This sounds awesome.

From the latest Decatur edTV newletter…

Decatur, GA Mayor Bill Floyd tops a growing list of local celebrity contestants who will face a team of Glennwood Academy 5th graders in the Decatur ED TV presentation of “r YOU Smarter Than a Glennwood 5th Grader?”  The fun kicks off at 7pm on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at the Decatur High School Performing Arts Center.  Your ticket will help the current 5th grade class to give a Legacy Gift to the new 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue set to open in August 2011.  Adult admission: $10 Students over 14: $5.

Tickets can be purchased online HERE.

Countless unfinished DeKalb subdivisions are getting greener by the day, but does that make DeKalb the greenest county in the country?

After the recent sewage leak epidemic, the AJC’s Truth-O-Meter honed in on a claim on the DeKalb County website that it was the “Greenest County in the County” and dubbed it “Barely True”.

DeKalb backed up the claim citing their methane gas-to-electricity program at the public landfill, its recent acquisition of 3,000 acres of parkland, the most hiking and biking trails in the state, LEED standards for County buildings, and a $15 million federal grant to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

The chairman of the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club told the AJC the claim was “pretty unthinkable.”  The AJC goes on to detail the numerous ways these claims are shoddy at best and in some cases not even true.

Beyond the fact that the “green” descriptor is really little more than a marketing gimmick these days, what the heck is so “green” about a hiking trail?  Do people take them to work in lieu of driving? Or does just basking in nature qualify as “green”?

And what about urban form?  If the greenest city in the country is really New York City, than it stands to reason that even neighboring Fulton County would be a better contender for “greenest county” in the anything.

On the docket for tonight’s first Decatur City Commission meeting of 2011 are two requests for new “No Parking Zones” inside the city limits.

With the recent reduction of lanes along West Ponce de Leon Avenue, the city’s Senior Engineer John Madajewski is requesting that the City Commission extend the “No Parking Zone” along West Ponce from Pinetree Lane to Adair Street.

Parking is currently allowed on the north side of the street, used primarily by St. Thomas More parishioners on Sunday mornings.  However, with the reduction of lanes to just two, parking of the north side of the street blocks westbound traffic requiring drivers to travel in the left-turn only travel lane “and then illegally cut through the West Ponce de Leon Avenue/West Trinity Place intersection to resume traveling westbound on West Ponce de Leon Avenue.”

The other new “No Parking Zone” under consideration tonight is along Feld Avenue behind Oakhurst Elementary.

Assistant City Manager David Junger explains in a note that the “Safe Routes to School Committee” has identified the need for a crosswalk across Feld Avenue behind the elementary school and “in order to make the crossing as safe as possible”, the Engineering Division is recommending creation of a “No Parking Zone” along the rear of the Oakhurst Elementary School property “to provide a clear line of sight for parents and students to look for oncoming traffic before entering the crosswalk.”

From the Clairmont Heights Civic Association…

Initial plans called for the closing of Emory’s Dowman Drive for several weeks as part of the DeKalb County streetscape and roundabout construction in Emory Village. Originally, the contractors believed that they would have their work done near Dowman Drive in December. Due to severe weather and other delays, it is likely that Dowman Drive will remain closed into January. It is unsure how long the delay will last.

Keep in mind, that once the work by Emory’s Haygood-Hopkins gate is complete, construction work will shift to South Oxford Road near Everybody’s Pizza. During this phase, South Oxford Road will close for approximately 60 days. When this occurs, the traffic lights will be removed, and the intersection of North Decatur and North Oxford roads will operate as a three-way stop. Please check the Alliance to Improve Emory Village website for updates.