The City of Decatur’s Linda Harris just sent around a press release from Standard and Poor’s announcing that the City of Decatur’s credit rating had just been upgraded from AA to AA+.  AA+ is the second-highest rating a corporation or organization can recieve.

The credit rating review was requested as part of the city’s plan to fund the redevelopment of Fire Station #1, the Rec Center and the Public Works building using bond funding.

Why did Standard and Poor’s upgrade the city’s credit rating?  The release actually provides a detailed list.

The ‘AA+’ rating also reflects our view of Decatur’s:

Diverse employment base and participation in the Atlanta metropolitan statistical area (MSA); Stable and very diverse primarily residential tax base; Strong wealth and income levels; Extremely strong per capita market values; and Good management policies and practices.

S&P’s notes that the city’s “moderate debt burden and moderate carrying charges under a slower-than-average amortization schedule” are a “weakness”, however “this is somewhat offset by the city’s limited capital needs given Decatur’s mature nature.”

The release goes onto suggest that the city could improve its credit rating still by diversifying its tax base to include more commercial and industrial property – something the city commission has been desperately trying to do over the past couple years.

I’m blatantly ripping this off from Creative Loafing’s “Last Word”, but all the other hypotheticals that have come to mind of late have fallen a short of even my low standards.

So what gift would you give Decatur for the holidays?  An electric car taxi service?  Another street-front retail parking deck?  A yogurt burger joint run by zombie baristas?

My gift?  I’d give the Old DeKalb Courthouse its steeple back.

Merry, Merry!

The International Community School is putting on a first-ever art exhibition on March 21, 2011 at the Little Tree Gallery in Avondale Estates in an effort to introduce themselves to the community and have come up with an interesting way of raising funding for the event.  Kat writes in…

HONK FOR THE ICS ART SHOW!

• Friday, December 10
• 7:45am – 8:15am

How It Works

Next Friday during morning carpool, our Principal has agreed to dress up in an outlandish costume and stand along Covington Highway (in front of the Avondale campus- 3260 Covington Highway) encouraging motorists to honk their horns in support of the art show. For each passing car that honks its horn between 7:45am and 8:15am that morning, Principal Ditmann will contribute $1.00 to fund the art show!

One Honk = One Dollar

Join in the fun and HONK YOUR HORN as you drive up to the school to drop off your children. Even better, consider making a PLEDGE of YOUR OWN to match Principal Ditmann’s pledge! We’ll also have a bucket at the carpool drop-off point where you can make a contribution.

In a note to the Decatur School Board prior to next week’s meeting (see Agenda Item “e” at this link), Superintendent Phyllis Edwards details the process and reasoning that resulted in her recommendation of K-3 redistricting Map 9.  Here’s a snippet…

…the Board listened to the community on November 16, 2010 and feedback was compiled from the electronic comment space to create Map 9. This map brings the schools virtually within a few students of each other in terms of total enrollment, non-white percentage, free/reduced lunch percentage, and use of classroom space at each school. A substantial change in Map 9 is that CSD will continue our practice of clustering English Language Learner students at Winnona Park. A large majority of these students that need second language services live in the Decatur Housing Authority, in particular, Allen Wilson. By continuing our current practice, this diversified Winnona, lessened the enrollment at Clairemont, and evened out the percentages. The following detail more minor changes that created Map 9:

1. The area around Willow on the northeast side is now zoned to Glennwood.

2. Rosewalk neighborhood will continue to attend Oakhurst.

3. McKoy Street will continue to attend Oakhurst.

The Superintendent recommends that the Board vote to approve Map 9 tonight.

OK, since I got the “Who is Moving to the new Public Works Building?” story completely wrong the last time I reported it, I figured I’d take a moment and relay some more accurate info on who will be moving into the new Public Works facility once it’s built.

The Champion Newspaper reports that Decatur’s Planning and Zoning Office will be one department that will be packing up boxes and heading over to work from the new Talley Street facility once it’s completed.  That means if you’re looking to obtain permits, you’ll need to journey over to Talley Street in the days ahead, instead of city hall.  (I wonder what would move into the old Planning Department location.)

The article also states that the City Manager believes that if approved on December 15th the three projects – Fire Station #1, the Rec Center and Public Works – will take between 12-15 months to complete.