OK, maybe I should have combined these all into one post!
I just received word from District 2 Commissioner Kecia Cunningham that she would also be running for reelection in the fall. This means all current sitting Decatur commissioners up for reelection will run again.
Will any of these sitting commishes have competition this year? Only time will tell!
The AJC reports that the Norcross City Council voted on Monday to disallow pets in its city parks. Not even on a leash, not even with a fistful of plastic bags in your mitt (service animals excepted, however). According to the AJC, “The city has plans to erect signs alerting residents of the law and is still in the process of figuring out appropriate fines for the ordinance violations.”
No explanation here as to why the city would take such an action, but over on Norcross Patch, there’s an article suggesting that 1) this was already a law, but everybody ignored it, so while one city council member proposed changing the ordinance to go with the flow and allow pets, his proposal was voted down; 2) the main problem is poop-related; and 3) it’s probably unenforceable.
You can walk a well-behaved dog on a leash in a Decatur city park, as long as you clean up after it. My impression is that folks around here are pretty respectful of that rule. Is that your impression, too? And what do you reckon would happen if Decatur went the way of Norcross in the animals-in-parks department? Mass revolt?
Okay, go.
Jim Baskett tells DM that he will indeed run for reelection as Decatur’s At-Large City Commissioner.
The At-Large Commissioner represents and is elected by the entire city, while the other four commissioners are split evenly amongst the Northern and Southern districts.
Four years ago, Baskett’s seat was the only one contested, while District 1’s Bill Floyd and District 2’s Kecia Cunningham went uncontested. He was challenged by by resident Alvin McNeely and won reelection with 55% of the vote.
(The fact that I can reference old DM posts from a 2007 election is making me feel sorta old!)
Michelle and Mike point out a big ol’ article in yesterday’s New York Times featuring the popularity of the “Big Green Egg” and its ceramic kamado competitors. There are photos and everything! Here’s the snippet that features folks from the DEC…
Just east of Atlanta, in Decatur, Billy and Kristin Smith have established a monthly Big Green Egg supper club. No matter which of the eight couples hosts, the focal point is always the backyard, where a Big Green Egg stands, wreathed in smoke, looking like a Humpty Dumpty stunt double on the set of a pyrotechnic-dependent action film.
For a recent Sunday evening gathering that began with shucked oysters set in muffin tins and roasted on a Big Green Egg, Mr. Smith cooked a garlic stuffed boneless pork shoulder that was done in 90 minutes. Ms. Smith baked a peach and blackberry cobbler that, after an hour on the hickory charcoal-fueled Egg, tasted lightly and pleasantly of wood smoke.
“I can do anything I want on an Egg,” said Mr. Smith, a trial-and-error cook who has honed his techniques over a couple of years. “Anything you can imagine, I can cook. We’ve done prosciutto pizzas. When you crank the coals, you get this perfect, fire-crackled crust.”
Decatur Active Living posts this picture and reports on the Be Active Decatur blog…
Everyone is getting ready for the start of the school year, including Decatur Public Works, Decatur Active Living and our Safe Routes to Schools volunteers. We have been working on making the walking and biking routes to school safer. In conjunction with the City Schools of Decatur, we are doing a pilot program with the new 4/5 Academy at 5th Avenue: marking the recommended safe routes with sidewalk markers. Look for crosswalks to be restriped and curb cut ramps to be installed around the city. A map of the recommended Safe Routes to School will be posted online at both the City Schools of Decatur and City of Decatur websites.
View the Safe Routes to School Map after the jump or view the zoomable PDF HERE.
Continue reading “City Installing 5th Avenue “Safe Routes to School” Markers”
