I once again admit that we have been slacking in the house renovation department. That’s not to say that we haven’t been working hard in other ways though! The last few weeks have involved lots of neighbor get togethers to work on certain projects to improve the neighborhood. Aside from the work aspect it’s been really fun sitting together with a few neighbors in the evening. It’s evenings like these that make us realize that this already wonderful neighborhood is that much stronger due to these wonderful people. We couldn’t have asked for better neighbors!

Ok, so schmooze talk aside…Atlanta has been working on this project called the BeltLine for a few years now. It was the thesis project of a GA Tech student (in 1998 I believe?) and is now slowly becoming a reality! Atlanta already has the somewhat laughable MARTA subway system that has two lines: north to south and east to west. (I say laughable because anyone that has experienced true subways systems like in London or New York wouldn’t consider this a real subway system.) The BeltLine will create a loop around the intown Atlanta neighborhoods and will, among other things, connect to MARTA. The project is made up of three aspects…paths, greenspace, and a light rail. The rail part is still a few years off, but Westview and West End make up the first segment of the path and greenspace construction. The first part was started on January 22nd and is slowly heading up the blocks towards us. So we truely are the first BeltLine community!

Since construction has now started, but planning for our segment is far from done, the BeltLine was drumming up volunteers to go around the affected neighborhoods to inform them about what is happening. Even though the BeltLine has been talked about for many years, many people still haven’t heard about it. Patrick and I volunteered to go around nearby streets to hand out the flyers. I’m not usually one to be up and ready to go at 9:00am on a Saturday, but we decided to take one for the team and set the alarm on this Saturday *gasp* to spread the cause. For the sake of walking paths and an arboretum just a few blocks from our house! :)

We are now back and even got T-shirts and a reusable water bottle to proudly display our volunteer spirit! (Early Saturday morning spirit, that is.) We can’t wait to see what the paths turn out to be like.