We’ve heard this on and off for a while, but more than a year-and-a-half after a fire destroyed Trackside Tavern and 5th Earl, it now sounds like construction of Trackside 2.0 may finally be around the corner.

A reader sends along this note from Trackside owner Doc Al…

OK, OK – here’s the news: Today is the beginning of the beginning of the rebirth of Trackside! I have been keeping it quiet for a little while, but after meeting with the building owner, working with the architect, and being contacted by the contractor, I can finally say with confidence that we are very soon from seeing the old building knocked down and an ALMOST IDENTICAL one going up in its place very very soon.

For continued updates, stay in touch with the “Trackside Tavern in Decatur, GA is Coming Back” Facebook page.

Devonshire @ Lansdowne Ave Decatur, GA (photo submitted by Andisheh)

How does Decatur stack up to GOOD magazine’s recent checklist of what a “model town” looks like?

According to the mag’s Neighborhood Issue, an “excellent” town (or neighborhood) has the following characteristics:

• A Signature Event – self explanatory
• Third Places – the gathering places of a community.  Home and work are the 1st and 2nd places.
• Public Spaces – access to nature
• A Human Scale – this is basically “walkability”
• An Anchor Institution – college towns is the example given
• Diversity – not just of race or income, but thought, food, etc.

So here’s what I’ve been wondering: WHAT is Decatur’s signature event and anchor institution?  WHERE are its “third places” and public spaces?  HOW does it do in terms of human scale and diversity?

Say farewell to Decatur Active Living’s 231 Sycamore blog and hello to BeActiveDecatur.com!

BeActive looks to have much of the same sort of content as 231, but with a brand-new cleaned up look!  With the move, Active Living has switched from a Blogger to WordPress format.  A smart move in my opinion, since WordPress offers you a lot more flexibility in design and layout.

So go and check ‘er out!  The city’s Interim Asst. Director Cheryl Burnette has promised to do 5 squat-thrusts for every click-thru!  (Ok, she never promised any such thing)

This picture recently appeared on the City Schools of Decatur’s website.  But with little explanation.

Three time capsules at Fifth Avenue?  What could it be?  Old teacher-edition textbooks?  Pirate gold?  Barrels full of monkeys?  Astronaut ice cream?

Luckily we have CSD’s Bruce Roaden to keep our feet on the ground and give us the real – and interesting! – story behind this pic.

Scott Russell, long time CSD employee and former teacher at 5th Avenue remembered that a time capsule had been created at 5th Ave. and was buried in a wall. Scott took our maintenance and construction folks to 5th Ave. and led them to the spot in the wall where it was “buried”. The directions were to open it in 2013. We took the time capsule out of the 5th Avenue wall (unopened) and will place it in the new 5th Avenue School.