GwinnettForum | Number 21.21| Mar. 22, 2022
WORK BEGINS SON on 382 multi-family apartments at 22 Technology Parkway South in Peachtree Corners. The present office building at the site will be demolished for building 212 one bedroom units, and 170 two bedroom units. The adjacent structure at 20 Technology Parkway South will be re-used as a mixed-use building. There will be 2.6 acres of open public space on the 10.7 acre site.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Swan Queen ballet returns to Buford’s Sylvia Beard Theater
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Help us figure out which is the oldest business in Gwinnett
SPOTLIGHT: PCOM Georgia
FEEDBACK: Maybe the United Nations should move its headquarters
UPCOMING: County awards $28 million resurfacing to Snell firm
NOTABLE: County buys new vehicles for Paratransit and Microtransit
RECOMMENDED: Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
GEORGIA TIDBIT: Aeck firm now has office in Ann Arbor, Michigan
MYSTERY PHOTO: Today there is a second mystery for you to solve
Swan Queen ballet returns to Buford’s Sylvia Beard Theater
By Suwanna Wilson
SUWANEE, Ga. | Suwanee Ballet will return to the Sylvia Beard Theater at Buford Community Center with Swan Queen, a shortened version of the classical ballet Swan Lake. The performances will be on April 29 at 6:30 p.m. and April 30, with two performances, at 12:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Complete with the battle over good and evil played out by the white Swan, the Sorceress, and the black Swan, the ballet features all of the favorite Swan Lake dances performed to the monumental music by Tchaikovsky. The pre-show will delight audiences with a full range of dances: emotional, jazzy, classical, upbeat, and fun. It will be a show that audiences of all ages can enjoy.
Tickets are $18 each and can be purchased at suwaneeperforms.org starting March 18. For those unable to attend in person, live-stream tickets will also be available for each show on the SPA website, suwaneeperforms.org. Live-stream tickets are $15 for one to three viewers.
About Suwanee Performing Arts and Suwanee Ballet: Suwanee Performing Arts (SPA) is a nonprofit community arts organization founded on the principle “art is life.” SPA’s mission is to ignite a passion for the arts which nurtures and inspires the creative leaders of tomorrow through the magic of live performance. SPA envisions a culturally vital community where the performing arts are available and accessible to everyone. By Bringing Art to Life in the community, Suwanee Performing Arts helps bring the mission of the City of Suwanee — “Play Hard, Live Well, Smile More” — to life as well.
Suwanee Ballet (SB), is a youth dance company helmed by Berneta Bock Davis, artistic director and co-founder of SPA. Dancers from 6 to 18 years of age participate in master classes and performances throughout a yearlong commitment, including local festivals, annual winter and spring performances, and Children’s Ballets centered on introducing dance to very young children.
Suwanee Ballet has the added benefit of a parents’ guild. The Suwanee Ballet Guild is a passionate group of parent volunteers who help plan, organize, and run SB events, programs and fundraisers.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Help us figure out which is the oldest business in Gwinnett
By Elliott Brack
MARCH 22, 2022 | Let me invite GwinnettForum readers to join me on a quest that will tell us more about Gwinnett. See if you can come up with what is the oldest business in your city under continuous operations, and try to figure out, too, which is the oldest business in Gwinnett.
You see, no governmental agency keeps tabs of businesses that way. We’ll just have to figure it out.
With all the fast growth that Gwinnett has had in the last 70 years, it’s getting harder to pin down exactly what are the oldest businesses in each of our cities. Or the oldest business in unincorporated areas of Gwinnett.
But many of our Forum readers have hidden in their minds information such as this. So let your mind wander, and then send along to us, by phone, email or U.S. Mail, what you think is the oldest, and we’ll check it out.
Snellville Mayor Barbara Bender says certainly one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in Gwinnett is E.R. Snell Contractor in Snellville, the highway paving and asphalt people. That company dates back to 1923…and will mark its 100th birthday next year. Very few other businesses opened earlier than that.
One guy suggested we check it out by the number on a company’s business license. But some cities don’t have this information in such order. We did find that Dover and Cheek Plumbing in Buford has business license No. 125, dating back to 1945. Another older firm in Buford is Willard Towing, which Jimmy Willard says also dates back to 1945.
It might be expected that several other firms may date back to just after World War II. For instance, Tom M. Wages Funeral Home in Lawrenceville started in 1949.
Down in Loganville, Robbie Schwartz of the city says that Gene’s Barber Shop on Main Street, operated by Gene McDaniel, is quite old. He says he bought the business in 1973 from Johnny Higgins, who had started the barber shop in 1960.
In Lilburn, City Clerk Melissa Penate says that Cofer Electric Company was started by Lamar Cofer in 1964. Today it continues under Alan Cofer. This may be the oldest firm in Lilburn.
Peachtree Corners is only 10 years old, so the oldest business there probably began before the area was a city. So far, we have few leads as to which business is the oldest there.
In most of the Gwinnett cities, we simply have no idea which firm is the oldest. That’s where we’re counting on our readers to help us out.
So put on your Thinking Cap and get busy, then when you have any thoughts as to which might be an older firm, let us know. We’ll check it out. Let’s solve this Gwinnett question for each city and for the county as well.
Another Forum is in the news. It’s the Forum on Peachtree Parkway. We’ve learned that it has a new owner, North American Properties of Atlanta, through a joint venture with Nuveen Real Estate, a subsidiary of TIAA-CREF mutual funds of Kansas City, Mo. North American has major interests in other northern suburban properties, including Avalon in Alpharetta and Avenue East Cobb.
The Forum’s anchor stories include Belks, Barnes and Noble and Trader Joe’s. The Forum was purchased by AEW Capital Management for $150 million in 2014.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
PCOM Georgia
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Established in 2005, PCOM Georgia is a private, not-for-profit, accredited institute of higher education dedicated to the healthcare professions. The Suwanee, Ga., campus is affiliated with Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, a premier osteopathic medical school with a storied history. Doctoral degrees in Pharmacy (PharmD), Physical Therapy (DPT) and Osteopathic Medicine (DO) are offered at PCOM Georgia. Graduate degrees at the master’s level can be earned in Biomedical Sciences and Physician Assistant (PA) Studies. Emphasizing “a whole person approach to care,” PCOM also offers a master’s degree in Medical Laboratory Science as well.PCOM Georgia focuses on educational excellence, interprofessional education and service to the wider community. To learn more about how PCOM Georgia is shaping the future of health, visit www.pcom.edu or call 678-225-7500.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
Maybe the United Nations should move its headquarters
Editor, the Forum:
The United Nations (UN) Building occupies some of the most expensive real estate in the world, and its charter was primarily for the resolution of conflicts. While the charter is a splendid idea, it never caused the resolution of any conflict anywhere in the world. As we see the mounting genocide and rubbling of Ukraine, the single condemnation of the General Assembly is a futile reaction that has led to a vacuum of action, a silence.
We need to face the fact that the UN is not effective in this area. Veto power in the Security Council paralyzes any action. The organization does have the unique characteristic of being a global gathering and should examine the tasks that it can accomplish successfully. It works for humanitarian aid in crisis areas.
Location of the organization might be reconsidered, as well as the charter. New York isn’t the safe playground it has been in the past. Conflict resolution is a loser in a time of weapons that can hit anywhere in the world in hours. The organization should focus on humanitarian issues on a global basis. Asia has over 60 percent of the population of the world and maybe that is where the organization should build a new facility
– Byron Gilbert, Duluth
Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 300 words, and include your hometown. The views of letters are the opinion of the contributor. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net.
County awards $28 million resurfacing to Snell firm
The Gwinnett County Commissioners last week awarded E.R. Snell Contractor, Inc., a contract for more than $28 million to resurface county roads. The Georgia Department of Transportation will fund a quarter of the contract cost.
Gwinnett Transportation Director Lewis Cooksey says: “State funding allows our SPLOST dollars to stretch farther, in this case to pave more roadways.”
Every year Gwinnett transportation employees document roads in need of resurfacing. With nearly 2,700 centerline miles of roadway, it takes close to 30 months for staff members to assess pavement conditions on all the county-maintained roads. That pavement data is used to identify the roads in most need of resurfacing. Gwinnett will resurface just over 108 centerline miles of roadway this year.
The $28 million contract is funded 75 percent by the County’s 2017 SPLOST program and 25 percent by the Georgia Department of Transportation. Transportation staffers say resurfacing studies and their own experience have shown that maintaining the roadway pavements helps reduce costs over time. Funds spent on resurfacing cut down on spending to patch or completely rebuild a roadway.
County buys new vehicles for Paratransit and Microtransit
The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners have approved the purchase of 14 paratransit and microtransit vehicles off a state contract with funding assistance from the Federal Transit Administration. The $2.3 million purchase is being made through a competitively-procured Georgia Department of Administrative Services contract and is funded 80 percent by the FTA, with a local 20 percent match coming from the County’s transit funds.
Gwinnett County Transit’s paratransit service is a shared-ride program that provides curb-to-curb service to eligible persons with disabilities. This service is complementary within three-quarters of a mile of Gwinnett County’s local fixed-route service. The new vehicles will be used to provide paratransit service to support GCT’s three new local route expansions in late 2022 or early 2023.
Microtransit operates using paratransit type vehicles to provide on-demand, door-to-door transit service in lower-density suburban areas where riders access real-time service using an app. From fall 2018 to spring 2019, GCT piloted a micro transit program in the Snellville area. The success of the pilot led to the purchase of these vehicles in anticipation of the return of micro transit service to Snellville in early 2023.
Gwinnett County Transit provides commuter express, local and complementary paratransit service. For more information on transit service in Gwinnett, visit Gwinnett County Transit’s webpage.
Five students win DAR Good Citizen awards
The 2021-2022 DAR Good Citizen Awards were presented recently by the Philadelphia Winn Chapter Daughters of the American (DAR) Revolution Good Citizen Committee Chair, Cheryl Hall. Each DAR Good Citizen Award recipient was presented with a monetary gift, a DAR pin, an award certificate, a recognition wallet card, and a custom yard sign. The students receiving the DAR Good Citizen Awards were given the opportunity to enter the DAR Scholarship Essay Contest.
The winners include:
-
Tart
Hodge
Shurney
Kristin Shurney, from Discovery High School, plans on attending Georgia Tech and studying Environmental Engineering. Kristin was also the essay contest winner, receiving an additional monetary gift, with her essay moving on to the district level of
- Ashille Hodge, from Central Gwinnett High School, plans to attend Georgia State University and study in Audio Visual Communications.
- Randal Tart, Jr., from Gwinnett School of Math, Science, and Technology (GSMST), plans on attending Georgia Tech and studying Biomedical Engineering.
-
deMayo
Rabelo
Abigail Rabelo, from Killian Hill Christian School, plans to attend Georgia State University and earn a degree in Nursing.
- Maymie deMayo, Providence Christian Academy, has not decided on which college she will attend but plans on studying business and hopes to own her own business one day.
Foundation grants $90,000 to five Gwinnett nonprofits
The Jackson EMC Foundation board of directors awarded $90,000 in grants during its February meeting, including $90,000 to agencies serving Gwinnett County.
- $20,000 to Hi-Hope Service Center, Inc., in Lawrenceville, to help fund part-time nursing and nutrition services for 20 developmentally disabled Gwinnett residents.
- $20,000 to North Gwinnett Cooperative., for its Prescription Assistance Program, which covers the cost of non-narcotic/controlled substance prescriptions for senior citizens and families who qualify for assistance.
- $15,000 to Gwinnett-Walton Habitat for Humanity, to provide interior trim and doors, cabinets, vanities, HVAC unit and flooring for house #153 in Gwinnett County.
- $15,000 to Lawrenceville Cooperative, an emergency food bank for residents of Lawrenceville and Dacula in Gwinnett County.
- $10,000 to Asian American Resource Foundation, in Duluth, providing supportive services to members of the community in need, for its Rapid Re-Housing Program.
- $10,000 to Vision to Learn, to provide free vision screenings, eye exams and prescription glasses for K-12 students in need in Gwinnett County schools.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: This is a short book with a goofy name that consists of 21 ideas about how to stop procrastinating and accomplish your top priorities. Many are common sense tips, and some are quite helpful. The book includes suggestions on how to clarify what you really want to accomplish and how to identify key obstacles preventing you from reaching your goals. It stresses the importance of saying no to distractions and lesser priorities that don’t support your top priorities. It insists that learning to seriously focus your attention is the key to success. This book is geared for people still in the workplace (and I don’t agree completely with its single mindedness), but I still think it has merit for a retired person. I now feel better equipped to focus on the pleasurable things I want to do and not get bogged down by unimportant, time-wasting activities.
An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (150 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. Send to: elliott@brack.net
Aeck firm now has office in Ann Arbor, Michigan
(From previous edition)
In the late 1950s Richard Aeck started work at the Lovett School in Atlanta, a project that embodies modern ideas about expressing frame and construction with an economy of line and functional efficiency. Such ideals were transformed to apartment design at Atlanta Towers (1961-63) and to office construction, as evidenced in his work for IBM in Savannah (1960), Atlanta (1963), Tampa, Fla. (1962-65), and Greenville, S.C. (1962).
Aeck’s extensive school work in Georgia includes elementary schools in Columbus and Atlanta (notably Towns Elementary in 1962-63) and fine arts buildings for Augusta College in 1968, Georgia Southern College in 1964, and Georgia State University in 1966-70. He also designed other university buildings for Georgia State (General Classroom Building in 1966-71 and Pullen Library in 1966), Floyd Junior in 1970, and Southern Polytechnic State University and Student Center in 1976.
Two unusual buildings by Aeck Associates crown the Atlanta skyline: the twin downtown towers of the Floyd Building (1975-80) and the cylindrical shaft of Aeck’s C&S Bank Tower (1964-68, razed). The latter structurally echoed Frank Lloyd Wright’s taproot, tree-trunk design for the Johnson Wax Research Tower (1944). Aeck’s open base, awkwardly flaring crown, and Mannerist Modern street-level forms (marking drive-through banking and pedestrian access) characterized a unique building for Midtown Atlanta. Aeck’s C&S Tower was taken down in the late 1980s to make room for Roche and Dinkeloo’s NationsBank Plaza (later Bank of America Plaza) (1989-92).
Richard Aeck retired in 1983, leaving his practice to his son Tony. A subsequent merger with Lord and Sargent has ensured continuity of the practice and name. The firm, known as Lord, Aeck, and Sargent, is one of the most successful design practices in Atlanta; a branch office recently opened in Ann Arbor, Mich. Terry Sargent’s design talents build on Richard Aeck’s legacy of structural expression to achieve an innovative architecture consistently in evidence from one of the most creative practices in Georgia.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Today there is a second mystery for you to solve
Today’s mystery seems somewhat of a double mystery. These classical columns seem to be outside doors, but then there is ironwork barring entrance. Just what is it, and how does this work? Figure out where the photograph was taken, and get back to us. Send your idea to elliott@brack.net, and be sure to include your hometown.
The last Mystery Photo was of the Victory Church in Norcross, which Robert Foreman of Grayson was first to recognize, saying: “I drove by there each day when going to my office in Norcross.” Also spotting it were Mark Willis, Peachtree Corners; George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex. The photo came from Cindy Evans of Duluth.
Peel wrote: “Today’s mystery photo shows the front entrance of the Victory Church, a multicultural non-denominational Christian megachurch located at 5905 Brook Hollow Parkway in Norcross. Originally called the Victory Christian Center, the church was founded in 1989 as a bible study group by Pastors Dennis and Colleen Rouse, who held the first service in their apartment home with just six people. Over time, it expanded into a number of campuses and became known as the Victory World Church with a focus on inclusivity. In fact they describe themselves on their web page as being ‘a church of more than 100 different nationalities, a wide range of ages, singles, married couples, families, and people from all different church backgrounds.’ By 2010 the church was listed by Outreach Magazine as the 57th largest church in America and today the Norcross campus welcomes more than 10,000 people from over 140 nations each weekend!’
Pollinator Workshop: join Sustainable Norcross’ Bee City Committee on Saturday, March 26 from 10a.m. until noon to begin preparing the site of the new City Hall pollinator habitat! During this hands-on workshop, you will work with master gardeners and learn how you can start a garden in your own space. We will meet in front of City Hall (65 Lawrenceville Street). Supplies will be provided, but feel free to bring gardening tools (gloves, rakes, shovels and hoes) to share! Pre-register for this Planting for Pollinators Workshop by emailing communitydevelopment@norcrossga.net.
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