I love Piedmont Park.  It truly is the gem of Atlanta.  Pre kids spent lots of time there. Not so much in the last eight years.  But that is changing.

Not too long ago I met with Jim Moore and Norman McKay of the Piedmont Park Conservancy.  The Conservancy is the nonprofit organization, working with the City of Atlanta to maintain and enhance Piedmont Park as a vital urban green space in the city.  They asked me to join the park’s Technology Committee.  I accepted.

You may be wondering why a park needs technology.  Well let me tell you what’s going on.

Piedmont Park is undergoing a huge expansion.  The park currently contains about 187 acres.  They are opening up 53 new acres in the northwest portion of the park, a 40% increase in parkland.  The first phase one of the northern expansion will lay the infrastructure and foundation for future amenities.  I am particularly excited about this as it will create a new entrance to the park about 300 yards from my home versus the three quarter mile trek that I now have.   

Future amenities planned currently include such things as an interactive water fountain similar to Centennial Park, lots of wooded trials, athletic fields, basketball courts, bocce courts, a children’s carousal (think Central Park, NYC), and a skatepark that Jack is going to love.  In addition to the expansion area features planned for phase two and beyond, the Conservancy has broken ground on a LEED-certified renovation to the historic bathhouse and pools. It is currently scheduled to reopen in the summer of 2009.  I have seen the plans for all this.  It is going to be way cool.

So all these new places and things in the park need to be connected.  What’s the best way to connect them? The Internet of course.  Or more specifically through fiber and wireless technologies that utilize Internet protocol to communicate.  So I am helping the Piedmont Park Convservancy evaluate and select the appropriate technologies needed as the park expands.  This not only includes the basic infrastructure but appropriate services that ride on the network once it is in place.  This is going to be lots of fun.

And I am going to spending a lot more time enjoying Piedmont Park.