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Letter from the President
Enter subhead content here PRESIDENT’S UPDATE A glance at the list of those volunteering on PBA Committees, will confirm that we are blessed with an abundance of talented, dedicated, and generous neighbors. The PBA, whose beginnings go back to 1974, has been led over the years by a host of you who have given of your time and energy. Were we to list all who have served our neighborhood over 34 years, the list would be almost as long as the directory itself. The issues that prompted the formation of the PBA were much the same as those we face today…traffic, infrastructure, parks, litter, security and the desire for a more responsive government leadership. Though slow and seemingly non-existent at times, the wheels of progress do in fact move forward. Through the hard work and dedication of those who have gone before, progress has been made on many fronts and on others, beginning to culminate in additional tangible improvements to our neighborhood. The Security Patrol is now in place. The PBA is able to fund six 4-5 hour shifts per week with an additional 2 hour shift on Sundays. It is not a 24/7 patrol but it is a helpful and much needed deterrent to crime. With the record number of paid PBA memberships to date, the majority of your have proven your support of our new patrol. Kudos to Julia Smith and Mitzi Michelson for their hard work on this ongoing project! Traffic calming measures are bearing fruit. The 25 mph speed limit on Peachtree Battle has had a noticeable impact on the speed of traffic on this main neighborhood artery. The speed humps on the north end of Woodward and on Westover have slowed traffic on those streets as well. The traffic policeman now working E. Rivers carpools will further enhance the safety at that intersection. At a meeting with the Beltline in December, we learned that several of our traffic priorities are also on the Beltine’s list for improvement. Jeff Hehir and his committee are working hard to move our intersection plans further along to ensure that these projects make it into the final priority list. “Greening the Alliance”, the Parks Committee’s long-range plan for the tree canopy continues. The Trees Atlanta/Neighborwoods project the Parks Committee in January was a big success. These combined with recompense trees provided from the sewer work go a long way towards completing this plan. The micro grant that Judy Tindel was instrumental in seeking has enabled Chris Hastings to work on our old median trees to help their longer term survival. You may have noticed that Georgia Power and the City have removed several hazard trees in the median. Others have been tagged for future removal. Stumps will be ground. With the latest storm as evidence, our trees, on public and private property, are a source of both beauty and also danger. The PBA Parks Committee is working with Georgia Power to identify those trees that pose a hazard. Please be mindful of any old trees on your property that may need inspection. Keep an eye on the Sibley Park clean-up. This area will be transformed by the removal of the non-native invasive plants, fallen trees and litter. Our watershed will be getting some much-needed attention with the formation of the PBA Watershed Network. More information will be available later. The City will be cutting back on their mowing schedule to mow every 11 days. The Valley Crest contract was renewed this year with a generous offer by Valley Crest to maintain the edges of Sibley Park, on both corners of Habersham and West Wesley and on Woodward Way at no additional cost. Look for pine straw mulch in May in neighborhood parks. The Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods is proving to be an excellent resource for the PBA. The information shared across NPU lines has been very helpful. In fact, our Zoning and Variance Chairs have been invited to attend NPU-B meetings. Roxanne Smith and Susan Dickerson have once more generously volunteered their time to attend these meetings as well as the NPU-C meetings. I have dropped the ball on the Battle Cry between late breaking news and my lack of expertise at editing newsletters… and we have not been able to recruit a volunteer to edit it. Please take a few moments to fill out the Battle Cry survey. Your feedback will be very helpful. An electronic version would be easier and cheaper to produce but not if it is at the expense of losing readership. Communicating with you is of utmost importance to all that the PBA does. Many other strategic plans have been quietly moving forward. We hope to see a number of them come to fruition in the very near future. We should all extend thanks to those volunteers whose foresight, planning and hard work have gotten us this far!! Sherry Cohen, who completed a two year term as PBA President and still continues to serve on the PBA Board deserves major kudos!! The job of PBA President is an extraordinarily busy one and Sherry’s term was no exception. She managed to organize the Board more effectively, establish an Executive Committee to provide more streamlined governance, and with her husband, Jeff Cohen, chaired two Fall Parties in a row. She accomplished all of this while keeping up with her full-time day job, and it is because of Sherry that this Battle Cry is in your hands. The Neighborhood Clean-up on May 2nd was a huge success! The rain the night before, caused the water level to rise and meant that we couldn’t clean in the creek bed. Despite this, about 40 neighbors turned out to hear Dave Kaufman and to clear the parks and streets of debris. Eli Greene and Sue Stoudemire deserve a round of applause for a great event. Believe it or not, everyone had a ball picking up trash together! Later that night about 75 gathered at the Spring Cocktail Party at Bobby Jones Golf Club. A wonderful time was had by all. It was a great ending to a day full of neighborly fun. Elizabeth Pritchard president@peachtreebattlealliance.org
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