Free-For-All Friday 7/13/12
Decatur Metro | July 13, 2012Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here over the past week.
Comments close on Monday.
Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here over the past week.
Comments close on Monday.
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Michael
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First! I WIN!
Well done. You can now cross that one off your bucket list.
By the way, if you and J_T meet for drinks, have fun. He’s a good bar buddy.
Token, I still owe you a beer, you should join us!
Anybody familiar with OneMediaHub (formerly known as Funambol), a free 3rd party app for syncing Android phone (contacts, calendar, etc.) with MS Outlook? If so, I need help and possibly willing to compensate successful tech support with libation of your choice.
I have decided to install a home security system. Can anyone recommend a company?
We are very happy with Ackerman. We’ve had them for three years.
+ 100. They are a local company. We’ve had them for years and love them.
I’ve had Alarm of America for ten years and they’ve been great. Installed the system, never laugh at me when I accidentally set of the system myself and had the police there within five minutes of the alarm being triggered the day the door was kicked in. They’re a local outfit, super nice folks and have been around for about 30 years. They now have video monitoring and phone line-less security as well.
http://www.alarmofamerica.com/
I received a door tag from Dekalb County warning me about the presence of West Nile virus in the area. I live in Ponce de Leon Heights–the neighborhood near the Plastic Toy Park. It offered a prefab list of ways that we might be encouraging the growth of the mosquito population, but none had been checked off (although our yard certainly has qualifiers). However, at the bottom of the tag was a handwritten notice regarding West Nile virus. Having never received one in the past, should I assume someone recently contracted West Nile in our neighborhood?
In other words are the mosquitos conditions the same as they have been but they are finally warning us or has something changed to warrant a door tag warning?
We got a general, not personalized notice sometime in the late spring/early summer. Call the DeKalb County Board of Health and ask to speak to someone in Environmental Health who deals with WNV or mosquito control.
Coincidentally, NY Times had weekend article that included brief info about West Nile Virus and how it spreads: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/sunday-review/the-ecology-of-disease.html.
Had a question about rankings for the city of decatur schools – when I looked on school digger the elementary and 4/5 academy were not even listed. Plus the middle and the high school were not near the top in the state. How can that be? can someone tell me if the rankings are shown somewhere else?
It’s a sloppy commercial for Zillow that doesn’t distinguish Decatur from DeKalb — search for all Decatur schools under the “city schools” selection and you’ll see what I mean. Found the same problem in other states I’m familiar with.
This has a bit more integrity:
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/local/highschoolchallenge/
It’s a rare ranking system that I find useful. I’ve lived all over the country so I am at least familiar with many public school systems. I usually find that rankings have little correspondence with my own view of the systems. What’s important for me as a parent isn’t how the school system looks in a “report card” view with summary data but what experience my particular child will have. Ditto for private schools. There’s a private school that I crossed off my list even before we made the public vs. private school decision because I know from work a lot of the families using the school–not a good fit for us. Another private school I loved totally turned off my son because of its lack of emphasis on sports, playground, physical activity.
IMHO, CSD is not the tops academically. It could do better in many areas. But it’s darned good and that’s what my kids need–darn good in a great place with a sense of community. Part of the darned good is really fine teachers and staff who know how to work around the challenges of public education, part is honest, competent leadership, and part is the high involvement, commitment, generosity, and energy of the families who attend. And I don’t know how to articulate this but CSD students are really great kids. Truly. One thing CSD has done fantastically is emphasized community, caring, service, and respect among the students. As I’ve followed many of these kids, from all sorts of backgrounds, from being little bitty to having hormone surges, I’ve had infinitely more pleasant and even amazing surprises than negative ones. Those factors are not easily captured in “report card” data.
I said this to some friends a couple weeks back during the whole Bus Monitor brou-ha-ha and they thought I was perhaps a tad naive.
I am pretty confident that something like that wouldn’t happen in Decatur–not because there aren’t cretins here like the ones that harassed that woman, but because there are enough good, brave kids that one would have stood up and said “enough is enough”.
Yup, again I don’t know how to express it but there’s a critical mass or herd immunity or tipping point effect going on such that the overall dynamic among our children/youth is positive. Not saying I haven’t heard of some kids who needed a different environment and that there haven’t been some problems with alcohol and adequate parental supervision. But for the most part, it feels more positive than the more homogenous, ex-urban, small town, college-bound community where I grew up. I give full credit to teachers, school leaders, churches, city and community leaders, Decatur Rec, Scouts, great neighbors, youth sports volunteers, great single and dual parent families, DEF, local businesses who donate to CSD and youth programs and employ teens, and the kids themselves.
Not to say that there aren’t some real issues with schoolwork and chores in a certain household that shall remain unnamed……….
The Southern Bicycle League is hosting a FREE Intro Adult Riding Skills Clinic tomorrow at 1:30pm. It begins at Glennwood Elementary – for more details and to sign up visit http://www.meetup.com/Southern-Bicycle-League/events/64987492/?a=md2_grp&rv=md2
I was driving by East Lake Marts station around 9:30 last night–late night run to Target–and I noticed a bedded tow truck with 8 cars on it departing the parking lot. I was just curious–do they (Marta?) really tow cars that have been parked for a few days?
Yep.
8!? Wow.
I’ve noticed warnings on windshields before, but never witnessed an actual towing. Good to know.
Just a reminder that today is the deadline for a lot of DeKalb County residents to file an appeal to their 2012 Property Tax Assessments. Appeals must be postmarked or hand delivered by today.
Free Chick-fil-a Today:
http://www.chick-fil-a.com/Cows/Appreciation-Day
All you have to do is dress like a cow. No word on whether they’ll require you to swear on a bible that you hate gay people, or at least their attempt to ruin your “traditional” marriage.
I don’t eat synthetic chicken.
It would have to be the one day that my cow suit is in the cleaners
This is serious stuff! One reward level for partial cow attire and another for full regalia. Wow!
I have on a pair of old, worn-out shorts that I think make me look like a cow. Does that count?
Just don’t show up as a pair of married cows.
During this past school year, another parent mentioned that she never goes to Chick Fil A, and it turned into a conversation about the company’s policies, history, etc. I found out quickly that a lot of CSD parents feel as I do: That the schools should not do business/fundraising with Chick Fil A or at the very least should not have the company’s signs on school grounds. In further conversations with parents and staff, I was mostly heartened to find out that if nothing else, all agree that the schools should do nothing to make gay, non-christian, or ANY students, staff, or family members feel uncomfortable or as though they are any less deserving of the best we all can offer. It has also become clear to me that this is not a simple issue; there are a wide variety of opinions, there are many options to deal with this, there are issues that come up when considering any of them, and it is not going to be dealt with without a lot of work and compromise.
I would very much like to hear from other CSD families and staff on the subject. While I have my own opinions of what I feel the schools should do, CSD is a community, and before I put any more effort into organizing any type of (peaceful, friendly, non-confrontational) action, I more input. I don’t want to publish my email here, but you can link to my site and then go to the “contact” page. That’s not a plug–it’s just a blog, and I don’t make any money off of hits. Besides, it’s boring.
I think you’re going to find that even among the folks who agree with you, there will be a good percentage who are willing to overlook CFA’s contributions to anti-gay causes because of their (and their kids’) love of the restaurant and its food (and cows). And I guess it’s hard to condemn them too much for that when a decent percentage of my gay and lesbian friends do the same
I agree it’s a tricky one but, as a parent of a CSDer, I’ve decided to come down on the “it’s fine” side of the fence. I fully recognize and appreciate the fundamental disagreements some have with Chik-fil-A ownership but, to me, that’s in the corporate realm. I have not seen or heard of any instance of our local CFA management or staff ever demonstrating any discriminatory behavior and, at the end of the day, they’re the people trying to be good neighbors and supporters of our schools. So I welcome their good will in the spirit of which it appears to be given.
Good topic. Curious what other folks will say.
Isn’t there a similar situation with Target?
A few people have also said that the folks who run the Decatur franchise are good people, and that positive feedback changed my own stance on the issue somewhat; I would be perfectly fine if Spirit Nights continued there, so long as there are also ones at locally-owned eateries that don’t serve junk food stuffed with chemicals–another factor to consider. Still–and this addresses FM Fats’ question as well–the money (a bigger percentage than other major franchises) goes to corporate, and corporate (through it’s charitable arm WinShape) donates consistently to a number of organizations that are clearly anti-gay. Target does the same, but not to the extent that CFA does, and Target is also not an overtly Christian (nothing against Christianity or Christians, read on) like CFA, and has not been sued (to my knowledge) of discriminating against non-Christian employees.
What it all comes down to is this: Despite the attitude and works of the individual franchise owners, Chick Fil A has earned a status as a company that does not believe that LGBT people deserve the same rights as others. It is not because of just one incident, but because of actions and policies that could be argued stem from the very mission of the company itself. I and other parents feel that putting CFA signs on school grounds, and using CFA products frequently in fundraising sends a message not just to LGBT students, staff, and family members, but to all kids: Some people aren’t as good as others.
Sorry to ramble on my own views here. If I were to start working with other parents on a solution to this, I would in no way go in expecting for everyone to agree with what I’ve said here or to make the same decisions I would make. I’m one of many parents in the community, and if nothing else came out of it all, it would at least be good if more people got to thinking about the consequences of how we spend our money. …not like everyone doesn’t already. This IS Decatur.
Sorry Al, but you and others who feel that serving CFA sends the wrong message need to take a step back and look at this again as, IMHO, you are making a mountain out of molehill and blowing this way out of proportion. First, you can’t make everyone happy all of the time. Some people are going to have an objection no matter what you serve. Further, the students are only happy they get a CFA sandwich or ice dream and certainly aren’t thinking about who CFA’s foundation gives money to (even assuming they have any knowledge on the topic, which is highly unlikely). Also, I have gay and lesbian friends who eat at CFA all the time.
Where do you draw the line? It doesn’t matter whose products the school serves as someone will have some objection. KFC? Doesn’t PETA hate the colonel because of some of his practices? Dont get we wrong – I don’t agree with CFA’s stance on the rights of LGBT people, but I am also confident that serving CFA isn’t indoctrinating our children.
I also strongly agree that the school needs to be sure it isn’t promoting a message that some people aren’t as good as others. But, I don’t believe serving CFA is sending that message to the students. The school is simply giving the students what they want (if you want evidence, work the concession stand at a DHS event – CFA outsells hot dogs and everything else combined), and are supporting a local business at the same time (the same local business who holds Spirit Nights twice a week and gives the school discounts for its various functions and sporting events – the same business who does as much as anyone else or any other local business to support CSD).
If you don’t want to support CFA and choose not to eat there, that is entirely up to you and your family, and I support your decision. But, don’t try to take CFA away from the other students whose parents don’t have the same take as you on this “issue”.
I missed Literally Wednesday so this seems as good a place as any to add:
Affection is the most important thing. And the quality of affection — with your friends, your lovers, your family. But particularly for your own generation. – Allen Ginsberg, American Poet
“the students are only happy they get a CFA sandwich or ice dream and certainly aren’t thinking about who CFA’s foundation gives money to (even assuming they have any knowledge on the topic, which is highly unlikely).” — Isn’t it our job as adults to teach them to be aware of and care about the world around them and the future ahead of them, something beyond their next order of waffle fries? I don’t think Chick Fil A’s visibility and presence around our schools is a giant problem, but I also think it’s worthwhile and even important to air it out. Older kids, especially, deserve the opportunity to know that we adults have various opinions about it — and especially, that many feel ambivalent. This is such a good example of an issue that is not necessarily cut-and-dried. Don’t be so dismissive, it comes across like you’re comfortable quashing discussion of views that differ from your own.
I wasn’t trying to be dismissive, nor was I trying to quash anyone’s views. My issue is when people get on their moral high horse and tell me what is best for my kids. And, no, this isn’t a conservative vs. liberal issue. It comes from both sides of the spectrum – I don’t want someone telling my kids they can’t have CFA anymore than I want someone telling my kids that they have to accept JC as their savior or they are going to hell.
And yes STG, our job as parents is to teach our children. That doesn’t mean I want someone else deciding what should be taught to my children. My kids know exactly why we haven’t set foot in a Cracker Barrel in years (and yes I see the hypocrisy). But, again, that is our choice as parents and I would never try to impose that view on someone else’s child.
Ack. Please comment one more time and take the last word.
Please think before you speak. I guess it is OK for you to attempt to refute my comment, but not OK for me to respond to yours (and point out what I think (just my opinion) is an important distinction).
And you are correct that it is not a cut and dried issue. But, who is being dismissive? You just don’t want me to add my two cents to the debate. Whether you agree with them or not, I make valid points. So do you and Al and others. I just come to a different conclusion. For a variety of reasons, I choose not to interject politics in my fast food choices (on the rare occassions I eat fast food). Seems like that should be my choice.
You do realize that if you respond, you are only doing it to get the last word!
It certainly isn’t even remotely possible that you just want to add to the discussion and/or highlight a different perspective to view the issue [sarcast font].
Oh, he did alright. Smalltowngal FTW.
Dawgfan, I get why you’re riled about being told not to be so dismissive, but you’re kinda bearing that out by not elaborating on what smalltowngal was asking you about– it also stopped me when I read it, so I was looking forward to you sharing more on it. At any rate, this issue (not “issue”) resonates with folks, and it’s good having all the perspectives out there to mull over. (Gotta fuss at you a bit: as far as high horse riders go, so far, you’re the only one who’s led your horse out of the barn. And before you say it, yes, Al’s fed his horse a few carrots.) Why not leave it where you just join back in on points you consider worth weighing in on?
I, too, am ambivalent here and feel eating at Chick fil A is a compromise of my values, but do it anyway. I don’t go to Cracker Barrel either (or Wendy’s or Domino’s, btw.)
But serving it at school is not the “neutral” position; it’s an endorsement and support. So if the schools stop using CFA for fundraisers, that’s not other parents telling anyone’s kid what not to eat, but rather a return to a neutral position.
In addition to the human rights issues, I think our schools should also be thinking about pushing consumerism on our kids as a way to bring in cash. Myself and other parents were really uncomfotable with that aspect of fundraising this year – it was often “buy this, buy that” and it was pushed on the kids. I sympathize with the need for funds, but wish all appeals for cash could be made without involving the kids as much.
Sorry if I’m rambling and/ or not making sense; I really need to get to sleep!
I don’t feel ambivalent in the least. But I do miss the shakes.
Agreed with Parker. Except it’s not the shakes, it’s the original sandwich with coleslaw and waffle fries piled on, my Southern stand-in for a Primanti Bros fix. Parker, if it helps, here’s what I do – every time I crave Chick-fil-a and am feeling weak-willed about it, I just tell myself it’s Sunday
Economic action is a slow process, but it works. If Chik fil A ultimately backed off corporate support of the haters because a small but significant portion of the public made it known that was a barrier to their patronage, it wouldn’t be the first company to do so (Target being the latest example). As Americans, we have lots of choices about where we can spend our money, and with those choices come responsibility. Chik fil A makes a damn tasty product, but they are far from the only purveyor of chicken sandwiches. If you don’t like the practices or policies of a company, explore your alternatives — Lowe’s instead of Home Depot; Costco instead of Sam’s; Macy’s instead of Dillards; your local greengrocer instead of Whole Foods; etc. If you can’t cut yourself off completely from one company, just make an effort to take most of your business to another. Nothing scares a mega-corporation like the erosion of its customer base.
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/
+1
If you did deep enough, you can always find things you don’t like at any business. Private or corporate, every one is flawed.
I feel as you do about Chick Fil A at a corporate level. But I also see our local store actively participating in the community and being a good neighbor. Furthermore, it seems to be extremely well managed and operated. I like that young people are always working there (I’m strictly a drive-through customer); and cannot think of a single less-than-positive experience — always genuine smiles on their faces and in their voices, they never try to up-sell me when I order, they get the order right, and back when I had a canine passenger in the backseat, they usually offered a doggie treat.
About 5 seconds of investigation (all I have time for right now) indicates Chick Fil A offers franchise opportunities. Is the Decatur location a franchise? Are all Chick Fil A’s franchises? Maybe what the world needs is a way for people like us to register objections (or even fear and loathing) regarding a corporation’s actions or positions but make it clear we still support our local franchisee. (This was an issue in my head in the immediate aftermath of the Gulf oil spill — lots of people were boycotting BP, but all that did was hurt the local franchisees, who are having a tough enough time already.)
BTW, I’m specifically talking about franchisees, as opposed to corporately-employed management because (1) I believe [somebody correct me if I'm wrong or if it's not valid to generalize] that franchisees have more independence and should be rewarded when they exercise that independence to be good community members, especially running counter to what the corporate overlords might do, and (2) franchisees have skin in the game themselves, they are the small businesses certain politicians in all directions like to wax poetic about, and so are deserving of every kind of support they can earn from us.
All CFA are “franchised”. but the stores themselves are company owned and the franchisees are just operators (which is what they are called), unlike many outfits where the franchisee buys the right to the product and does everything else themselves.
Now, to pick up on what DawgFan said, supposed that CFA strongly supported LBGT causes. That would also offend a decent proportion of the population, making his point that you can’t make everybody happy all the time. Anyone can make an individual decision about whether or not to patronize any given establishment; if you don’t like their policies (or Target or anyone), don’t patronize them. They don’t have a monopoly on fast food.
I don’t think it’s necessarily that simple. Individuals can make individual choices, but don’t they also have a right to an opinion about choices being made by public institutions funded by tax dollars, especially our schools? I loathe CFA’s anti-gay agenda, and I’m turned off by what I consider a somewhat in-your-face style of Christianity. Nonetheless, I patronize our Decatur location because (1) it’s the only decent drive-through in town [and driving through when hurrying to do errands is the only time I eat fast food], (2) I like the food, and (3) the store is well-run and a good neighbor at the local level. Maybe because I grew up in a small, rural town, my reflex tends to be “You gotta dance with what brung ya.”
If CFA supported LGBT causes and that concerned or offended some people, then those people would be free to raise those concerns and invite others to comment, as Al is doing now. Thinking that it’s OK to have Chick Fil A’s very visible support around our schools does not preclude thinking about why we think it’s OK. IMO we’d all do better to think more often and ask more questions about where our money goes and stay alert to ways we might be unintentionally supporting organizations and/or agendas that run counter to our own values.
from today’s NYT: “…a significant portion of the money that corporations are spending on politics is financed by equity capital provided by public pension funds — capital contributions that the government requires public employees to finance with their paychecks.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/opinion/under-citizens-united-public-employees-are-compelled-to-pay-for-corporate-political-speech.html?ref=opinion
True they can do whatever they want with their money, but it takes the shine from their brand in my opinion. I don’t understand why people who sell chicken need a pro or anti-LGBT stance. Why can’t they just sell chicken, and hold the side of God’s will for humanity?
Damn. A few days too late:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/dan-cathy-chick-fil-a-president-anti-gay_n_1680984.html
This came up last week but since…
Had a really good computer experience at Feather Computer off Lawrenceville. One of our hard drives got charred (like yellowy brown) mysteriously after the storm. Took it to Feather, the guy immediately turned it on, pulled the drive out, did his thing, and it’s only a single day turnaround to replace the hard drive and reinstall windows, all for about $150 including the brand new hard drive and a year warranty. Plus he was a darn nice guy! I did take it to Onyx first but they had a 3 day wait and would have been $50 just to turn it on and find out what was wrong.
Unrelated…
Anyone bought “real” jewelry lately and care to share your experience? Worthmore has some really cool stuff that would make great gifts, but looking for a place with a slightly bigger selection of stone/diamond type things. Thanks!
The Ross Jewelry Company in Buckhead in office building near Piedmont/Lenox Rd intersection.
http://www.therossjewelrycompany.com/
Excellent, personal service; knowledge and longevity in the business; trusted professional.
A shout out to Dennis Weaver at Master Plumbing. Called him at 6:30 this morning because the hot water heater sprung a leak and he had a new one installed by noon.
Anyone know when Victory Sandwich is planning on opening in downtown Decatur?
What about the Fox Bros Rib Joint at the old Maddys location?
I talked to the guys at Victory recently. They said that they are shooting for sometime in August.
Someone at Fox Bros. told me that the old Maddy’s location will be take-out only. (limited menu of ribs and one or two sides) She indicated that they will mainly be using the location for their catering base. Anticipated opening was mid-August. (my info is about a month old, so things may have changed)
The bigger question is: where the hell have you BEEN??
Lurking.
I’m not so sure about that “take out only” thing. Limited menu, yes, and you’re right about it being the catering base. But I do believe there will be space for dine-in customers.
The mid-August timeline is no longer feasible. Major snafus with DeKalb County about parking and other code issues that the Maddy’s folks were able to avoid somehow. I’m hearing October/November now.
Thanks for the update. I’m excited about the new location, patiently standing in my drool waiting for them to open.
heard pretty substatiated rumor from one who knows that Victory is planning a late Sept/early October opening …no word on Fox Bros ….
Just to make sure, lots of people think that parking in downtown Decatur is a problem, right? That is, it’s fairly difficult to park down there?
I would like to go to more places down there, but I feel like parking is too difficult and I often don’t want to walk the mile from my house to get there.
I was “debating” this issue with friends last night who seemed to not think there’s a problem. I said I’d do a survey here and so here I am.
There is not a parking availability problem in downtown but there is an availability perception problem. They’ve done the counts. We’re physically way over parked but the dispersed and/or mid block nature of most of it can be deceptive.
Agree. Need more & better signage re public parking.
No-oo-ooh…. Then everybody and their neighbors will be able to find it and park their cars there. Then we WILL have a parking problem!
I either find parking on the stretch of Ponce in between Church & N. Chandler, or I use the free courthouse parking garage or the pay garage behind Parker’s. Parking has never been an issue for me.
Really? Chandler? This is Decatur, not Friends.
I haven’t found parking to be a problem. Either I use the free parking at the courthouse (after hours) or I pay to park in the lot. And if I’ve ever wanted street parking, I mostly find it.
Many people don’t realize that you can park for free for an hour in the Town Center deck behind Parker’s.
I don’t usually have a problem finding parking either- the County deck off of Trinity is great for weekends and after 5, free, and you can exit the deck on foot to a sidewalk that lands you on the Square. I can usually find street parking when I want to go somewhere else.
I don’t usually walk from home to downtown destinations. However, I am downtown every day and many evenings. I feel that as long as I am willing to pay at a meter or or in a lot there is no difficulty finding a place to park. On busy nights like on weekends it might require some cruising around, but in that case there is always the County deck.
Now that I’ve seen his stupid rolling billboard trolling downtown Decatur, adding to the traffic and polluting the air, I will certainly NOT vote for Jerome Edmondson for DeKalb County CEO in the primary election at the end of the month.
Does anyone know what that monstrosity across from the high school is? Is that legal to build to the sidewalk like that? Yuk.
It’s legal because it a Commercial zoned area and there is no setback requirement.
It will be the office of Lightroom, the architectural firm, along with some other office space.
Along with the perfect reason for me never to employ Lightroom.
Unless you’re designing a commercial building, you wouldn’t employ them anyway. BTW, they are the ones who designed the Village Vets building.
Lightroom did a residential job several blocks south on McDonough. It’s the one with the two story traditional in the front and the futurama in the back.
Interesting. That one miraculously got by the Historic Commission, despite being completely out of character with the rest of the MAK. Take note, Oakhurst – you can apparently build anything you want, despite historic district rules.
That area is not in a locally protected historic preservation district, so the Historic Preservation Commission has no jurisdiction. It is not in the MAK district, which ends on the other side of the railroad at College Avenue.
I’m talking about the residential site on McDonough that Scott mentioned. That one is in the MAK.
MAK isn’t a four-sided historic district, so the HPC doesn’t have a say about what’s built in back.
The problem is includes what’s in front – it doesn’t seem to conform with the existing character of the neighborhood, either. My guess is that it meets some technical definitions in the MAK handbook, but aesthetically it’s not a fit.
When you throw in the fact that it’s just an apparently vacant facade on a modern style house, it gets harder to believe that it got approved. Many of us have been put through the ringer by the historic commission for things like removing aluminum siding, or rear-facing window styles.
The bottom line – the fact that a house like that can be built in a historic district pretty much obliterates the point of having the historic district.
Gotcha. Should have known your argument was more nuanced than I was giving it credit for!
late to the party, but TeeRuss is right.
OK, but I’m not clear on what you guys think is the problem. Is it the ordinance or the commission, in your and TeeRuss’ opinion?
I think TeeRuss is right, too. To be clear, I’m not commenting about the house in question one way or the other. But it has always seemed to me that Decatur’s historic preservation process is riddled with inconsistency and contradictions. (Based partly on hearsay from folks who’ve been through that particular wringer and either come out the other side or given up partway through; and partly on having read the ordinances governing each of Decatur’s local historic districts, and reviewed the proceedings of many, many of the HPC’s meetings, to learn what kinds of permissions people try for, and what responses they get.) IMO, that alone was the strongest reason not to proceed with the proposed Oakhurst historic district a few years ago — not that we don’t need a mechanism for historic preservation, but we need one that works better than the current one does.
OK. Any suggestions?
(This has the potential to become the skinniest comments thread in the history of blogs… :0)
I’m not sure if the problem is the ordinance and the commission. All I know is that the results indicate a problem.
This particular case highlighted the fact that there appears to be some kind of interpretation that gives more leeway to new construction on empty lots vs. restoration or expansion of existing houses. The commission/staff flat out said that this was the reason they were going easy on 329 S. McDonough. This interpretation can also be found on new homes being allowed to be built with hardiplank siding, while a request to take off non-conforming aluminum siding for an existing house comes with conditions that the original wood siding underneath be kept. I was told “you can tell the difference between real wood and hardiplank”. OK, so why do I have to have real wood and new builds can have hardiplank?
One suggestion would be to get clear about the objective of the preservation ordinances — to preserve the historic nature of individual properties, or to preserve the nature of a district made that contains several properties — and then write and interpret accordingly. The Hardi-plank issue is an excellent example of where we seem to get bogged down between those two things. If the aim is to preserve the historic integrity of a “district” — however it is bounded and defined in a particular instance — then it seems that Hardi-plank should be permissible on any house within that district or on none. If the goal is to preserve historic integrity of individual properties, then it could make sense to have different determinations. But then we aren’t talking about a historic district, we’re talking about individual historic properties.
It’d be very cool if DM would coax them into sharing a design sketch. It is indeed an attention grabbing build!
(And at the risk of sounding like my very southern momma, what do the neighbors think?)
Curiosity got the best of me:
http://www.lightroom.tv/projects/architecture_residential/lightroom2/lightroom2.html
Reminds me of a half-blown away condo on Pensacola Beach after the hurricane.
Maybe the blue sky and a beach come with it! Now THAT would make Decatur close to perfect for me, if it included a beach. Do they do ski slopes too? Then I would never need to leave our 4 square miles.
Peripatetian- THANKS!!! :0)
As long as you’re willing to walk a block or two, I don’t find parking downtown to be a problem at all. I rarely have an issue finding a space. The courthouse parking deck and library parking deck (after hours) are easy, close options if it’s really hopping downtown and you can’t find a spot on the street.
Can anyone recommend a taxi or driver for early airport runs when Marta isn’t running? I don’t know why but the taxi service that I’ve had in Atlanta has been consistently the worst of any place that I’ve lived and I won’t use Decatur’s Best…
Our tenant cabs everywhere and the last I knew she usually gets picked up by a driver named Frank. He gave me his card once and he’s with Atlanta Lenox Taxi and his card also says Dekalb Taxi. His number is 404-310-7896. I guess if I see one person using the same guy over and over I figure it’s because he does a good job.
I’ve used Atlanta Checker Cabs on a number of occasions (I always call and speak to the dispatcher; I don’t trust the online forms when I need to make a flight). I’ve had no problems whatsoever.
http://www.atlantacheckercab.com/
Why not use Decatur’s Best? We’ve had good luck with them but we’re not big taxi users.
In my experience they have frequently shown up late, once not at all. Hope things have changed since we quit using them.
We had the exact same experience with Decatur’s Best. Twice they’ve promised a minivan for a large group and just not shown up. So, don’t believe them if they say they will bring a van. The last time we used them (and the last time we will use them), we called after they didn’t show up and they said they weren’t going to show up but we could order two taxis from them (at twice the cost).
I have hired a private driver on a couple of occassions, and they aren’t much more expensive than a cab. Plus, in my experience, they are extremely reliable.
We always use Decatur’s Best Taxi and have great success. Very early flights call for guaranteed transportation so we reserve and then typically call about 20 minutes ahead as a reminder.
Look into the zoning restrictions for cab company locations. We had a car breakdown in College Park and needed a cab to get back to Decatur. The driver in conversation said he could not pick up a fare (passenger) in Decatur that needed a ride back his way (airport, etc) because of regulations.
Aug 8th is a big day. After 8years, I get to MOVE OUT OF DECATUR!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations?! Enjoy your new neighborhood….I really hope so:)
Thank you Gatree, I’ll only be moving across the line to East Lake and no longer have to live in a 100 year old cottage.I will be able to pull two cars into the driveway too!
We look forward to meeting the next person, who space you’ve occuppied
Saw a whole bunch of campaigners for various candidates for Clerk of Court. I would like to know if anybody has a strong opinion about the best candidate for this office and others on the July 31 ballot, as I will be voting early.
One of the candidates is the incumbent, so unless you’re unhappy with the way things in that office have been run …..
Then this would be an “Anyone But” vote if there ever was one.
And a very happy birthday weekend to Woody Guthrie, one of my few heros. He inspires me nearly every day to be better: more fair, more generous with what I have, and to work harder for justice and equality. thank you, my friend.
Ditto. I still love “This Land is Your Land”. There is a gorgeous childrens/adult version of the song with art by Kathy Jakobsen. Pretty radical stuff if you look at all the verses.
People do need to learn all the words. It was pretty cool that at the Presidents inauguration concert in front of the Capital building, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen and several others lead the crowd in singing the complete song, including the recently uncovered lyrics. It is a great message and was quite an accomplishment to sing that message in front of the symbol of corporate power.
Not much I like better than going to a sporting event and singing that song just as loud as I can when they play God Bless America. And when someone curses me or tries to fight me for doing so, I’d like to think that Woody is up there smiling
The lyrics in the children’s book by folk artist Kathy Jakobsen (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1 edition, September 1, 1998) are below. Are there any newer verses discovered?–I’d love to know:
This land is your land This land is my land
From California to the New York island;
From the red wood forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and Me.
As I was walking that ribbon of highway,
I saw above me that endless skyway:
I saw below me that golden valley:
This land was made for you and me.
I’ve roamed and rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts;
And all around me a voice was sounding:
This land was made for you and me.
When the sun came shining, and I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling,
As the fog was lifting a voice was chanting:
This land was made for you and me.
As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said “No Trespassing.”
But on the other side it didn’t say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.
In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?
Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.
P.S.: At my camp, the first verse was the refrain sung after each of the other verses. But we only sang the first three verses. The rest must have been too radical or were unknown to us. And I was always confused about the “New York island”. Was it saying that the State of N.Y. was an island–but how? Maybe if one considered the Atlantic, Hudson, Great Lakes, and Susquehanna? Or was it referring to Long Island? Now I realize it was referring to Manhattan.
100 years old, July 14, and more relevant every day.
Well said, Jill! Turning off Prairie Home Companion to put on Mermaid Avenue right now. Billy Bragg, Wilco and Woody’s words. It don’t get much better ‘an that.
The Wilco/Bragg collaborations were recently reissued as a 3 CD set. Great stuff.
Butthole Surfers
Sometime ago, on this blog, someone wrote that every time he or she walked past the Valentine sculptor on the Square, the nice older women whispered obscenities to him. I chuckled at that, and continue to do so every time I walk by the old Courthouse.
Today, as I stopped to look at the Thomas Jefferson sculptor, just to the west of the other sculptor, working of the American Declaration of Independence, he very clearly shouted, REVULUTION. So, what about it Decatur.
Even though we’re a blue dot in a red state, I’m not sure Decatur is ready to leave its PTAs, lattes, and laptops and join the Revolution. But we do love Revolution Doughnuts and the K-3s could always do an “expedition” on the Revolution. Without Mr. B. here, I’m not sure if the high schoolers are going to continue to learn about the civic implications of the American Revolution. But since our Decatur kids are such fine people–not sarcasm–maybe Decatur will be part of a revolution. A quiet revolution back to community service, connectedness, and this land was made for you and me.
May have missed this discussion, but does anyone know what the tall (and in my opinion bizarre) new structure on McDonough (across from the high school grounds) will house? And why would anyone want to hide those interesting remnants of an old residential neighborhood? (Silly question, I know.)
Yes, you missed it earlier. It is an architecture and others office and it can be and is built that way because, despite the residential look, the area is zoned Commercial.
Architecture firm offices? Based on the current configuration of buildings, that’s funny, but I’ll reserve judgment. And I did know the area is zoned commercial, allowing the property owners to maximize lot coverage (and hide, or remove, the interesting remnants of an old residential neighborhood).
Isn’t that new building in a historic district?
A question:
Has anyone ever sold a unique telephone number to a local business? Who owns your telephone number-you or the phone company?
I think that unless you have purchased a number, which can be done for what price I don’t know (think of the catchy 800 numbers), it’s been assigned by them and is their property.
Is “Headlines” a new feature on DM? I had’t noticed it before this evening.
I like it.
It’s a couple years old.
I am a keen observer of this space.
I had never noticed it either! Are you saying it’s been there since the site revamp?!
Can someone link me to any previous threads about recommended handymen?
Barb, I’ve got a great handyman for ya. Ben Brackner, .