I was hoping that there would be Zagster bikeshare in the Dunwoody parks by now (as it is in the other metro-Atlanta cities of Alpharetta, Roswell, Suwanee, Smyrna, Carrollton, and even the Cobb County Community Improvement District — free to use for 3 hours, by the way. I use it often at the Big Creek Greenway, pictured, when coming home from my mom’s if I don’t have my own bike with me.)
I’ve asked and asked (the first time being January 15, 2018). City founder and four-time-elected City Councilor John Heneghan requested in September of 2019 that the Parks Department research and present about it to City Council. I check the City Council Meeting Agenda every two weeks to see if it’s going to be presented. Yet, nada.
My hope was to offer free bike classes with Zagster bikeshare before I leave for Uganda. I thought that might be helpful (since there are currently zero safe bike routes that meet NACTO guidelines leading to the parks and most women who came to my classes there the past few years drove motor vehicles with their bikes in them, plus there are many people interested in riding bikes who don’t own one or find it physically/logistically difficult to transport one). That doesn’t seem to be in the cards as my window for donating services (for which REI charges about $150 per person, by the way) is closing rapidly.
I just want you to know that I have pursued this. If it is something in which you may be interested, please continue to encourage it from your city councilors. Don’t take “wait until the park is done” as an excuse. Things can happen simultaneously.
Also, FYI, I asked for emergency call boxes on the trails five years ago. I was told “wait till the parks are done and the electrical lines are all laid.” Putting safety last is a gendered, ageist, and ableist decision, and it must be called out as such. Note that Big Creek Greenway has solar powered ones. Doing that in the current-four-miles of mostly-wooded trails in Dunwoody would provide additional safety immediately for women, children, seniors, and those with disabilities (plus it would give Dunwoody points in the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Green Communities certification program). Do not accept lipstick-on-a-pig proclamations of success. Demand rubber-hits-the-road reality.
UPDATE: I have received private messages that indicate we will see measurable progress on this soon.
Traveling at the Speed of Bike 