Decatur Active Living’s Cheryl Burnette sends in this note…

Bike Suitability Map Coming Soon: Bike Decatur Wants Your Input!
Bike Decatur has been working on creating a Bike Suitability Map for the City of Decatur and with the help of public comments, has a “near final” draft. We would love to have a final round of comments from the community. The map can be viewed at http://www.decaturga.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=2627.

We encourage bikers of all levels to ride the routes, let us know what you think, and offer constructive comments. We hope to have the map finalized and available in both digital and print versions later this year. Send comments to .

The printing of the map is partially funded by a 2011 Decatur Craft Beer Festival Grant.

Map above is just the zoomed in downtown Decatur map.  To see the full city map, click the PDF link in Cheryl’s message above.

The AJC reports that the DeKalb County Commission “snuffed” an effort to ban smoking in public places throughout the county, including parks, bars and strip clubs.  In a 4-2 vote, both dissenting votes to dismissing the ban came from northside commissioners Jeff Rader and Kathie Gannon.

Bar and strip club owners argued that such a ban would hurt their businesses.

From an email sent out by Decatur Superintendent Phyllis Edwards…

Please join us for the State of the School System Address and presentation of our 2011-2016 Strategic Plan “Engagement, Equity, Excellence.” The event will be Wednesday evening, September 28, 2011 at 6:30 in the Performing Arts Center at Decatur High School. CSD leaders and I will share the goals and initiatives we will implement over the next five years in City Schools of Decatur. We hope you will join us on the 28th to hear the exciting plans we have for the future of our school district.

Sincerely,

Dr. Phyllis A. Edwards,

Superintendent

WIth a cool $700 million allocated to the Clifton Corridor line from LaVista to N. Decatur/Clairmont (or Avondale Station) in the proposed Transportation tax project list, the future is brighter than ever for this transit line!  (admittedly it wasn’t all that bright to begin with…)

Now, that big price-tag and/or the prospect rail to Emory may have gotten your attention, but you may be thinking, “You know, I care about “transit” and I want people to know what I think because, gosh darn it, people like me!  But dinner’s not going to cook itself/I can’t just skip out of work!/ I can’t leave my kids at home alone!  What do I do?”

Well, here’s the answer for you overworked, stressed out, likable folks.

The Clifton Corridor Transit Initiative has posted a narrated presentation on its website that brings you up to speed faster than a high-speed rail project can burn through a billion dollars.  (Sorry, “faster than high-speed rail!” sounded too corny, even for me.)  What are the differences between “heavy rail”, “light rail” and “bus rapid transit”?  It’s all in there!

This is the second of two presentations that CCTI has produced for the interwebs, however its the first time they’ve also included an online survey at the end of the presentation!  So now you can be informed AND let the world (or at least the three project managers listed at the end of the presentation) know what you think about this whole transit from Lindbergh to Emory/Decatur thingy.

Go and survey responsibly!