“For the birds” alerted me to police activity at 130 Champlain Street yesterday morning.  The Chief of Police Mike Booker was good enough to get back to me with details from the press release put out by DeKalb County.  Here’s a snippet of it…

Today, the DeKalb County Grand Jury returned a two count indictment for Susan Weidman, Ian Greye and Matthew Lowery. They are indicted on charges of Acquiring Property Through a Pattern of Racketeering Activity and Conspiracy to Acquire Property Through a Pattern of Racketeering Activity. Weidman was arrested at a Decatur residence by Decatur Police Department after a search and arrest warrant was issued by the DeKalb County Grand Jury. DeKalb DA’s Office executed the search warrant at the Decatur residence at 10:30 am on Tuesday, October 4th.

If that isn’t enough detail for you, you’re in luck.  WSB wrote a very detailed report of this arrest just yesterday and also featured it on the air [see above].  Apparently the news org brought Weidman’s activities to light in a “yearlong investigation”.

Al points out that a list of 12 amendments to the Transportation Investment Act draft list now posted on the Atlanta Regional Commission’s website.   Among them is CEO Burrell Ellis’ request to take $297 million from GA 400 projects and give it to the I-20 East corridor mass transit project, which is seconded by Decatur Mayor Bill Floyd.  Here’s the wording of the amendment…

The purpose of this amendment is allocate an additional $297 million in regional sales tax funds to the mass transit extension along I-20 East corridor (TIA-M-023), by reducing that amount of sales tax funding from the projects proposed on State Route 400 at I-285 (TIA-AR-030), and the S.R. 400 Collector-Distributor lanes (TIA-FN-014), and asking the State of Georgia to pledge that these important roadway projects for the Region and the State will still be completed over the next 10 years through multiple alternative sources of funding such as public-private partnerships, toll revenues, bonds, and other state-generated funds that can leverage the federal funds that are also being programmed for this corridor, in order to create a true win-win both for economic competitiveness and congestion relief through our enhanced regional transit network as well as the roadway network. The remaining $45.5 million in TIA funding is proposed to be split equally between TIA-AR-030 and TIA-FN-014 to advance the projects.

And here’s the stated “reason for the request”…

On September 27, 2011, the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted to request an additional $297 million to fund this priority mass transit project. The completion of a mass transit extension along the I-20 East Corridor has been a top priority in the Regional transportation plans of the Atlanta Regional Commission, the MARTA Board, the DeKalb County CEO and Board of Commissioners for many years. The projected ridership for this line would be among the highest for the transit extensions being considered by the Regional Roundtable for the Transportation Investment Act. Alternative funding sources are available for the SR 400 projects.

The amendment is slated to be considered at a roundtable meeting tomorrow.

• Three Decatur area restaurants made Eater’s initial list of “Essential 38″ around Atlanta [Eater]
• MARTA bus detours signal coming streetcar construction [AJC]
• Bell Street Burritos Opening on the Westside [TNT]
• Decatur Siren Test This Afternoon [Decatur Minute]
• Atlanta Police have arrested 7 graffiti artists [ABC]
• Predictions of U.S. Decline Premature?  Still 2nd most creative country. [Atlantic Cities]

Map courtesy of Atlantic Cities

I decided to consolidate all of your wine recommendations from back in April into one list for your (and my) convenience. Enjoy!

• Altos malbec (rec: DEM)
• Castle Rock Pinot Noir (rec: Elizabeth)
• Smoking Loon (rec: Cleon)
• Cellar Number 8 Cabernet Sauvignon (rec: JB)
• Black Box Cab (rec: Bob H)
• Tilia Malbec (rec: Disgruntled)
• Mirrasou 2008 Pinot Noir (rec: ML)
• Hahn Estates 2009 Pinot Noir (rec: ML)
• Goats Do Roam (rec: Smcchic)
• J. Lohr Chardonnay (rec: Occi)
• Coastal Ridge Chardonnay (rec: Occi)

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