"Mini-Menne" Unveiled

Pint-sized clone to focus on small-scale infill projects.

Decatur city officials, in conjunction with a rogue team of underground Emory geneticists, announced today that they have successfully cloned Economic Development Director Lyn Menne.

“Lyn’s been instrumental in Decatur’s success,” beamed the Mayor. “We used to jokingly say ‘If only we could clone her.’ Then the folks from Emory called and next thing you know…”



Sporting a diminutive stature described by chief geneticist Dr. Carol Lumpkin as “adorable,” the "Mini-Menne" miniature clone has been created to address the one issue that has eluded the scope of the city’s efforts: small parcel redevelopment.

The problem, it seems, is parking. City regulations require all new construction to absorb parking on site. While this seems perfectly reasonable for a large project like the Artisan, it also ensures that a modest downtown building like the Brick Store Pub cannot be duplicated.

“Even if someone owns a small plot outright,” said Mini-Menne in the cutest little voice you ever heard, “it’s essentially impossible to cover construction costs when half the land must be given over to cars.”

As a result, developers must amass large parcels to make the numbers work.

“Our goal,” she squeaked, “is to look at solutions that allow smaller buildings as an option. Shared parking arrangements, on-street parking, municipal lots, that kind of thing."

“I mean," she concluded in her squeaky-weaky little twitter of a voice, "forcing a small building to provide parking when there’s ample parking next door or out front? I know my brain is proportionately smaller than a normal-sized first generation human but that’s stupid, right?”

Beginning Monday, Mini-Menne will be available in the Development Office at City Hall, occupying a closet that has been reconfigured into a tiny replica of the office occupied by Ms. Menne.