video from Firkin and Gryphon, St Patrick's Day 2010

The other 'big' thing to happen around here is the opening of Marlow's Tavern in da ville. The place has been open 21 days now and the place has been packed 21 days in a row!  It's quite strange to see people out on the Marlow's lawn, moving about in our quaint little Village.

Imagine what type of renaissance would take place around Marlow's if the city put some money into the street scape of Dunwoody Parkway.  Imagine a vibrant commercial area with locals spending money and hanging out mere feet off of Main Street.  But many people will object to that idea.  After all, all those people milling about hamper many seniors' ability to safely drive the Buick across the Village parking lot to pick up their prescriptions at Walgreen's (I think they still have the Shingles vaccine on special through the end of the month) and to mail their letters at the what seems to be the only mail box in Dunwoody where those aged 70+ mail letters. And don't forget about the trees.  No way should we cut down a tree, ever.  Unless of course it makes way for closer/more parking spots at the church or if the tree is on a person's home lot.  Just don't cut trees planted in the middle of a road and don't cut  trees that create a buffer shielding residents from seeing or hearing children playing at a park.

It is okay to allow packs of peeing and pooping dogs (and the occasional 'killer' dog) to destroy trees for no reason other than a person acquired a dog that they can't take care of properly at home.  They got a dog then realized they don't have a yard suitable for the dog to run and play in?  Dog parks are the modern day housing projects of the urban and suburban dog owners - a subsidized welfare type playground for dogs.  Have you ever seen a private for-profit dog park?  Me either.

The nicest shade trees on Dunwoody Parkway are actually on private property (by Marlow's), not the trees in the median.

The relationship between people and trees can be odd at times.  People for the most part don't care about trees until they need that tree to block improvements to a park or street or private property.  Look at Brook Run - the city's vast desert of boredom.  For most days nearly all of this 100 acre green space is void of people.  But it has trees.  And without trees we would all die. Just look at Las Vegas - no trees and no signs of life. lol

The people opposed to creating athletic fields at Brook Run suddenly develop a special relationship with the trees.  To those living near Brook Run green space the trees are like food and water.  Remove them and we all die.  Same on Dunwoody Parkway.  Those trees provide shade for thousands of people .................... ONCE a year,... at a parade.  Give me a break.  Why are these same people not out buying and planting trees around the world?  Because they don't really care about trees.  They care about stopping others from making changes. "Don't change the road", "don't change the park green space", "don't change that property down the street that I don't even own".  Trees - the scapegoat of city improvements or a safeguard from unneeded projects?  

For those opposing projects due to financial issues, I understand.  But please don't hide behind a 30 foot pine or a 15 foot crape myrtle and claim to be a reborn tree-hugger.  These Dunwoody tree huggers simply oppose a park improvement because they want to keep Brook Run as their neighborhood's private tree preserve or because they oppose an infrastructure improvement in the city's most important commercial district outside the PCID.


I'd venture to say Dunwoody has more shade trees now than it did 40, 80 and 100 years ago. The DPT staff can consult the Poor Farmousers Almanac to verify this claim. Long gone are the Dunwoody farms and pastures of yesteryear.  The original Farmhousers lived off the land, clearing it for raising crops and livestock.  Now we have neighborhoods with shade trees all over the place.
green trees in Dunwoody, population 50,000Salwa, Kuwait, approx 50,000 people, not many treesIn regards to Dunwoody Parkway, I'm not totally convinced the plan on the table is the best, but I do recognize the importance of improvements to certain areas of the city.  If Project Renaissance at Georgetown is worthy of $6-7 million in taxpayer money, then I think $1 million may be justified for the Parkway Renaissance. At least the parkway project would benefit locals, not the cut-through traffic from Fulton and Gwinnett.



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