Michele writes in…

The Winnona Park Elementary School Online Auction is now LIVE and ready to receive your bids! Bidding will close Wednesday, April 21.

Go to http://tinyurl.com/wpauction . Select “Catalog” and enter Password WILDCATS2010 — It is case-sensitive.

There are all sort of deals on restaurants, products, art, trips, entertainment, etc.

Thanks for supporting our wonderful school.

UPDATE: Details of the bill courtesy of the AJC…[thanks to Steve for pointing it out!]

According to the committee members, the bill (HB 277, formerly HB 1218) would still divide the state into 12 predefined regions, allowing each region to submit a referendum to voters for a 1 percent sales tax to fund a list of projects within the region. However, there’s a change allowing more local choice.

Please, please, please…

The General Assembly Tuesday was on the brink of breaking a logjam on transportation funding has been dragged on for three years.

Members of a House-Senate conference committee took up a proposal on Tuesday afternoon that is similar to legislation introduced into the House earlier this year on behalf of Gov. Sonny Perdue.

….The compromise on the table also would lift for three years restrictions on MARTA’s ability to put all of its sales tax revenue toward maintenance and operations.

…The conferees plan to meet again at 4 p.m. and could sign a long-awaited agreement at that time.

UPDATE: But as ArtsCriticATL notes…”It’s not over yet, however. The measure must be approved by a vote of the full Senate, probably in the next day or two, and, if there is a tie, the Conference Committee. All will be resolved, for good or ill, by the end of the session, April 29.”

From the AJC…

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $17.8 billion budget that includes money the House had stripped from the arts council. The council’s budget will receive a steep cut from the $2.52 million it received in fiscal 2010, but the agency will not be eliminated, as the House had intended.

Elimination of the council could have meant the loss of $878,300 in federal National Endowment for the Arts grants for Georgia.

In it’s latest issue (not yet online), Atlanta Magazine features an extensive look at home values across the Atlanta metropolitan region, with charts of data comparing current sales to previous years and other neighborhoods.

As a good, obsessive Decaturite, when my glossy issue appeared in the mail yesterday, I flipped quickly to the section and skimmed down to “Decatur, city of” to see how we were stacking up against our arch-nemesis “It’s more than a zipcode, it’s a lifestyle” 30308.  (Look!  I just gave us a nemesis!)

What I saw was shocking.  So shocking in fact, that I knew it had to be wrong.  And I wasn’t the only one who noticed.  I’ll let Brent, who sent in an email last night, describe the problem…

In the article on page 66, it shows Decatur, City of, as the lowest median price in all their metro cities with an average selling price of $113,610. It also shows us as losing a whopping -40.6% in household value over the past 4-5 years–again, the largest drop of any neighborhood by far! It goes on to state we have lost 27.1% over the past year. This is obviously incorrect and a black eye for our community. How do we rectify?

I sent an email over to Atlanta Magazine’s editor Steve Fennessy last night, and he looked into it this morning and responded thusly… Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve already seen THREE different MARTA buses with “X”s on them this morning, including the 103 above, along DeKalb Ave.

It’s a smart campaign.  Personally, the potential cuts are really beginning to hit home.  I just hope people understand that the “X” means a lost bus route.  Leaving the ad on the side of the bus kinda makes it look like it’s an anti-WellStar campaign and not a “MARTA Matters” one.

If you spot an “X” on a MARTA bus and can safely snap a pic, send it in and I’ll create an album of ‘em.