Photo from The Decatur Minute

With all the recent talk about pedestrians vs. motorists vs. cyclists and general crosswalk issues around the city, I thought it would be timely to remind everyone about the stamped concrete asphalt crosswalks that will soon be poured around the city.

Currently Decatur has only one slightly raised, stamped concrete crosswalk: at Ponce and East Courthouse Square.  But soon, we’ll have seven more!

The Decatur city commission just approved a bid by Traffic Calming USA at last Monday’s meeting and Asst. City Manager Lyn Menne tells DM that the crosswalks will most likely be poured after the holidays in January to avoid traffic issues. “Generally January is very slow…Looks like they want to start around January 4th.”

Where will you see these new crosswalks?  At some of the city’s most dangerous (and talked about) crosswalk locations, that’s where!

• Mid-block 200 E Ponce de Leon Avenue between the Decatur Renaissance Condominiums and the Townsquare Condominiums
• Ponce de Leon Avenue at Clairemont Avenue (All 3 legs of intersection)
• W Ponce de Leon Ave at Marshall Street
• W Ponce de Leon at Fairview Avenue
• West Howard Avenue at Adair Street
• SR 155 South Candler Street at Doughtery Street
• SR155 South Candler Street at the Agnes Scott College parking lot driveway

The West Howard crosswalk is hands-down the most complained about here, so it will be interesting to hear if driving and crossing habits change once it is slightly elevated and poured.  Stay tuned.

The Emory Report reports – hmm, that doesn’t sound so great…notes? – that Emory will be purchasing and serving 1,600 pounds of heritage breed turkeys this year at its annual Heritage Harvest Festival this year.

[Emory's sustainable food educator, Julie] Shaffer, working in conjunction with Emory Dining, leveraged her past role as the president of Slow Food Atlanta to bring something unique to Emory: breeds of turkeys that just a few years ago were on the brink of extinction. In fact, Emory is the only college or university in the nation to partner with a national distribution network that specializes in cultivating the resurgence of endangered breeds of turkeys.

And in an era when many are using food as a gateway to occasionally leave the mainstream, the festival won’t just be about eating to your stomach’s content, but also will offer learning opportunities for participants.

“Thanksgiving provides a seasonal opportunity to educate within the context of a holiday filled with good food,” says Patty Erbach, senior director, Emory Dining. “There will be a significant educational component associated with Emory’s Heritage Harvest Feast, including comparison taste-testing between Heritage and industrial turkeys, plus little-known facts about the turkey, and the rest of the sustainable-sourced menu.”