The venerable GriftDrift recently wrote up Decatur Metro and InDecatur as his #5 Blog Story of 2008.

We sure are getting a lot of love this year!  Thanks Grift!

He accurately notes that this blog was called “Blogging in Decatur” for its first three or four days before quickly switching to its more hip and slightly confusing current name.

The AJC titled their article about last night’s 315 approval,”Decatur approves Ponce Parking Deck.”

Nevermind the concerns over density of the apartments or future traffic issues.  The parking deck – which hasn’t been debated since the number of units was reduced to 160 – is what counts.

Come on AJC…you’re making this too easy.

An update from Chris Billingsley at DHS…

Just a quick note about the fund raisers this past weekend.  We brought a large crowd to the 5th Earls Market.  The owners were very pleased with the turnout.  Thanks to all for supporting this event.

Rake&Run was also very successful.  More than 20 students participated.  The kids did a great job.  The CU parents were unbelievable.  I was the only one who ran out of gas.  I had to go the the emergency room to get a shoulder transplant (I needed an entire body transplant, I was so sore!) but it was worth it.  We worked at 18 homes in Decatur.  We missed a few homes but we will try to finish all this coming Saturday.  Homeowners in Decatur were very generous.   We made over $1,100.00 in donations for rake&run.

Thanks Decatur homeowners, for helping our dream of attending the inaugural come true.  We reached our fund raising goal thanks to your generous support.

Fellow Ponce de Leon Heights residents take note.

Rebecca writes in…

Since we don’t have a formal neighbhorhood association in Ponce de Leon Heights, I just wanted to make everyone aware that there have been a series of break-ins on Coventry Road. Apparently they look for no cars in the driveway. The robbers smash in the backdoors and grab anything they can find — pull TVs off the wall, etc. and are gone in a matter of minutes. Please be extra vigilant and alert the police/neighbors if you’re going to be out of town.

What’s the number to notify police you will be out of town?  I’d like to post it here.  Is it just the non-emergency #?

UPDATE: Steve confirms my hunch.  Call 404-373-6551 to notify police to keep an eye on your house if you’re going out of town this holiday season.

Facing a $2 million dollar deficit thanks to unfulfilled promises from the Georgia Capitol, Dr. Edwards and CSD are fighting back against the “austerity cuts” in public school funding that have been in place since 2002.   According to the AJC, these austerity cuts have cost the city $2.7 million since ’02.

The “Save Our Schools” public information campaign comes in a time when CSD is attempting to grapple with the $2 million shortfall going into the next fiscal year.  Things are so tight, that even teacher layoffs have been mentioned.

Well, I can’t fault Decatur about not being proactive.  All school systems across the state are currently feeling the pinch, but CSD is the first in the state to show that it refuses to just rollover.  Hopefully other school systems will join the initiative soon.

The AJC article talks about a public information packet for the public.  Hopefully I can get my hands on a copy when it becomes available.