The city’s Cheryl Burnette lets us know that this year’s Oakhurst Arts & Music Festival [Sat. Oct. 11th 10a-7p] still needs volunteers.

If interested, email Sandy Johnson sgjohnso [at] bellsouth.net.

Is it really October already?

Wow…I’m surprised no one called me out on this one sooner.  I checked on this a few weeks back but the site wasn’t up yet.

As Steve notes in a previous post, tickets for the 2008 Decatur Wine Festival on Saturday, Nov. 1st are now on sale.  Tickets are 30 bucks each.

Assuming you can sober up from the Beer Festival by then, get your tickets here!

The last time I left town for a few days, I came back and there was no gas.

This time when I left, there was still no gas so I thought…phew! at least I won’t have that surprise waiting for me! But now I log on to find out that the Dow has plummeted, my bank has been bought by Citigroup, and Creative Loafing has filed for Chapter 11!

What the hell? Why are world markets and alt-weeklies so opposed to my relaxation?

But seriously, I hope CL can survive…those guys are top-notch in my book and have given me a lot of moral support over the past year.  Perhaps its because of their “alt-nature”, but CL gets local blogs.  Many of their writers come from or maintain their own sites, not to mention must-read Fresh Loaf.

On the other hand, the AJC just takes from local blogs, while supporting a tired list of their own contraptions, which are really just op-ed pages moved online, sections of the paper that have gotten severely cutback (ATLarts..cough cough) or ridiculous attempts to provoke unmoderated conversation amongst its often insane commenters.

Give me Creative Loafing any day of the week.  Or once a week, in a plastic green bin outside Whit’s End…that works too.

Yum! Mudbugs!

Carl sends along the info for the 6th Annual Low Country Boil at the Solarium on October 23rd, which benefits Decatur School’s Education Foundation…

Buy your tickets here!

CL reports on Emory’s ambitious, new sustainable food initiative that’s end goal is to buy 75% local by 2015.

That’s an extraordinary percentage, especially in winter (more root vegetables anyone?)…but hey, I’m not the expert.

Regardless, its great to see such a huge establishment sign onto the slow/local food movement.

Though some may mistaken this sustainable food thing as just the next fad in the endless waves of new “diets”, in reality its much larger than that.  As long as China and India continue to use more and more oil, raising oil (and food) prices to new highs, AND people worry about the effects on the environment, a good percentage of folks will continue to turn to local foods in an effort reduce their own carbon footprints and support the local economy.

Sorry to go all Bill McKibben on everyone, but I just wanted to say “cheers!” to Emory for being so forward thinking in this area.  Perhaps such a huge commitment will help revive one of the rarest elements of the modern landscape: the local farm.

I’ll be running around the next few days, so posting may be a little light, but I just wanted to mention that Decatur Metro turned 1 year old today! (If you include its first week when it was called “Blogging Decatur”)

It sure has come a long way from just blogging to myself and a couple random folks that thought I was the official city website. Seriously, “beyond expectations” doesn’t even begin to describe it for me.

Thanks to everyone for reading and participating over the past 12 months. Who ever knew that community involvement could be so fun!?

Wondering when the DOT was going to make good on its promise to resurface Ponce/Scott (from N. Druid to Moreland) beyond just the ends of Scott’s side streets?

A thoughtful Thomas Wheatley provides the answer in the form of a DOT press release…

ATLANTA – A 5.7 mile corridor of Ponce de Leon Avenue/Scott Boulevard will be resurfaced beginning Sunday night, Sept. 28, as contractors for the Georgia Department of Transportation begin closing traffic lanes to accommodate the work from North Druid Hills Road to Moreland Avenue.

Work will begin on the two southbound lanes, with crews closing one lane and leaving the other open to traffic for a distance of about one mile. Once one lane has been resurfaced, traffic will be shifted to the finished lane and the second southbound lane will be resurfaced. Crews will repeat the process mile-by-mile to Moreland Avenue, where they will reverse direction and work in the same way on the northbound lanes.

Crews will work from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays. The work is expected to be completed within 90 days. Workers have already completed patching work and side street improvements in preparation for the mainline work. The work is necessary due to the wear and tear caused by heavy traffic along the corridor.

Motorists should anticipate lane closures with some traffic backup during the construction hours.

Can a grown man pull off “eeek!”?

Read the rest of this entry »

If you thought that Georgia didn’t have a dedicated retirement magazine all to itself, you’d be wrong.  And if you thought they’d never list Cobb County and Decatur in the same top 10 list, you’d also be wrong.

Retire in Georgia magazine recently ranked Decatur among the top 10 places to retire in the state due to its walkability and whatnot.  However a quick look at some census data shows that those over 60 are still a pretty small minority in terms of the zipcode’s total population, outnumbered by infants, not to mention the 30-somethings.  Then again…which areas of the city aren’t dominated by 30-somethings?

From City-Data.com

What else does this graph say to me?  If you’re a 21 year-old straight guy looking for a mate in this zipcode…you’ve gotta like your odds…even if some of the ladies aren’t interested.

Wow…I must be slipping.

The city tipped me off to its new, official Facebook page a couple days back, but I had yet to get around to posting about it. Whelp, now it looks like the AJC beat me to the story. Ouch. However, while the AJC provides a link on its website for the inspired downtown Athens Facebook page, they provide no link to the Decatur page.

And though I found the page a couple days back when first alerted, now its no where to be found. I’ve found the Brick Store’s Facebook page, Thinking Man, the humorous You Might Be From Decatur, GA if…, Decatur High Bulldogs, and No More Condos in Decatur, but the city’s official page (named “downtown Decatur” when last I checked) is no where to be found.

A little help?

UPDATE: David from InDecatur provides the link.

UPDATE II: Hilarious.  The AJC updates its article and links to Decatur’s new Facebook page.

Creative Loafing’s “Best of Atlanta 2008” is now online, and it looks like Decatur again rated the city’s “best suburb” among its alt-hipster, pinko-liberal, free-newspaper-loving, much-hyphenated readership!  Leave it to those facist CL “critics” to rate Chamblee as their pick for best Atlanta ‘burb.

Also, congrats to Pecanne Log (critics #1) and Blissful Glutton (readers #1) for ranking as the top local Atlanta blogs!

(For Thomas Wheatley’s eyes only:  I THOUGHT WE HAD A DEAL!?!  I provide you with lots of uncomfortably erotic plastic surgery ads for CL and you give DM a little love!  Well I’ll tell ya…that’s the last time I’m entering into a contractual agreement on a napkin with you!  Where’s that # for Sunday Paper?)

(For CL editor Ken Edelstein’s eyes only:  The above note to Thomas was made in jest.  Please don’t repremand him on my account.  There are so many other valid reasons.)

UPDATE: Whit’s End and Wordsmiths also note that they made the list.  Sure…rub it in.