Decatur Cemetery (pic courtesy of Mike of Decaturpics.com)

Over on Peach Pundit, one of their commentators suggested a couple days back that though new Republican governors in other states, like Wisconsin and Ohio, say they’re planning on rejecting hundreds of millions in already-awarded high-speed rail stimulus, lately Georgia Republicans have been singing a slightly different tune when it comes to some Georgia “rail projects”.

The post points specifically to recent Republican comments regarding a potential transit hub in “the Gulch” downtown.

U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County said he expects a highway bill next year “that will be able to authorize funds to beneficial projects, like this one, and I encourage GDOT to work to secure funding for this project in this bill.”

Previous transit critics also have come around, including DOT board member David Doss, who chairs the committee overseeing the hub’s development.

Though he still calls commuter trains “choo-choos,” he likes buses and high-speed rail for their potential to transform Georgia, and a transit hub would be a central location for those.

What’s pushing Georgia Republicans out of lock-step with their more traditional brethren?

Read the rest of this entry »

Adams Realtors sums up residential real estate action over the past 12 months in the City of Decatur and the specific neighborhoods of Glenwood Estates, Oakhurst, Great Lakes and Winnona Park – along with Pine Lake and Avondale Estates – over on its blog.  Here’s a the top-line summary…

According to our October 2010 survey, all of the Central DeKalb markets, except Avondale Estates, had a year over year drop in Average Sales Price. The Number of Days on the Market was down in Decatur and Avondale Estates and up in Pine Lake. Pine Lake and Decatur, as well as the Decatur neighborhoods of Oakhurst and Glenwood Estates, were markets that experienced an increase in the Number of Units Sold over the last year. Pine Lake, Glenwood Estates, Oakhurst and the City of Decatur were the only markets that had an increase in Annual Sales Volume from 2009 to 2010.

For more neighborhood specific analysis, check out their full blog post.

h/t: InDecatur

DHS teacher Chris Billingsley writes in…

The Decatur High School Close Up Club will hold a “Rake&Run” service project on Saturday, November 13 (rain date Nov. 20),from 8:00 until 4:00. A team of DHS students and their chaperons will do yard work at Decatur area homes, anything from raking and bagging leaves to cleaning gutters (adults clean gutters). This is a free service but donations will be accepted to help pay for our 2011 trip to Washington, D.C.

If you are interested, please contact Mr. C. Billingsley at cbillingsley@csdecatur.net