What Would You Give Decatur For the Holidays?
Decatur Metro | December 9, 2010I’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!
Latest from Decaturish
I will giveth a pedestrian walk sign that doesn’t take so long at the corner of Commerce and Ponce ….
Your gift has inspired me to also give a shorter traffic light to Ponce at the intersection with Northern and Nelson Ferry.
I remember the days when that light used to trip when you pulled up, plus pushing the walk button really worked.
…an ice skating rink…
A cool movie theater with a retro lounge attached. If anyone is from Dallas I’m thinking Inwood Lounge and Inwood Theater.
YES!
Sounds good to me – as long as Paciugo is also right there so I can get my gelato right after my movie just like I did when I lived in Dallas….
Isn’t that basically the same idea as the Plaza Theatre and the Righteous Room?
Basically, but the Inwood Lounge is WAY cooler.
The Righteous Room still has the best Juke Box in ATL and is a pretty cool place, especially for the late night crowd.
oops.
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/dallas/inwoodtheatre.htm -
an old-fashioned men’s barber shop
Used to have one –I think it was where Rose Squared is now …..
What DO you get for the city that has everything? Obviously, a cinema would be fill a mostly empty niche. Another example to complement Maggie’s:
filmsociety.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=8
This one grew out of a local group headed by a retired film distributor who showed independent films in a meeting room at a local mall in Sarasota, Fla. Under the magenta paint, the building is really nothing fancy. But it has become one of the favorite arts institutions in an art-loving town.
I’m debating between a New York style bagel place, movie theater, children’s shoe store, sidewalks for all streets even those where the grumps vote them down, more paraprofessionals at the preK-5 level, and Westchester. The paraprofessionals are probably the easiest to wrap.
A fried green tomato stand…
So what happened to the steeple on the courthouse???
I’m with the rest of you–a small cinema would be great…
If I recall correctly the history of DeKalb’s many courthouses, it was a fire around the turn of the 20th century that did it in.
Not true. Back in the late 50’s, some damn fool hooked up an electrical cable from the top of the courthouse to a line that went across the street. Then some other fool drove a car really fast (like close to 90 mph) and got caught on that line! Then the car, like, just disappeared!
LOL! Well played, Token.
exactly why I was going to say maybe let’s carefully think on the courthouse steeple– I’ve always loved how the current courthouse makes me think of Back to the Future!
I would give Decatur a beautiful traffic circle with a landmark sculpture at West Ponce, Nelson Ferry and Northern.
I second this motion.
OOOH Could it have a water feature?!
Real bike lanes! Not sharrows and not these strange half-lanes that people park in anyways. Honest to goodness bike lanes. And because I’ve been extra good this year, I’d also like to give real bike lanes to all of DeKalb and Fulton counties!
Allow the traffic signal on Church at Sycamore to last long enough for people to cross the street, blink and the light changes before stepping in the street.
The removal and complete obliteration of the Dekalb government office buildings and the rebuilding of the square in it’s original configuration. This includes the Marta abomination.
Merry Christmas Decatur!
I’ve always wondered this…wouldn’t that make the physical “square” smaller? And if so, where would all the festivals go?
Just close off the streets and have a festival like a lot of other cities do. The Marta plaza is a terrible public space anyway. But don’t get me started on that.
Oh, and bring Commerce and Trinity back to 2 lanes.
Merrier Christmas Decatur!
Also have you noticed how the new DHA building loks almost exactly like the original rendering even though they said the plans weren’t finalized. Hmmm,,,,
Proudly moderated since 2009!
True, true. I guess that works. But what’s more important, the street grid or public spaces? Seems like there’s a loss for peds either way.
You don’t think the new DHA buildings look better than the renderings? I think we’re going to do a comparison, because I think they look pretty good and was fearful when I saw the renderings.
I almost forgot!
Proudly moderated since 2009!
Big pedestrian bridges over the railroad tracks crossings at S. McDonough & E. College/Trinity & W. Howard, so that even young kids could cross between north & south sides of town without putting their lives in peril. And maybe even little garden spots at the bases of each bridge, just to prettify ‘em.
excellent gift idea!
I would bury the CSX tracks in a tunnel from the Marta tunnel on the West to after Church street on the East.
I’ve lived here since the 1950’s and have never heard of a person being struck by a train, except intentionally. Until the 3 over/under passes were built in the late 60’s/70’s, all crossings were at grade.
For those who want the tracks to go away, the tracks are part of Decatur history and character. How cool it was to sit in the Freight Room listening to John Hartford sing a train song and then a train pass by blowing its whistle.
John Hartford?? That is awesome.
Mickey Newbury too. Remember Luckenbach Texas?
“Between Hank Williams’ pain songs and
Newbury’s train songs and Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain
Out in Luckenbach, Texas ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain”
Thank you for those memories. I spent many a great night at the Freight Room watching those trains under the bar and listening as they went by. BTW, last time I checked, Jerry still owns the Righteous Room on Ponce!
An elegant, safe and attractive solution to getting motorized traffic, pedestrians, bicycles, children and other moving things across the CSX tracks.
A diner?
Zzzzzzzing….!
I actually saw people SITTING inside the Decatur Diner this morning. They weren’t eating — I believe they were critiquing the table settings — but it is a step closer. They also put a “Decatur Diner” decal on the front door earlier this week. Not surprising, it is slightly lopsided.
Are you all really excited about eating there? I am frightened by the thought. Petrified french fries come to mind.
A cadre of shuttle buses (the Emory Cliff size) to connect neighborhoods with downtown and Marta. Equipped with a GPS app for your smartphone of course.
Love this idea!
I’d bring back the actual square. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wondered about the buildings that used to line Sycamore Street across from Raging Burrito, etc.
An administration building for the CSD.
Free parking on Thursdays.
A Candler Park Market clone in Oakhurst.
Amen! Please!
I’d pull out the parking meters and driveway between the Courthouse and the Brickstore/LOS strip to make a pedestrian only area. Add a couple of trees and some benches and tables, too.
Yes!!
The retailers would love that. Less parking. I’m with David and dsw. Bring back the Square, complete with 4 pharmacies with soda fountains, 2 movie theaters, 2 grocery stores, 2 department stores, a couple banks, a hotel, shoe store…and angled sidewalk parking.
A libertarian congressman.
A complete de/reconstruction of Harmony Park :
Vaporize the Big H and parking lot, remove the building adjacent to the park (sorry Charles, but wait till you see your new place!) connect Mead with the Feld spur to East Lake, and create a roughly rectangular green space surrounded on 4 sides by restaurants/retail.
Now Santa, nevermind the little girl’s house in the old movie, *this* would definitely make me believe.
This is a brilliant idea. I drove by there the other day and said to myself that they just need to start over. Big H building really needs to go. But converting the entire area into a park is such a great idea. Does anyone remember that eye sore of a gas station next to Agnes Scott on S. McDonough and W. College? I think they used to rent U-hauls there also. Agnes Scott bought it up and turned the parking lot & building into green space. If only we had the funds…
couldn’t agree with you more on the need to re-do harmony park…such great potential and it is already host to several big festivals…
I have thought the same. At first glance it seem’s do-able, but I think it would require too many acquisitions of private property to do it right.
And getting the Big H property owner involved in any deal is a fantasy.
I want to give the Final Touch back to Decatur. It was a pleasure to shop there year round and especially at Christmas. I also miss the antique and collectible shops such as the one in the row of stores where Cafe Lily is located.
I would close the square down to traffic from Commerce to Church Street. Make it more of a pedestrian friendly market area like they have in Europe. Add more bike lanes and get rid of all the speed bumps but have people drive at normal neighborhood speed limits instead of the Indie 500. Dogs to be allowed in restaurants, skateboarders nicely doing their thing and a Trader Joe’s at Suburban Plaza.
A downtown store that actually sold something useful.
A jazz club where hip, well-dressed (sub)urbanites would sit around sipping scotch and listening to musicians booked by H. Johnson. With big bands on Sundays.
Oh, and peace on earth.
A Dollar General or a yoga studio. J/k
How about a decent grocery store or something fun to do at the square or village in the winter months?
OOOOH! And what about a longer traffic light at Ponce and East Lake? It would be wonderful to see more than 3 cars being able to make a left onto Ponce! Cause I ALWAYS wind up being that 4th car!!
Scott Boulevard reduced to two lanes in the city limits, with a nice median in the middle with trees, and a 35 mph speed limit. A real boulevard.
Ditto on that for the Howard-Dekalb Ave Speedway.
Yes, yes, yes. That’s wonderful to imagine even though we know the DOT would never do that for us. And then one more reason for not reopening Westchester would be crossed off the list, leaving just “flood plain”, “Need the lawn parking”, and “we don’t have enough schools on the south side yet”.
A good vegetarian restaurant.
Something…anything at the empty McKinney’s eyesore. How about using the building as a permanent home for the Wednesday farmer’s market? What is up with that building anyway?
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2010/06/14/542-church-street-plan-includes-demolishion-redevelopment/
A boutique Nordstrom…and a Whole Foods!
Since so many people have already mentioned a movie theater, which would be my first choice also, I’m going to go with more of a “stocking stuffer”: some great food carts.