Comments on: Giving Decatur the Power to TAD

By: Parker Cross

Parker Cross — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:45:28 +0000

THEY WANT TO MOVE PARKER CROSS? WHAT? I know my property isn’t all it could be but the mortgage is paid and I’m quite happy here.
Oh, wait, I misread the comment.
Never mind.
What Steve said above is correct but I’d change the number to tens of thousands. The Central Office or exchange is the termination point for every pair of telephone wires in the area. Hard wired, from your landline at your house or business to that office. You can almost always spot the buildings by the absence of windows, they are built to be almost indestructible, the one I worked in many years ago had 4′ thick exterior walls. This all sounds almost quaint, doesn’t it, in our wireless world?
BTW, and who knows when this information may come in handy, they are generally thought of as good places to be in the event of a nuclear attack.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:25:58 +0000

Marshall, a telephone CO is the termination point for literally thousands of pairs of copper wire and hundreds of fiber optic circuits. You can’t just pick those up and move them.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:09:46 +0000

I’m not meaning to pick on you Marshall. I just think you bring up a good point. This type of power should be used in the special circumstance where normal market forces don’t work. I just don’t think that Decatur has any ‘blighted’ areas any more.

Doing a quick google search I was able to find Ohio’s definition of blighted. I’m guessing Georgia’s about the same.

“Blighted area” and “slum” mean an area in which at least seventy per cent of the parcels are blighted parcels and those blighted parcels substantially impair or arrest the sound growth of the state or a political subdivision of the state, retard the provision of housing accommodations, constitute an economic or social liability, or are a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in their present condition and use.

By: Marshall

Marshall — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:02:36 +0000

Why couldn’t they move Parker Cross? I’ve heard on and off that they wanted to sell the property. And yes, Pat, I think that area is blighted with the exception of the Wahoo strip.

By: Parker Cross

Parker Cross — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 02:51:27 +0000

Not sure, but I believe that’s a telephone company central office. They cannot simply “move elsewhere.”

By: Pat

Pat — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 01:22:17 +0000

Seriously Marshall do your really think the property you mention is ‘blighted’? Why a tax break for the property owners that missed the last bubble? Perhaps a little less development right now would help the tax value of the property already on the books. I’m really just curious.

By: Marshall

Marshall — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:11:40 +0000

I agree. Wouldn’t it be great if AT&T moved elsewhere and someone could build some sort of transit oriented development with housing and retail right next to the MARTA station? It would smart, promote transit and the environment, and I bet some of our senior neighbors would be interested in such a development.

Something like that might be ripe for a TAD.

By: Oakhurst Momma

Oakhurst Momma — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:01:21 +0000

DM and Kyle, thank you for covering! I had no idea this was even on the ballot!