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One Man’s “Why” (VEC Email sent May 21, 2022) Over 30 years ago, a young consultant worked for a software company in the Overlook III building. Every day he looked down on the little train car of Orient Express and the newly minted Vinings Jubilee, and said to himself “Someday, I’m going to live in Vinings.” You probably guessed that young guy was me. Fast forward to 2006. I was finally ready and able to buy a house in Vinings. I had searched for over six months, driving up and down all the streets and neighborhoods every weekend to find just the right place. If you’re reading this, you know why I wanted to be in Vinings: the small-town feel, yet so close to the “big city”, the low density, the unique history. Probably some of the same reasons you live here. When I moved here, I was struck by how friendly everyone was. I immediately felt like I was “home.” The first few years, I became involved in some of the zoning fights neighbors were waging to protect Vinings from overdevelopment. Then tragedy struck my family. In 2014, our family home in Tennessee, built in 1868 and a state historic landmark, was destroyed by fire. Prior to that, Gillian Greer, long-time Vinings resident and Executive Director of the Vinings Historic Preservation Society, had been trying to get me to join the Board. After the fire in Tennessee, it became my personal mission to ensure that didn’t happen again, especially in my beloved Vinings and to the Pace House and Yarbrough House. Those two buildings deserve a better fate. So I joined and have been involved ever since. You see, for me at least, “preserve” is an ACTIVE verb. You must DO something to preserve what you love, and that’s why I got involved with incorporating Vinings. If we don’t do something now, we forfeit the opportunity to complain later about the overbuilding and traffic that is bound to happen. The greatest benefit of Vinings is also what makes us a big target: a low-density area that is only just across the river. That’s why we must pass the referendum on Tuesday to create a City of Vinings: to preserve Vinings so that future generations can enjoy it as much as we have. I hope you will join with me, and the hundreds of your neighbors that have supported this effort from the beginning with precious time and treasure, in voting “YES!” Kindest regards, Tom Ham The Vinings Exploratory Committee How to vote YES: https://viningscityhood.com/ Check out our most recent emails: https://viningscityhood.com/ |
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