West Howard Avenue Decatur, GA (pic submitted by Scott)

Southern Living just released it’s list of Atlanta’s Top 20 Restaurants and Decatur’s Leon’s Full Service came out on top.  Taqueria del Sol also made the list, along with King of Pops, which isn’t really a restaurant, but heck if the King don’t deserve it!  Here’s the list, courtesy of the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

1. Leon’s Full Service

2. Ru San’s

3. Livingston Restaurant + Bar

4. Rhodes Bakery

5. LottaFrutta

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This evening from 7-9pm at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, the city will host a “Community Academy” discussion surrounding one of the most powerful arguments for more walkable, “livable” communities – in my opinion – often referred to as “aging in place”.

From DecaturNext…

According to the Atlanta Regional Commission, Lifelong Communities “are places where individuals can live throughout their lifetime; they provide a full range of options to residents, insuring a high quality of life for all.” That means a place that works for kids, for working folks and for seniors.

During the meeting at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, participants will explore a variety of factors related to Housing, Basic Needs, and Community Life, then rank each according to how well (or how poorly) Decatur fares. Those ranked the lowest will warrant discussion of how they might be improved and what potential ideas and initiatives should be worked into the developing Strategic Plan.

Why is aging – of all things – such a powerful argument?  Because it exposes a huge, poorly bandaged hole in the car-based infrastructure model.  I think I can summarize it with a single question:  How many people, each year, are put into nursing homes because they can no longer drive?

A recent op-ed in the Washington Examiner by Marc Scribner criticizes the Federal Government’s recent TIGER II grants – which included $47 million awarded Atlanta’s streetcar project – for spending more money on rail and bicycle projects than on roads.  Here’s a snippet to get your dander up…

A debate between Smart Growth and traffic efficiency advocates has raged for decades in the transportation policy community. Since the early 1990s, federal transportation planning has been dominated by the Smart Growth set. They claim they just want to level the playing field for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders.

However, there is one major problem: Most Americans prefer to drive. In essence, Smart Growth advocates are attacking a problem that is greatly overstated—a lack of non-auto infrastructure and access—and making the far more serious congestion problem significantly worse.

Smart Growth proponents have much to be thankful for, as less than a third of TIGER II’s $600 million in grants went to road projects. In fact, more money went to livability – enhancing projects such as rail transit and bicycle trails – than to roads. But grants were not evenly distributed. Five of the least cost effective projects received one-fifth of total funding.

Downtown Atlanta Streetcar $47,667,777

Sugar House Streetcar (Salt Lake City) $26,000,000

New Haven Downtown Crossing $16,000,000

Razorback Regional Greenway (NW Arkansas) $15,000,000

Warehouse District Complete Streets Project (Peoria, Illinois) – $10,000,000

Wanna attend one or more of the upcoming Margaret Atwood lectures at Emory?  Here’s all the info you need from Emory’s website…

Tickets to hear lectures by celebrated author Margaret Atwood, who will deliver the Richard Ellmann Lectures in Modern Literature Oct. 24-26, are now available.

Tickets are free, but required, to attend any of the events in the lecture series during Atwood’s visit. Tickets must be picked up from the Arts at Emory Box Office in the Schwartz Center, 1700 N. Decatur Rd. Tickets are limited to two per person per event. For more information about tickets, call the box office at 404.727.5050.

The Canadian scholar and author of “The Handmaid’s Tale” (1985) and other notable works will present three original lectures for the Ellmann series.

The first lecture, “Flying Rabbits” will be Oct. 24, at 4 p.m. The second, “Burning Bushes,” is set for Oct. 25, at 8:15 p.m. The third, “Dire Cartographies,” on Oct. 26, at 4 p.m., concludes with a book reading and signing at 8:15 p.m.

All the Ellmann events will be held in Glenn Memorial Auditorium, 1652 N.Decatur Rd.