Sorry for the delay this morning…
Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here over the past week.
Comments close Monday.
April 24, 2015 Free-For-All Friday 4/24/15 (137)
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Decatur's Pub Shed
Great article about the sometimes irrational hatred of Walmart…
http://reason.com/archives/2011/12/29/the-case-for-walmart/1
We live near E Commerce and W Howard, and a cat followed my sister up to our porch last night, crying loudly. We went ahead and put some food out for her (not the best idea, I know, but if you could have heard this poor kitty’s pathetic little cry…) We have a feeling the cat is lost and not feral, since she tried to walk right in our front door and was very friendly. Even after eating all the food we left, she sat outside meowing until I went to bed an hour later. It looks like she’s made a little nest for herself beneath our bay window area.
Is anyone missing a very pretty black cat with one little spot of white on her chest? She can’t be more than a few months old, and she’s got really cool yellow eyes. I think my sister wants to keep her if no owner is found, but we’ve got another cat who probably wouldn’t be happy with that idea. So, secondarily, we need to know what we should do with the kitty if she does end up being permanently lost or feral. Are there any no-kill shelters in the area? I can’t stand the thought of her being euthanized.
(I used “she” for convenience, but we haven’t figured out yet if the kitty is male or female.)
Take a picture and have DM post it. I’ll bet you find her owners or a new home that way!
just google no kill cat shelters. I know there are some around here but I can’t recall the names of them.
Wow, there are more of them than I thought. That’s great. Of course, my sister is stepping up her lobbying efforts, so this may end up being our kitty after all. I’ll send DM the photo I took yesterday.
SPOT (Stopping Pet Overpopulation Together) has a fantastically comprehensive list of area rescue groups — breed-specific, general, rabbits, potbelly pigs, domestic skunks, etc. Go to http://www.spotsociety.org.
Whoops, I meant to type “potbellied.”
We were a Decatur First Bank family and now need to make a decision to set up a new account and bank relationship i was looking for comments from people and thoughts about this new possible bank in Decatur. I have been with many of the large scale banks in the past (Like B of A ) but really wanted to keep our money local if possible. any suggestions
thanks to all
Try Cornerstone Bank. They are a great small community bank. Plus they pay your ATM fees when you use another banks ATM (even in Europe!)
I have never had an account with Private Bank of Buckhead, but I have done a bit of business with them in the past and thought they were great.
If you need business accounts and loans then Cornerstone is definitely worth talking to. They have become a major player with SBA lending for a lot of the local businesses in Decatur.
I’ll second Cornerstone. We have moved our accounts there and are very happy!
I use Cornerstone for our business banking and am very pleased. However, I will say that there online banking interface needs a major re-do. But the people are very nice and helpful.
The Cornerstone Bank E-banking system is being upgraded and should be rolled out in a few weeks. It will be a great improvement.
Cornerstone also has a community room available free for the asking.
Just a follow-up to my FFAF question about the new 4/5 Academy spillover parking. It appears that concerned residents asked the City Commission about traffic and parking in the planning stages and the AJC reported in 2009 that a study had been ordered. I wonder what became of that study.
And about the old school that’s been in a landfill for the past year: People I’ve been speaking with were really surprised to learn that the old school was designed in 1926 by the same architects who designed City Hall, several other Decatur schools, and several Agnes Scott buildings. Those same architects were brought back in 1936 to design an addition to the school in collaboration with the WPA. Fast forward from the Depression to Desegregation and the transformation of South Decatur from an all-white neighborhood to majority African-American. The old 5th Avenue School played a significant role in South Decatur’s emerging African American community. It turns out that the old 5th Avenue School might have been one of the most historically significant public buildings in the city and yet according to longtime residents there was no discussion of its historicity prior to its demolition in 2010.
Very interesting, both points. I hope you get answers. In my experience, when CSD wants to build, it builds and it doesn’t like to wait. Questions are construed as something much larger–organized opposition to progress and change. (I’m not saying this is malignant; I think it’s mostly financial; construction funding seems easier to get than operational funding.)
I always liked the old Fifth Avenue building and was concerned about both it and Westchester being closed at a time when the census of little ones was obviously increasing. Problem was that Fifth Avenue was left to deteriorate so long on the inside (both with and without students) that it wasn’t deemed worth saving, unlike Clairemont or Glennwood which got extensive additions and renovations while they were still usable buildings. I wonder if more of the African-American community would have remained in the area if Fifth Avenue hadn’t been closed for ?eight? years. I know of at least two families from there that moved to other parts of Decatur.
The resegregation and gentrification of South Decatur is complex. I’ve been doing oral histories with longtime residents and a consistent story revolves around predatory builders offering elderly residents and survivors more money than the family paid for homes but not enough to buy a house in a different neighborhood with a comparable quality of life. Accounts tend to focus on the period up to about 10 years ago. Many of the folks who were bought out also got saddled with junk mortgages.
The City could have invested more resources in rehabilitating the old school and gotten a greater return on the investment than the oversized Cliff’s Notes architectural hulk that generates light pollution and spillover parking in the surrounding community. Because age cohorts only spend two years in the school, they’re not likely to develop the same attachment to a school where they would have spent 5-6 years. Old 5th Avenue School alumni developed strong attachments to the school and those attachments are evident in historical newspaper accounts and Internet posts over the past decade.
The old 5th Avenue School was unloved by the City, which gave it second- and third-rate textbooks and school supplies compared to schools north of the tracks and CSD allowed it to decline. Add to that the perception that the school was inferior because of bad test scores, etc. South Decatur community leaders made heroic efforts to improve nutrition and health for the 5th Avenue students but their attempts to improve the school were, according to accounts I’ve collected, foiled by institutional neglect.
I never got to see the old school and from what I’ve learned, it’s my loss as well as the community’s.
It’s really not my place to tell you how to spend your time and energy. But what is your point here? What’s done is done. Maybe your points about allowing the school to go into decline are somewhat accurate, but that would have all occurred under previous administrations. I’m not the authority on this topic but I really don’t think your points are valid about the school being unloved and second rate. What about Oakhurst school and College heights? Similar demographic and each school turned out differently. Recent administration has had to address a rapidly changing student population and closing 5th ave was just one outcome.
I don’t think this last comment about no discussion about the historic value is accurate either: ” yet according to longtime residents there was no discussion of its historicity prior to its demolition in 2010″ It was a very nice building, but our elected officials determined that it wasn’t going to be cost effective (water damage? asbestos?) to rehab for its intended use as a 4/5. College heights is a perfect example. They gutted it and rebuilt, so why wouldn’t they have done that with 5th Ave if they could have?
Your comments on this topic carry undertones of derision (“…the oversized Cliff’s Notes architectural hulk that generates light pollution..”) that really aren’t serving any purpose. Your opinion is certainly NOT shared by many of the folks who live around that area, as far as I can tell. And that includes personally asking several of the immediate neighbors. That is a beautiful school.
I disagree about the architecture. The new school’s massing and scale are not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. At a minimum, the architects could have stepped it back from Oakview Avenue to create less of a blocky facade. The old, historic school was scaled and massed appropriately to its setting and from all accounts it worked well until the school district allowed it to decline. The only way the new school works in its neighborhood of historically accurate homes is to allow more “historically inspired” McMansions to be built. If/when that happens, then the oversized faux Craftsman elements incorporated into the school’s design might work. But until then, it is a postmodern pastiche that tries too hard to be “historically inspired.”
About the school being unloved, I stand by my comments. Had the school been “loved” and appreciated, then it’s more likely that the old school would be standing — a rehabilitated asset and not an abandoned eyesore. The physical neglect that led to the decision to demolish the building came at the tail end of decades of institutional neglect that is well documented by residents who have lived in South Decatur since the 1960s. As for the appreciation of the school’s history, the city paid a consultant to complete a historic resources survey in 2009 and that consultant wrote that the old school was built “c. 1950” and was not historically significant. That survey failed to mention of its actual construction date (1926); the WPA addition (1936); and, the nationally recognized (and locally significant) architects who designed both phases. That is the same survey that is informing many of the historic preservation planning decisions being made in the city right now and the school is but one of several places where the information presented in the survey departs from the historical record.
So David, from your description, the building’s architecture is more forward looking – where the neighborhood is headed – rather than backward looking – where it’s been. Is that a fair inference as to what you are getting at? If so, that could be seen as positive to some people, no?
+1
Actually, there were 3 additions to the school. The 1936 addition was the gym/auditorium that partially destroyed the classical symmetry of the original design. I think the original building only had 5 classrooms. Another classroom wing was added in the early 60’s in a totally different style similar to College Heights and Westchester. It was located close to the sidewalk along Oakview. A third addition, in another style, was made in the early 70’s and housed the kindergartens. By then, I think the architectural/historical character had been lost. I don’t think you can make an argument for decades of institutional neglect since the 60’s as a great deal of money had been spent on those additions and if I remember correctly, there were additional renovations in the 1997 SPLOST program. I do remember discussions about the wisdom of spending anymore on the building because it had serious structural and electrical problems. Closing schools is a hard decision and someone is going to feel shorted. It’s especially hard when the small neighborhood school has been at the center of the success of CSD. Remember we once had 9 elementary and 2 high schools. That was not sustainable. You can see the building in this story and on Bing Maps:
http://blog.historian4hire.net/2011/10/11/crime-and-historical-memory/
@Udog, There’s better information and images (including architects’ drawings) of the 1926 & 1936 buildings in these two later posts: http://wp.me/p1bnGQ-18Q and http://wp.me/p1bnGQ-19d
I wish this kind of history had been part of the discussion back in 2004 and again in 2009. Unfortunately, the different parts of Decatur affected by school reconfiguration didn’t communicate much to one another which might have resulted in advocating for some overarching principles about how all the schools considered for closure should be treated. I found out for the first time about the neglected promise of remodeling Fifth Avenue when Westchester was closing and a Decatur businessman said to me “I understand how you feel. We lost our school too.” But, at that point, folks were too fired up about protecting their own neighborhood’s school from closure to look at the bigger picture. Lessons learned for the future….
The avoidance of dealing with Fifth Avenue wasn’t just under the Ida Love administration when the school was “temporarily closed”, supposedly to be remodeled like Westchester, Glennwood, and Oakhurst had been. The avoidance continued afterwards. Folks would request to use it for various purposes but were told that it wasn’t safe. It just sat there for several years after the 2004 reconfiguration. Buses were put there for a short while until residents complained about the noise and exhaust. I still remember a new Mom testifying at a Board meeting that she and her baby had trouble sleeping in the early AM when the buses warmed up and revved their motors. I don’t think CSD realized that the Fifth Avenue area was a real residential neighborhood vs. an urban transitional zone. The rebuilding of the Fifth Avenue school came about because CSD favored an option to build a 4/5 Academy on to Renfroe and a lot of parents did not like that idea. So the reconfiguration committee came up with the idea of using Fifth Avenue instead and that idea won out however the decisions were made. Whether or not the committee realized that the building would have to be raised, I don’t know. And whether or not there was any local neighborhood lobby for or against that option, I also don’t know.
What’s done is done, but believe me, it’ll keep on going. Newer parents will learn. I have a 67 year old neighbor who grew up here and remembers being switched around schools! It’s completely natural for this to happen as towns change, the population changes, and enrollment changes. But it’s also natural for the community and families to want to understand what’s happened and why and have input moving forward. All the input is necessary–the administrative perspective, the financial realities, the demographics, the community priorities, and the family feedback, even the kid perspective. That kind of input is consistent with a charter system approach, for which the State has been providing some funding (unfortunately, not necessarily continuing.)
DM post; http://www.decaturmetro.com/2011/04/12/5th-ave-academy-opening-decatur-pd-traffic-study-shows-oakview-traffic-is-very-limited/
Traffic Study:
https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/Meetings/Attachment.aspx?S=4052&AID=288390&MID=18654
I think this is not going to appease you though.
I live in the immediate area of 5th Ave and when school is in session the increased traffic is minimal and only for a couple of hours a day during dropoffs/pickups or if there is an after school program. Many, many parents and kids walk or bike to school If there is a program at the school, yes, there is spillover traffic and parking, but it is not a big deal. I have no problem with streets being used for parking as long as people do not block driveways. That’s what streets are for.
I would like to know what David believes the alternative should be if he doesn’t like the spillover parking. A giant concrete parking lot on site instead of playgrounds? I would hope not.
We can argue about whether we like the architecture, but I think the activity surrounding the school is great. Sure beats the sad sight of the old, unused school. It was and maybe could have been a beautiful building again with enough work, but it was not structurally sound and the many alterations, “modernizations,” and additions to the school had probably made it no longer historically significant structure worth saving.
David, you seem to have an agenda to push and think you are a lot smarter and know a lot more than some of us who have lived here for years.
The Traffic Study was in February of 2011 but ground was broken in September of 2010 and decisions were obviously made long before that so the traffic study was not part of the decision making about building the school there, probably more about coping.
Has anyone tried a ‘CSB’ subscription at Cakes & Ale? Sounds delicious.
It was pointed out to me today that Decatur’s Amanda Kyle Williams had her book “The Stranger You Seek” wind up on the Kirkus Best Book of 2011 list. Well done! I loaded it on the Kindle yesterday and it will be my New Year’s book this weekend.
Details here: http://www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2011/fiction/?page=2
She’s a great lady, dog-lover, and overcomer of dyslexia!
So you mean she’s very religious and actually loves god?
Sorry, it’s Friday and I haven’t had my medicinal Jagermeister yet…
Took me a while but I got that one!
Any recommendations for intrastate movers?
I used PODS and hired movers from Pair of Guys Movers to load them and then unload them once the PODS were at my destination. Was very happy with the way it worked out.
be sure that they can get up your driveway and unload the box. they could not unload the box at my house, and they charged me full price despite the fact I got no box to load. Fyi: They refused to leave the box on the street.
They left all three of my PODS on the street (W Pharr Rd) right in front of my house. I should have called the city, but didn’t and still didn’t have a problem. PODS were there for three days with no complaints. Also, I guess now that I think about it, I’m using PODS as the generic term. I actually used Pak Rat.
I’ve used Two Guys and a Truck several times and have always found them to be careful, courteous, and dependable.
The Decatur High School Close Up Club had a successful holiday auction earlier this month. I would like to thank two Decatur businesses that made generous contributions to our effort. Mr. Charles Cope, owner of One Step Shoes (and a DHS graduate) provided generous gift certificates for running shoes and Mr. Herb Chereck at Clairemont Beer and Wine donated three outstanding premium beers. Mr. Chereck is also a big supported of the Decatur Education Foundation (I am not aware of Mr. Cope’s support of the Decatur Ed Foundation but it wouldn’t surprise me. He is an enthusiastic booster of everything Decatur). As you plan your New Year’s resolutions (more exercise) and parties, please keep these two outstanding Decatur businesses in mind. Not only do they offer high quality goods and services for the best prices around, they also support the kids in the City Schools of Decatur. The 23 DHS students going to Washington, D.C. in April, their parents and I appreciate the generous support of Mr. Cope and Mr. Chereck.
Have a Happy and Safe New Year Decatur!
Looking for someone to clean out my gutters. Any recs?
I’ve used A Better Gutter Cleaners several times & been happy. http://www.abetterguttercleaning.com/
I NEED HELP DECATUR….I am trying to find where on the one way and do not enter signs posted at the post office does it say “applies to everyone but you”.
PLEASE STOP CUTTING THROUGH TO SAVE THE 3 SECONDS IT TAKES TO MAKE A RIGHT ON CHURCH FROM THAT SIDE STREET.
I feel better now!
In lieu of counseling, you might try “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff–and it’s all small stuff”
http://www.amazon.com/Sweat-Small-Stuff-small-stuff/dp/0786881852
If that fails, try counseling.
Did they put a post office on Church Street and I missed it? If so, do they have better service than the WePo PO?
I still say that the entrance and exit to the PO are reversed and unnatural. No one agrees with me but I contend that when I face a building from the street, the entrance should be on the right and the exit on the left. That would be consistent with driving on the right side of the road, with driving counterclockwise around traffic circles, and with the drop-offs at Glennwood, Renfroe, Westchester, College Heights, and Fifth Avenue schools, not to mention the direction of the parking on both sides of the Square. No wonder the Decatur PO has bad vibes.
If the flow were reversed, the mail drop boxes would have to be moved to the other side of the driveway. Personally, I’ve never had a problem with the direction. If it were ever changed you can bet that people would still go the wrong way.
In your scenario, entering the PO would involve turning onto Water Street and then turning left into the PO lot. Any northbound traffic on Water St. (and there is some) would gum up the works, potentially creating backups in either direction out on Ponce. I can see how only a handful of vehicles traveling in various directions could gridlock that corner. Plus, people who just needed to drive by and drop mail in the outgoing boxes would back up out into the streets instead of backing up inside the parking lot as now occurs. That would be a mess. Also, exiting the PO would require turning either left or right on Ponce, with no alternatives. As it is now, on the other hand, there’s a choice of returning to Ponce via Water St., or using Water St. to get back to Trinity, which can be worthwhile depending on your next destination. I think it’s better like it is. If things flowed more smoothly INSIDE the building, the outside would not bug us so much.
Oh you guys are probably right in terms of traffic flow. But it will always feel unnatural to me and I’ll probably struggle forever with not going in the exit and out the entrance.
See my comment above to Billy.
If we didn’t sweat the small stuff, there’d be no blog! Inner peace makes for boring dialog.
Late to the party but I feel the same way. It does seem weird and reversed.
Speaking of squirrelly parking lot setups, almost every day I find myself wondering who designed the parking lot for Taco Mac. I know nothing about traffic/parking planning, but I see traffic at the entire Ponce/Commerce intersection getting backed up because someone is trying to turn left into the Taco Mac lot. Usually there are two, if not three, lines of cars stopped at the light, so no one can or will let that person across and there’s nothing to be done until the light changes and traffic clears.
Not to worry. That’s one of our most prominent downtown corners that never should have been a parking lot. Only a matter of time before parking’s not the highest and best use. Then that particular problem will be solved!
While on this subject, I also hate it when the are no spaces at the main post office lot some people will just sit there and wait at the front of the parking lot blocking traffic out on ponce. There is an annex lot right next to the post office that is also used for the postal credit union. Of course, that would require you to walk a couple of hundred feet. A little exercise might not hurt you.
While on this subject, I also hate it when the are no spaces at the main post office lot some people will just sit there and wait at the front of the parking lot blocking traffic out on ponce. There is an annex lot right next to the post office that is also used for the postal credit union. Of course, that would require you to walk a couple of hundred feet. A little exercise might not hurt you.
Wouldn’t it be great if we had a shoe shine person on the square? The only place I see them now is at the airport.
We do have a shoe shine guy! He works inside on Sammiches N Stuff on N. McDonough underneath of Eddie’s Attic. He is really friendly and does a great job.
Cool! Thanks.
Ask him to sing for you. I’m not kidding.
O.K., best Christmas lights in the Church Street area (not including Great Lakes or Glenndale neighborhoods of course) is on Willow Lane near Scott. As you drive toward Scott, it’s on the right. What a beautiful display!
Does anyone have any local barber shop recommendations (or warnings). I live near Clairemont and Scott, and would love something within walking distance if possible.
There is a good barber in downtown Avondale (the Tudor buildings). I know that’s not walkable from Scott/Clairemont, but it’s worth the short drive for a true barber.
I’ve been using Dennis at Axiom on ponce for the past year. Awesome quality and usually I can walk in with no wait!
any ideas for fun/family friendly NYE events in/around decatur? i found this funny blog re: the atlanta “peach drop.” always seemed horrendous to me. http://biscuette.com/2011/12/30/2012-peach-drop-to-be-apocalyptic-disaster/
Can’t help you with rec’s for tonight, James, but thank you for referring me to that blog. Very enjoyable.
Does anyone know of a local court reporter, ideally in downtown Decatur, for a deposition? My Googling efforts are not paying off.
I think JPA has a few that live in Decatur. Any of the big court reporter agencies will send someone to Decatur.
Happy New Year, DM and DM Community. Have fun and be careful during your celebrations tonight.
(I’m thinking it might be fun to be on the square at midnight to hear the big clock strike twelve.)
I see what you are doing there, DM. That should be fun.
Happy, Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone– hope your evening is safe & fun!
Tip of the day: DVI to HDMI cable at Best Buy: $50. At Amazon, $3.50, including shipping.
Wow. Noticed the Kindle power adapter plug is $19.99 at Best Buy and $14.99 on Amazon. A while back I needed a USB port that would connect peripherals to my wireless router (which only has Ethernet ports), the guys at Best Buy insisted it would be necessary to spend nearly $200 and advised replacing my printer and scanner with wireless versions. (I found the product I needed online for under $40.) I fear BB will wind up going the way of Circuit City, which would be a shame since they used to be a reliable go-to resource for electronics. Plus, although they are a big box chain, at least they employ locally. (It’s pretty hard to get a job at Amazon unless you happen to live near one of their hubs.)
Wishing Decatur had a family New Year’s celebration on the square… Loved the idea of hearing the courthouse clock chiming in the new year and everyone cheering!
Hmmm, some towns like Burlington, Vermont do a family-oriented First Night that might fit Decatur well.
There was a big celebration on the square with live music to bring in the year 2000. I remember it being a fairly cold night, but a great time.
Anybody get a Kindle Fire as a gift? How do you like it?
Is there child behaviorilist in the area? I have a very very shy and a withdrawn 4 1/2 yr old daughter – wanted to know who to go to, to get some input. or a psychiatrist?
Don’t have any personal experience but a lot of folks recommend Dr. Stu Cohen in Decatur. Also, if your child is in public preK or a private preK in a school with older grades, consider whatever counselors or psychologists are available for free. Sometimes just a couple of meetings for some advice and reassurance that nothing more is needed does the trick.
I also recommend that you try a school counselor first. If it turns out your child needs speech therapy (as my formerly shy child did) or something else, your child will qualify as special ed and the services will be provided by the school system.
Patty Cole Gregory (located in Oakhurst http://www.oakhurstpsychotherapy.com) would be a great start. She specializes in child therapy and has 35 years experience.
I found this nifty Facebook page through a friend – McDonough BUY SELL TRADE SPOT.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/154976064580766/
Do we have a Decatur Facebook page like this? My friend posts great photos of his stuff and immediately draws comments from people offering to buy, etc.
There was a homeless woman who used to sit in the Walgreen’s parking lot, she has since relocated to somewhere near the Avondale post-office. Apparently she and her cart have been around here for years. Someone told me they saw her last night bundled up out there in the wee hours. Based on my extremely limited observations, she seems to be mentally-ill but keeps to herself, and this is not really a call the police type of issue. Last night it was so cold, I just can’t imagine someone being out there like that. Does anyone have any suggestions for dealing with something like this?