Talking to a friend this past weekend, he recalled how someone on Facebook recently mentioned that they had seen Robert Plant randomly walking down Ponce in downtown Decatur (I may have the location wrong).

Having become a sick blog obsessive, I immediately exclaimed “That would be a great post!  Who’s the most famous person you’ve ever seen hanging out in three-double-zero-three-oh?!”

And here it is.  That post I first thought of this past weekend, in a momentary blog-obsessive fit of interruption.

Soooo….which celebs have you seen partaking in the various fruits of our little city recently (or long ago)?

Assistant Superintendent Thomas Van Soelen writes in to let us know that the City Schools of Decatur have opened their tuition process for the 2011-2012 school year to interested non-CSD residents during the month of March.

If you’re not a resident of the city, but wish to enroll your children at CSD for $611/month, CLICK HERE for instructions on how to navigate the process.

Of course there is this caveat…

It is difficult to predict if specific grade levels or programs will have any openings. Tuition applications will be accepted for all grades Kindergarten-grade 12. All applications will be processed using the criteria described below.

If I remember correctly, since all the Elementary Schools were at capacity this past year, few if any tuition students were accepted.  But perhaps the 4/5 Academy opening this fall will change that for the coming year.

Mason Mill Park, South Peachtree Creek Trail (pic submitted by Brian)

From the AJC’s low-hanging fruit “ACK! MORE TAXES?” article this morning…

As gasoline prices climb rapidly past $3.30 a gallon, the Legislature is considering a change in the state’s gas taxes that could well push the price even higher.

The change, part of a sweeping proposal to overhaul the state’s taxation system, would address a huge problem in Georgia transportation funding: Much of the state’s gas tax does not rise with inflation. Under the bill introduced last week, that would change.

The complex proposal does have a possible upside for drivers’ pocketbooks, sort of. If the price of gas went really high, although the total revamped gas tax may still go up, it could go up less than if legislators make no change.

According to the article, currently the gas tax is 50% a flat 7.5 cents/gallon and 50% a “per-gallon charge that changes according to the price of gas”.  The proposed tax currently before the legislature would line up both portions of the tax with the annual cost of road construction.  As of 2011, that would equate to a 6 cent increase in the tax.

Arguments against include…

“I really don’t want to pay more than what I’m paying now,” especially considering the rising price of gas, said Marc Cain, 36, of Conyers. “It comes off as 5 cents but that adds up over everyday travel.”

Ahh…OK.  Well, then sir, can you choose which roads and/or bridges we’ll be shutting down or neglecting in the coming year?  Yeah.  But seriously, this sounds like a pretty decent proposal, if it operates as intended.  Tie the cost of roads to the tax annually.  If people want to push the tax down, they’ll be faced with the immediate result of less road maintenance.

Nothing’s ever as easy in politics as it first appears, but I’m having trouble finding reasons not to really like this idea (which usually means it doesn’t have a snowball’s chance of being passed).