UPDATE II: The AJC reports from the meeting here and InDecatur has a nice first-hand report from participant Joe Winter.

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UPDATE: Sounds positive so far! Scott is good enough to write in with a summary of the beginning of the meeting..

“The meeting was set up so that people were arranged in groups of about six or eight people. Otis White made some initial remarks, establishing at the onset that the goal was to ensure that everyone with any desire to contribute could be heard. His point was that, over the past year, many voices have emerged — some loud and some more measured — and that the possibility certainly existed that there were others with a stake in the outcome who have yet to participate in the discourse.”

Then the neighborhood, developer and city were allowed to make opening statements. Though there was some resistance, many in the neighborhood seemed to agree with Mr. White that it would be worth while to get everyone on the same page. Scott continues…

“After remarks from the various parties, the individual groups went to work on their first task: Identify their key concerns about, as well as their aspirations for, the project. Once those had been collectively presented back to the whole room, they were given a second task of taking one of their aspirations and brainstorming on ways the developer could reasonably address them.”

Beyond that point, we’ll need the rest of you to fill in the holes on your views and impressions. Sounds like it had the potential to be a fruitful meeting!

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So, here’s the rub. I can’t attend the 315 meeting this evening. Other commitments demand the Metro’s attention (wow…that name sounds so stupid).

The good news is you won’t have to endure my usual morning-after report, full of rambling tangents and lazy summaries. The bad news is: you gotta fill me in.

How did the meeting go? Was the place packed? How effective was Otis White? Did we make any progress on the issues at hand or did it devolve into an “I hate you! I hate you more!” battle of wits?

Also, even if you don’t generally like to comment because of your fear of blowhards (like myself) asking you 10,000 follow up questions, you can still make yourself heard by taking advantage of this site’s newest feature: polling!

Cool, huh?

Over at The Decatur Minute, Catherine notes the new valet parking being offered on Friday and Saturday nights at the top of the N. McDonough loop on the Square.  For $5, you can avoid the hassle of trolling for metered parking and just let a valet hoof it to/from the DeKalb County Courthouse lot for you.

The idea is the brainchild of Saba, but obviously anyone can use it.  I think everyone (the city included) is interested to see if the idea of paying $5 to park (not including tip) will catch on.  If so, it will be a great solution to filling up that empty deck!

Remember tonight’s 315 West Ponce meeting at city hall at 6:30p, featuring ringmaster Otis White.

I, for one, hope the developer shows some intent to compromise on the number of units and that the neighborhood speaks with a more unified voice as to what they specifically want to see at the site.

Then we’ll be gettin’ somewhere.

In honor of Gay History Month, Southern Voice is highlighting local and national figures “that [have] helped shape Atlanta’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.”

Among those is our own city commissioner Kecia Cunningham, who’s 1999 election win made her “the second openly gay elected official in Georgia, and the state’s first and only African-American openly gay elected official.”  In fact, another blurb in Georgia Trend calls her “the first openly gay African American elected official in the Southeast.”

Geez…I didn’t realize it was a “first in all the South” type moment!  Pretty historic stuff.