Free-For-All Friday 4/12/13
Decatur Metro | April 12, 2013 | 7:00 amFeel 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.
Looking Back: The 2011 Atlanta Snowpocalypse
Has anyone else here had trouble getting CSD to work with you when your child has learning problems? If so, I would love to hear from you!
There is a well organized support group in Decatur that meets regularly and discusses issues such as navigating the process with COD.
Check out their site: http://www.dyslexiadecatur.org
On a related note, if you have a child with dyslexia or other learning challenges please consider supporting a local cause that will have long term effect in Decatur.
A couple of the members of the dyslexia group have started a foundation to fund continuing education in the Orton Gillingham technique for reading issues. The training is at the Schenck School. The intial goal is to raise money to send 10 COD teachers to certify. The Foundation was started by COD teacher Carla Sanford and COD parent Jennifer Rhett.
Check out their site: http://www.strugglingreaders.com
THANK YOU! This is exactly what I needed.
This new foundation sounds great. Almost any instructional training aimed at all teachers ends up helping all students, even if content is for a special segment of students whether they be dyslexic, gifted, speech impaired, struggling math learners, . Excellent evidence-based, proven instructional interventions improve the learning and bring up the scores of all students, not just the students who meet a state/school definition of disability or gifted.
Followed the link and love the emphasis on word roots. The inimitable Ms. Kuebler of late Westchester principal fame had a wonderful school-wide instructional technique–every week she focussed on a new word root/prefix/suffix and every day there was a list of words with those roots and why. Westchester kids tended to do well with vocabulary and Scrabble.
Wrong URL for REAP: It’s http://www.strugglingreaders.ORG, not http://www.strugglingreaders.com. Check it out!
My wife is an Orton Gillingham Associate level tutor and former Schenck School teacher. She used to be on the Decatur Dyslexia website, but they removed her because we moved outside Decatur because of my job. She has seen the whole process from both sides and has worked with dyslexic CSD students and helped them excel at school. If you would like me to introduce the two of you, please reply and I will have her contact you. She can provide wonderful insight on how to navigate the process of getting your child the resources they need.
Is there a way to respond directly to you off-board with my contact information?
My wife’s e-mail is [email protected] .
Thank you!
Is there a way I can contact you off-list? Would love to know more.
Yes. That is why child now attends private school.
Thanks, DM, for bringing the editing function back!
Suppose we did something not too big to our house, and did the work ourselves, but afterwards realized that we really should have gotten a City of Decatur permit for this. (Before we did it we didn’t think we needed one. Then we learned that the codes are online and found out that we did).
What should we do? Is the City lenient about these things? Should we get a permit after the fact, or will they be mean about it and fine us and make us undo the work?
As an architect… I know all too much about this. IF.. that is IF.. they ‘catch’ you.. then you will simply have to pay a fee. the fees are listed on the decatur website.. let me know if you need a link. is your work highly visible from the street or from public view – if an inspector drives by and sees work being done without a permit – that’s how you will get caught.
At the more minor end of the spectrum, permits are more about revenue generation than any sort of oversight/safety considerations. If you did the work competently, I’d let sleeping dogs lie and not fret about it.
If you remain troubled for failing to render unto Caesar, find some quiet way to contribute to the community some time or dollar amount commensurate with the permit fee and consider the Karmic scale balanced.
The only negative I see is that when and if you sell the property, you will have to disclose that you did work requiring a permit but did not obtain the permit. You will of course be able to offer an explanation to any potential buyers, but for a lot of people, that will be a red flag.
If the work was done to code, then a serious buyer won’t blink at the lack of a permit. They might, of course, pause at learning about the picayune matters for which Decatur requires permits.
We did a TON of unpermitted work on our house in the last decade or so. It was all interior work–removing walls, completely gutting & redoing kitchen & baths, etc. Had no problems when selling our house. I don’t even remember having an opportunity to disclose that information as we were never asked. The work was good quality & the bulk of it done by contractors (cosmetic stuff we did ourselves). No problems.
The only time we ever got permits was when we needed to do exterior work that could be seen from the street.
It’s on the standard seller disclosure form.
I’m glad people haven’t have problems, just putting it out there that it could be a problem for some buyers. I’m glad it wasn’t for either of the people who replied.
You probably checked that all work had been permitted on the standard disclosure form.
If you did so, and the buyer has a problem with said work at some point in the future, and finds out that the work was NOT permitted, you have opened yourself up to a potential lawsuit for, essentially, misleading the buyer.
The first thing *I* would do is use an anonymous screen name when asking this question 😉
Is anyone else have poor or no Sprint cell reception in Decatur?
How about T-Mobile in Oakhurst? At one of the festivals last year, the folks in the T-Mobile booth were even surprised at how poor the reception was.
Considered switching to T Mobile recently, until they said it’s common for subscribers to get no reception in Avondale. Yikes! Explains why they’re now running a promotion for a $99 iPhone to drum up sales.
We are in Forrest Hills and have T-Mobile, it’s been fine.
T Mobile has NEVER been good in Oakhurst.
Yep
I live across the tracks from Oakhurst, and when we had Tmobile, I could not use the phone inside my house. No reception at all. Switched to AT&T. Great reception. Ymmv
Yes, it isn’t good for me either.
Remember there is free WiFi in Oakhurst now supplied by the city. Also, Matador has WiFi if you know the super-duper secret password.
Yes. Sprint had a malfunctioning tower here in the neighborhood yesterday.
Is the pollen gone yet?
Yes. Until around noon today. Go bottle up your fresh air now.
Not hardly. I’m sitting in a skyscraper downtown, and looking out my window can see great yellow clouds of the stuff blanketing the city. Kennesaw Mountain is barely visible through the haze.
Recommendations for security system companies?
Used E.I.R.S. for years — came with the house, the service was very reasonably priced & everyone I ever interacted with at the company was extremely courteous and helpful. (I let it go several years ago, not feeling the need any more.)
If you are interested in someone small and local and intown, try Ken Lavine, ProTech
http://www.hometechnology.net
They wired up our small office building. If there’s a problem, you can talk to a person.
Been very happy with Walton EMC Security.
If you are going to install a new home security system, I’d encourage you to check out AT&T’s brand new Digital Life system. It is just launching right now and has some really awesome features.
From your phone, you can have integrated management of the alarm, door locks, cameras, lights, water leak sensors, etc.
You can program the system to give you texts and alerts for certain events. Like when our kids get home, they can enter the code to get in the house (no key required), the front door camera takes a picture and sends me a text to let me know they are home.
Or if a contractor is coming by while you ar at work, you can remotely turn off the alarm and unlock the door to let them in (after you have verified it is them from the front door camera).
Full disclosure – I am an AT&T employee, but I’m also a customer and I have been very happy with the service.
Community Yard Sale on Saturday April 13- 8a-1p
140 Homes
Many Participating
Map: 913 Regal Path Ln, 30030
I know it has been discussed before, however, can someone please remind me how to change my little DM avatar image?
Go to http://www.gravatar.com
Come join us! Today at 2:00, Decatur Heights folks and interested others will meet at Golden Living Center (2767 N. Decatur Rd) for a fun Friday bingo game. Click the “DecaturCyn” name above for more details AND to see the delightful cards that neighbors have collected. (Thanks again to Mr. Madden’s creative Glenwood E.S. students.)
If you’d like to try this project in your own Decatur neighborhood, it’s easy. Let’s break down walls and celebrate community in our nearby long-term care facilities. Residents are neighbors, too.
Yard sale at 854 S. Candler St. Washer, dryer, TV, yard equipment, stuff, etc. Tomorrow 7am-
It’s really difficult, and often unsafe, to walk across the tracks, DeKalb Ave., College Ave. etc. at the west side of town. Is there any plan afoot to improve that entire crossing? Apart from the fact that you have to zigzag up and down the streets to get across the four individual crossings, there’s no light on DeKalb and drivers rarely stop at if you’re standing at the start of the Adair crosswalk. It would seem that a walking bridge over the entire thing would be perfect, and many cities have exactly that, in situations like this. I especially worry because the situation is unsafe for kids. I also look at all the great businesses on College and think how odd it is, for a walking city, that it should be so challenging to get to them from the other side of the tracks. Same, of course, for someone living on the southwest side wanting to walk into town, especially to the west side.
An overhead bridge would cost a mint, and in no way be worth the expenditure, IMO. The RR tracks are not the problem — the vehicular traffic on Dekalb Ave. and College Ave. is what’s dangerous. There is a plan to overhaul the intersection at Atlanta Ave., you can see the plan at the City of Decatur website. (It’s in a document that contains the designs for a number of improvements including Commerce/Clairemont, College/Candler, College/S. McDonough.) Meanwhile, there is always a crossing guard posted there (maybe more than one) in the mornings and afternoons when school is in session.
The crossing guard is great, but I wasn’t thinking about school arrival and departure primarily. While I know it would be expensive, so many other places have footbridges in similar situations, and the tracks and those roads really cut the city in half, for walkers. So that’s why I’ve found it surprising. It especially affects people living on the west side, obviously.
The rr tracks are a big problem…it isn’t just because of the car traffic. Trying to cross the tracks from McDonough is definitely not fun, especially with a stroller. Their needs to be a defined and paved crossing for pedestrians. There is too much loose gravel and dirt and I don’t feel it’s wide enough. Also, you can’t cross Candler at all with a stroller.
Pshaw. You can absolutely cross at Candler with a stroller. It’s only when there’s a danged kid in it that it’s a problem, but they ain’t allowed at Trackside anyway
My point is that an overhead pedestrian bridge at Atlanta Ave is a LOT of money to throw at one specific portion of a broader problem. At that particular place, it’s not the tracks that create the most hazard, it’s the cars combined with the potential for chaos in that X-configured intersection with complicated signaling. A remedy is on the books. McDonough is a different kettle of fish, although there is a plan for improving that one, too, as well as Candler. The Community Transportation Plan is available at the City website in the “Master Plans” section.
No matter from what direction I travel through that X intersection, I feel like I am doing something illegal.
Also, you’re gonna be rid of that stroller before long.
The railroad will never approve a bridge, is what I’ve heard for the past 22 years. I live near the intersection at Adair and I cross the street. You must be careful, but it is certainly possible.
I love the Brits.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/04/bbcs-not-sure-how-deal-sudden-popularity-ding-dong-witch-dead/64161/
Chai Pani food health rating is up to a wonderful 91 on reinspection. Keep up the good work guys as I really do love your food.
Doesn’t that happen all the time? First inspection: terrible, Second inspection: almost perfect. Are there different people with different standards doing the inspecting? Does the restaurant have to pay for the 2nd inspection?
This came up last week (actually, seems to come up every week — I blame the AJC, which seems to have decided posting dubious restaurant inspection scores and shouting “A woo wooooo!” makes for compelling journalism, but nevermind). The reason you see this “really bad inspection score followed by really good inspection score” so often is that rather than take a mediocre but acceptable rating for some easily correctable dings, restaurants deliberately sabotage or simply ask the first inspector to give them a lower score as a courtesy, because it triggers an immediate re-inspection after the restaurant has had a chance to address the issues (most of which are surprisingly mundane and easily correctable, though when you only see the score, it’s easy to imagine prep chefs rubbing raw chicken breasts in their armpits and similar atrocities).
That’s rather absurd. Restaurants deliberately try to get bad initial scores and therefore the newspaper shouldn’t publish them? Personally, I want to know when a restaurant is dinged for failing to meet minimum sanitation requirements so I don’t waste my time going there…
It’s the other way around. The restaurant knows the paper will publish the score, so if they are about to get dinged, they’d rather get dinged hard enough to be reinspected immediately. That way, they have a chance to redeem themselves in the paper, too. Nobody’s saying scores shouldn’t be published, just that the system is getting gamed from several directions. As others have noted, anybody who is very squeamish about what might be going on in a commercial kitchen is better off eating at home.
I’m not “very squeamish” or afraid to eat out. But like most humans, I have a certain degree of risk aversion. People have died in this very metro area from eating at restaurants (El Azteca, which BTW is still in business) that didn’t pay proper regard to public health. I’ve seen some “U” grades pop up where I wouldn’t have expected them. And I think publishing those has a certain deterrent effect.
If they’re reading this, the noise factor is intolerable. Once summer comes and there is outdoor seating, I will return regularly.
246 also received negative reviews for noise when they opened. They added some acoustical treatment which sorta maybe helped.
Leon’s loses a half a star from me for noise pollution. Our party of 8 pretty much split into three groups for the purpose of conversation a couple of nights ago. Noise was an issue at the original Watershed, too.
As I recall it, a briefly popular restaurant (Food Studio?) that occupied the current Square Pub space some years back had the worst noise rating in metro Atlanta when the AJC went around checking with a decibel meter. Yet crowded as the Brick Store gets, it’s never as bad…
With their windows open today (with screens) Chai Pani was much quieter. Try them again when the weather is nice?
Noise is a big issue for us at the new Cakes and Ale. We probably go half as often as we did to the old location (of course, the increased dining options in Decatur factor in that too). BTW, finally made it to the Pinewood last weekend and thought it was a fine alternative to Leons for a cocktail and apps. And though Native is no alternative to Cakes and Ale, we did enjoy the reasonable prices and the fresh-baked, complimentary olive bread, which I found vastly superior to the bread places like Cakes and Ale usually serve.
This video doesn’t talk about restaurants in particular, but it does talk about the noise levels in our lives, and how they can be detrimental to our well being.
This is awesome and I should be considered as we build all these new CSD spaces.
Please consider joining a group of concerned community members TOMORROW, April 13 at 11 a.m. at The King Center – Reflecting Pool, 449 Auburn Ave, NE in Atlanta for “We Have Not Forgotten and Demand Action,” a community event to call on Senator Chambliss and Senator Isakson to support comprehensive and universal background checks for all gun purchases. Similar events will be taking place across the country on this day of action to urge Congress to pass common sense measures to reduce gun violence.
Georgia ranks 10th in the nation for the rate at which women are killed by men. Firearms are used in 75% of Georgia’s domestic violence homicides. Instituting universal background checks is a common sense measure to help keep guns out of the hands of abusers and perhaps decrease Georgia’s domestic violence homicide rate. In fact, background checks have already prevented more than 250,000 gun sales to abusers nationally since 1998.
Under federal law, domestic violence offenders are prohibited from possessing or purchasing firearms. Unfortunately, abusers are able to bypass the background check that would prohibit sales by purchasing firearms at gun shows or through online sales. Closing this loophole and requiring a background check for every gun sale would reduce violence against women and help save lives.
The world is a less funny place today. Rest in peace Maude Frickert/Elwood P. Suggins/Coach Piggy Bladder a/k/a Jonathan Winters. Pure comic genius.
Don’t forget Mork’s son.
Mearth… from earth! He was also the narrator of the 2nd Frosty the Snowman cartoon.
Glad you brought that up because I consider that one of his greater sins. That thing is atrocious.
Search YouTube for “Jonathan Winters Gas Station Scene ” from Mad Mad World.
Pure madness filmed in pre-Imax glorious 70mm Cinerama.
The wonderful documentary from a couple of years ago, “Certifiably Jonathan”, is available from streaming Netflix.
Need some help. I have to provide a salad for 5 to 7 people this evening and I don’t have time to make one. Any recommendations on where I can stop and pick one up? Or create one quickly from a salad bar-type location?
YDFM? But remember that their buffet takes only cash.
Sevananda? Rainbow Grocery?
This has probably been asked before, but is Leon’s nixing the bocce court and adding more patio dining?
I sort of think they’re rebuilding the court to allow for better drainage. Bocce is quite popular; witness Harbor Bar down the street.
Bocce court back in, saw it tonight.
Along the same lines, what’s going on in front of Noodle? Seems like it’s been under construction for a while.
Looks like a new patio. Don’t know what’s taking so long.
I’m surprised the inspectors haven’t yet declared it a potential hazard …this vertical steel posts have been anchored by ratchet-cam straps for what seems like a month now, with no apparent progress. Maybe there is a roof that got lost?
When they first went up, I mistakenly thought from a distance it was part of HOLA’s patio design.
Bike Decatur invites everyone to join them tonight for their first Biking Mobile social. Meet at 6:30pm at the Church Street entrance to MARTA. Tonights route is about 5 miles and can be found here: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?authuser=0&vps=8&ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=206796594000736364733.0004da14f74f8695be304
Thanks to those that recommended Daryl at Dr. Green for carpet cleaning- he did a great job for us the other week.
Anyone know of a way I can avoid going to court for an undeserved parking ticket? I parked at the square, paid by phone, have the receipt on my phone (with the time and correct meter number), but was ticketed during that time as “meter expired.” It seems like someone should be able to look that up and just fix it pretty quickly.
Also, anyone else think we could use a few more handicapped parking spaces (possibly with a 4 hr limit vs the 2 hrs) at the square? They’re nearly always full. It wasn’t a problem for us, because I could drop off my handicapped passenger, but for others who don’t have a chauffeur I could see it being a big deterrent to visiting the square.
You would need to go to the Municipal Court office located in the Callaway Building. I think that’s the only way to resolve your issue.
“Also, anyone else think we could use a few more handicapped parking spaces (possibly with a 4 hr limit vs the 2 hrs) at the square?”
YES. Absolutely yes yes yes.
Lock your car doors and make sure no valuables are left in your vehicles. Several cars on Willow and Pensdale had stuff stolen from them on Wednesday night.
Glennwood got hit Monday night.
So, Family Dollar in Oakhurst opened up about 9 months ago, and I’ve been thinking:
Great addition to the neighborhood! Not only a big step up from having a giant empty space there, but really damn useful. I’ve had to pick up a little this or that pretty often, and I’ve been happy to be able to bike over there in short order rather than drive out to Publix on Glenwood.
Hurrah Family Dollar!
I’ve felt the same way, minus the cycling part. I really didn’t expect to find the need to shop there at all but it’s come in real handy several times. Plus I can cover Oakhurst Market in the same trip, Kavarna’s too if I’m so inclined.
The name of the coffee house at East Lake/Oakview is “Kavarna” (no ‘s at the end). This is how it starts!
Whoops! Especially funny because I have never thought that Kavarna was someone’s name–I’m imagining that it either is the name of a Hindu god or a yoga term. At least I got the r in the right place; that took me a while.
So the prophets of doom were wrong?
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2012/05/21/family-dollar-scheduled-to-open-in-oakhurst-by-mid-summer/
I was cautiously optimistic but yearning for Portland, Oregon. Still yearning.
Yep, they were wrong. My $.02–I’m happy to have oyster bars, and upscale gourmet food places like the OM, and coffee shops, and pubs in my neighborhood. But there is a place for basic, low-cost, everyday retail too, and having that available helps round out a neighborhood.
We weren’t ALL wrong. I was correct about the wailing and the gnashing of teeth.
+1 on the convenience and the biking. I wish they sold city trash bags!
Me, too. Maybe if enough of us keep asking for them, they’ll stock them. Also, a bike rack would be nice. I believe that is the landlord’s department.
A bike rack would be nice.
Can anyone recommend an acupuncturist that handles women’s health issues?
Judith at Intown Acupunture in Oakhurst.
two thumbs up for judith..she rocks!
Dr Jiang Li at the Center for Holistic Health on Winn Way: 404-697-6886. She is very thorough and experienced.
From gpb.org
Decatur, GA – America’s #1 “Foodie” City
By Chip Rogers Posted April 8, 2013 3:53pm (EDT)Shipwreck Sandwhich from the Warf Restaurant in Decatur, GA
The restaurant industry in Decatur has been booming for years and now the website Livability.com has ranked Decatur as the top “foodie” city in the United States.
According to Livability.com The cities that made this year’s list have invigorating restaurant scenes, chefs adapting traditional dishes into edible art, and communities supporting local farmers and food producers. Editors also considered the city’s overall quality of life when compiling the list, having found that the best foodie cities offer a high quality of life, in which restaurants are just one of the amenities that help residents thrive. “A city doesn’t become a great place to live solely because it has quality, diverse restaurants, but it’s hard to imagine a great city without a wealth of options,” says Matt Carmichael, Livability.com editor and spokesman. “These cities excel on many measures. Having unique places to eat adds to the overall culture and personality of the place.”
1. Decatur, GA
2. Hoboken, NJ
3. Bloomington, IN
4. Berkeley, CA
5. Madison, WI
6. Lafayette, LA
7. Chapel Hill, NC
8. Santa Fe, NM
9. Alexandria, VA
10. Burlington, VT
I have spent considerable blocks of time in four of the ten cities on the list and can completely concur with the assessment that they are foodie places. I have to say that Hoboken and Bloomington surprise me but I haven’t been to the first in decades and I’ve never been to Bloomington so what do I know!
Bloomington’s restaurants outdo Decatur in personality if not quality – Runcible Spoon’s brunch is inferior to say, Thumbs Up, but it’s just so gosh darned cute!
Upland might be a slightly more affordable Twain’s, and The Owlery offers some damn good vegetarian dishes (not as good as Soul Veg, but the atmosphere, again, is superior).
I think a lot of it has to do with the budgets of the customer bases: Decatur is 30-somethings with some spending money who expect exceptional quality (and matching prices), B-town’s students want coziness, personality, and a hangover breakfast they can afford after a night of boozin’ at the Vid.
Well, good for Decatur and good for Hoboken–testifying as a Jersey City native.
OTOH, where the heck is The Warf?
Apparently they got the picture from a restaurant in Decatur Illinois. That is some high quality journalism
Isn’t Chip Rogers the former state senator, now highest paid employee at GPB? This is what they’ve got him doing??
This is exactly why GPB does not get a penny of support from me anymore and I donate to WABE, in spite of the fact that it’s a service of the trainwreck that is the Atlanta Public School system. The Chip Rogers appointment was cronyism of the highest degree.
Saw the old Rail space had a building permit issued and construction work going on late last week. Can’t wait to see what they do with that space, although it was really nice when it was Rail.
Good to hear they’re finally underway! This will actually become Kimball House, the latest venture by the Brick Store/Leon’s folks. See here for more info:
http://www.decaturmetro.com/2012/10/29/brick-store-boys-opening-the-kimball-house-in-the-decatur-depot/
Just wanted to thank all of you that have recommended the Avondale post office – went this morning to send in my money to Uncle Sam – in and out quickly, everyone was friendly. Will definitely go there from now on for my postal needs.
Avondale is the place ! I never go to Decatur. The one at North DeKalb isn’t bad, either.
Sad to report that the Caribou at N. Druid Hills and Lavista is indeed closed forever. Long line across the street at Starbucks this morning.
Reminder: JOINT SLT Meeting on CSD MASTER PLANNING for DHS and RMS
Decatur High School and Renfroe Middle School will host a joint School Leadership Team Work Session on the development of City Schools of Decatur Master Plan to accommodate rising enrollment and future capacity needs for both Decatur and Renfroe. All parents are welcome to listen as Project Manager, Jeff Prine, and CSD Director of Facilities, Jason Ware, discuss plans for the future development of the Master Plan.
Date: Thursday, April 18, 2013
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Decatur High School Media Center
***Please note this is an informational worksession for the Renfroe Middle School and Decatur High School SLTs. The presentation is a public meeting, but there will not be time for public comment. The City Schools of Decatur will be hosting a Community Forum regarding the Master Plan at a later date.***