As mentioned by Mayor Bill Floyd at the end of Monday night’s Decatur City Commission meeting, the Planning Commission is preparing to hear a density bonus request from the property owner of the Bank of America site at 163 Clairemont Avenue, who plans to build a six-story mixed use structure on the site.  According to information included in the staff report, the development will offer apartment rentals, the first Decatur development to do so since the Ice House Lofts back in 2001.

According to the developer’s application, the development will include 192 dwelling units (14% studios, 60% 1 bedrooms and 26% 2 bedrooms), 10,000 square feet of retail space, and a 5 level parking deck with 300 spaces.  For comparison purposes, 192 units is slightly larger than both the Artisan and the Renaissance developments.

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I suspect that most successful authors majored in English or literature or journalism while in college.  However, many of my favorite writers study other subjects, such as Saul Bellow (anthropology and sociology), Jonathan Franzen (German), Barbara Kingsolver (biology).  (Truman Capote didn’t attend college.)

Then there are lawyers.  There is a fairly long tradition of barristers writing books, including Henry Fielding (Tom Jones), John Luther Long (Madame Butterfly), John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (The 39 Steps), Erle Stanley Gardner (Perry Mason series), and poet Wallace Stevens.  Many current best selling authors are/were attorneys, including David Baldacci, Meg Gardiner, John Grisham, Richard North Patterson, Lisa Scottoline, and Scott Turow.

This shouldn’t be surprising.  Law school teaches students to write well using succinct arguments.  Practicing attorneys, in efforts to become knowledgeable about their cases, gain a great deal of expertise in areas as diverse as crime, medicine, construction, and accounting.  A good litigator is one who can tell an interesting story to a jury while interweaving facts; many will develop their case starting with the preparation of a closing argument, then work backwards.

Deron Hicks has become a part of this tradition.  Hicks received a BFA (painting) from the University of Georgia and his J.D. from Mercer University.  He practiced law in Columbus and was appointed by Governor Deal to the post of State Inspector General last year, where Hicks is responsible for investigating allegations of fraud and corruption in the Executive Branch.

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Here’s a great map from the Atlanta Regional Commission giving visual representation to how all 10 metro Atlanta counties on T-SPLOST last week.  Breakdown overall is unsurprising, but there are some interesting insights in there.  Like the highest %s of “yes” votes seem to stretch along the proposed Clifton Corridor line and the east side of the Beltline.  And that Cobb saw higher % of yes votes along I-75.  Stuff like that.

Enjoy!

h/t: Atlanta Business Chronicle via That’s Just Peachy

From an Access Atlanta article about the Atlanta brewing scene…

Three Taverns, a brewery that’s been in the planning stages for more than four years, just leased a building on New Street in Decatur, where construction of a 30-barrel brewery is set to begin by the end of the year.

“We raised 135 percent of the money we needed to open the brewery,” Three Taverns founder Brian Purcell said. “I think that says something about the industry, and I’d like to think it says something about the strength of our business plan.

“We expect to be in the market with our beer by May of next year and maybe sooner.”

The piece also features well-known, Avondale-based Wild Heaven, which says it hopes to open its brewery by next summer.