Navy? And for good measure, why not lure Forsyth Fabric and The Cheesecake Factory? The evil RAM empire could be transformed in to the corporate heroes of the biosphere, and the bubble people would live happily ever after. The end. And while we're spinning tales, can't some entrepreneurial type convert the abandoned movie theater in Westpark to a dollar movie house? During the school year, you could open up on weekdays for a 9:30 a.m. movie and score big superhero points with the mommy bubble people. [Your comments are welcome at: ARileyFreePress@aol.com.]
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