Another issue of Focus is in the mail! [Thanks InDecatur]

Lots of the development issues we’ve discussed here and over at the aforementioned InDecatur are covered. The obvious difference here is that the city is talking…so they’re a little less interesting than us opinionated bloggers, but they have all the inside dish! (that they’re willing to share)

Examples include…

315 W. Ponce de Leon Ave.

The city reports, like we did last month [InDecatur /Decatur Metro], that Decatur Court at 315 West Ponce has a new owner that plans to keep the existing office building and build residential and a parking deck on the existing parking lot. My original posting mentioned a potential issue with building height for the bungalows along Ponce Pl. Sure enough, a couple homes still have “No High Rise Next to R60″ signs in their yards left over from the Old Decatur condo battle. Should be interesting….

Art Institute of Atlanta

The city has given us a little more detail on this project too, beyond the press releases that alerted us to it a couple weeks ago [InDecatur/Decatur Metro] Apparently the school will put a student art gallery on the first floor fronting Ponce, next to Quiznos, brightening up a piece of the most unfriendly pedestrian building in the city (I say that with no due respect). Also the blurb answers my question about a start date for classes, asked here. “Plans are to start small, and add classes over the next year.”

Mick’s

InDecatur pointed this one out just a few days ago and I piggy-backed. I’m still perplexed why I didn’t notice. The city cites “financial problems” that closed the entire chain. A commenter at InDecatur dishes juicer gossip, “I ran into one of their bartenders a few months back, who told me that the license was suspended because of nonpayment of back taxes.” The city goes on to assure the public that they’ll find the right establishment to fill this prime locale.

Trinity Triangle

OK, so here’s the one we haven’t seen any updates on. After months of delays, demolition is scheduled to start this month on the oh-so-sketchy Relax Inn, the old temporary city hall, and the mostly burnt down “My Sister’s Room”. Dairy Queen will need to be relocated for a time, but has been promised a spot in the new development. This blurb from Intown Atlanta gives a little more insight… “Both of these establishments will be demolished to make way for Decatur’s first downtown apartment development in more than a decade.” Anyone know who the developer is or what the plans look like?

Dissatisfied with your orderly life?  You might be a perfectionist!

Last night, as my wife and I were heading out to do the grocery shopping we’d put off all weekend, we saw something in our neighborhood of Ponce de Leon Heights that made us pause and exclaim “what the hell?”

While getting into our car, two gawky, teenage boys wearing undershirts and shorts (in below 40 degree weather), ran up to our neighbor’s station wagon and peered into the driver’s and trunk windows.  They heard us close our car doors and briefly turned around but then went back to looking in the windows.  I sat there thinking, “are they looking for warmer clothing?  Why the hell are they wearing shorts?”  When they didn’t show any signs of moving along, I started the engine and shined my headlights in their direction.  For a moment they froze and then lurched back across the street into another neighbor’s driveway.

A minute or so later, they were strolling down the street pretending nothing had happened.  I drove in their direction and got a good look at them in case they were about to cause more mischief.  We told our neighbor about the suspicious incident.

This is just another reminder not to leave valuables visible in your car.  Especially any iPod gear…that stuff’s like gold.

Remember that opposition website to streetcars in Decatur as proposed in the Community Transportation Plan, which threatened everything but a plague of locusts if a trolley system were installed on Clairemont?

Well, here’s yet another piece of that puzzle.

Atlanta’s Transit Planning Board (comprised of MARTA, the Atlanta Regional Commission and Georgia Regional Transit Authority) is proposing a widespread mass-transit system for the metro area that includes major plans for streetcars. On the TPB’s map, streetcars don’t just connect Decatur and Emory, but extend up to Lindburgh MARTA station where they connect with a loop that runs thru Midtown and downtown and a rail that runs up I-75 to Marietta.

So, here’s the question. What if the Atlanta were to extend a streetcar network beyond Emory so that Decatur was connected to much of the metro area? Would that change your mind about light rail on Clairemont? Or is MARTA enough for you? Would you protest the idea and force the trolley to stop at Emory?

Of course all of this is hypothetical and TPB’s idea is just one “plan” among many created by different entities attempting to increase transit options in Atlanta. But its fun to think about.

[Hattip: Fresh Loaf]