Month: March 2010

James Radford Rescues a Hawk in Midtown

Hooty would be so proud!


Former Decatur City Commission candidate James Radford writes on Flickr

Coolest lunch break ever.

So, on my way back to work after lunch at Colony Square, I’m about to cross over 14th street, and out of nowhere this enormous bird just falls out of the sky and into the middle of the road with a thud. Its a huge hawk and it fell right on the line between the lanes of traffic. Me and these two other guys see it, and are like, holy crap, what should we do? Its still moving. And cars are whizzing past it threatening to run over it at any moment. I think it must have hit the King and Spalding building, which is made of reflective glass.

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Four DeKalb Schools Around Decatur No Longer at Risk of Closing

According to this morning’s AJC, DeKalb’s Citizen Planning Task Force has taken four more Dekalb County schools off the list of potential closings.  All sit around Decatur to the northeast and east in Central DeKalb.

The 10 schools remaining on the list are all in South DeKalb.

At the meeting, the task force removed Briar Vista, Laurel Ridge, Medlock and Avondale Elementary Schools from the proposed closure list.

That left 10 of 83 schools under consideration for closure – all in south DeKalb and in primarily poor African-American neighborhoods.

The task force eliminated schools in which there was no nearby school with room, not by race, task force members said.

What’s Going On With “Taste”?

UPDATE: Steve writes “Taste will be reopening soon. Not sure the exact date but I will keep metro posted. Thanks for your concerns.”

Over the past few weeks, I’ve received several questions from residents about whether Taste on Church Street had closed permanently or whether it will soon reopen.

Customers have been turned away by a “Closed” sign for a couple weeks now and there’s a rumor going around that the owner’s Facebook page says he has gone to Australia.   I wrote directly to the owner about a week ago, but haven’t received a reply.  So I guess it’s now up to the community’s collective knowledge to sort things out.

Can anyone clear things up?

Support Decatur Farm-To-School with Dinner and/or a Movie

…on different days!

Kristin Allin of Cakes & Ale sends along ways in which you can enjoy a couple evenings out in April and help support Decatur’s Farm-To-School program.  For those clamoring for a Decatur movie theater, attending the movie might be warranted if only to see how  DHS’ new auditorium serves as a movie theater.

To all who want to help promote healthy foods for Decatur’s schools: please, please make plans to come out to one or both of these events in April! Both events need our participation to succeed and help raise funds for the Decatur Farm to School Initiative. Want to see a Sundance “Official Selection” film? Come to DHS on Saturday, April 17th for a screening of Dirt! The Movie. Need a date night? Family night? Girls or guys night out? Tuesday, April 20th is a great day to do so and help this cause while you’re having fun! Lastly, be sure to thank these participating businesses for helping raise funds and awareness for healthy foods in our schools.

Details after the jump.

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Who Cut the…Gas Line? And Why.

The AJC digs and gets some answers as to why a DeKalb County Water and Sewer crew accidentally cut an “incorrectly installed” gas line on Coventry Road yesterday.

The damage was caused by a county Water and Sewer crew that was repairing a damaged sewer main.

A remote television device spotted intrusion from tree roots. The workers were cutting into the sewer main to repair it when they damaged the gas line.

The gas line had been incorrectly installed, county spokeswoman Shelia Edwards said. She said it had been “bored” into the sewer main.

That can happen with all kinds of new lines, including cable and gas, Edwards said. “They don’t realize it until we have this kind of situation,” she said.

CSD 101 Is Coming

The Decatur Education Foundation’s Gail Rothham gives us a sneak-peak of a new series of classes which will soon be available free to the community.

CSD 101 is a new, 5 session course designed to educate residents of Decatur about the school system and to share information about history, governance, curriculum & instruction and special programs. Modeled on the popular Decatur 101, the course will be free and open to the first 30 residents who sign up. Registration will not begin until sometime this summer and the course will meet on 5 evenings in September/October. Each session will meet in a different CSD facility and will feature an optional tour prior to the course session.

The course grew out of recommendations that the city include an evening session about the school system in their popular Decatur 101 course. The city and school system felt that one session would not be nearly enough to cover the material and, with the blessing of Linda Harris and Lyn Menne who developed Decatur 101, Decatur Education Foundation applied for and received a grant from the Great Decatur Beer Festival to create CSD 101. If all goes well this will be offered every year.

Federal Grant Will Fund Beacon Hill Complex Study

Scott points to a blurb in the print version of the AJC, but not yet online.

Decatur is one of 10 Georgia cities receiving federal money for historic preservation projects.

The city will receive $10,000 from the Historic Preservation Fund to do a condition assessment report and preservation plan for the Beacon Hill complex.

The complex on West Trinity housed pre-integration elementary and high schools for the city’s African-American students.  It has served as the city’s police department since the early 1980s.

The city has considered for years how to renovate the existing building for modern use, while retaining the historic character.