Back in 2007 when the economy still looked quite rosy, Georgia state representatives and senators introduced a bill for the City of Decatur that would give the city the power to exercise the powers under the “Redevelopment Powers Law”.

While the “Redevelopment Powers Law” itself may not ring a bell, the tax allocation districts (or TADs) created by the law certainly might.  TADs are most famous for single-handedly funding the creation of Atlantic Station and the lawsuit that struck down the Beltline’s TAD requiring the passing of a constitutional amendment in 2008 to put the funding option back on the table for many communities.

Then the economy intervened and these days, many TADs are turning sour since they depend on increasing property values to pay off bond debt.

Through all of this bond fun, Decatur has been trying to get the Georgia Legislature to pass a bill that would give the city the option to pursue a TAD district.

At tonight’s city commission meeting, City Manager Peggy Merriss informed the commissioners that after four legislative sessions, Senate Bill 279 was finally passed.  According to Mayor Bill Floyd, the process was initiated back in 2007 at the request of East Decatur Station property owners.

This means that Decatur residents will see this on the November ballot…

Shall the Act be approved which authorizes the City of Decatur to exercise redevelopment powers under the ‘Redevelopment Powers Law,’ as it may be amended from time to time?”

With the current state of the economy, neither the city manager or the city commissioners at tonight’s meeting seemed particularly eager to create any TADs in the near future.  In fact, the main concern of the commissioners in hearing this news was that it would be clear to voters that the November vote would not authorize any specific TADs in the city, only giving the commission the power to create districts if they saw fit in the future.

From the City of Decatur’s Linda Harris….

The City of Decatur Police Department will host a charity softball tournament on Sunday, July 11, 2010 on behalf of Officer Amy Hall whose house burned down in May. Following the tournament the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association will sponsor a cookout and auction at The Solarium, 321 W. Hill Street from 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. The community is invited to both events.

The softball tournament is an open tournament and begins at 8 a.m. It is single elimination with a one hour maximum time limit. Games will be played at Oakhurst and McKoy parks with the championship game ending at 12:30 p.m. There is a $200 application fee per team that must be paid on the day of the tournament. Interested teams should contact Lindsey Struck by 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 7 at 678-553-6550 or lindsey.struck@decaturga.com.

The cookout will be held from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. and features plenty of food and beverages and a live band. There is a $10 entrance fee to the cookout for all non-softball players and $5 fee for the softball participants.

All donations raised by the softball tournament and cookout will be given to the Amy Hall Fund at Decatur First Bank. Make checks payable to Decatur First Bank c/o Amy Hall fund.

For information contact Marc Brennan marc@ujointbar.com.

Church Street, Decatur GA (photo submitted by Chris)

Oh Decatur, you get the greatest movies.

Travis writes in…

According to an important looking guy with a walkie-talkie on set “My Super Psycho Sweet Sixteen“ Part 2 is being filming over at Central Auto Sales on E. College Ave. I’m guessing that’s what was also being filmed at Sammiches N’ Stuff.

Two more pics after the jump.

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Ellen writes in…

Back in April 2009, you graciously dedicated a post to Fugees Family needing bicycles. Would you be so kind as to post now about the Chase Community Giving challenge? On July 13, Chase Bank is giving away $5 million to the 200 charities that get the most votes on Facebook. Fugees Family is currently in the top 200, but we need people to keep voting if we want to stay there.

To vote: Go to http://tiny.cc/fugees250k

Click “get started” /Click “allow” /Click “like” /Click “close” / Click “vote now”