In Cyberspace, Decatur Knows No Bounds?
Allison | August 11, 2011With 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.
Latest from Decaturish
This topic has been discussed on DM on and off basically since it’s inception. Not necessarily regarding the Twitter hashtag, but frequently, readers like Carl and Steve have called out various news orgs for calling areas in Unincorporated DeKalb, “Decatur”. Often times in crime stories.
As a result, the AJC has largely stopped doing it. However, the TV news stations still like to reference mailing address Decatur as Decatur.
As for the blog’s name, its hastily thought up meaning indeed is a reference that I didn’t just plan on writing about 30030, but also goings-on outside those boundaries. Coverage of outside 30030 has fluctuated over the years, but I do believe that it’s silly to limit coverage to the city limits, since every Decaturites’ life crosses in and out of those boundaries everyday.
“Metro” also harkens to Decatur’s railroad past and present, though that’s probably not all that obvious.
[...] the follow-up, Rethinking the #DecaturGA hashtag, and Decatur Metro’s take on this [...]
Whether you live just inside or just outside the Decatur city limits makes little difference in some things… but can be huge in others. In general I would say that the quality of services is in many cases an order of magnitude better in the city limits than outside.
Get your car stolen? I know in DeKalb County they will hardly talk to you, much less send an officer out. Have a water leak in the street. I did. Called the city and a crew was out the next day (It was a DeKalb county crew). At about the same time I read an article in the AJC that said some people in Atlanta had been waiting YEARS to get street leaks fixed. Let’s don’t even start on the schools… huge asset.
I remind myself of these things when I pay my tax bill. It helps.
Sometimes I spend all of my non-work time in Decatur as though it is horse and wagon days and it is just too burdensome to travel all the way up Clairemont Road to Toco Hill. So I become extremely 30030-centric. If I can’t walk or bike there, it doesn’t exist. And then I have these funny experiences at work when someone says “Oh I live in Decatur too” and I start gushing about CSD or walking to MARTA or the planned sidewalk extension on Scott, they look at me funny, I ask what street they live on, and it turns out that they live in Sagamore Hills or Clairemont Heights and we have different definitions of Decatur. I’m not sure if they have Decatur, GA postal addresses or what. But there’s definitely City-of-Decatur Decatur and postal address Decatur so it doesn’t surprise me that there’s also virtual Decatur.
What I find so weird in that people who live in postal address Decatur get so defensive. The woman on the page linked to by Allison certainly was. Harvey Newman, a professor of urban policy at GSU, explained it to us in an urban planning class once many years ago. People outside the city limits have Decatur in their mailing addresses because the US Postal Service sends their mail to the Decatur processing area. If the postal service changed the processing of the mail, they’d no longer have a “Decatur” address. I don’t offer apologies for being firmly in the same camp as Carl & Steve.
It’s been so long since you made a Harvey Newman reference! If only you could have worked a “Regime Politics” quote in there…
But all kidding aside, I hadn’t heard that explanation before. As far as I’m concerned, this is just another symptom of the weird aspects of having huge county governments in a dense, metropolitan area.
I was wondering if you would catch that!
I am actually in favor of “unincorporated” creating its own city (ies). DeKalb has certainly proven itself to be unworthy of governing this swath of people, all of whom deserve better educational facilities and governance!
nelliebelle1197- So interesting.I have had the exact opposite experience. I have found that people who live within the City of Decatur limits get defensive about people with postal address Decatur actually using “Decatur” as their address.
Chicken and the egg, perhaps.
To me, being defensive from either perspective means you have too much free time on your hands!
Thank you! Since the full interview was not included, my thoughts on that topic were clipped. As an eight-year resident of DeKalb (with an Atlanta address) prior to living in Decatur, I always told people that I lived in DeKalb County. When they would ask, “no, what city?” I would explain that I did not live in a City, and that most of the County residents also do not (not sure if this is still true after Dunwoody’s incorporation). I bought my home in DeKalb the first year of HOST, so there was definitely a financial incentive to be there (though, really, it was about availability; I had a short buying timeframe in a strong sellers’ market). I never felt excluded or envious of nearby cities; though, because of HOST, I aimed to spend $$ in DeKalb when given a choice. Other than calling police when my car was rear-ended near my home, I never had a need for DeKalb’s services, and didn’t have any issues. I felt that I got a good value for my (relatively low) taxes. When I chose to move to Decatur, I knew that the tax landscape would be dramatically different, but I accepted that as part of City life. What I didn’t expect is the amazing service supplied by DPD, Fire, and the City in general. So now, I feel like I also get a tremendous value for my taxes because I’m getting premium, nearly-instantaneous service.
Ah, but I digress. What has confused and often frustrated me is the negative commenting from people in DeKalb who want to mentally be part of the City yet complain that they can’t afford to live there (or say they choose not to do so because of cost) and paint Decatur as an elitist, gilded city. Anyone that lives or spends time here knows it’s quite the opposite! Why there’s so much animosity about the City from people who (in other contexts) claim they live there is at best fractured thinking.
One other question that didn’t make the final cut was: if I could sum up Decatur in one word, what would that be? Without thinking, I immediately said, “perfect.” Now clearly, that’s a gross oversimplification (and seeing that we were battling the squawking fake birds in the background, also a bit untrue), yet it also reminds me why I am here. Decatur (and by that I mean the elected officials, City staff, AND the residents) tries really hard to make this a great community, and that is why we’re here. There are absolutely wonderful neighborhoods in DeKalb, Atlanta, Seattle, etc., but there’s not one other community that looks, feels, smells, grows, and lives the same as DecaturGA.
One man’s “elitist” is another’s civic pride, which I think explains the “nothing could be further from the truth” reaction you feel. Two sides of the same basic coin.
No one wants to be elitist, yet we yearn to feel civic pride. However you perceive it, though, or whatever you call it, this much is without dispute: Once your town becomes a place not worth caring about, you’ve got dark days ahead. And that’s when who’s inside and who’s outside starts to make a lot more difference.
Very nicely summed up, Scott.
Interestingly enough, I live in 30030 but not City of Decatur. 30030 actually dips south all the way to Memorial Drive.
Yes, it certainly does. I live about a block outside of the City of Decatur limits in unincorporated Dekalb. My postal address is ‘Decatur, GA 30030.’ I am within walking distance of the square. I don’t think that it is even remotely incorrect for me to describe my house’s location as ‘Decatur’ just because I am outside of the city limits.
My driveway is on the City of Decatur line so I reside a few yards on the outside. But my frame of mind is definitely inside.
I know I am being pedantic but there are some houses in 30033 (around 10, I think, we are one of them) that are inside the city limits. We pay city taxes, we are inside the city, and we are in Decatur, in fact as well as in spirit.
I understand why people use 30030 as the demarcation because, largely, that is true. But, as the other people who live in unincorporated DeKalb but inside 30030 point out, this rule of thumb is not always correct. I get tired of taking my tax bill to, say, sign up for a pool pass or reserve a park pavilion to prove that we are city residents. The schools, and I commend them for this, have a list of specific addresses that are inside the CoD and those that are out, which is how it should be. You shouldn’t just get asked for a ZIP code by a city employee to determine residency, which has happened to me and several neighbors, ditto for calls to the police department.
The zip code thing tends to reinforce unspoken economic snobbery, in my experience. People make a lot of judgements based on someone’s street address, as also evidenced by many of the posts on this blog. That’s why I think a lot of people who live just outside CoD get defensive.
This is hardly a unique issue, for crying out loud. When I lived Druid Hills two blocks outside the city limits, I had an Atlanta address and considered myself an Atlanta resident but was, technically, living in unincorporated DeKalb. The same is true of a number of other cities around the United States. I suppose I was supposed to walk around telling people I lived in unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia? Whatever…
I love Decatur. We bought this house specifically because it was in CoD, but some people here really need to get over themselves.
We must be neighbors!
I too have the 30033 zip code and am so FRUSTRATED by City employees telling me, “You know that you don’t live in Decatur, right?” based solely on my zip code.
Our city government is not that large, and the employees should be aware that not everyone in CoD has a 30030 zip.
+1
We need to get together! I’m going to organize a meetup.
Seriously!
There really are only a few properties in our little “club.” The fact that we don’t know each other is kind of anti-Decatur.
love it when tweeters get all tweaked
I am cool with whoever wants to call themselves Decatur. Just didn’t want to get spammed for votes. The local establishment apologized when called out on it.
Carry on.
It’s simple. Those of us who live in CoD limits are obviously superior to those who don’t, so we are allowed to comment on anything inside or outside the limits.
Those who live outside have no right to comment on what happens inside.
For those of the humorless persuasion, that’s a joke. I enjoy reading posts about what’s happening outside our little island of sanity, and getting perspective from commentors who don’t live in CoD always adds to conversation.
I live in 30032, just 4 miles from the square, my address says Decatur. I work right here in the square, I park my scooter right out front of the shop every morning. Even though I live “outside” of City of Decatur, I consider myself, and my neighbors as Decatur residents. DeKalb County has responded to every request that we have had, be it a fire hydrant leak, street signs, lights, all in a very timely matter. Never once had an issue.
I plugged in “Decatur, GA Zip Codes” in Google.. this is one of the results:
DECATUR, GA Covers 8 ZIP Codes
ZIP Code 30030
ZIP Code 30031
ZIP Code 30032
ZIP Code 30033
ZIP Code 30034
ZIP Code 30035
ZIP Code 30036
ZIP Code 30037
DECATUR, GA Demographic Information:
Estimated Current Population: 181,338
Population: 176,163
White Population: 45,183
Black Population: 122,635
Hispanic Population: 3,809
Asian Population: 3,403
Hawaiian Population: 65
Indian Population: 314
Other Population: 1,578
Male Population: 81,853
Female Population: 94,310
Avg House Value: $136,220.00
Avg Household Income: $46,432.80
Avg Persons Per Household: 2.58
Median Age: 33.48
Median Age (Male): 31.62
Median Age (Female): 35.18
30031 is only for post office boxes at the post office on ponce i believe
I’ll throw something out there in cyberspace … do you think that in our defense of our CoD limits, we have become a little like what residents of Buckhead used to be? Remember when people said, “I live in Buckhead” like it was some sort of superior uber echelon place; hipper, richer, etc. etc. Are we like that now? Are people jumping on the CoD bandwagon because, face it, we’re way better and cooler than those people OUTSIDE our city limits?
Ok, talk amongst yourselves….
The confusion has always existed but I agree that now folks are more likely to enjoy the cachet of Decatur. In general, intown has a much better cachet than it used to. My in-laws used to prepare to come visit us in Decatur the way someone might carefully map out their way to a destination in a war zone, careful not to break down along the way.
In a word:
Yes
I guess I don’t think of this as a problem or even a concern at all, unless I choose to spend my time worrying about or trying to change what others think. “Decatur” here is a concept. As for any label or belief, my concept of a person, place, or thing can vary considerably from yours. There is no right or wrong, should or should not in this. My experiences and my wants and desires about the thing are different than yours, so therefore my perspective is different. Look at how much time is, in my opinion, wasted talking about what America is, and “gosh, dontcha just love America!” And doesn’t this often lead to people being defensive and argumentative? People not wanting to engage in a process of understanding?
I think that a person, when discussing “what is Decatur,” even as it relates boundaries including or excluding Suburban Plaza or unincorporated properties toward Avondale, is really saying something about him/herself. If I want “my Decatur'” to appear less associated with crime, that says a lot about me – that I don’t like crime (no surprise) but, more importantly, that I am concerned with other peoples’ opinions of Decatur. Though I often fail, I try not to be concerned with that. If others want to form their opinions and sit in judgment from afar, with nothing more than a few news reports ‘informing’ them, well, there is nothing I can do about that. And yes, what I am talking about in this post, as in every post I make, is Me.
I have lived in “Decatur” for 30 of my 42 years, but only 6 of those in the city limits. Growing up in a neighborhood near Glenwood Rd. and Covington Hwy, we always answered the question of where do you live with “Decatur” (unless we were out-of-state; then we answered with “Atlanta”)
I see no reason why that should change. Believe me, there was a time when people who lived on on the northside and out of the city limits (Oak Grove area, for example) who didn’t like to be associated with Decatur, but I don’t recall them answering with “unincorporated DeKalb.”
If I lived in one of the surrounding zip codes with a Decatur postmark, I am pretty sure I would Say “Decatur” as my home location also. As brianc says, what is a better way to describe your general location? If I was called on it by someone, I would probably tell them to get a life (if I was in a good mood) … and something stronger if I wasn’t.
That being said, I must admit that I am irked at the crime scenes that are are constantly identified as being in Decatur, when they are not “in Decatur”.
I will probably get slammed for this, but here goes: I like that certain people have a negative perception of Decatur. It keeps out the more narrow-minded folks. I think most people know what I mean.
Lol. That reminds me.. When I lived in Seattle many years ago there was a movement fostered by a popular newspaper columnist and author called “Lesser Seattle”. The object of the movement was to promote as many of the bad images and perceptions of Seattle as possible… so as to discourage people from moving there and screwing up the quality of life. “It always rains in Seattle” was one of their favorites.
#yawn
What Would Ghetto Mafia Do?
Decatur is a state of mind?
Unless you are paying Decatur City taxes you shouldn’t earn the right to say you are from Decatur!
I hope this is meant tongue in cheek — this is exactly the type of comment that gives Decatur the “elitist” label. I live outside the city limits but I do spend quite a bit of money in Decatur’s businesses, and I’m sure THOSE folks won’t mind if I say I live in Decatur.
Tru dat.
Our stepmom, we did everything to hate her
She took us down to the edge of Decatur
We saw the lion and the kangaroo take her
Down to the river where they caught a wild alligator
Love the use of Sufjan here. Well done.
Decatur is Atlanta, but Atlanta is not Decatur.
Yes. I wonder if people who live in Decatur (city limits or otherwise) when traveling answer “Atlanta” when asked where they are from? I still do, usually, but I find that the closer I am to home the more likely I am to say “Decatur, just east of Atlanta” or something similar.
In online forums I am from Atlanta. The fact is that not many people outside of Georgia know where “Decatur, GA” is. I can live with being from Atlanta.
Here are the two things Decatur should really be worrying about:
1. DeKalb County moving its county offices and courts out of the city.
2. Emory Point with its attractive location, high end look, and plenty of parking poaching all your restaurants.
Emory Point ain’t got our city government.
But I think it’s an interesting brainstorm. What does Emory Point mean to Decatur? Anything?
It won’t mean anything to me unless it has a movie theater!
Seriously though, I think it will depend on what kind of retail mix they have. I haven’t followed this at all really. Is it going to be something like the development in Brookhaven?
http://www.emory-point.com/
I should have some insanely good views to the West. That I can be sure of.
I don’t what it means specifically for Decatur, but I know what it means for that corridor: even worse traffic! I probably would ride the Cliff shuttle over there once in a blue moon, if they run one from the Decatur station.
There is a Cliff going from Decatur station! Just not on weekends. They might want to consider that as an additional service when the new Emory Point is finished building.
“DeKalb County moving its county offices and courts out of the city.”
How likely is this?
A big automobile orientated development in the middle of some of the worst rush hour grid locked neighborhoods in ATL, does not sound very attractive to me. But “look at all the cool chain stores and restaurants they will have”, someone says. Right.
+1
“What has confused and often frustrated me is the negative commenting from people in DeKalb who want to mentally be part of the City yet complain that they can’t afford to live there (or say they choose not to do so because of cost) and paint Decatur as an elitist, gilded city. ”
That’s interesting. I’ve never experienced the elitist accusations. But I’ve definitely heard the high costs cited as a barrier. I’ve heard several people say they would gladly move to Decatur if houses were more affordable. Actually, rather than accusing Decatur of being elitist, the factor I hear cited most often is that Decatur is too expensive for its geographic location, which they say is kind of isolated (usually single and childless couples say this). O course, there are also those who say Decatur is too expensive given its proximity to high crime areas. I hear that one a lot too.
Actually, I have heard the elitist tag a million times. I am really surprised you haven’t. Probably that is the root of what bothers me!
I have to say Decatur Dan’s post irks me some. Parker Cross, for example, doesn’t actually live in Decatur, but she has done a lot for the city through Volunteer Decatur, I would venture to say more than I…
Well now, what’s the reason for it being “too expensive” ? Supply and demand. If people didn’t want to live here, demand and prices would be lower. Real estate folks would tell you that Decatur didn’t take as much of a hit in the market as many other places. Things like that sort of debunk the proximity to crime and the isolation arguments (I don’t understand that one at all – what are we isolated from?). You get what you pay for.
” I don’t understand that one at all – what are we isolated from?”
I don’t quite get that either. Though I recall a comment on one of the FFFA’s about the difficulty of commuting from here to Midtown. BTW, these are non-MARTA users who I’ve heard make the comment about isolation.
I think they mean that Decatur is difficult to drive to by people who want to get here only by 8 lane interstates, If you tell them, but we have 3 MARTA station in the city limits, they usually just shutter.
Yeah, I think that’s it.
An aside: A woman my wife works is in the market for a house. Her husband found a house in Decatur he liked, but she vetoed because it was too close to a MARTA station. Not too close in terms of noise or visibility, but because people who used the station walked past the house.
Now THAT’S elitist.
Check out Clarence Stone’s work. He uses the failure of MARTA as a cornerstone for his entire theory on the dysfunction of urban political systems.
“Regime Politics”? It’s in my library que!
“queue,” that is. Sorry, new laptop and I’m struggling with the keyboard.
I have been here 21 years and have only had kids for three of those, so I don’t think it’s the kid thing. In fact, I was planning on remaining happily childless until I didn’t
“Well now, what’s the reason for it being “too expensive” ? ”
Of course, taxes figure into those opinions too. Some people can’t bear the thought of paying property taxes as high as Decatur’s (and almost certainly going higher). I’m with you though: you get what you pay for.
My analysis shows that, with DeKalb’s recent increase, Decatur taxes before homestead exemptions are less that 20% higher than unincorporated DeKalb. And, like I said, you get what you pay for.
It is interesting about that fact of life. Decatur is known, I think, for very strict land use and development controls (Zoning standards, planning taken seriously, etc) and higher then average taxes, etc, But look we have gotten for our investment and great level of city services. A very successful city that is the envy of the metro area.
Re: Isolated. I have heard people from the north side of town in particular say that Decatur is difficult to get to. And they are probably somewhat right if you think about it, particularly when you consider traffic.
I kind of like that it is …
Agreed–except when I have to go to Peachtree Corners/ Norcross, as I frequently do. That’s not a fun commute.
Yeah, I think it’s the lack of easy interstate access that people mean when they say “isolated.” But I think also that a lot of activity goes on in Midtown, and that can be a very frustrating car commute to or from Decatur.
” I am really surprised you haven’t. ”
It may have something to do with not having children (or many friends with children) so I don’t get in too many conversations about the school system here, which for most people is Decatur’s biggest bragging right. The few friends with children we associate with are from our former life in the suburbs; for them Decatur=Atlanta=crime, and we’ve given up trying to tell them otherwise.
Gosh, sorry, but if you’re REALLY someone special you live in Oakhurst. I don’t even bother saying Decatur any more.
You mean “The ‘Hurst”??
To us Northsiders, that would be the ‘Khurst.
I think you are on to something Jill. I think Oakhurst is much more culturally aligned with intown Atlanta neighborhoods (think Candler Park, Lake Claire, Kirkwood, East Lake) than with #DecaturGA proper even though it is in the Decatur City Limits.
I see what you did there…
I told someone recently that I live in “Oakhust North”. My house is on Melrose, and we have Oakhust envy!
Never be sorry! You can’t help that it is what it is!
Jill, I still have an empty feeling in my heart since I moved from the hurst to the northside. A hole that can only be filled with dirty funion wrappers, cigarette butts and the sound of the #22 bus chugging up second avenue.
I find the whole conversation about definitions and personalities amusing. Even within the confines of our tiny hamlet we have deeply ingrained perceptions about various neighborhoods. Seems to me that the us/them comparison goes from street level to national level without much change.
“dirty funion wrappers, cigarette butts and the sound of the #22 bus chugging up second avenue.”
Boy, that sounds like a grim place. Congratulations for escaping.
When speaking to someone from of town and people ask where I’m from, I always say “Atlanta” because people know where that is, whereas if I said “Decatur” they would have no idea unless they have some sort of special knowledge of the area. Does that make it wrong that I am expressing that I hail from the Metro Atlanta area? I don’t think so.
When speaking to other Metro Atlantans, should people who live in 30033 have to respond that they live in “Dekalb County” just because they do not live in a city, instead of a more recognizable place like “Decatur” or should they have to say “just outside of the City of Decatur limits” or “near Decatur? I don’t think so.
I think the very fact that we’re having this conversation demonstrates that we are a bit “elitist” and “guilded.” We are trying to keep people out of our club since we think that they don’t belong. City of Decatur is a great place to live – but do not deny that we have those tendencies.
I really have better things to do with my time than worry about how people are using the #DecaturGA hashtag or how they respond when people ask “where are you from?” Come on.
I was playing The Old Course at St. Andrews a couple weeks ago, and In a conversation with one of the caddies, he asked where I lived – I told him Atlanta. He asked which part, and I told him Decatur. He said he loves the Iberian Pig.
So, yes, I’ll go with Decatur when asked in the future. And yes, I just bragged about playing The Old Course because I’m a raging elitist – although not as bad as the uppity residents of that gated enclave known as Winnona Park.
That’s why I answer the “where do you live question” with not Decatur but instead – my neighborhood – Winnona Park. Home of the Trackside Tavern, Naaman Gibbetts, the venerable Tom Stubbs, the chicken-bison lady, a lot of Kindergarteners and the reigning city Wiffle-Ball Champions.
Maybe I had too much to drink that day, which is entirely possible, but I thought the wiffle ball championship game ended in a tie. And the tie goes to the visitors, so all hail the Oakhurst Hoods/Libre Westchester team!
Uhm, after continually changing the rules to suit ya’ll, how did it even end in a tie?
When I was at Emory in the mid-1990s, we routinely referred to Emory as being in Decatur when we were talking to people from metro Atlanta. At the time, I don’t even think I was aware that there WAS an official City of Decatur — I just thought of it as a part of town. I suspect Emory students still do this.
I agree with you, Marty. People use town and city names to mark a rough location. It’s not like they’re trying to sneak into the schools, for heaven’s sake; they’re just trying to approximate for people what part of the metro area they live in.
Plus, many who live outside the city boundaries still regularly shop there, go to the festivals, eat at the restaurants, and so forth … so it is their home in many respects.
Well said, Marty.
If I want to really be specific I say I live in the City of Decatur but I really have no problem with people with Decatur mailing addresses saying they are from “Decatur”. I think everyone in the entire Atlanta metro area says they are from “Atlanta” sometimes. And is it realistic to expect people to say they are from unincorporated Dekalb County–it’s quite a mouthful . . .
There is also a Decatur County in Georgia, and the people who live there are also ” from Decatur”.
I just tell people I live in the “Independent Nation of DeKalb County” to avoid offending anyone.
past the tire fire?
That’s a strange quirk of Georgia’s 159 counties that many times a city is not in the county of the same name. It used to perplex me but then I figured that most states have many fewer counties (with some notable exceptions like Texas) so the naming folks just ran out of ideas and started repeating.
This is the latest example of a news report giving a “Decatur” location for a crime scene. It really irritates me.
http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/201342/3/DECATUR-Shots-fired-at-police
Yeah, it would be a lot more meaningful to the viewing audience if the report said “Panthersville”. But it’s a Decatur postal address so that’s probably how the police have to code it. It’d be nice if the media would a few extra seconds to check an internet map site and get a more meaningul location descriptor.
It could be the police that cause this, I tend to believe it’s negligence on the part of the media. I seem to remember an earlier post that said that there was some success in getting the AJC to stop doing this, which makes me believe it is correctable at that level.
I’m sure it’s the zip code thing. News media gets a crime report.. giving an address. They plug the address into Google.. or whatever they use… the address pops up with a map… and if the address is within the EIGHT zip codes that have “Decatur” on their postmark the address is listed as XXX Whatever Lane, DECATUR, GA. Thus the media reports the crime scenes within those eight zip codes as being “in Decatur”. Those zip codes include over 180,000 residents, and some very high crime areas.
Yes, but if they took two seconds longer and looked at the map, they would see that “Panthersville” or “Belevedere Park” describe an area better. Sigh.
The report about two “Decatur elementary schools” being locked down is exactly the problem with how the media describe Decatur-related locations. You cannot blame any CSD parent for panicking for a second while they dig in further to find out that the affected schools are several miles from any CSD school. In fact, a Renfroe lockdown was what got me hooked on Decatur Metro initially because info when it wasn’t appropriate to tie up the school lines with calls. Even if you know your school has a good safety plan, a parent wants to know about a lockdown immediately. If for no other reason so you don’t show up at the school with your child’s left behind lunch and make the traffic and confusion worse!
Oh, dear God. It’s outside 285 and south of 20. Surely no one can argue that this type of mischaracterization doesn’t matter. When it comes to inaccurate information that devalues our image, it does matter.
When people outside the city feel enough of a kinship with Decatur that they say that’s where they live, that’s fine with me. But this kind of BS needs to stop.
Every time something like this happens, fire off an email to the reporting organization. Point out to them that Decatur has its own police force with different colored cars from DeKalb. Ask them if it was COD police that reported the incident or DeKalb. The DeKalb PIO is generally Mekka Parish, an African-American woman and COD PIO is usually Deputy Chief Lee. It’s not hard to tell them apart, either.
Somebody got it right:
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/28846082/detail.html
http://www.cbsatlanta.com/story/15256323/two-dekalb-schools-on-locdown-due-to-police-activity
I’ve found that if you show a media outlet that somebody else got it right, they pay more attention.
Well – as of 11:10 a.m. 11 alive is now reporting that 2 DECATUR elementary schools are on lockdown. (Same link as Brian above…)
http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/201342/3/DECATUR-Shots-fired-at-police
DECATUR, Ga. — Two Decatur elementary schools have been locked down because a shooter is holed up in a home nearby.
Authorities said the shooter fired a shotgun shortly after 9 a.m. on the 3500 block of Warbler Drive, off Boring Road in Decatur.
An unidentified person was shot in the arm. That person is now with police.
Authorities said the shooter also fired at police.
Both Bob Mathis and Rainbow Elementary Schools were locked down as a precaution.
No further details are immediately available.
I just got an email from channel 11 saying they would fix it. We’ll see. Complain to: Sweigart, Christopher
They did change “Decatur elementary schools” to “DeKalb elementary schools”, but the lead locale headliner still says “Decatur, GA”. They are slow learners.
Holy cow, that’s absolutely ridiculous. Those locations are OTP, for crying out loud. According to google maps they are the same distance from the Decatur Square as Lenox Mall in Buckhead.
Like I said, if you don’t complain, they won’t listen. Go to the source !
glad I’m not the only one
Well, now the story has been updated to reflect that they are “DeKalb County” schools, (“DeKalb schools on lockdown as cops look for gunman”), and all references to “Decatur” appear to have been removed.
This is a quote from the “updated” report:
” DECATUR, Ga. — Two Decatur elementary schools have been locked down because a shooter is holed up in a home nearby.”
It is just rediculous.
Sorry, I wrote to the AJC, who did clarify the story.
Sorry – didn’t see that you had already caught this and also sorry that I miscredited who caught the link.
That’s probably because I wrote an email to the reporter and ‘plained things to him.
Andisheh also complained…
http://twitter.com/#!/ajc/statuses/102026253359513602
I do see this as a form of elitism and it pains me. There’s nothing wrong with having pride in one’s community, but there’s civic pride and there’s splitting hairs. I can agree that sometimes it’s necessary to distinguish is something is “city of” (like in crime reporting) but in the vast majority of cases it’s as big of a whoop as it’s made out to be. This conversation is pretty much my least favorite thing about living in this area.
[...] in social media use or if we were simply wasting bandwidth. Despite a lively exchange over on Decatur Metro and a some tweets, few folks really seemed inclined to add more shorthand to the digital topological [...]
The one thing that always annoys me about things being called Decatur that aren’t in the city limits are blips on the news.
HOUSE INVASION IN DECATUR!! / MURDER IN DECATUR/ HUGE DRUG BUST IN DECATUR/ SHOOTOUT IN DECATUR
I see that on the newspaper or tv and think “my god was this near my house?!!?” only to read the article/watch the news and find out its 10 miles away in unicorporated dekalb.
I’m probably the only one, but whenever I see an article that does that or clip on the news, I write them and let them know that I’m annoyed.
“I’m probably the only one, but whenever I see an article that does that or clip on the news, I write them and let them know that I’m annoyed.”
No you’re not. I write them also, and everyone else should too.