Join Mayor Bill Floyd and City Commissioner Fred Boykin at Decatur’s East Lake MARTA station on Tuesday morning for the 5th annual “Georgia Rides to the Capitol”.  The 2010 event is in support of “House Bill House Bill 988 — a 3 foot safe passing bill.”

Fred provides a few more details on the morning ride…

This is the 5th annual ride and we’re hoping for over 1,000 cyclists to participate. There are two rides – one leaves from Roswell at 9:45 a.m. and the other leaves from Decatur (E. Lake MARTA station) at 10:45 a.m. Both rides are police escorted to the Capitol; riders are on their own for the trip back.

The Decatur route is an easy one and will be led by Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd. We also expect over 40 other metro area mayors and elected officials to ride the event as well!

We’ve had Glennwood students particpate and lots of Decatur folks join in too.

It’s a great way to show support for cycling in Georgia.

Even more event details HERE.

According to the AJC, Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield says she has 6 of the 10 signatures from the DeKalb delegation needed to put the Decatur/Avondale College Ave commercial annexation bill to a vote before the General Assembly.

DeKalb County’s legislative delegation conducted a two-hour meeting Monday on annexation in general and in particular on the proposal for the two cities to meet at Sams Crossing.

It was announced at the end of the session that the sponsor of the two bills — one for Avondale Estates, one for Decatur — can begin lobbying fellow lawmakers to sign off on the plan. The delegation’s rules require signatures from at least 10 of its 21 members to move a bill forward for a General Assembly vote. State Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield said she already has six signatures for the bills.

Also in the article: Many area business owners are still angry about the possibility.  DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis is against it.  And Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd is tired of delays.

UPDATE: Geoff has a very detailed report of opinions given on annexation from the hearing at the Georgia Capitol.  No big surprises though.  The Decatur and Avondale mayors are for it.  DeKalb commish Kathie Gannon and many of the area’s business owners are against it.  And round-and-round we go.

Also the “State of the Schools” address will be given by CSD School Board Chair Valarie Wilson.

Cheryl at the Decatur Minute writes…

The community is invited to join the Decatur City Commission for the annual State of the City Address delivered by Mayor Floyd and the State of the Schools Address delivered by Decatur Board of Education chair Valarie Wilson on Tuesday, January 26th at the monthly meeting of the Decatur Business Association. The reception begins at 5:15 pm and the program begins at 6 pm. The meeting will be held at the new Decatur High School Auditorium in downtown Decatur.

YES!  Sorry, I’m sure it had nothing to do with me, but I’m really excited to see the new auditorium being used in one of the ways I had publicly hoped.

Remember that goofy fellow who showed up in Decatur a few weeks ago and requested a key to the city in exchange for a little community service?  No?  Well the Decatur Minute documented the whole thing.

That was comedian Steve Hoffman and now he’s now found himself on the CBS Evening News, speaking about the 95 keys and counting that he’s collected from city’s all over the country.

And while Decatur escapes exposure in the televised segment that seems conflicted between laughing along with Hoffman and feigning upset at the devaluation of the honor of key-bestowing, Mayor Floyd’s photo with Hoffman is front and center in the accompanying website article.  A similar photo below is from The Minute.

So, as only a national newscast can over-generalize, should a key to the city still mean something (in every single city across the country)?

Umm…well that sorta depends.  Did your city only reserve keys for burning-building heroes and eight term mayors up until Hoffman came a knockin’?  Or are keys kinda blase’ in your city these days?

In short, instead of asking “Should a key mean something?” perhaps the more appropriate question would be “DOES a key mean something?”

I mean, it’s not like Decatur gave him a Hometown Hero award.

It’s only July and the District 2 race is already heating up.

Last week, Kyle Williams came out with endorsements from Reps. Stuckey-Benfield and Abrams for his city commission campaign.  Today, Patti Garrett’s campaign announces two big endorsements of their own.

Here’s the release…

Decatur’s Mayor Bill Floyd and City Commissioner Mary Alice Kemp are supporting candidate Patti Garrett for the Decatur City Commission, District 2. Kemp is retiring from the contested South Decatur (District 2) seat at the end of 2009.

“I have known Patti for several years now,” Mayor Floyd said. “She is an intelligent and capable person whose dedication and involvement in her community, along with her willingness to work hard, will make her a great commissioner.”

“When Patti moved to Decatur years ago, she immediately began to volunteer her assistance to community events,” Commissioner Kemp said. “Her energy, leadership and joyous embrace of Decatur will serve us well as a City Commissioner.”

“I am grateful that these two people, whose hard work in service to our community I admire and respect so much, have chosen to support my campaign,” Garrett said. “It’s a vote of confidence in my intentions to continue and deepen their good efforts on behalf of the City of Decatur and especially South Decatur.”

First on DM…

A couple days back, Jerry tipped me off to news that Mayor Floyd had decided not to run for governor, but asked that I get Bill’s blessing before posting.  Two days after accepting the presidency at GMA, Bill was good enough to provide me with a little detail on why he decided against running for the state’s highest office.

I have decided not to run for governor, but for several reasons and not just who is in the race. Most are personal reasons ranging from 1. I like what I’m doing now 2. business – to – really personal reasons. All being said if I really had the “fire in the belly” I would run regardless of who else is running. One other small reason is, having to raise $10+ million dollars, not an easy task for anyone in this climate. So I am looking forward to continuing in the job the voters of Decatur have given me and doing the best job I can. I hope to get to know all the candidates for Gov and Lt Gov and make a wise choice about who to support.

Dagnabbit!  I was sitting on this story waiting on a response from the mayor, and Dave beat me to it.

So here’s ’tis without the mayor’s response (yet)…

Decatur mayor Bill Floyd was elected president of the Georgia Municipal Association at their association’s annual meeting yesterday.  Read all the details in the official GMA press release.  You can also listen to the mayor’s full speech to the GMA here.

The mayor has promised me a response in the next day or two regarding this and one other issue.  I’ll post as soon as I receive word.

Beth writes in…

Due to all the rain at Greenfest, the Rain Barrel Auction was postponed (ironic, isn’t it?). It will be held this Saturday night, May 16, preceeding the concert on the Square Event.

All 7 of the beautiful rain barrels designed and painted by Clairemont Elementary school kids (one was done solely by their art teacher) are on display in the Decatur Library this week, leading up to the auction.

Rain Barrel Man and Mayor Floyd will be on the bandstand to auction the barrels at 6:30 pm.

This project was created by Clairemont Elementary’s Green Initiative, “Little Sprouts” to educate the students on water conservation.

DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis met with the county’s mayors at Agnes Scott this morning.

I wonder how many of them said the above – couched in slightly more diplomatic language of course.

The HOST fight has rattled its way up and down the state court system for eight wonderful years at last count.  If and when the County finally fesses up that it has illegally withheld sales tax funds that rightly belong to the cities, we’ll have millions more dollars to put toward capital improvements, which are currently funded by our property taxes.

Strap on your helmet and help raise bicycle awareness with a ride to the Capitol with Mayor Floyd and Commissioner Fred Boykin next Tuesday, March 3rd!

The Decatur group will leave the East Lake MARTA station north parking lot at 10:45a on a police-escorted ride that should reach the Capitol around 11:40a.

For all the details, click here.