Nick sends along this pic and reports (via Twitter) a pretty nasty accident at East College & Commerce around 2:15p this afternoon.  He also mentions that traffic is pretty much “FUBAR” at this point while responders clean up the mess.  No word on injuries.

Needless to say, you probably want to avoid this intersection for a bit.

Gourmet writer Pableaux Johnson envies us.

He doesn’t know the half of it.

As the mayor has noted on multiple occasions in the past, the city of Decatur long looked at annexation as one of the only ways of decreasing the property tax burden on residents.  By bringing more commercial property inside the city limits, the city and commission hoped to bring down the 85% of city revenue currently shouldered by residential property owners.

However, annexation was never seriously considered by the city until this past year.  And its subsequent failure, due in part to inaccurate estimates of student costs and a struggling economy has colored all future conversations on the topic.

With the recent announcement that DeVry University has requested to have it’s massive, old DeKalb Industrial campus annexed into the city, many of the old concerns about additional burdens on the city bubbled to the surface again.  Specifically, concerning the cost of students and the over-crowding of schools.

But do all of the same concerns about student costs and over-crowding of schools still apply?  The short answer from the city, who actively pursued DeVry to seek annexation, is “No.”

According to city planner Amanda Thompson, even if a developer wanted to shun the new mixed-use zoning laid upon the district and simply build a bunch of single-detached townhomes (the most family-friendly thing allowed by zoning), the city wouldn’t allow it.

DeVry has expressed in their application that they want to build a mixed use development and that is the intent laid out in this zoning district. The city’s development department would not accept a single use site plan for the property. Could the developer argue with us in court? Yes, but not successfully since DeVry’s application would be part of their conditional approval of the regulating site plan.

So, while not completely outlawed, it seems like the construction of a family-magnet single-family home community is near impossible.  But what about families living in apartments and condos in the new mixed-use district?

Peggy Merriss’ statement to the CSD school board on Tuesday, reported by InDecatur, addresses this concern… Read the rest of this entry »

With the help of wonderful clickers such as yourself, Decatur’s 10 year-old phenom musician, Sydney Rhame, has progressed all the way to the finals in Kudzu’s “Amazing Kids” contest!

Sydney’s mom, Julie, wrote in to DM this morning with the news that Sydney had bested the smug, coughing 2 year-old singer (my description, not her’s) and now only has to take down one more set of carol-singing cuties to win the ultimate prize: $1,000!

So click here to vote for Sydney one final time and help her finance the purchase of a new guitar!  All it takes is a single click on the Kudzu site!