Heads up all. From Patti Garrett’s blog…

Join Decatur Active Living on Saturday, March 8^th from 10am -1pm for the annual Touch-a-Truck Event. The City of Decatur and DeKalb County dump trucks, fire trucks, tractors, police cars and motorcycles and many other types of vehicles will be on display.

NEW! Decatur Active Living is celebrating National Nutrition Month at this annual event. When you come to Touch-A-Truck, join in the effort by bringing any canned or non-perishable food item. 

From Sgt. Violante of the Decatur Fire Department…

Special Needs Informational Meeting
Wed. March 12
10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. 
Fire Station #1, 230 E. Trinity Pl.

The City of Decatur Fire Department would like to meet with any families with children with special needs or medical issues. We want to continue responding in the best way possible to care for all families, including those with special needs. The meeting will discuss medical care, large scale events, and fire scenarios with families. In addition, we want to inform families about the benefits of using Smart 911 and exchange ideas on how to better dispatchers’ responses to emergency calls from families with special needs.

We need your participation and input to do the best job possible.  Please join us on March 12 at 10 a.m. and at 6:30 p.m. at the City of Decatur Fire Station #1.

The address for Fire Station #1 is 230 E. Trinity Pl., Decatur, GA 30030. If you have any questions regarding this meeting, please contact Sergeant Violante at Ninetta.Violante@decaturga.com or via phone, at 404-457-3289.

The Atlanta Bicycle Coalition announced their annual awards last week and one of Decatur’s commissioners received a notable honor.  From the press release…

This year, the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition’s Blinkie Awards launched The Inaugural Fred Boykin Lifetime Achievement Award: Fred Boykin, Decatur City Commissioner and owner, Bicycle South. Commissioner Boykin has been a dedicated public servant committed to making it safe for kids to bike and walk through the Safe Routes to School initiative. Through his leadership, Decatur schools now support higher rates of biking and walking to school than any other metro Atlanta school system, attracting new residents while helping children stay healthy and active. He is also the owner of Bicycle South, Inc., a Decatur-area business since 1972.

From the Decatur Education Foundation…

EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT for the Tour deCatur ENDS FEBRUARY 28th!!  Register now!

The 12th Annual Tour deCatur 1-mile Fun Run and 5K will be run on March 15 -  only 2 1/2 weeks from now!   Register now at the early-bird registration fee of $25 for adults, $20 for CSD faculty/staff and City of Decatur employees, and $15 for youth (18 and under). The rate goes up to $30 for ALL AGES after Feb 28th.  New this year – timing chips for all 5K runners!  For further details and to register go to TourdeCatur.com

Decaturish has an extensive report this morning on the impending closing of The Seen Gallery, the art gallery on Church Street that’s been in Decatur since 2002…

Bill Bibb and Vicki Elders are confronting the stages of their grief.

Bibb is closing The Seen Gallery on Church Street in Decatur where Elders is the gallery’s manager, but he hasn’t made the official announcement yet. He hasn’t set a closing date, but said it will probably be gone within a month. Most of the art in the store is on sale.

Chadwick sends along a picture of the mayor accepting the donation of a 30′+ Willow Oak from an donor Michael Jackson of Heirloom Tree and Garden as part of the kick off for the Decatur Arbor Festival tree display going on next to the Marlay starting today.  From the event flyer…

Samples of trees and experts who can help you select will be at The Gate Called Beautiful next to The Marlay Feb 21st, 22nd, and 23rd to kick off the ordering period which lasts through March 2nd. After the 23rd, order forms can be dropped off at participating local sponsors.

You can view the order form and tree selection list HERE.

CSD send out this email blast late yesterday…

Dear CSD Families,

At the February school board meeting, Dr. Edwards and the Board of Education discussed the lost instructional time due to inclement weather this semester. Dr. Edwards charged a team of instructional and operational staff to devise a plan to add  30 minutes of instructional time per day before testing season begins.

The team weighed many factors including instructional schedules, athletic practices and games, bus schedules, after school programs and clubs, testing dates, free and reduced breakfast mandates and more.  The team also considered communication from parents and students expressing concern as well as communication in support of the additional 30 minutes.

Please see the schedule below for the new start and end times for all 8 of our schools in theCity Schools of Decatur.  This schedule will begin on Monday, March 3 and end on Friday, May 2.  Should there be additional school closings due to extreme weather conditions, City Schools of Decatur may choose to extend the new schedule through the end of the 2013-2014 school year.

Parents and students will receive communication about specific school-based plans during the week of February 24.  Coaches and after school club and activity sponsors will send additional communications about their programs.  After school childcare providers will contact parents separately from district communications.

Morning bus routes will not be affected by the new morning bell schedule.  Students should be at the bus stop at their usual time in the morning.  Afternoon bus routes will be affected by the new afternoon bell schedule.  Parents should add the additional time to the current bus drop-off schedule in the afternoon.  Questions concerning the bus schedule should be directed to Simone Elder, Director of Transportation, at selder@csdecatur.net .

As previously communicated, students will also make up two inclement weather days on March 10 (previously a teacher workday) and May 29 (the new last day of school).  Post-planning for teachers is now Friday, May 30.

Thank you for continued support of City Schools of Decatur.

A common question in the thread following the announcement earlier this week that Google was beginning talks with the City of Decatur to bring Google Fiber to the community was something along the lines of “Anybody know a way to provide support to the city on this?”

Well,the City of Decatur has responded with a list of things residents can do to help convince Google that they should bring Fiber to the city.  From the Decatur Minute…

Yesterday’s announcement of Decatur as one of 34 cities under consideration for the next round of Google Fiber expansion resulted in an outpouring of enthusiasm from residents, business owners and, well, just about everyone. City leaders and staff are busy taking the next steps in the joint planning process, and updates will be posted here as they become available.

Google wants to know that there is grassroots support for Google Fiber in Decatur. Here’s what you can do to help:

1)      Visit https://fiber.google.com/newcities/ and click on the “Get Updates” button. The more people who sign up for updates that live or work in Decatur the better, so be sure to use a City of Decatur address.

2)      On Twitter? Tweet your enthusiasm to @GoogleFiber and @Google using the hashtag #DecaturGA

3)      Express your support on the Google Facebook page in a comment that tags the Downtown Decatur Facebook page.

4)      Follow the Fiber Google+ page.

5)      Get creative! Google has a corporate culture that values forward thinking, so reaching out to the company in creative and innovative ways is encouraged. How would Google Fiber improve your life, your business or the entire Decatur community? Let Google know “Decatur wants Google Fiber!”

The city would like to hear how you creatively told Google “Decatur wants Google Fiber!” Share in the comments or email casie.yoder@decaturga.com