Baby Got Books points out that it goes well-beyond Decatur, in a passionate cry to its audience…

Wordsmiths, in business for less than two years, has been instrumental in helping to create the lit scene that we all deserve here in Atlanta. No one in this town works harder to get authors in front of a crowd than the gang at Wordsmiths. No one. Their readings are always an event that may also feature local bands, national indie musicians, free hairpieces, local chefs, contests, prom backdrops, cupcakes, and – well, you never really know what else may happen. You can rest assured that an evening at a Wordsmiths reading is never going be boring. How good is Wordsmiths programming? New York Times-worthy. Don’t take my word for it. Check out Wordsmiths’ Flickr photostream. Then remind yourself that all of that action is taking place in a bookstore….

I love what Wordsmiths is all about. I think that they have hit upon the winning formula for selling books in the digital age while also creating a literary community. They’ve made going to the bookstore cool again. Bottom line: there is always something happening (or about to happen) at Wordsmiths. I’m sure that we’ll all survive if Wordsmiths disappears from our landscape – but we’ll all be the poorer for it.

Over on the Wordsmiths blog, Zach links to all the blogs/newspapers that have already posted on their campaign. And as someone somewhere already pointed out, if you’re against donating to the store but appreciate its contribution, you could still go purchase a book or two at full-price. Or buy a $10, $50, $100 or $500 Friends of Wordsmiths membership. Then the store makes a profit up front and you get benefits going forward.

From the official press release…

August 5, 2008 (Decatur) – The 2008 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical (DBF) will close with a performance by Patterson Hood, front man of Athens-based alternative country band the Drive-By Truckers. Hood’s performance is presented by Lenz Music, a division of Lenz, Inc., an integrated marketing company in downtown Decatur.

DBF will be held Labor Day Weekend, August 29-31, on and around the downtown Decatur Square. Hood’s free performance will be Sunday, August 31, at 7:30 p.m. on the plaza of the Decatur Square.

“We’ve got an outstanding lineup of musicians coming to the festival this year, and no one will want to miss Patterson Hood’s closing performance,” said DBF Executive Director Daren Wang.

Richard Lenz, President/CEO of Lenz, Inc. and founder of Lenz Music, said he is thrilled to bring one of his favorite musicians to DBF.

“Having Patterson close out this year’s festival is a real treat,” he said. “Everyone at Lenz Music has followed him for years.”

Lord, these sponsors confuse the heck out of me sometimes. “The AJC Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical”.  What a mouthful!  So just to be clear…the DBF is presented by DeKalb Medical, while the Patterson Hood concert is presented by Lenz Music. Got it?

This posting is presented by Decatur Metro.

After reading through some of the recent discussions on the site about Decatur’s green space, Scott decided to look beyond all the arguments and try to get a real hold of how well Decatur provides “green space” to its residents.

To do this, he used a planning tool that draws a circle with a half mile diameter over individual locations on a map. This allows the planner to see all residents that are within a 1/4 mile of that point, which as Scott has mentioned before, is the recognized standard of how far the average person is willing to walk before they start to consider other means of transportation. He included “all of our parks, playfields and other recreational green that are either public or provided through a public/private partnership”. He purposely excluded Courthouse Square, the cemetery, Agnes Scott and Columbia Seminary. The results are below.

Scott's (Revised) Green Shed Map

Bottom line? To me, it shows that while you may have personal opinions about individual green locations around the city, to assert that the city is lacking for parks/green space is a bit of a stretch. Looking at the map above, around three-quarters four-fifths of city residents seem to be within walking distance of a park or green space. Couple that with the Greenspace Commission’s recent accomplishments (including 12 acres of acquisition since 2001) and future plans to link our green spaces and you begin to see a very different and much greener picture of Decatur.

Coming tomorrow…a much more light-hearted “shed” from Scott.

Report from 1st Christian Church Polling Station…

Went in around 8:15. No wait but there were three/four folks in front of me. In total I probably saw about 10-12 people that had just/or were about to vote. Not bad for a runoff…

As always, the volunteers were overly gracious and as nice as can be…especially at such an early hour. My thanks goes out to them.

Most importantly, I have my sticker.