By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
SEPT. 24, 2019 | Back in the early days of development in Gwinnett, finally out of frustration I took to hauling around a shovel in the trunk of a 1974 green wide-track Pontiac. Why? Well, in that early era of development in Gwinnett, there were few groundbreakings and ribbon-cuttings, and on two occasions, when going to a groundbreaking, of all things, no one thought to bring a shovel.
So for two or three years, my shovel became popular in the photographs (which often I took) of new activities coming to the county. Since then, groundbreakings have become much more routine. These days people know how to put them on. Why, the modern groundbreaking often even has pre-dug Georgia red clay (or even sand) awaiting, spread in a pile. No longer do the dignitaries have to use their foot to spade up the dirt; that’s already taken care of. Now they simply have to break into the already-loosed dirt for the ceremony.
There was a new wrinkle the other day in Peachtree Corners at a ribbon cutting, where humans did not hold up the ends of the ribbon. The ends were attached to two drones. You may have seen a photograph in GwinnettForum.
In other words, modern groundbreaking and ribbon cuttings have become sophisticated.
Yet with all these ceremonial occasions over the years, I had never attended something like I experienced last week. I went to a ribbon-cutting of…..a parking deck. Nope, never been to one of those before.
It was the gigantic 2,400 vehicle parking deck at the Infinite Energy Center, as it prepares for a whole mass of people who will be parking in this area in the future as the Revel development comes on line around the Center. And the ribbon-sniping was for only the first of two parking garages. Another is undergoing finishing touches adjacent. Both are between the Gwinnett Chamber building and the actual convention center itself.
The second parking garage will hold another 880 vehicles, making the area, according to Gwinnett Visitors and Convention Bureau Chairman Richard Tucker, the largest parking deck in suburban Atlanta.
Earlier recently I had first parked at the just-opened Infinite Energy Center parking deck, to attend the Salvation Army “Doing the most good” banquet at the convention center’s ballroom. Parking was so easy, on the ground level just steps away and across the street from the Center’s entrance. Now this new deck consists of seven different levels: one at ground level, two below-ground, and four levels above ground.
And the architects (Wakefield and Beasley of Peachtree Corners) have thought some about this: there are six different entrances-exits at different levels. Think how long it would take to get in (or out) without multiple outlets.
Officials have touted all along that the Infinite Energy Center area would become a virtual center of activity for not only Gwinnettians, but visitors to the county, since it will be both a convention and an entertainment district.
What opened last week was, you might call, the main cog for this new playground of Gwinnett. It shows that our county planners are diligently at work, looking toward the future by establishing an efficient transportation infrastructure before the major additional buildings are built. It bodes well for the Center….and for the county.
Gwinnett is no longer a county where people are unaware of how to do a grand opening or ribbon cutting. I haven’t used my own shovel in an event like this in decades!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Follow Us