East Atlanta Community Association
Newsletter
December 27, 2010 
In This Issue
Calling Creatives
Looking Back as EACA Moves Forward
Friday Food for Firefighters
EACA Officers and Opportunities
Sopo Bicycle Co-op
FitWit Fitness Camp
The Atlanta Police Department and Crime Prevention
East Atlanta Security Patrol
EACA Public Safety Crime Reports
Join Our Mailing List!
Quick Links
 Greetings!

EACA  Logo

Hello,

As the year winds down, local news lessens.  EACA wishes to take this opportunity to summarize what was accomplished in 2010 as well as look forward to the needs of 2011. 

 

Are you wishing to find a way to be more involved in your community?  If so there are many opportunities below. 


Good reading!


Calling Creatives
EACA is searching for neighbors interested in the emerging Arts and Culture Committee.  Many neighbors have expressed an interest in beautification, public art and enhancing the vibrant culture of East Atlanta.  This potential Committee would oversee artistic and cultural activities and events.  It would also serve as EACA's liasion to existing cultural events, such as B*ATL, The Strut, EAV-O-Ween and East Atlanta Santa Fest.  This Committee would also likely partner with local nonprofits.  If interested, please contact [email protected].
 Looking Back as EACA Moves Forward

By Austin Dickson, EACA President

 

For 29 years, the East Atlanta Community Association (EACA) has worked tirelessly to bolster the quality of life for all East Atlantans, and 2010 was another example of the organization achieving its mission. Notably, after a decade of attempts, EACA was determined a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization by the Internal Revenue Service in August. This new designation allows tax-deductible donations and makes the organization more attractive to outside funders. It has also helped EACA in securing, in partnership with the East Atlanta Village Farmers' Market, American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (Stimulus) funds for nutritional programming for local seniors and children.

 

These same residents have been a focus for EACA in 2010. In May, EACA established its Neighbor in Need initiative, a program providing emergency home repairs for low-income seniors. This program improves their quality of life, keeps them in their homes and maintains East Atlanta's diversity. To date, EACA has raised nearly $15,000 for this effort. EACA also dedicated 10% of its budget to Branan Bingo, a monthly entertainment event coordinated by neighbors, for residents of Branan Towers, a low-income senior housing facility on Glenwood Avenue. Additionally, the East Atlanta Parents Network, another new initiative of EACA, sponsored quarterly playgroups for families and continues to build relationships among parents and children in the neighborhood. The Parents Network has supplied lots of support to EACA's Education Committee, a group that works hand in hand with East Atlanta's local school, Burgess-Peterson Academy (BPA). Dennis Madsen, Education Committee Chairperson, was recently named to BPA's Local School Council; this appointment is one of many 2010 examples - like the enhancements of the BPA Organic Garden, the construction of the Outdoor Classroom and school-day volunteers - of the community's connection to its school.

 

Since the early 20th century, East Atlanta has also been deeply connected to its principal greenspace, Brownwood Park. By removing invasive plants from the stream buffer, EACA took large strides this year in restoring the forest and stream in the south half of the park. This project began a three-year management plan that will result in the near total control of invasives in the stream corridor; invasive control will allow native species to recolonize the area. EACA, in partnership with the East Atlanta Kids Club (EAKC), also created a Committee focused on the Brownwood Recreation Center. The city-owned property (originally closed due to budget cuts) is operated by EAKC, and the Center's programming, finances and repairs are overseen by a group of community members who ensure the facility continues to meet the needs of the neighborhood.

 

Beyond efforts at the park, EACA has had volunteers in the streets and representatives at the table to preserve and enhance the beauty and desirability of East Atlanta. In April, EACA planted $2,000-worth of trees on private properties; in May, it advocated successfully for the Atlanta Regional Commission to remove Glenwood Avenue in East Atlanta as a regional alternative freight route for trucks; and throughout 2010, it continued its involvement in stopping a wireless communications tower at 469 Metropolitan Place. Additionally, volunteers dedicate one Saturday or Sunday morning a month to cleaning up the business district, vacant properties and other spaces that become littered or overrun by invasives (such as kudzu).

 

A large part of EACA's work supports communication in the neighborhood, whether in weekly newsletters, Facebook posts or an engaging Monthly Meeting, where neighbors can speak directly with community leaders and other individuals accountable to the neighborhood. This year, EACA held 12 Monthly Meetings with 30 featured guest speakers (including nonprofit executives, artists, activists and school representatives as well as elected leaders from the City, County and Capitol), outside of the usual reports from the Atlanta Police Department's Zone Six Commander, EACA Officers and Committee Chairpersons. For the January 2011 meeting,Greg Smith, co-founder of the Atlanta Street Food Coalition, will present to the community. EACA also produced 52 electronic newsletters this year - reaching 1,125 individuals and covering 232 unique stories - as well as created a new website, highlighting all of its activities and serving as an electronic welcome mat for East Atlanta.

 

EACA enters its 30th year with past successes and clear objectives, but, of course, EACA would be nothing without the many active neighbors dedicated to making a difference. Achievements in 2010 are solely attributable to them.

 

(Published in the 12.15.10 edition of the Porch Press.)

Friday Food for Firefighters

Since early November 2010, your neighbors have provided a home-cooked meal for firefighters at 
Station 13 every Friday night. We're calling it Friday Food for Firefighters, or FFF, since we love acronyms.  If you would like to provide a meal for four to six firefighters some Friday, please check out the web-based scheduler:

  1. Password: friday
  2. Click "Edit"
  3. Sign up for a date with your name and meal
  4. Click  "save this version"
If you have questions, please contact Beth-Ann Buitekant, who is overseeing the schedule.  Meals should be delivered between 5:00 and 5:30 pm, and the firefighters have requested no pork products.  This new program is an easy way to literally serve your community.
EACA Officers and Opportunities


EACA held at its Monthly Meeting in December. Officers unanimously elected for 2011 are:


  • Austin Dickson, President
  • Lewis Cartee, Vice President
  • Rose Bigelow, Secretary
  • Ralph Green, Treasurer
Besides the Officers' roles, EACA does its work through Committees, of which there are 10.  If you'd like to participate on one of these Committees, please contact [email protected]. Committees include:
  • Arts and Culture
  • Communications
  • East Atlanta Parents Network
  • Education
  • Events/Fundraising
  • Land Use and Zoning
  • Neighbor in Need
  • Parks and Greenspace
  • Public Safety
  • Transportation
     
 Sopo Bicycle Co-op
Our mission...is to create equitable access to cycling by providing affordable bicycle maintenance, services and education.

Our shop...provides a central forum for sharing equipment, materials, and expertise, and facilitates affordable, practical, hands-on support for cyclists of all ages and skill levels.

Our next Volunteer Orientation is today, December 27, at 7PM at the Shop.  If you're interested in helping out, come and learn the shop dynamics as well as how to help people the Sopo way!
FitWit Fitness Camp - Experience the Difference in 2011
Next Camp - Jan 3rd to Feb 11th- Join our fitness camp community and discover why 90% of our campers return and why 70% have never left. Every day presents a new challenge as campers push, pull, lunge, crawl, jump, run, sweat and laugh themselves into the best shape of their lives, and in the process, they meet their new best friends. AND a portion of your camp fee funds The FitWit Foundation - our own non-profit organization that provides free fitness and nutrition programs to teens in local are schools for FREE.

www.fitwit.com 1-888-534-8948 & www.thefitwitfoundation.org
The Atlanta Police Department and Crime Prevention
As we move further through the holiday season it is important to remember what we can all do to help prevent crime in our community.  The APD can be a great resource for  information to help make yourself save while at home, at work or out on the town.  Please take a look at these crime prevention tips that not only include personal protection pointers but also information about creating Neighborhood Watches.  

 East Atlanta Security Patrol
To learn more about the East Atlanta Security Patrol, view updated news and notes or to enroll, visit the EASP website. There is a 50% discount for longtime residents and those 65+. To qualify, you must have lived at the same address for 20 years or be over age 65. We also have a 20% discount for members of an APD-sanctioned Neighborhood Watch. Please contact us if you're interested in setting up a Neighborhood Watch on your street.
 
If you have additional questions, please direct them to [email protected], or call EACA Public Safety Chair Myron Polster at 404-954-1568.

 EACA Public Safety - Weekly Crime Report
The weekly crime reports for weeks 46-49 are below:
A new feature, the significant arrests report for weeks 46-4 are below:
November Crime Report
November Trends
Upcoming Area Meeting
DeKalb County Board of Commissioners
Meetings: 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month (12.28), 9:00 am
Maloof Auditorium, 1300 Commerce Dr, Decatur

Atlanta City Council

Meetings: 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month (01.03), 1:00 pm

City Hall, 55 Trinity Ave SW


Neighborhood Planning Unit, NPU-W, Land Use and Zoning Committee

Meeting: 1st Tuesday of the month (01.04), 7:00pm

Martha Brown United Methodist Church, 468 Moreland Ave SE

 

East Atlanta Business Association (EABA)

Meeting: 1st Wednesday of the month (01.05), 2pm

East Atlanta Library, 400 Flat Shoals Ave. SE


2010 EACA Membership

Join EACA today!  Annual dues are $10 per household per year.  As an EACA member, you can vote at EACA meetings on topics of interest within our community.  Email questions to [email protected].

You can sign up for your 2010 EACA membership and order EACA Yard Signs on-line!  Pay electronically through your online banking site or via Paypal
 HERE.

East Atlanta on Facebook & Twitter
If you're a Facebook member, be sure to become a fan of both the EACA Fan Page and the East Atlanta Village page, too!  Click on links below to take you directly to each.



Contact Information:
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://eaca.net