Lenox Road, Buckhead GA (pic taken by Mrs. DM)

Holy cow.  From the reliable Tomorrow’s News Today blog…

Wal-Mart is coming to Suburban Plaza in Decatur. In a move many months, if not years, in the making, Selig Enterprises will finally re-develop Suburban Plaza and Wal-Mart will be the biggest addition. Pep Boys, Eckerd and Winn-Dixie/Save Rite have all closed at the center over the years and few tenants other than Suburban Lanes, Suburban Custom Awards & Framing and Big Lots have remained open.  Last Chance Thrift shop, once located in a nearby former Kroger, opened in 2009 in the former Pep Boys in the center. From sketches I’ve seen, their space, as well as the neighboring shuttered Eckerd will both be demolished to make way for the coming Wal-Mart.

While nothing is confirmed, sources indicate that Suburban Lanes, located below the current center and possibly the oldest tenant, dating back to 1954, will remain open although its configuration may change slightly.

…Attending ICSC’s REcon last month in Las Vegas, A Selig representative told me the store should be open by early to mid 2013.

P.S.  Someone tipped me off to this way back in early May, but I couldn’t confirm.

I just wanted to drop everyone a note, letting you know that I’m more than aware of the recent issues DM has had with loading.

I’ve discussed the issue with someone much smarter than myself, and have confirmed that this is basically an issue of opting for a hosting service that can’t handle my traffic. (The host is intentially slowing down page loads to temper my impact on their servers.)  I’m not sure what spurred the issue over the last few weeks, but it has been a real pain and I’m sorry for that.

So, we gotta move DM to a new location that allows a lot more bandwidth.  When this occurs, DM will likely load faster than it has been in a long time.  But it’s gonna take a few days.  So please bear with us!

From Decatur Deputy Police Chief Keith Lee…

On Sunday June 12, 2011 at approximately 12:30 am the Decatur Police Department was notified of an armed robbery in the 300 block of North McDonough Street. [editor's note:  mapped location of incident] The victims were assaulted as they returned to their vehicle, which was parked on the street. The female victim was shot once in the lower abdomen and was treated at DeKalb Medical Center.Medical staff advised they expect a full recovery. The male victim was struck several times, but did not receive serious injuries.

The suspects left the scene in the victim’s vehicle. It is described as follows:

• 2004 Toyota Tacoma
• Red in color
• Tag # BJQ 6805

Anyone observing this vehicle should contact the Decatur Police Department at 404 373-6551.

The suspects were described as two young African-American males with thin builds.

Replying to a note that the Decatur School Board Chair Marc Wisniewski sent in to DM the other day, Board Member John Ahmann continues the public conversation with his colleague regarding the already-once-voted-on bell schedule prior to tomorrow night’s meeting, where Ahmann will attempt to get the issue put back on the agenda.

Marc:

Your recent correspondence to a citizen inquiry has two important errors of fact that I would like to address:

The first is, “…despite claims otherwise, there were not significant facts not already on the table and understood.” The evidence suggests the contrary:

a) I demonstrated at the last Board meeting that the cost estimates provided by Dr. Edwards were closely grossly inflated for the Bell schedule I proposed. Dr. Edwards has yet to correct, for the record, the cost estimates for the Bell schedule I proposed. She estimated $120,000 – $150,000. This is simply not true. Because costs were a significant driver for the decision, an accurate cost estimate is highly material.

b) At the May Board meeting Bruce Rhoaden represented the Decatur High School (DHS) SLT was ok with the earlier start time for the high school. Based on letters from high school members of the SLT, this is not true. In fact, we do not have any formal compilation of SLT parent views on the issue, nor do we have a clear picture of how the larger community perceives the issue.

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