Hildreth forwards this note from the City Schools of Decatur…

In an effort to inform our CSD parents and community of the discussions related to impending legislation, City Schools of Decatur will be hosting a legislative forum on Thursday, February 26, 2009.

The meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Central Office at Westchester, located at 758 Scott Boulevard, Decatur, GA 30030. Members of our legislative delegation will be present at this meeting to discuss various legislative topics and to answer community questions. Panelists include: Angela Palm (GSBA), Representative Stacey Abrams, Representative Stephanie Stuckey Benfield and CSD Board Member John Ahmann. We hope that you will be able to join us for this important panel discussion.

I followed up with Maria at CSD and got this additional bit of info about this session…

The superintendent wanted to hold a forum that would give the community an opportunity to hear from our local representatives about upcoming legislation related to education (this could be any number of topics). The panelists will have an opportunity to speak about legislation that they feel is important to our community and in turn, community members will have the opportunity to ask the panelists questions about legislative topics. The panel will be moderated by CSD board member Mr. John Ahmann.

Oh, if only Sonny would come to town and we could ask him our questions!  Actually that raises an interesting point….Has anyone ever seen Sonny Perdue inside the Decatur city limits?  Has he ever snuck in for some fried chicken at Watershed?  (I wouldn’t think Scott Peacock would be as willing to hand-deliver fried chicken to the Gov as he was for Martha Stewart at the aquarium!)

Ripped straight from my good friends over at The Decatur Minute.

I’ll let the sign do the talkin’, if you let the wine do the walkin’.

The Atlanta Police Dept, along with East Point and Fulton County police, are creating a task force to deal with the rampant flat-screen television theft in the Atlanta metro area.

According to the AJC, the task force is a lot like the one created last summer to deal with the “blue jean bandits”.  The article continues…”The group, which will meet every other Thursday, will pinpoint neighborhoods in the county that have the heaviest number of burglaries and try to identify those involved in the crimes, through surveillance, undercover decoys and other police tactics, Williams said.”

Perhaps Decatur will also soon join this task force, since we’ve seen our fair-share of flat-screen theft.

Also, might I suggest that they wrap GPS theft into this flat-screen task-force?  These two electronics are so frequently stolen, it almost seems like there is some sort of clearinghouse where these items can be quickly sold onto the black market.

A recent Emory Wheel article that points out that three members of Emory’s upper-echelon rank among the top 10 highest paid private university employees in the country.

The article seems to imply that these highly paid Emory execs should take some kind of pay cut, symbolic or substantial, while the university works through the current economic crisis.

Thanks to xokyditive for pointing out the article!

Wheatley points out that House Resolution 201, which proposes a 1-cent statewide sales tax for transportation uses (not to be confused with the Senate bill that allows counties and regions to implement a local 1-cent tax), includes a project that just makes me want to type really unpleasant words in no specific order.

Subterranean highways. Under neighborhoods like Va-Hi, Morningside, East Atlanta, Midtown, Cabbagetown.

Yep! Just like the Big Dig! The same Big Dig that’s cost is forcing Massachusetts to raise its gas tax to the highest in the nation so it can attempt to offset an impending $19 billion deficit? Yep! That’s the one!

In a moment of economic crisis, when the state is already $3 billion over-budget, the suburbs are suffering from foreclosures and inefficiencies, and our transportation infrastructure is the laughing stock of the world, the State legislature is considering funding not just another highway, but a highway of outrageous cost with no proven benefits!

Obviously this project has little chance of ever getting off the ground, but this is the sort of geez-whiz, “that would be so cool!” thinking that scares the crap out of me. Please for the love of God keep the 1-cent sales tax transportation money out of State hands. Let the local gov’ts decide.

Over on his blog, Mayor Floyd recaps discussions at the city commission’s recent annual retreat with staff and talks about the city’s challenges in the coming year/s.

Not surprisingly, the economy is top-of-mind right now and the mayor hints that we may need to start making cutbacks in our budget, even though we’re currently in pretty good shape.

In addition to that, he highlights four key issues that “will consume a majority of the hours available” in the coming year.

Its the mayor, so its obviously must-read.

h/t: InDecatur

Carl forwards the announcement…

The Seen Gallery will celebrate its “grand reopening” with a group show featuring painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, etchings, hand-blown glass and limited edition prints on Saturday, March 7 from 7 to 10 p.m. in its new spacious location in Downtown Decatur. Guests are invited to enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres while exploring the new space and viewing various works from The Seen Gallery’s diverse pool of artists.

The Seen Gallery is reopening in the former T-Mobile and Two Stix spaces in the Townsquare Condos along Church St.