BROOKHAVEN, Ga. — If you ever drive down Peachtree Road in north DeKalb County, chances are you’ve seen it. Residents say a 1 1/2-mile-long wall near the Brookhaven MARTA station needs a good cleaning.
"It's rusted, it has silt down the walls," neighbor Ryan Anderson told Channel 2's Sophia Choi.
Anderson started an online poll where hundreds of residents are now chiming in with complaints, saying they want the wall painted or pressure-washed.
As Choi started digging into this story, she learned MARTA owns the wall, but the Georgia Department of Transportation owns the strip of land next to it.
Longtime neighbor Ronnie Mayer told Choi he planted a row of crepe myrtle trees along that strip of land to try and hide the “dirty, nasty wall.”
Mayer used his own money and planned to put in more trees, but he said the city put a stop to that.
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City of Brookhaven spokesperson Burke Brennan said the trees are a nuisance, with foliage covering up a speed limit sign and a bus stop.
“We’ll need to address the safety issue with the trees sooner rather than later. We can’t even paint the wall until something is done about the trees,” Brennan told Choi.
Brennan also said the city plans to put in a sidewalk on the right of way.
“Ultimately, this is going to be a multi-use footpath, 10 feet wide, that everyone can use safely along a very busy stretch of road,” Brennan said.
Neighbors told Choi they don’t want a sidewalk, saying it’s too dangerous.
“If a car’s coming at you, where you going to go?” asked Anderson.
“There’s nowhere to run because you got an 8-foot MARTA wall right beside you,” Mayer said.
Officials with MARTA told Choi it is considering painting the wall a dark color to hide the stains in a couple of years when the sidewalk is put in.
Neighbors say they want it done now, when developers are eyeing Brookhaven for projects.
“This is the entrance to Brookhaven, and it’s disgusting. We live in this beautiful town, and we have to look at this ugly wall every day on our commutes to and from work,” Anderson said.
Cox Media Group
