So I'm reading through the Atlanta Regional Commission's document titled Lifelong Communities: A Regional Approach to Aging and one word keeps jumping off the pages. Dignity. Dignity. Dignity. And that song, Will I Lose My Dignity, from the Broadway play Rent starts wafting through my mind (click the arrow to play it in the background while you read on).
And I get to thinking about our City of Dunwoody Comprehensive Plan, about transportation and urban design and how it's so not just about bike lanes, folks. It's about dignity.
As the ARC materials state, it's about:
* Housing options that are affordable, accessible, located close to services and available.
* Mobility options that ensure that as individuals age they can access basic services and remain independent.
* Environments that promote physical activity, social interaction and easy access to healthcare.
* Education and information networks that meet the complicated long term care needs of a population that demands choice.
ARC says that communities that take these things into account create what's called "lifelong communities." We can do that during our comprehensive plan process by:
Integrating older adults into the local land use and community planning process.
Well, look around at our next meeting. If it's anything like the last meeting, you'll see plenty of older adults. But look again. Add twenty years to everyone. How many seniors do you see now? I'll be 65 in 20 years. When we talk about seniors, I now realize we're talking about me. What about you?
Developing policies to promote housing options for seniors.
Affordable condos. Allowable in-law suites in private homes. Group housing with multiple master suites. We're not just talking assisted living here. We're talking flexible options for all ages and stages. My mom signed a contract for a condo so she could move here from New York on exactly September 11, 2001, if you can believe it. Well, not exactly here. In Alpharetta. She couldn't afford the few choices she found here in Dunwoody. How many of you will one day want to relocate your aging parent nearby, but won't be able to consider Dunwoody an option? How about when you want to downsize from your too-big house after the kids are long gone? Will you need to leave Dunwoody because there aren't enough appropriate options for you? What will happen to our city when the neighborhood, civic, and religious leaders, who have invested their lives in our community, have no choice but to leave? Is this "brain drain" smart policy? And what about when someone at the Atrium needs more care? I can't even tell you what we went through with my husband's grandmother after moving her here from Florida.
Providing alternatives to the car and making roads safe for seniors.
I saw Officer Tate several times yesterday stopping people who were speeding in cars on Tilly Mill at Zaban Park during camp drop-off and pick-up time. These people were going over 50 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. Seniors, the disabled, moms pushing strollers, and teens trying to have a little freedom in a city that does nothing to help them take the next steps to independence (I saw a group of teens leave their drivers ed class yesterday and almost every single one of them stood there with their cell phones waiting for their parents to pick them up--shouldn't we create the kind of city where there is a bikable/walkable step between the back of the minivan and the driver's wheel?), and JCC employees cross that road without a crosswalk all day long.
Here's a little video about that location:
A Crosswalk Would Help at Zaban Park from Pattie Baker on Vimeo.
If you want to see dignity disappear really quickly, hang out there and watch a slow-moving 80-year-old attempt to run across that street. I have seen this numerous times. I have been in contact with City Hall about the possibility of a crosswalk at that location, where there is a MARTA bus stop on the other side of the road and curb cuts are already in place, and have been told that it is not likely to add a crosswalk "mid-block" although it is still being "investigated."
Oh, and one more thing. Take a look at MARTA bus stops around our city. This one, in particular (also on Tilly Mill):
Can you see your mom standing there waiting for a bus? I thought I was going to step on snakes when I took that photo! Can we include MARTA stop beautification in the City of Dunwoody's Adopt-a-Spot program? If so, I'd like to adopt this one. While you're thinking of your mom, you may want to take a look at this post. Tack on twenty years (the timeframe covered by our Comprehensive Plan), and you may find you're not thinking of your mom anymore. You're thinking of yourself.
Have ideas about transportation in our city? Make sure your voice gets heard. If you can't make the meeting, chime in at the City of Dunwoody website discussion board. Write a letter to the Crier and to your council members. Talk to friends and neighbors. And be part of the planning for our collective future.
There's a whole lot we may not be able to do in life. But we can treat our fellow citizens with dignity, and we can build that character trait right into the fabric of our city.
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1 comments:
First let me say I've read your blog for several months now and generally applaud you goals and ambitions.
I also like Dunwoody (a bit less now that it is a city, but...) and my wife and/or I have lived here since '78--deep into the previous millenium. So we've seen some significant changes in Dunwoody and as best as someone can who is not "connected" have some view of the current trajectory.
I used to think this would be a great place to live as I got older, but now that I am older, not so much. In fact, I'm certain to retire elsewhere if my knees hold out (ranch here, townhouse there). And it isn't because the bus stop is natty or too far away, quite frankly it is because of the people.
You see, this is a great place for folks that want what they think are good schools for their kids (and have never heard of East Cobb). They also have kids and want other kid-oriented things: ball parks and the like--all off the tax rolls yet paid for with taxes.
They want bigger and more expensive houses. And they want more people like themselves around--almost to the point of appearing exclusionary. By and large it isn't their fault, it's just the way they are.
And that's all OK. It is also expensive. And quite frankly it doesn't make any kind of sense, especially financial, for Granny and Gramps to live in the Dunwoody 4-4-and-a-door when they should be in a flat in some retirement community. Plus that would free up a slot for the next family who thinks the schools are good...sort of a whole house re-use, recycle, re-purpose.
So perhaps Dunwoody can become a new kind of bedroom community, one increasingly geared to the part of your life where you're dedicated to your children and their education. But just like you weren't really going to live in that dorm room the rest of your life, god willing, we might each, in our own time, outlive Dunwoody's usefulness and move on. Looked at that way, I'd not spend too much effort catering to us old fogeys.
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