DeKalb commish Jeff Rader alerts his constituents of a North Druid Hills LCI (Livable Centers Initiative) Kickoff at the DeKalb International Student Center (formerly Kittredge Magnet School) at 2383 N. Druid Hills Road from 6:30-8:30pm on November 17th.

The plan itself (PDF) has noble, New Urbanisty goals, but seems to walk an awkward line between wanting to maximize driving efficiency – into and through the corridor – while also developing the kinds of density that should promote more pedestrian activity.

And while I recognize compromise as essential component of any real-world “initiative” or plan, any infrastructure that attempts to promote a sidewalk lifestyle, while simultaneously making driving MORE convienent seems doomed to disappoint both drivers and peds alike.

The Brookhaven Reporter reports that DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff Rader called Sembler’s request for a 20-year, $52 million tax abatement of its Town Brookhaven project “effectively dead” at a July 15th meeting.

So what happens now?  Rader predicts that Sembler “should be breaking ground very soon on the rest of their project to the degree that the market will support it.  I think we are going to see that fully redeveloped, because that is an attractive place for people to be.”

h/t: Clairmont Heights Civic Association

Not quite expensive enough to justify bathing in Dasani just yet…

From GoDeKalb

The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted 6 to 1 on Oct. 23 to approve new water and sewer rates effective Jan. 1, 2008. The rate change is expected to increase revenue by 16 percent each year from 2008 through 2011 to help fund $1.4 billion in proposed capital improvement projects.  Commissioner Jeff Rader said audiences at community meetings applauded the proposed rate changes because they will drive conservation. There was little discussion before the vote was taken. Commissioner Elaine Boyer voted against the rate changes.

Examples:

• The 14 percent of the residential water customers with a ¾ inch meter who use up to 2,000 gallons of water every two months, pay $20.42 this year. Under the proposed rate changes, their bill would go up 7 percent to $21.76 in 2008, and then it would gradually rise to $33.97 in 2011.
• The 28 percent of the customers that use from 4,001 to 8,000 gallons bi-monthly would see their current $52.88 bill rise 16 percent to $61.40 in 2008 and gradually go up to $95.84 in 2011.
• The highest change in the 2008 rates would be 29 percent for the customers with ¾ inch meters who use 20,001 to 40,000 gallons bimonthly. Their bills would go up from the current $226 to $292 in 2008 and gradually increase to $455.78 in 2011.