Kathy tipped me off to this story yesterday, but I was without an online source. Rus provides it.

From the AJC…

Four arrests have been made in the death of a 48-year-old Decatur man found in downtown Decatur Saturday, police said.

Decatur Assistant Chief Mike Lee said police arrested three adults and a juvenile late Saturday and charged them with murder. The three older suspects are at DeKalb County jail. The fourth is in juvenile detention. Lee did not identify them.

Lee said that the man, whom he “tentatively identified” as Bernard Sims, pending confirmation by the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office, died of blunt force trauma to the head. Lee said a passerby saw him Saturday morning in the 1400 block of Commerce Avenue [across from Allen Wilson Terrace] and notified police.

Yikes.

Decatur CD isn’t going “Brick Store” and Terra Mater ain’t closing.  See their blog.

Apparently its all part of the store’s annual April Fools joke.  Ha…Ha…ehem…I’m a little embarrassed and a bit annoyed, but I’ll get over it.

Thanks for the heads up Carl.

P.S.  All of the positive response seems to indicate that perhaps there is a local market for alcohol-induced CD purchasing.  Or at least another local high-end pub.  Perhaps the joke’s on Decatur CD for not seriously considering something similar.

Playing a little catch up today after spending a whirlwind weekend in NYC.

Anyhow, in case you hadn’t yet noticed, April’s Decatur Focus is out and gives us the most detailed update on the 315 W. Ponce development we’ve seen recently.

In summary, the article states that the developer has removed all curb-cuts (entrances/exits) along Montgomery St and has limited the height along Montgomery to 3-stories in the 90-feet closest to the street (in keeping with current zoning) and transitions up to 5 stories close to the existing office building. Also the idea of a hotel along Ponce has been scraped (due to neighborhood concerns) and more residential has been proposed in its place.

The parking deck and traffic flow continue to be the most contentious issues between the developer and residents.  The article states that the city is commissioning its own traffic study to see how the neighborhood would be impacted.  I still haven’t received word on where the original traffic study, produced by the neighborhood, came from.

I’m still most curious about how this 5-story development will look ascetically next to the 10-story office tower, but I seem to be the only one.  I don’t think I’ll be able to judge that until actual plans become publicly available.