Free-For-All Friday 1/29/10
Decatur Metro | January 29, 2010Thank goodness it’s FFAF!
Use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here in the past week.
Comments are closed on Monday.
Thank goodness it’s FFAF!
Use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here in the past week.
Comments are closed on Monday.
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Laura
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Hi All, I live on Adair Street and have no water right now. Anyone heard anything?
sorry, false alarm. I live in a townhome and one of my neighbors hired a not so bright plumber.
I’m thinking about utilizing Dekalb’s free compost to create 2 large raised garden beds. Anyone have experience or advice with it?
I don’t know about the compost, but I do know that the free mulch is contaminated with poison ivy.
Does anyone know the latest on the litigation with DeKalb County to recover the City’s portion of the SPLOST?
Anyone know what was going on on/near the square/old courthouse last night? I came up Clairemont toward downtown around 10:30 and it was closed south of Commerce. Just wondered if it was anything exciting.
Probably the brick crosswalk installs that are going on.
I was just going to bring those up!
Has anyone seen the brick moat at Clairemont and Ponce yet? It’s great!
Moat ?
IS FIFTH EARL BACK?!
Interesting. Someone send DM some pics please (for those of us chained to desk chairs 24 hours a day)
George! InDecatur took some pics for ya! http://bit.ly/cdbguk
The one on Candler at the ASC parking lot is done. It looks great. Nonetheless I stood in front of it for three minutes waiting for someone to let me cross.
I do think we should just leave large barrels of water balloons at these crossings so that pedestrians can pelt cars that speed through.
Yeah, the crosswalk work.
I can’t wait to get my new iPad. With an iPad I can play tennis, go swimming, go horseback riding…
…toast marshmallows, sew curtains, go four-wheelin’…
Fold an origami crane or 100?
Not to sound cranky, but the only thing more tiresome than the hype preceding the iPad’s unveiling is the 200-some-odd people I have encountered since then making jokes comparing it to a feminine hygiene product, all supposing they are the first to stumble upon that bit of witticism.
“…and no one will ever even know I have my…” Oops! Sorry, Lump– couldn’t resist.
I love the iPad, iPod, iTampon, whatever. I bought Apple @ $12.00 a share.
Mad TV was years ahead of their time! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFNQE_TzQNI
Sorry….when I hear “iPad” I think of a feminine hygiene product.
Any thoughts on the renewal of the Decatur/Avondale annexation efforts?
http://www.championnewspaper.com/news/articles/262lawmakers-renew-avondale-estates-annexation-efforts–262.html
There are definitely some spots along the College Ave corridor that need the cleaning up.
Hey Nicole, you find lots o’ discussion on the topic here! DM reported the story first!
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2010/01/12/avondale-estates-leads-charge-for-decaturavondale-annexation-along-college-ave/
There were several police cars out doing a search in the Lenox Place neighborhood yesterday afternoon. Does anyone know what happened?
Saw a patrol car this morning as i was leaving for work, but it was just the patrol woman saying hi to my dogs in the yard as she usually does, if you find out what happened post it, i always like to know what’s going on in the neighborhood.
I heard from a neighbor that they were looking for a black camaro.
Can anyone recommend a good place to get an oil change? We used to go to the goodyear on Clairmont but after news that they were ripping people off (thanks Decatur Metro!) we’d like to go else where. Any reccommendations?
I’ve been going to Precision Tune at the corner of Lawrenceville Hwy. and North Druid Hills for years. I do most of the maintenance on my cars (except for oil changes, because it’s a pain to deal with the old oil) and they do that for a reasonable price.
They also know me well enough that they never ask to do additional work, since I always refuse. And they never attempt the dreaded, “can we show you something on your car?” routine.
Seconded on Precision Tune. They even do my ancient Miata without problem.
Great! Thanks Eric and AMB! I’ll head there tomorrow.
There’s a place over on E. College near Wahoo (is it Phoenix?) where you can bring your own oil and they’ll change it for you. I like that concept.
At Mac McGee’s the other night, a guy came in, sat down next to us at the bar, and asked the bartender for a Budweiser. The bartender replied that they didn’t have Bud, but had similar lager styles such as Yuengling, Harp, etc. The guy got up and left in a huff, loudly complaining about how unAmerican it was to not have any Budweiser. “It’s insane!”
Isn’t Bud Belgian owned?
One of the real paradoxes of the modern world – for some reason many of the same folks that promote a free market which leads to globalization, have also been the ones who put a very high priority on tradition and local values. Too bad the first is killing the second, and what was once American or local, is now Inbev.
In a globalized world, you may think you’re eating well, supporting local economies, building the best infrastructure, but unless you follow something back to its source and know exactly where every component is coming from, you can never be sure. Common sense is now used against us.
So my theory goes, that’s why we’re now seeing the emergence of this more liberal strain of “localism”, which doesn’t rely on local custom and tradition, but huge complex sets of data to verify what was once basic common sense amongst the general population.
Somehow, DM, I doubt this guy’s beef was that the beer wasn’t “local”– sounds more to me like he just don’t get whycome he cain’t even get no Amurikun beer when he’s out drinkin’, ‘stead of all them furrin brews everwhere you go.
And like it or not “locavores”, our philosophy is a descendant of that philosophy. The latter has certainly become a bit beaten up in the past few years, for the reasons I described above, but it was once a worthy “value and have respect your local culture” mindset.
We just use different reasoning (environment, community, etc) to justify our affinity.
Well, I wasn’t going to editorialize on the incident, as I thought it was humorous on it’s own, but it seems a little explaining is in order. The guy walked into an Irish pub, on the Decatur square, and was offended that they didn’t have Bud. He made a scene about it, an unironically called it “unAmerican”.
I don’t think there was any part of the guy that valued or had respect for the local culture.
The bartender, to his credit, had far more restraint than I would have.
You should have given him directions to Taco Mac.
went to mac mgees for the first time monday night. was pretty good
Budweiser was indeed bought by InBev, a Belgian company. It was shortly after that they launched the massive “Budweiser: The Great American Lager” campaign to fool the rednecks. I kid, I kid! I too usually am dismayed by bars that serve Yeungling over Budweiser. Whoever was in charge of the pre-market expansion campaign for that company should be given a raise. You won’t hear anyone from, say, Philadelphia extolling the virtues of that lager. It also blows my mind that it’s equally (or more) expensive in bars here. It just ain’t that great and it’s in no way equal or superior to Budweiser. The fact of the matter is that bars here are getting it cheap and selling it as the in vogue “import.”
While Yuengling Lager is not so great, only locals have experienced the joy of drinking the Yuengling Premium that comes in returnable bottles. It’s super cheap and for good reason.
Ah, but Laura– the cheap de la cheap is none other than Mickey’s (or as we affectionately called them back in high school, “Mickey’s Big Mouths”)…and the ever-popular Piels Draft (but you could only get those in a can)…
Mickey’s …. yes, the memories…
Mickey’s, Private Stock, Busch Light DRAFT–memories!? Just of the headaches–and the long walks home at 4 am.
My Yankee-boy husband says Yuengling is what they used to throw at parties back in college in PA, nobody actually drank it.
You’re kind of comparing two kinds of crap here–they’re both terrible beers, but like you said, if you’re going to pay a high price for beer you might as well drink good beer.
Comparing Yuengling with a “good” beer misses the point of cheap beer. Cheap beer is a class all its own and should be held in reserve for special occasions — adolescence, college, young adulthood, Recessions, layoffs, anxiety, etc.
When circumstances dictate cheap beer, we should still be able to categorize cheap beers from gawdawful to not-too-shabby to downright consumable. For me, Yuengling falls at the upper end of the spectrum, and that’s coming from someone who did more than their fair share of comparison in earlier years.
When I was a kid, Schaefer beer was “the one beer to have when you’re having more than one.” Now that’s quality!
Bingo. And at Suburban Lanes, Bud is a no-brainer over the airplane bottle of Sutter Home Chardonnay. I was a Shaefer kid too. I feel a new bond with you, Scott. I seem to recall $4 per 12-pack being one of its chief virtues.
One of? There were others?
The slim can I liked. And the slogan.
All those things make perfect sense, but they also call for something stiffer than beer–gin, vodka, mouthwash.
Weird! We were there too and heard that! The bartender kept his cool!
What’s up with Avellino’s??? Open or closed??
It was open at 7:30 last night when I drove by
But it was closed at 6 PM last Friday night. What kind of pizza place isn’t open on a Friday night?
The kind that doesn’t want to sell pizza?
Here’s my shameless plug… but my guess is that, since a lot of people aregoing to be cooped up inside with stir crazy kids this weekend, folks will consider it a helpful public service announcement.
Urban Core Climbing is having their annual fundraiser this Saturday from 10-2 at Wall Crawler Rock Club (on DeKalb Ave. next to Radial Cafe). Only $3 per belay climb… all ages. Money raised goes toward buying equipment, etc. and funding scholarships to climbing classes/camps/teams for underprivileged kids. There will be snacks, prizes, etc. Saturday is going to be really nasty weather-wise so get the kids out of the house and stop by!
Worthwhile suggestion. Been meaning to check it out for a long, long time and never got around to it. This was a timely reminder – thanks.
I’m searching for local building materials places…
I’m looking to build an attic stair cover, much like the one shown here:
http://goo.gl/6zkH
but am having trouble finding thick foil faced insulation board. Home Depot and Lowes only have stuff up to to 1/2″ thick, but I’m looking for 1″ to 2″ thick stuff (so that I don’t have to build a supporting structure). Anyone know of any local lumber yards or construction supply places that sell stuff like that? I even tried calling Dow Corning’s local distributor (see the article), but no luck…
You might try Cofer Brothers in Tucker.
Carolina Lumber off Monroe, maybe?
I was looking for some updates….
– Fifth of Earl…is it definitely not coming back in another location?
– The burger place in Viola….yes or no?
– Pharmhouse…..yes or no?
– Is there any news, even rumors at least, for the old Atlanta Bread Company spot???
Fifth Earl – don’t count on it, though I think they’d like to
Viola – I’m hearing conflicting rumors on this. Some say it’s coming, others say they backed out after there was opposition.
Pharmhouse – closed
ABC – I asked the city about this but haven’t heard back.
someone is taking over the viola space?
i hope so, i could walk there, and i hope fifth earl comes back.
anyone know where roly poly is going?
Another Traffic Rant (you know the topic never gets old!): Today’s particular gripe is people who insist on leaving nearly a car length between their vehicle and the one in front of them when stopped at a light. It needlessly adds to congestion by obstructing drivers trying to turn in and out of driveways and entrances near the intersection. It also, I believe, is merely a symptom of something broader and deeper, i.e., we no longer view operating a vehicle on public thoroughfares as a communal activity. When I learned to drive (they still had signs for dinosaur crossings back then), most cars still didn’t have air conditioning or FM radios. Even with all of the windows rolled up, you didn’t feel as hermetically sealed and insulated from the outside world as we do nowadays. I think people were more tuned into what was going on around them, including other drivers. Now we have so much going on inside the car, we don’t have the mental bandwidth to think too much or too often about other drivers. And it’s no wonder we are too overloaded to read and comprehend (or even notice) all the roadside signs (harking back to an earlier comment on another thread).
So I got to wondering what it would be like to stop using media in the car for one week. No radio, no CD or other music source, no phone, nada–just us and our thoughts. Would we be forced to observe our surroundings more closely, out of boredom? Would we become more aware of how our driving actions affect other vehicles in the big interactive game of traffic? Would our brains catch on fire from the absence of constant stimulation?
I wanna play! Mine always will be women in giant minivan things who think school zone on Mead= I can drive where ever I please.
This is one of my pet peeves, too, but when my offspring took the Taggart’s class at DHS they were taught to leave a huge (to me) gap between the front end of their car and the car ahead of them. The rule of thumb is you stop so it looks like the rear tires of the car in front of you appear to sit on the front end of your car, so you can see the whole rear end and tires. Depending on the cars, this can be a lot of space. So while I readily agree that many drivers are brain dead or distracted, this one may, sometimes, be based on training from paid professionals. I say tighten the gap and make room for more folks to get through the light, they say if you’re rear-ended you are less likely to be accordioned into the car ahead of you and get whiplash in both directions.
Finally, I drive a convertible and believe having the top down makes me far more aware of what is going on around me, and may have saved a mid-block jay-walking pedestrian’s life. Plus it makes me happy, so I’m nicer. Every little bit helps.
You drove with your top down yesterday?
Nah, Thursday. The sleet on Friday would have frizzed my hair.
It’s hard to see why tailgating makes you nicer, but I’m glad you feel better. If people leave more space between cars they have more time to stop, it has nothing to do with getting through traffic lights.
I maintain there is some middle ground between tail-gating and stringing a line of cars as far apart from each other as many people do nowadays.
Interesting, no takers on “media-free motoring”…I was hoping for some encouragement and moral support to try it as an experiment.
Hey STG, go for it!
Actually, I’m media free nearly all the time I’m in my car, and I’m constantly amazed at what I see and hear around me. These days I seem to channel my dear crotchety old dad, and find myself saying things like “must we be entertained every bleepin’ second of every day?” Sigh. Full disclosure: my commute is a whopping three miles each way, so I’m not exactly king of the road, but I do enjoy the 10 minutes of peace and quiet each morning and evening. Not a tailgater, either…
Dear me, I meant driving the convertible makes me happy . . . not tailgating. Is it me or you?
STG…I actually had a similar thought a few days back. I drove home with the stereo off and found myself thinking “So THAT’S what my car sounds like!”
It was an odd experience, which in itself is odd.
This is my first year in town, and I’d really appreciate it if anyone could recommend a good accountant for household tax preparation. Something tells me I should get my return out of the way ASAP this year.
I’ve pored over a dozen or so websites, but there’s no substitute for the voice of experience, you know? Thanks in advance!
Dan Lee is a longtime Decatur Resident: http://www.dcleepc.com
Neil, I recommend Evers & Fox — they are up near Smyrna, but very good. I have used them since 2006. Lori Evers is the person I deal with.
For anyone who has ever complained about Decatur’s high taxes, here’s one possible alternate scenario:
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_14303473
“This tax-averse city is about to learn what it looks and feels like when budget cuts slash services most Americans consider part of the urban fabric. More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled. The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter. Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that. Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero. City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won’t pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.”