Around 7pm, Garrett Goebel wrote in…

There is a gas main break in front of Renfroe Middle School. Home owners in the area have been evacuated.

The smell of gas in the area was apparently pretty potent, because about an hour ago, DecaturKJ wrote…

…there was a mob of service trucks and fire trucks at Kings Hwy and Ansley…and we had to turn around.. The odor of natural gas was nauseating from inside the car with all the windows rolled up and is still very strong even from our house on Adams. I keep expecting someone to come evacuate us.

Someone speak up when you guys get the all-clear.  Sounds like a not-so-fun evening.

Earlier today NFDecatur reported on Twitter…

And a bunch of cops (even some detectives) just all lit off at once heading north-ish. I expect a full report from @dmetro later today.

Well, I’m not sure this can be considered a “full report” on my part, but here’s what caused the rush north, according to Decatur Deputy Police Chief Keith Lee…

A person was robbed in the BB&T parking lot on Clairmont. One of our officers was at the YMCA and heard the call for DeKalb PD. He chased the suspect but lost sight of him. We assisted DeKalb PD with the search, but the suspect was not located.

The BB&T bank is located just outside the Decatur city limits.

After receiving a very thoughtful note from a resident this morning detailing his trouble with understanding or recreating the CSD/GSU “differential” percentages found in the school system’s list of pros and cons for the 7 redistricting map options, I contacted Assistant Superintendent Thomas Van Soelen for clarification.

Mr. Van Soelen explained that the referenced “differential” is “derived from subtracting highest k3 school non-white percentage and subtracting lowest (not considering out of district)”, and that the reason these percentage differences did not match the charts was because GSU updated the data in the maps on Monday and the differentials were never recalculated.

The Assistant Superintendent provided me with a revised version of the pro/con list for the 7 redistricting maps, which now has the differential of white/non-white in map 7 as a CON instead of a PRO.  (NOTE: The “14% differential” in Map 7′s Con column still needs updating, as Mr. Van Soelen confirmed to me that map 7′s differential was now 18% and not 14%.  Additionally, the 11% non-white differential in the Con column for map 5 looks like it should be 23%.  I’ve contacted him about these discrepancies.)

In a city with a population as dense as Decatur, opportunities to connect our isolated, early to mid-century neighborhoods are few and far between.  And I’m not just talking about paving new roads through neighborhoods – a near impossible task today – but even offering new pedestrian access between neighborhoods.

But then I came across this “Pedestrian Connectivity Map” (pdf), which was displayed and then edited in marker by residents at the first Community Academy session that tackled transportation issues.

While you’ll notice many proposed edits by residents added with marker (I quite enjoyed the Scott Boulevard “Death Trap” notation) the dashed green line connecting Coventry Road, Oakland and Lamont is actually a hard-coded, “proposed multi-use trail” as indicated by the legend (not seen here).

The city’s Amanda Thompson confirmed my reading of the map, and that this trail was indeed a possibility, especially if it gets the backing of area property owners.

And while I could certainly understand the potential hesitation of people who lived around these parcels, I can’t help but think of the potential benefits.  Not only would dog-walkers, runners and general pedestrians be able to do a Coventry/Lamont/Clairemont/Wilton/Oakland loop without ever having to get on Scott Boulevard, but it would create a shorter walking route (via Oakland) to Clairemont Elementary, if Ponce Heights residents were rezoned into that school district.

Quite an interesting and unique opportunity for our neighborhoods to consider!