Last night, the Decatur City Commission approved a $54,100 amendment to Phase II of the city’s Sidewalk Improvement Project to fund repairs along 450 existing linear feet of sidewalk on both sides of South McDonough Street between Oakview and East College Ave, along with a new sidewalk on the west-side of Sams Street near the Talley Street Lofts.

During the meeting, Assistant Manager David Junger cited South McDonough’s prominence as a Safe Route to School route as a big reason for the need for that specific upgrade.

According to a note to City Manager Peggy Merriss from Mr. Junger (page 21 of the meeting materials), funds are available from the Capital Bond Fund for the work.

Miami Beach, FL (pic courtesy of Mary)

This recent AP article states that a “Georgia state council” is rethinking the state’s aggressive tax credit program that’s been attracting film production companies to the state over the last couple years.  As we all know, Decatur’s been just one beneficiary on the credit, most recently hosting a Jennifer Garner film over on Pinetree Drive.  Why are they rethinking the credits?  Well, that’s not all that clear…

In January, though, a Georgia state council said those benefits are fleeting. It said even though the crews bring jobs — and lots of people who spend money locally on food and lodging — those benefits are lost when they pack up and leave after filming.

The council recommended ditching the film tax break, which meant $140.6 million in lost tax revenues last year. Film producers spent $617 million in Georgia last year.

The article goes on to provide first-hand accounts of all the ways the film tax credit is creating jobs in the state and how other states are also implementing similarly tempting tax credits to movie-makers.  However, the one important item missing from this article is “What the tax revenue was prior to the creation of the more aggressive tax credit in 2008?” If it was far less than $617 million, than that $140.6 million in “lost tax revenue” wasn’t actually “lost” because without it we wouldn’t have the additional revenue in the first place.  Weird.

As the AJC reports this morning, last night the DeKalb School Board took a final vote on closing eight county schools and redistricting those affected.

The vote was almost a year in the making. Board members made several attempts to pass new attendance boundaries but backed off because of criticism and political pressure.

More than 200 parents and community members showed up to protest the most recent round of changes, but the plan passed with a 7-2 margin.

…The plan approved Monday closes eight schools: Atherton, Glen Haven, Gresham Park, Peachcrest, Medlock and Sky Haven elementary schools, Avondale Middle School and Avondale High School.

Some residents in areas just outside the Decatur city limits aren’t protesting, but rejoicing, as many of the homes in the Forrest Hills and Midway Woods neighborhoods were rezoned into the well-regarded “Druid Hills Cluster” – which includes Avondale Elementary School, Shamrock Middle School and Druid Hills High School.  This was “due to hundreds of emails, going to meetings”, according to one Forrest Hills resident.  So satisfied with the change, they exclaimed “I would vote against being annexed [by Decatur] now.”.

Students who formally attended Medlock Elementary will now be split amongst Laurel Ridge, McLendon and Avondale Elementary schools.  (See page 8 of this presentation for a map of the change.)