An interview with a neighbor: Kendra Taylor

Five years ago, industrial engineer and Georgia Tech graduate Kendra Taylor moved from Cobb County to a Midtown high-rise to escape her long commute and be closer to Piedmont Park. She frequents the iconic greenspace nearly every day after work to spend time at her favorite spot in the community — the swing on the playground.

I kind of stumbled upon what I call “recess” at Piedmont Park one afternoon when I was meeting a friend from Grady High School. I saw all these people out and having fun at Piedmont Park, and I had no idea that people were actually having fun in the afternoons, kind of playing games. It reminded me of elementary school recess. I thought, “Wow, it’d be really cool to live in this area, to be able to walk or jog to Piedmont Park and have recess.” And I wanted to be able to walk more. I was in my car driving to and from work. I think I was spending about 45 minutes a day sitting in my car. That’s pretty much what drew me to Midtown.

I would never have thought that I would’ve lived in a high-rise. Never. It just kind of all fell into place one day and it worked out very well.

One day we woke up on Thanksgiving, the morning of Thanksgiving, and we saw all these people running by. We didn’t know what kind of run it was, so we got up and changed clothes and joined in on the race. We didn’t know where it ended. It was a Thanksgiving run. We just kind of got up and joined in. We got to the end two miles later and ended up having to walk back home laughs.

It’s great in terms of the shopping and stores it does have. You don’t have to go far to get what you want on a regular basis.

I just think Midtown needs probably more development for some of the unused spaces. One of the things I’ve seen in the time I’ve lived here are smaller businesses coming and going. I’d like to see the vacant spaces filled in with thriving businesses — small businesses or even larger ones.

It could use a more family-friendly area. And not just for the high-rises, but for even the homes. Having more family-friendly things so that more people with families would feel comfortable living in the Midtown area. ... You definitely have a lot of younger single people. Perhaps as they grow over the next five years they will start having children and maybe they’ll want to stay in Midtown and stores will come up that will cater to those needs.