City Commissioner Patti Garrett just sent along a GDOT press release announcing Georgia recipients of federally funded grants through the state’s Safe Routes to School program.

Decatur got a cool half-million dollars, which is on par with the largest payouts on the list.   Pretty impressive that a city of 18,000 people got around the same amount of funding as Fulton County or Savannah!

What will the funds be used for?

The city’s planning director, Amanda Thompson, tells DM that  because the application is “2 years old and the city has moved on with some projects already, like sidewalk repairs and the South Columbia traffic calming project, this scope of the original project will change.”  Also, GDOT is responsible for the design and construction of all projects.

That said, here’s the original project list included with the application…

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This past Tuesday the cashier at the Briarcliff Whole Foods asked my wife for her phone number.

And before I could get myself over the counter and all up in his biznass, he quickly explained that he was only asking because Whole Foods was scoping out new locations for a store and compiling a database to see where customers come from to shop there.  (OK, the first part of that sentence didn’t actually happen, but you get the idea.) This morning, TeeRuss reports similar activity at the Whole Foods on Ponce.

Sure enough the websites of those two Atlanta Whole Foods, and ONLY those locations, have the following message up on their calendar this week.

Why are we asking for your home phone number this week? At the end of your transaction, we’ll ask for you number, which will be used to generate a map of where our shoppers come from. Only home phone numbers work for this type of map, and the maps help ensure we are supporting our shoppers’ communities as well as designating areas for potential growth within the market. Trust that we will only use your phone number for the purpose of generating a map. We will not share your number with any other group. Thank you for considering this request.

So if you head to either of these locations before Sunday, May 16th AND you have a home phone, don’t threaten bodily harm.  Instead, make sure you give them your number so they have a record of all the Decatur-ish folks stopping by, so they can build a store here!

Better yet, you can CLICK HERE, scroll down to Contact Us via Email, select “Store Location Request” and just enter your name, email address and zipcode and you can show your support for a Decatur store location.  The fact that these two specific stores are asking location surveys makes it seem like we might finally have a shot at getting a decent grocery store IN Decatur.

From the comments associated with this video on YouTube, it sounds like students were surprisingly impressed by Gov. Schwarzenegger’s speech.

“I’m working in Emory for two month period as a researcher and all I can say is that Dr. Arnold Schwarzeneger gave the strongest speach I have ever heard.”

“I was there and heard this live. if you’re on this site, you should watch the whole thing, 26 minutes well spent. He was much, much better than I expected. What a guy.”

“This speech was great – inspiring AND funny. I’m kicking myself for not going down to the quad to see it live.”

Macrolina points out a “classy move by Tom Stubbs”…

Jason Carter, former President Jimmy Carter’s grandson, will be the only name on the state Senate District 42 ballot in the July Democratic primary.

Tom Stubbs, who has already qualified to run for the DeKalb County legislator seat, said Wednesday that he is withdrawing from the race.

The DNO also reported this yesterday.

This sounds cool.  From Decatur PD’s Juanchella Francis…

The Decatur Police Department will host its first “JUNIOR POLICE ACADEMY” during the week of June 28 – July 1, 2010. This program is designed to educate and enlighten young people about the functions and duties of their police department. Participants will participate in fun and educational exercises designed to simulate real law enforcement activities. Lunch and refreshments will be provided to participants each day and participants who successfully complete the academy will receive certificates of completion and a class t-shirt.

Your browser may not support display of this image. The class will be limited to 12 participants and further is limited to City of Decatur residents who have completed the 7th or 8th grade during the 2009-2010 school year. Applications can be obtained at either the Decatur Police Department or Renfroe Middle School. Applications must be submitted to the Decatur Police Department no later than June 4, 2010 at 5:00 pm. For further information or if you have any questions, please contact Deputy Chief Keith Lee at 678 553-6620.