Parker Cross writes in…

Here’s an EOTS [Eye on the Street] that requires some imagination because I’m not quick enough to be a paparazzo. I saw Kid Rock at the Blue Sky Concert today. He was not actually attending the concert, I believe he was on his way for an appearance at Court, as a defendant. He and his entourage were on the pedestrian only part of Sycamore, heading toward N. McDonough.

Testimony continues today in the Kid Rock/Waffle House assault trial taking place at our glorious DeKalb County Courthouse.

John Kessler reports on his Food and More blog that Ryan Stewart has left his position as chef at Farmstead 303 after a little more than three months at the helm.

No word of Stewart’s next gig or a Farmstead replacement, according to Kessler.

The city of Decatur has been touting/mentioning the “3/50 Project” for over a year now, encouraging residents to spend just $50 between three local businesses over the course of a month.

A noble goal certainly, but it was only recently that I took a moment and actually thought about how much my household actually spends at “local”, independent businesses in a given month.  And between the restaurants, shops and haircuts, I determined the total monthly amount was a heck of a lot more than $50.

So it’s sort of shocking from inside the “Decatur bubble” to think that a majority of the population can go through a month without spending 50 clams at a local business.  Having not always lived in a state of local-euphoria, I can certainly see how it’s possible, especially when cost is a strong, #1 priority.  Still it’s impressive how EASY it is to spend money locally in this city.

So I’m curious how much other local residents spend locally in a given month, and what prevents you from spending even MORE locally?

I sure hope your neighborhood didn’t have a massive, multi-day power outage last October or November!

The city of Decatur is hosting a Kilowatt Crackdown competition in October and November to see which 10 or more people in Decatur’s various neighborhoods can reduce their energy consumption the most vs. the same time last year.  Here are the details from the City of Decatur’s website…

The Kilowatt Crackdown: Neighborhood Challenge launches Oct. 1st, 2010. The Decatur neighborhood that reduces its electricity use during October and November by the highest percentage over this same time period last year will win an eco-friendly block party (thanks to EarthAid) for everyone who participated.

Neighborhoods must sign up at least 10 people to participate. In addition to the block party, each participant receives points redeemable for rewards from local merchants as well as from national brands and chains.

Here’s how to participate:

1. Visit www.earthaid.net/Decatur.
2. Select your neighborhood.  (Not sure which neighborhood to choose, click HERE for a map.)
3. Sign up for the free service using your Georgia Power online username and password. You will automatically be joined with the neighborhood group you selected.*

*If you’re not registered for a Georgia Power online account, visit www.georgiapower.com to register. You will need your account number, access code, and a valid email address.

Once you have joined, you can select “View My Groups” from your dashboard page to see the groups you have joined.

During October and November you will be able to track your neighborhood’s process on the EarthAid website and see a graph of your personal energy use over the past 12 months. You can even earn points when you reduce usage.

The already tough job of convincing Atlanta’s outer metro counties of supporting a 1-cent sales tax to support transportation projects just got harder, if not damn near impossible.

From the SaportaReport…

In a media advisory that I just received, it states that the “Fulton County Mayors from the north to the southern end of the county, have banded together to express their opposition to a proposed one-penny sales tax for transportation that voters in the metro region will have the option of approving under House Bill 277.

The biggest reason for their opposition? Fulton County already is paying a penny sales tax to support MARTA. Their concern is that if the tax passes, Fulton County would be paying two cents for transportation with no assurance from the rest of the region that it would support metro Atlanta’s largest transit system.

DeKalb’s mayors, including Decatur’s Bill Floyd, have yet to take a formal position on a potential second penny sales tax that would support metro transportation projects.