presenting - City of Smyrna, GA

Summer 2010
Presenting
Smyrna
Presenting Smyrna is a periodic update of happenings in and around Smyrna.
www.smyrnacity.com
New City of Smyrna Website Keeps You
Current with Ease
Village News
Your online world has recently become a
bit brighter with the launch of the new City
of Smyrna website. The site is designed to be
more convenient for you in many ways such as:
Approval of Rail
Crossing Quiet Zones
Reduces Noise in the
Downtown Area
2
A The “I Want To …” tab that features multiple search paths for a variety of e-services
ranging from applying for a library card
to paying your utility bill. And if you want
something fixed and you are an iPhone user,
use the SeeClickFix application to send us
pictures and the location of items that need
attention, such as roads and streetlights.
A The “Services” icon now features a searchable sanitation schedule. Just enter your address in the fields (be sure to double-check
spelling and spacing) and your sanitation
schedule will appear on the screen along
with any special notations.
Items of special importance may be posted
on the front page, independent of upcoming
Did You Know…
www.smyrnacity.com
events and news items. The quick navigation
buttons on the left side of the new site get you
to popular items fast.
continued on page 3
Smyrna Fire Department Helps City Rank as
One of the Safest Communities in the Nation
The Insurance Services Office (ISO) recently
ranked Smyrna among the safest communities
in the nation. The City of Smyrna achieved a
Class 2 Fire Department rating placing it
among the top 628 safest of 48,086
communities in the nation. Smyrna’s upgrade
became effective April 1, 2010, and could
mean savings on your home or business
insurance premium.
protection is one area of evaluation, and
receiving a Class 2 rating takes a great deal of
strategic thinking and dedication.
Based in Marlton, New Jersey, ISO is a
private company and a leading source of
information about property insurance risk. ISO
evaluates and rates every Fire Department in
the United States and provides the information
to insurance companies. Community fire
The savings associated with the rating
upgrade may vary, but could be up to eight
percent. And it may be possible to receive
savings retroactive to the date of the upgrade.
But the savings will not happen automatically
— you must contact your insurance carrier. Y
Fire Departments are rated on a varied set of
items including manpower, station distribution,
water supply and communications. For many
years, the City of Smyrna has been listed as
Class 3, a category reserved for only 1,970 out
of 48,086 rated departments.
2
City of Smyrna Helps
Fight Childhood
Obesity by Being
Named the First We
Can! City in Cobb
County
3
City of Smyrna
Events
3
Newly Established
Smyrna Education
Foundation Goal is to
Ensure High Quality
Public Elementary
and Secondary
Education
4
Presenting
Smyrna
The Jonquil City with beautiful parks, thr
Approval of Rail Crossing Quiet Zones Reduces Noise in the
Downtown Area
The new Rail Crossing Quiet Zones have been
approved for Smyrna’s downtown area. Trains
are now no longer required to sound at the Quiet
Zone crossings of Spring Street and Hawthorne
Avenue, but the conductor/engineer may still
sound the horn under certain situations.
The City of Smyrna installed devices that
enable CSX to enact the Quiet Zone rules, but
the trains are under the jurisdiction of CSX.
There may be instances in which the conductor/engineer still sounds the horn, such as a
vehicle, animal or person on the tracks.
A conductor/engineer may also sound the
horn for other reasons, such as the single-vehicle
accident that occurred at the Hawthorne Avenue
Quiet Zone on June 21. While repairs were in
progress, trains were required to blow the horn
three times and then stop at the crossing before
moving through. By June 23, repairs were 90
percent complete at the crossing and the intersection was and is again being recognized as a Quiet
Zone.
With the implementation of the Rail Crossing
Quiet Zones, Smyrna residents can now enjoy a
little more peace and quiet. Y
Did you know …
City of Smyrna Awards and
Recognition
m Smyrna has been recognized as a Tree
City, USA every year since 2002 and
has received two tree grant awards
from the State. The grants are currently
assisting in paying for Phases I and II
of a tree inventory study. The City of
Smyrna has also applied to the State for
additional tree funds in 2010.
m The City of Smyrna was recently se-
lected as a feature tour location for the
Congress of New Urbanism that was
held in Atlanta during the week of May
17, 2010. The tour took place on the afternoon of Friday, May 20 in the Village
Green and Market Village areas.
m Smyrna Parks and Recreation was
selected as the Georgia Recreation
and Park Association’s District 5 Class
“A” Agency of the year in 2009.
m The Georgia Trust for Historic Preser-
vation selected Brawner Hall at Taylor
Brawner Park for “Excellence in Rehabilitation” in 2010.
m City of Smyrna recently received two
awards for dedication to Wellness:
x The American Heart Association
(AHA) awarded the City of Smyrna
the Gold level of Start! Fit Friendly
Companies. This means that we:
e Offer employees physical activity
support
2
Summer 2010
e I ncrease healthy eating options
at work
e Promote a wellness culture
e Employ a minimum of 25 people
e I mplement at least six activities
in the “Physical Activity” area,
with at least two activities in the
“Nutrition” area and at least one
activity in the “Culture” area.
x ComPsych, our Employee Assistance
Program (EAP) provider, awarded the
City of Smyrna the Silver Health At
Work Award. We were recognized for
our Wellness Program and the criteria
are essentially the same as for the
AHA Award.
m Our Keep Smyrna Beautiful program
wins awards year after year. The most
recent award was the 2009 1st Place
State Affiliate Keep Georgia Beautiful
award for the 50,000 or less population category.
New Library Hours
Beginning July 6, 2010, the Smyrna
Public Library operates under new hours
of operation. The new hours are Monday
through Thursday 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.,
Friday 10 a.m. until 6 p.m., Saturday
10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and from 1 p.m.
until 6 p.m. on Sunday. Y
rks, thriving businesses, great location, and bright plans for the future.
City of Smyrna Helps Fight Childhood Obesity by Being Named
the First We Can! City in Cobb County
Committed to the nationwide effort to
prevent childhood obesity, Mayor Max
Bacon signed a proclamation on May 17,
2010, that makes the City of Smyrna the
first We Can! city in Cobb County. We
Can! (Ways to Enhance Children’s Activity and Nutrition) is a national education
program developed by the National Institutes of Health to help prevent obesity and
overweight problems in youth.
The We Can! Program targets parents
and caregivers as the primary group for
influencing youth and focuses on three
important behaviors.
will further strengthen the City’s efforts
to create a healthier community.
• Improved food choices.
• Increased physical activity.
• Reduced screen time.
Smyrna has already taken a leadership role in offering health and wellness
programs to youth, parents, and city
employees, and the We Can! initiative
Resources include evidence-based
obesity prevention programs for parents
and youth, implemented in collaboration
with Smyrna’s community partners Cobb
& Douglas Public Health, the We Can!
in Cobb Coalition, and the Cobb County
School District.
Visit the City of Smyrna website at
www.SmyrnaCity.com for upcoming
announcements.
For more information about We Can!,
visit www.nhlbi.nih.gov. Y
New City of Smyrna Website Keeps You Current with Ease
continued from page 1
Numerous information channels are
now at your fingertips, so indulge your
appetite for news and alerts through
Facebook, Twitter, Nixle (public safety
announcements), and YouTube.
And with the new E-notification option, you can opt to receive all or just
one set of notifications. Many items will
be released through Facebook and Twitter, but most public safety notifications
that you may want to receive on your
cell or PDA are delivered through the
secure Nixle system.
home page and throughout the site provide
another layer of connectivity.
The E-notifier option can keep you in
the know on calendar postings that include
public meetings and departmental news.
And when you select an item in the Calendar, you now have the option of adding
the item to your Outlook calendar. You
can also share and bookmark content as
well. The RSS feed through the Upcoming
Events and the Latest News sections of the
The search component of the new site
is now more robust and utilizes Google
Search. Need to search in another
language? Google translations are also
available through the site.
Discover all of the ways the new City
of Smyrna website can help at www.
SmyrnaCity.com. Y
City of Smyrna Events
For a complete list of village events visit www.SmyrnaCity.com
Saturday, August 7
Big Birthday Celebration: Food, Fun, and Fireworks
6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the Village Green
Celebrate the birth of Smyrna with family and friends. Highenergy music, festival foods, birthday festivities, a GIANT
birthday cake by McEntyre’s Bakery, a kid’s entertainment
area and fireworks at the end add to the excitement.
Magno (www.myspace.com/magno) opens the show with
headliner Banks & Shane (www.banksandshane.com)
bringing down the house!
Oh, and there’s more … although the main event – the
concerts and fireworks – will take place on August 7,
more activities will take place in the Market Village, too,
starting as early at 2 p.m. and running throughout the main
event. Merchant supported activities include more games,
inflatables with family-friendly fun but also a beer garden
for adults. Watch for announcements on
Facebook, Twitter and on the new City
website www.SmyrnaCity.com.
Saturday, September 18
Taste of Smyrna — “Festival of Delectable”
11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the Village Green
We can’t say farewell to summer without a proper sendoff:
The Taste of Smyrna is food, fun and music all day long!
Making a comeback this year after last year’s heavy rains
you won’t want to miss all the tasty bites from over 30
participating restaurants. Grab your spot on the Village
Green lawn at 7 p.m. because the music heats up as the sun
cools down.
Please visit the Event Calendar on the city website at www.
SmyrnaCity.com.
Keep us on your social radar. Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/CityofSmyrnaGA) and Twitter (Twitter.com/SmyrnaNews).
www.smyrnacity.com
3
Presenting
Smyrna
Keep Smyrna Beautiful
Community Gardening – Getting Dirty for the Benefits of Good
Nutrition and a Stronger Sense of Community
What better way is there to get truly
fresh, nutritious food, and reduce the
family food budget, than to grow it yourself? Even better is getting to do it in an
environment that fosters social interaction
and a stronger sense of community.
and technical advice to help create the
garden. To help implement the plans,
a steering committee of volunteers has
been meeting weekly to discuss rules,
fees, soil, amenities for the garden, and
how to find funding.
If you would like to enjoy the benefits
of better food, but can’t accommodate
a garden at your home, join the new
Smyrna Community Garden – at the new
North Cooper Lake Park (4201 N. Cooper lake Road, Smyrna Ga 30082) – and
also enjoy better friendships.
The raised beds are being constructed
from 2' x 10' cedar lumber planks, and
the property is fenced with an eight-foot
chain link fence that was paid for with a
$10,000 grant to Keep Smyrna Beautiful
from United Parcel Service of America,
Inc. (UPS).
Smyrna resident and landscape architect Sean Murphy, who designed the
new community garden in Suwanee, has
donated his design services, renderings
Plots have been set between $40 and
$195 per year based on the plot size. Allorganic gardening may not be required,
but an area will be reserved for those
who prefer to grow their produce in this
manner.
Phase I of the garden will feature 59
plots in the following four sizes:
Size of plots
Dimensions of plots
Small.. ............. 5' x 6'
Medium............ 5' x 8'
Large.. ............. 5' x 12'
Extra Large.. ...... 12' x 13'
Funds from leasing Phase I will go
toward building Phase II, which will
consist of approximately 36 plots, for a
total of approximately 95 garden plots.
If you would like to lease a plot or
volunteer, please call (770) 431-2863. Y
Newly Established Smyrna Education Foundation Goal is to
Ensure High Quality Public Elementary and Secondary Education
In 2009, the City of Smyrna and
members of the community assembled to
launch, guide and nurture a foundation
that would benefit public education.
On May 6, 2010, the Articles of
Incorporation were filed for the Smyrna
Education Foundation (SEF), and soon
afterwards an effort was launched to
secure volunteer support for upcoming
and future activities.
Concerned about and active in the
advancement of education in Smyrna area
public schools, the SEF is independent of
the City of Smyrna and any work that the
City of Smyrna already does in support of
public education.
The SEF was organized to promote
public elementary and secondary
education within the City of Smyrna,
Georgia, for attainment of higher
academic achievement and for improved
perception of public education
through advocacy, education, research,
sponsorship, service and support.
Currently recruiting volunteers,
4
Summer 2010
representatives from the SEF will
be contacting schools in the area
regarding potential volunteers and other
opportunities. If you are new to the
area or have a child who is not yet in a
Smyrna area public school, we encourage
you to become involved.
While there are no city-operated
schools within the City of Smyrna, the
Smyrna community, City of Smyrna
elected leadership, staff and the SEF
remain dedicated to quality public
education and to making sure that you
know what your public options are when
considering the nourishment of your
child’s mind and future. We believe that
children have unlimited potential and that
they deserve the very best.
The list of the schools that are
considered to be Smyrna Area Schools
can be found under the Schools in Smyrna
tab under Education in the Resident
section of www.SmyrnaCity.com.
As we build this section of the City
website, expect to see information/links
about schools and contact information
for each school that is either inside the
City limits or is in the feeder pattern for
the two middle schools that feed into
Campbell High School. The majority
of schools within Smyrna’s borders are
public schools that operate under the
curriculum of the Cobb County School
District. Imagine International Academy
of Smyrna is a charter school under the
system. (Access additional information
about our schools and the governing
school system at www.CobbK12.org.)
To donate to the Smyrna Education
Foundation, make your check payable to
the Smyrna Education Foundation, Inc.
and mail it to the following address:
Attn: Smyrna Education Foundation, Inc.
1000 Parkwood Circle, Suite 325
Atlanta, GA 30339 For the latest information from Smyrna
area schools, visit the SmyrnaGaSchools
Facebook page at www.facebook.com/
SmyrnaGaSchools. Y