Dunwoody to-do list
Dec. 31 — It’s Cathy from Rough Draft with my weekly newsletter on Dunwoody. I’m halfway through my annual ruthless purge, clearing out all the clutter that manages to find its way into the corners of my refrigerator, closet, and below my kitchen sink.
Even the junk drawer is given no mercy. That drawer filled with “hardly-ever-worn sweaters?” Out. The Juicy Couture underwear someone bought me as a joke? Gone. Nobody wants to live a lie.
📋 As promised, this abbreviated newsletter outlines my unsolicited and unqualified thoughts about what might be on the horizon for 2026 in Dunwoody. I’ll try to look back this time next year to see how it plays out.
👀 See you in the new year,
Cathy
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A new life for Ashford Dunwoody property?
🎭 After last year’s drawn-out drama that ended with the defeat of a rezoning that would have allowed age- and income-restricted housing on Ashford Dunwoody Road, one would think that the intrigue would be over. But no. There’s a rumor that a developer wants to build for-sale townhomes in the same spot where the current LifeSouth Community Blood Bank now sits.
🏡 More information is expected to be provided at the Dunwoody Homeowners Association meeting on January 18 at 7 p.m. In the meantime, check out the DHA’s new super-snazzy website.
Fashion meets art at the High Museum!
SPONSORED BY THE HIGH MUSEUM
👗 Experience Viktor&Rolf: Fashion Statements – a bold, breathtaking exhibition celebrating avant-garde fashion visionaries who blurred the line between haute couture and art. Only at the High, the exhibition’s sole U.S. stop.
➞ On view through Feb. 8, 2026.
More construction, hooray
😡 Gird your loins. The proposed I-285 Top End Express Lanes Project that will allegedly improve mobility along I-285 between South Atlanta Road and Henderson Road, as well on State Route 400 is gearing up, with massive clear-cutting already in progress along the proposed corridor.
The proposed project will add two new, barrier-separated express lanes in both directions of I-285 and SR 400, alongside the existing general-purpose lanes, according to the website that has been established to let you know the details and for how long your lives will be ruined.
🤥 Alert: Whatever the GDOT says about the timeline, add two years.
🌟 Your future in nursing starts here. Herzing University–Atlantahas no wait lists and offers flexible learning, hands-on clinicals, and accelerated pathways. Train where you live and join Georgia’s next generation of nurses making an impact today. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Expanding Homecoming Park with found money
💰 At the end of the year, Dunwoody found some loose change in its budget to the tune of about $7 million. That money will be put to work in 2026, with police equipment enhancements, traffic and sidewalk improvements, and a build-out of Homecoming Park, which, at this moment, has two not-so-comfy benches on the grounds.
🛝 ICYMI, here are some details about what’s coming
❤️ Have a sentimental fur, stole, jacket, or coat not being worn? Let Restyle Your Fur make a “trans-fur-mation” at Magnolia Moon in Alpharetta, today and tomorrow, May 21 and 22, from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at our recycle fur and mink restyling event. SPONSOR MESSAGE
Too good a story to resist
✈️ The Rough Draft staff is supposed to be on break for a couple of weeks, but I couldn’t resist writing this Christmas miracle story about a plane crash that should have resulted in death, destruction, and mayhem.
🤕 Instead, two people walked away with just a few bumps and bruises. I visited the scene, and it’s impossible to fathom, well, everything that occurred just at the right time and place that saved a lot of people. Here’s the story.