From Janet with the DeKalb County Public Library….

DeKalb County Public Library is rescinding its plans to implement three furlough days this summer and fall as a means to reduce county budget shortfalls. Instead, library employees will take three unpaid holidays– Labor Day, Veterans Day and the day after Thanksgiving– to save money.

Sounds like staff still gets the pay cut, but now they have to work too.

Green Building Chronicle reports that the 5 member Atlanta Transportation Roundtable (which I like to call “Floyd & Co.”) allocated 58% of funding from the potential 1-cent sales tax to transit at this morning’s meeting.

However, the current project list is still $445 million over its $6.1 billion target, so some projects – be it road or rail – will need to be cut.  They plan to make those final cuts Monday at 1pm, according to the Chronicle.

Still on the list with a $700 million allocation is the Clifton Corridor line, which would mostly like have the largest potential impact on Decatur area residents, linking the Emory area to Lindbergh MARTA station with either light rail, heavy rail or a bus line.  Another new DeKalb project JUST added to the list is a $250 million down-payment to extend the MARTA blue line east past Indian Creek Station out I-20.

Here’s a PDF of the current project list, courtesy of the ARC.

In related news, Green Building Chronicle also reported yesterday from a Clifton Corridor public workshop last night and came back with a bunch of really interesting tidbits about the project, including which questions are still unanswered and which hurdles it still must be overcome.  Here’s a great little blurb…

The new line would break away from MARTA’s heavy rail line south of Lindbergh Station at the Armour Yard maintenance facility and follow an existing CSX right-of-way across I-85, Cheshire Bridge Road and Briarcliff Road, then on past the CDC, Emory and the VA Medical Center.

A key remaining decision is which technology to use: Heavy-rail would allow MARTA trains to be routed toward Emory on a spur, without requiring transfers. But heavy rail is more expensive and technically difficult, so it would have to stop at North Decatur and Clairmont roads. Most of a heavy rail line would likely be underground.

Light rail or bus-rapid transit would carry fewer passengers and would require MARTA rail riders to transfer at Lindbergh Station. But those two options would allow for more stops and could continue along Scott Boulevard toward the DeKalb Medical Center before hooking down to the Avondale Station. Most of light-rail or bus-rapid-transit line would likely be at grade.

The thorniest issue that came up at last night’s workshop revolved around the residential area between Cheshire Bridge Avenue and Briarcliff Road. Neighborhood organizations there actually favor the project — so long as it ends up being light-rail line, which would do more to serve the residents, rather than heavy rail, which would simply go under the neighborhoods and have fewer stops.

Also of note to those that have expressed concern that the project isn’t currently fully funded by the tax: the Chronicle notes that it’s not that farfetched to think that Emory and other big area employers might pick up part of the tab to have the line built.

With hopes that you will pardon the dizzyingly self-reflexive nature of this post, I wanted to share an interesting discussion going on over on Dateline:Decatur on the actual versus the virtual boundaries of what we think of as “Decatur.” Much — but not all — of the discussion on Decatur Metro centers around what goes on in 30030, the four square miles that make up the municipality we know and love. And there are many pragmatic reasons for centering our conversations within those boundaries — discourse about the zoning ordinance task force, for instance, doesn’t have a great deal of meaning outside the city limits. And there is a definite culture and identity marked by those contours, as well.

But this little exchange, which originated on Twitter, is interesting first for the map that shows how Decatur’s geography has evolved historically since the city’s founding in 1837 and further for the question of what constitutes Decatur in “cyberspace.” There’s plenty we discuss on this site (Suburban Plaza, anyone?) that lets us color outside the lines. And indeed, the mere title of this blog, “Decatur Metro,” invites an awareness of the greater beyond, so to speak. Decatur Metro regular Carl is featured in a video interview talking about how the #DecaturGA Twitter hashtag has shifted common understandings of what “Decatur” is. And he even talks about what constitutes an abuse of that hashtag.

Also, please note Carl’s snazzy summer haircut.