JoJo writes in…

This morning a sweet older pup joined our workout at Decatur High School. He has no collar and no micro chip. He was with another younger shepherd mix that was collared but ran away and wouldn’t let us near him. I’m not sure if you post things like this on your blog but I would love to have him back with his family and am trying to think of all the ways to get into contact with them.

Chris writes in…

Quite a lot of work is taking place in the Decatur Cemetery “meadow”. This is the area east of the cemetery that had been over-grown with kudzu for many years. There were scores of volunteers working two weeks ago and yesterday (4/27 several volunteers under the leadership of former DHS teacher Laura Cadenhead, now with REI) making progress. I am told that a famous international landscape architect from Georgia Tech is in charge of the operation.

Very sad news.  Patch is reporting this morning that a 53 year-old man on a bicycle was struck and killed by a Ford Ranger pick-up truck within the Decatur section of North Decatur Road this morning at around 6:30am.  More info at the other end of the Patch link.

This morning, the Georgia Chapter of the Sierra Club announced it was opposing the T-SPLOST referendum, because it “is primarily a business-as-usual sprawl-inducing road program”, in favor of a “Plan B” with more transit funding.  From the Sierra Club’s press release…

A frequent refrain of T-SPLOST supporters is that there is “no Plan B” for transportation in Georgia. The Sierra Club rejects this notion, and believes that there is indeed great potential for an alternative plan that achieves meaningful progress on commute alternatives for Georgians without needlessly subsidizing another wave of sprawl. Elements of a truly visionary and transformational “Plan B” should include:

• A Workable Institutional Framework that provides an equitable regional transit governance structure and de-politicizes transportation decision making.
• Effective and Innovative Financing for Commute Alternatives such as a restructured multimodal gas tax, a parking tax, and other mechanisms that tie funding to travel behavior.
• A Vision that Enables Atlanta and Georgia to Lead the 21st-Century Economy by moving beyond business-as-usual sprawl development and towards a truly sustainable and forward-looking future.

Juxtapose that statement versus a April 21st report from the AJC’s Jim Galloway on what Georgia’s state leaders say will happen if T-SPLOST doesn’t pass this time around…

Officially, there is no Plan B, so [House Speaker David] Ralston wasn’t prepared to go much further on the topic. But the threat – no, make that a hard promise – is out there. Should the July 31 referendums fail, the next blueprints will be generated from within the state Capitol.

Do you believe that Capitol leaders are bluffing?  And would a transportation plan created within the state Capitol be closer to what the Sierra Club has in mind?   These seem to be just two questions voters will have to answer for themselves before they tap the touch-screen on July 31st.