Left Wing reports in that he has seen an increased amount of graffiti in Decatur and all around metro Atlanta recently.  And he worries that much of it may be gang-related.

Recently the Savi Market in Inman Park was robbed of an ATM and the police believe it may be gang related. Also that same night someone threw a rock or something through the window of Hand in Hand in the Highlands.

Not seeing graffitti like I am? Look at your picture for the Medora hair place.

Here’s the link back to the Medora Hair Salon post if you want to take a look for yourself.  I personally didn’t notice it the first time.

Decatur adopted a stronger graffiti ordinance in 2008 requiring property owners to remove exterior graffiti within 15 days.  The city also requires that graffiti on city-owned buildings must be removed within 24 hours.

According to the city’s website, to report graffiti “please send any graffiti sightings and complaints to reportgraffiti@decaturga.com; or call the Public Works department, 404-377-5571, to report graffiti nuisances on public property, including signs and fences.”

City annexation makes some folks do some mighty strange things.

This morning’s AJC reports that State Representative Ernest Williams (D-Avondale Estates) (D-Stone Mountain) asked the House to vote down extending DeKalb’s tax freeze for another five years, because he’s unhappy that that same body created the city of Dunwoody last year.

Williams said later he wanted to make the point that he does not believe the citizens of DeKalb were treated right last year when the issue of creating the city of Dunwoody was turned from a local matter into one voted on by the full House.

“That [the call for defeat of the property tax freeze] was my way of retaliation. It’s politics,” Williams said, adding that last year DeKalb not only lost Dunwoody as an unincorporated area, but with it $18 million or more in revenue.

While I’m glad that there’s a word in the English language for such an odd form of retaliation (“politics”), I wonder how that explanation will fly with voters come the next election cycle, if for some reason the DeKalb tax freeze is allowed to expire.

Moira Bucciarelli reminds us about the city’s new audio walking tour (mp3), which was mentioned in January’s Decatur Focus (pdf).  Here’s the Focus blurb, transcribed by Moira…

Are you interested in taking a 20-minute self-guided walking tour of downtown Decatur? Download Decatur’s audio tour from www.decaturga.com to your MP3 player, put on your favorite walking shoes and go. The tour begins at City Hall and ends at the old train depot.

The tour features some of Decatur’s history along with Lyn Menne’s observations about the city’s current growth and development. It also includes local musicians (the Dappled Grays and the Stonehouse Posse) and residents, and is narrated by David Hirt. Many thanks to Daren Wang for facilitating the process and to Moira Bucciarelli for putting it together. If you have ideas for other tours, please submit them to linda.harris@decaturga.com.

Honestly, it’s a very enjoyable and interesting tour, for old and new alike.

Use this post to ask questions and make comments about local issues not discussed here in the past week.

Comments close on Monday.