Nicole writes in…

I found this nice doggie on my way home from taking the kids to school this morning at the corner of Willow and Pensdale. It looks like the tag fell off her (or his) collar. I have to go to work now, but I will take her to check for a microchip this afternoon. In the meantime, she is on the back porch at 232 Willow Lane with some water and a chewy.

You may recall the post from yesterday detailing a note to the Decatur City Commission from City Manager Peggy Merriss about moving around 800 residents from the city’s northern voting district to the southern district.

Well, I’ve rarely seen the Commission more uncomfortable discussing an issue as last night when the Mayor suggested that in preparation for sending the new districts onto the U.S. Justice Department, the city better look at creating five voting districts – one for each commissioner – due to the current impossibility of creating a “minority majority” district using the current two district breakdown.

None of the five commissioners stated their preference in creating five districts, but it was decided the city better be prepared and at least look at if a five district breakdown would create a single “minority majority” district before submitting a two district breakdown – without a majority minority district – to the Justice Department for clearance under the Voting Rights Act.

Many of the commissioners said they believed that smaller districts would create too small a constituency for commissioners and all voiced their support for the current North/South representational division.  If was also noted that if a “minority majority” district was created, it was likely that Commissioner Cunningham would most likely not be eligible to represent that district due to the location of her residency.

But looking at the New York Times census map, the Decatur’s black population looks pretty well dispersed – though the larger population looks to be on the west side of town – and the commission may be correct that a minority majority district is impossible even when divided into 5 districts.

From a Farm Burger newsletter sent out late last night…

fBBUCKHEAD

Yes that’s right, you read it correctly: we will open our second location in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood at 3365 Piedmont Road, in Tower Place, and plan to be open in summer 2011. We can’t wait to expand from our original Decatur location and bring our local, farm-sourced, grassfed burgers and fixins to a new side of the city. Decatur, we wouldn’t be able to do it without you, we promise we will continue to stoke you out.

Same menu, same beef, same seasonal goodness from local and sustainable farms available everyday, including our own Full Moon Farms and Moonshine Meats. For news on construction and opening, please subscribe to our blog, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

More details about the expansion can be devoured HERE.

Trish sends in this pic and writes in…

This tree is located (near) the intersection of Kings Hwy and Ansley Street. This picture was taken at 6:30am, so traffic to surrounding schools WILL be affected.

The tree fell almost exactly at 12 AM Tuesday morning. Husband heard the crack and knew that it must be one of the several old oak trees that line the adjacent property at the intersection (above). The entire tree fell!