Free-For-All Friday 6/28/13
Decatur Metro | June 28, 2013 | 7:43 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.
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I would enjoy a thread dedicated to DM posters’ screen names. There are some that are funny (Squirrel Headed Bastard), some clever (Parker Cross) and some with interesting stories (Nubbs, Lumpintheroad).
I think it would be fun to have people tell us how they came up with them (without revealing too much about themselves, of course).
Not much of a story here. I have a squirrel’s head (you can see it in my icon) and I’m mostly unpleasant.
Does your name cause your posts to go in moderation a lot? Or does DM have a filter that recognizes that your posts are kosher?
I wish I had a great story. My husband calls me Nubbs – I have little fingers, that’s all. Maybe I should change my little icon to a picture of my hands…..
I am Toml because not everyone knows me as TL.
Yup. Moderated every time. DM don’t even care.
I got mine from one of the many discussions on schools, taxes and serial moms who take up the entire sidewalk …
My parents gave me my name in 1930.
Grew up in a small town, have enjoyed living in this small town, am constantly surprised by the ways in which “small town” translates so differently now than it did 30-40 years ago with respect to habits, priorities, sensibilities, assumptions…
The story behind my screen name is that I thought there would be coffee and doughnuts.
my name is antoine
This is my favorite.
I grew up in the Fresh Meadows neighborhood of Queens.My Manhattan high school had a senior lounge with a couple of decrepit pool tables. The game of choice during lunch period was 9-Ball, because it’s a relatively fast game. I was not particularly adept with a cue, but one afternoon I ran the table. My running partner Muggs O’Dalaigh exclaimed, “Fresh Meadows Fats!”. When I started hanging out on a couple of Prodigy bulletin boards, I resurrected the name and abbreviated it for my nom de interweb. I had a vanity tag for a while, which was fun.
“I started hanging out on a couple of Prodigy bulletin boards”
FM Olds would seem to be a more appropiate moniker then. Says the guy who built the bulk of his CD collection through rec.music.marketplace…
Watch yourself, kid. I had embarked on my second career when Prodigy was launched.
How old am I? We could smoke in the high school senior lounge, that’s how old I am. My now 23 year old son has gone by FM Chubs online for quite some time.
JagermeisTer.
I was in Osaka, Japan a few months after 9-11, I didn’t get the gist of this joke some Japanese musicians were telling, but the punchline was Osama bin Birru. Birru being Japanese for beer.
That’s Number Wang!
And that’s a bad miss.
All this time I have been secretly hoping it was some alternative spelling referencing Brian Boru, King of Ireland. Your story is better.
I assume mine is pretty self-explanatory.
I am the Walrus. And I like oysters…
DHS graduate.
This should be pretty self expalnatory, but I should clarify that it is currently a bit misleading. There used to be three, but alas…
One dog is far too old to run.
One (the UGA variety) whines that I talk too much & run too fast for his taste.
That leaves my faithful sweetie, a squirrel-obsessed Aussie mix.
So, I guess I should my handle to Runswithdog. Or… get another dog!
I like shiny things, I like birds, and I was born in… oh, sh*t, I’m almost 50!
Heckle or Jeckle?
The other JC made more than one comment claiming the JC tag, so I switched to friendly sounding Hola on a whim.
Good call on your part. Jesus doesn’t like being upstaged.
Complete lack of imagination.
That made me laugh.
A play on one of my favorite cocktails & my ethnicity.
I had no idea you were Liberian.
meanwhile, i was guessing Balinese
Favorite cocktail AND favorite sandwich?
That is NOT Number Wang! 😛
I think Argle Bargle would be a good pen name.
And yet, corporations are people my friend.
I’m entering my late 40’s, so one would think I should have grown out of it by now. But…no. I still love heavy metal, in all its head banging glory. So I proudly wear my screen name.
P.S. Never mistake 80’s spandex-wearing, ballad-singing, lipsticked hair bands for metal. It’s just wrong.
Nelliebelle is my dog. 11-97 is her birthday.
She is actually lame, blind, deaf and has dementia. But other than that, she’s a perfect angel.
For the ungoggler: Stay at home mom
I like to laugh. I like to sew.
Gosh ! Everyone is up late today, so I’m the first.
As a result of some remodeling, I have a perfectly good kitchen overhead light fixture complete with two 34 watt 4 foot florescent tubes for a good home. Habitat Restore no longer wants fluorescent fixtures, so does anybody have another suggestion?
And, I have a number of 2 foot and 4 foot old tubes to recycle. HD and Lowes seem yo indicate on their website that that only take CFL bulbs, of which I also have a couple. Anyone know where t recycle the tubes?
Thank in advance.
Try freecycle, then 2nd Life Thrift Store. They told me they’ll take anything–if not sale-able in their store or useful at the shelter, they redirect stuff to other organizations and recycling channels. If you use 2nd Life, be aware they are normally closed Mon-Tue and next week are also closed Thu-Fri for the holiday.
Steve, I might be able to use the light fixture if you don’t find another home for it. Finally going to wire my workshop this summer and install real lights instead of clamp-on work lights with extension cords hanging everywhere.
Second Life already said they would take it, but if that doesn’t pan out, I’ll let you know.
Fantastic. Saves me from my hoarding tendency to pick up stuff that I’m going to get around to installing/fixing/repurposing “one of these days”. I’ll look there first when I’m actually ready to install lights at the end of the summer.
FYI everyone, the Batteries Plus at Shamrock Plaza will recycle florescent tubes for a charge of 50 cents per tube, which they will credit if you’re buying a replacement there.
Anyone know where to recycle VHS tapes?
freecycle.org?
Every time I have tried to give stuff away on freecycle, I deal with flakey unreliable people.
If you go that route, I recommend the “it is on the curb – first come first serve” approach and avoid anything involving scheduling a meeting time with someone.
I’ve gotten rid of lots of stuff on freecycle and never had anybody flake out. Not saying it doesn’t happen, just offering a different anecdotal report. In my experience, people have actually been very conscientious about showing up and at times, contacting me promptly if they change their minds or their schedule changes and they can’t make it as agreed.
Recommendations for a female primary care physician in Decatur?
Dr Steinberg or Dr Jarrett at the downtown Decatur DeKalb family practice.
I see the Kara Brown, the nurse practitioner at Dr. Chad Costley’s office on Ponce across from Taqueria. Highly recommend.
+1 for Kara (and of course Chad)
+1 for Dr. Chad and Kara. They’re both great, and so is the staff!
+1 for Kara at Ponce Primary Care and Dr. Costley too.
Love Dr. Anna Steinberg. She’s great and her office staff is pleasant to deal with. (404) 501-6363.
Seeking input (recommendations to use or avoid) for the following:
bathtub refinishing
interior painting
miscellaneous carpentry in upper reaches of room w/ 12-14 ft ceilings: install 2-3 kitchen wall cabinets, install storage shelf brackets, install hooks/brackets for eventual use of ceiling pot rack and some ceiling swag lights.
I’m a good Googler and YP browser. I’m looking for any firsthand experience or reliable second-hand hearsay you might have. Thanks!!
Not sure what kind of bathtub refinishing you need, but I have a rental property where I recently had this done on a steel tub/shower combo. I used a Bathcrest franchisee (Bill, in Lawrenceville) who applied a glazecoat finish on the tub and shower. He did a fantastic job, was on time, and performed the job for the quoted price. The tub looks brand new. The process works on most tubs. Can’t recommend highly enough.
I should add to my comment about the bathtub refinishing that the shower wall was tile and was sprayed with the glazecoat too (after he did some grout repair).
Thanks, I didn’t know could do that. The tub/shower has a tile surround that needs some attention to the grout. So glazing seals the grout, reducing (or even eliminating?) tendency to mildew?
Has it been long enough yet that you have an idea of how durable the new finish will prove over time?
No, it has only been a few months so I can’t attest to the durability (and I have tenants there now so haven’t looked at it in about a month). But the warranty period is five years.
To answer your other question, I’d assume the coating would help seal the grout, but I don’t know if that was claimed and I didn’t think to ask. My main concern was getting the tub safe and presentable looking for tenants.
Did this process to our bathroom walls and tub about 15 years ago. The walls still look great but of course the tub gets the wear and tear and we had it redone about seven years ago, and I’m fixin to do that again.
Don’t remember the name of the company but I don’t care cause they did NOT do the post-grout (grout or caulk?) sealing and that sure sounds like a smart idea. So we still contend with the creeping black stuff.
Keep in mind that the spray treatment is more delicate than re-tiling, so if you bang into the wall with something hard or pointy it will chip easily. I guess ripping out the old tile and putting in new is a more permanent solution. But if, like me, you live in a one bathroom house, it’s a lot easier to deal with this treatment than with construction.
It’s entirely possible there is no way to completely escape the creeping black stuff. But it’s less creepy somehow if it’s mine, grown from scratch in a pristine environment!
At the risk of being too nosy, is the “wear and tear” you speak of basically grown-ups bathing and routine cleaning? I’d hope to get more than 7-8 years out of this, OTOH it’s considerably cheaper and simpler than replacing tub & tile. I don’t think I could face that right now.
Yes, just two grown-ups daily use. And maybe too-aggressine cleaning.
Too-aggressive cleaning is almost never an issue at my house.
I was hoping you’d say you bathe a large, uncooperative dog in it. One reason I never considered having the beat-up tubs in my present house redone was the 40-lb dog with skin allergies that required a monthly bath (weekly during the summer). We tried various outdoor approaches but it was just easier to put her in the tub.
Since it’s that kind of post..I want someone to retile my master bathroom and shower. I want to use a local contractor that someone has experience with, that does high quality work. Kudzu and the like have been inundated with fake reviews, paid ads, and I’m having trouble sifting through this stuff in my limited time.
Pam the Plumber does excellent tilework & is a master plumber with extensive experience in the Decatur area. But, she is a one-woman operation, so you have to be patient with her scheduling with regard to emergencies, etc. She will give you high-quality work at a very reasonable price. 404.217.7539
I was reading the Decatur Focus and noticed in the recycling article that we are no longer allowed to recycle plastic grocery bags. Is this new? Seems like we are going back instead of forward on this. Thoughts?
I’m not sure we were ever able to. At any rate, the supermarkets where you get them have bins where you can take them when you go.
I had been recycling styrofoam (from the packaged meat at the supermarket) for a long time. Then, I saw in the Focus that these are not recycled.
I see that too. I guess I will have to start buying eggs that come in cardboard instead of styrofoam.
Wow I had no idea about the styrofoam. Throwing it in the recycling bin has made me feel less guilty about those take-away containers. Guess I’ll have to go back to the guilt. I learn so much from DM! I did know about the plastic grocery store bags. Apparently they blow around and get caught up in the equipment.
Some (actually most) styrofoam can be put in the bins. Read the number on it. It should not have food residue, though.
The meat trays do have a number, but the Decatur focus just says no styrofoam. The PDF from Latham (the recycler) says bags and styrofoam are ok.
http://www.decaturga.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=17
I went to the city website and to the Latham site (the recycler). The two pages are NOT in agreement. The PDF from Latham says plastic bags and styrofoam with a label are ok.
http://www.decaturga.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=17
Yep. Disagreement abounds on this. City staff are trying to cut through the noise & get a definitive answer on what can (and will) be recycled.
Part of the issue is that recycling haulers will sometimes take stuff that they don’t actually recycle (e.g., plastic bags) in order to get contracts with cities like ours that actually care about recycling those things. In that case, we all think something is being recycled but in fact it ends up in a landfill. (I could insert a story about Chick-Fil-A here, but I’ve said enough already…)
Bottom line for now:
– Take your plastic bags to Kroger or Publix to recycle
– Save styrofoam for the Decatur Electronic Recycling Days
Even the city’s website is confused on communicating its own policy. They say no styrofoam at:
http://www.decaturga.com/index.aspx?page=108
But the city-made poster (besides the PDF from Latham) in the inset on the same page also makes it clear styrofoam with a number is OK. Take a look at the link below, which is the poster size version of the unreadably small graphic on that page.
http://www.decaturga.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=1888
I am 100% sure that when I moved here 2 years ago,styrofoam with a number was clearly listed as a valid item. Our family was actually excited about it …
And I remember very clearly when they announced plastic garbage bags are okay…
It used to be you could recycle styrofoam if it had a number on the bottom.
You can take plastic grocery bags and styrofoam egg cartons to any Publix for recycling, the bins are usually at the front door.
Also, no milk/OJ cartons.
Where do those go (except the landfill?)
Eric Snowden, Paula Deen, and Aaron Hernandez walk into a bar…
They wind up being totally ignored because everybody in the place is either reading a book or glued to the TV waiting to hear in-depth analysis of this week’s SCOTUS rulings.
On the run, the butter’s off the bun, and where’d he ditch the gun?
Clever!
They are all leaking intelligence. Literally.
+1
ZING!
Good one.
LOL
They each order a beer.
Snowden drops his on the ground and the bartender asks him, “What happened?”
Snowden replies, ” I dropped out.”
Deen drops her on the ground and the bartender asks her, “What happened?”
Deen replied, “They all dropped me.”
Hernandez drops his on the ground and the bartender asks him “What happened?”
Hernandez replies, “It was Brady’s fault.”
Anyone know what is going on with the occasional geyser spraying at the boys & girls club near the dog park? I don’t know if it’s water or sewer but it’s making quite a muddy mess for passers-by.
I thought I was the only one who noticed that. I think it’s a lawn sprinkler, even though it’s just spraying the mud.
Something else we can brag about: Hartsfield-Jackson ranked 2nd nationally in an analysis of rail transit access.
http://reconnectingamerica.org/assets/Uploads/20120524PetersonMWT.pdf
I heard that Good Growth DeKalb is interested in turning the Baptist church across from Suburban Plaza into an arts center. Anyone know about this idea? It certainly sounds better than the Fuqua plan.
I’m interested in turning that property into a bunch of other things that would be better than what Fuqua has proposed. Unfortunately, I’m a few million dollars short of being able to do so. I suspect that GGD is in the same position.
Best part about that would be Melton’s could finally get a liquor license. They wouldn’t be 500ft from a church.
There is a Presbyterian church even closer to Melton’s.
Where/how to responsibly dispose of hazardous materials on one’s own timetable? Getting ready to move and need to get rid of stuff like old paint, old cleaning products, old/unused products from the garden shed. Assuming I can quell the impulse to dump it in a plastic leaf bag and smuggle it into a dumpster outside Decatur under cover of darkness, what can I do with it?
They say you can put cat litter in old paint and it will be safe to dispose of normally, but I don’t think that includes oil-based paint.
I’ve used it for oil based before.
Have done that before but don’t now have the time or the space or the mental bandwidth to deal with anything requiring multiple steps.
These people take a bunch of different recyclables and it’s drive thru. Recommend them highly!!!
Yes, three exclamation point good.
http://www.keepatlantabeautiful.org/?page_id=77
Recommendations for a male primary care physician in Decatur? Privileges at Piedmont Hospital would be helpful. Thanks.
Are there good primary care physicians with offices in the general Decatur area who admit to Piedmont? I would love to know because I prefer Piedmont over DeKalb Medical in terms of quality of care and vastly prefer Piedmont over Emory in terms of customer service.
Dr. Chad Costley @ Ponce Primary Care. Not sure of his hospital association though.
Is Heirloom Market BBQ going into the old Kitsch’n 155 space? It looks like their barbeque trailer has been parked in the lot the last few days.
Oh my. That would be great. I know they are looking to open another restaurant. I hear it will not be BBQ though.
That would be big news. Your question sent me to their Facebook page, which was just updated 30 minutes ago with this statement…
We have some bad news happening at Heirloom Market BBq: Starting Tuesday we will no longer have inhouse dining. We will become to-go and catering only. Cobb County and the DOT have decided that in the near future no on can park in any form of unpaved surface around the area. That includes our employees that park on our private property. So be careful in the future if you park on the side. They are threatening to enforce with tickets. We are also no longer aloud to have people stand and eat on the patio….thus limiting our seating and forcing us to move in this direction. All the parking spots in the front row facing the building will now be 10-15 minute parking including those in front of next door. I guess all the tax dollars we generate are not good enough and they are forcing this small business into a corner. Come tonight and tomorrow as it will be the last chance to stand or sit and eat at Heirloom.
Doesn’t answer your question, but something is definitely up.
They sure love their asphalt out in the ‘burbs.
Yay government!
Well, it is once again conservative small government folks in heavily Republican Cobb sticking to the small businesses! Too bad Heirloom isn’t a multi-national corporation. They would have exceptions left and right in terms of zoning….
It’s just more proof that no one can be trusted with power, regardless of what they tell you about their intentions.
Is it just me, or do you gotta think maybe somebody with connections wants the site?
It is not that great of site. That place is always packed at lunch… sad to see since this is right by my office. On the other hand there are plenty of empty restaurant sites just up the road from them.
in other words, turn it into a glass parking lot and let god sort them out.
nice, very nice.
If you haven’t been there, I can see how this might seem like a weird story, but Heirloom is in a tiny former dry cleaner location appended onto a convenience store and there are literally like 5-10 spaces and no other parking accessible nearby since everything within walking distance is gated apartment complexes. So from about 11:30 – 2:00 you end up with cars parked on the grass along the road for quite a distance and all sorts of parking and traffic chaos as people angle for spots (imagine Fox Bros. but with 1/4 the spaces and no street parking). I work less than a mile down the road and I will not go there during that peak lunch time. I just do a very late lunch or pick up dinner on the way home.
That said, I always enjoyed the communal shoulder-to-shoulder experience once you got inside. Fostered some great (usually food-related) conversations. So I’ll miss that.
Please be true!
The Moving to Portland Sale is happening! Tomorrow, Saturday June 29 from 10am-3 pm. We are selling it all: the doors and light fixtures, vintage clawfoot tub, furniture, (very) used washer/dryer, not to mention a whole houseful of stuff. No baby or kids stuff.
Everything is “make me an offer”!
241 Melrose Ave Decatur 30030
PS: Don’t come early, the Dude needs his beauty sleep!
Also in addition to regular house stuff, I’m lightening my load of things like video game items / board and card games / computer & electronic parts as well!
I just realized the people who came by and mentioned DM that i was a bit scatterbrained and didn’t introduce myself properly! Sorry bout that! Thanks for coming by!
No worries. I generally refrain from telling people I don’t otherwise know outside of this forum who I am because the usual reaction is “Ohhhhhhhh…..” And if the Mrs is with me, they usually turn to her and say “bless your heart.”
no prob! thanks again for coming by! the sale was an awesome success! cleared out a ton of furniture we don’t have to move now!
For anyone looking for something to watch while their regular tv series are on summer hiatus, check out the best series shot and set in Georgia. Nope, not The Walking Dead, but Rectify (though in a sense it’s also about the walking dead). The first six episodes ran on the Sundance Channel earlier this year, but I doubt many people caught it. It’s on DVD now and maybe streaming somewhere (but not Netflix). Might be too slow for some, but it sucked me in completely.
we’ve added five chickens to our family.
best. thing. evar.
WARNING: The Hazards of Raising Backyard Chickens
Why does no one in this city deliver cocktails?
My spouse does, to me, on the front porch most every night. You just have to hang with the right folks.
I need to switch TV/Internet providers. Too many trees for satellite and DSL is just too pokey for our family. We can’t cut the TV cord due to our addiction to live sports, mainly Premier League soccer from across the pond. So my options are either Uverse or Comcast. Any and all feedback about the TV and Internet services from either provider would be most appreciated.
If you know anyone with an account with a non-satellite provider carrying NBC Sports Network (I think it’s most all of them) who is willing to share their remote access username and password you’ll be able to watch all PL games next season as well as a boatload of shoulder programing. You’ll also be able to watch on mobile devices.
http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2013/04/16/nbc-sports-groups-2013-14-premier-league-programming-plans/
This gets asked a lot here, and I don’t know if there has been any consensus about which is better. In my experience, internet service has been much more reliable with Uverse than it was with Comcast. We don’t have cable anymore, but I don’t remember there being much difference between the two when we did, except for maybe somewhat better HD picture quality with Comcast. Customer service with Comcast was horrible; Uverse has been better, but maybe only because I’ve had to contact them less often.
What happened to the June 24 “Eye on the Street” photo and discussion regarding the large Egyptian-like statue on Aldridge in Scottdale? One mintue, folks were talking, the next minute — “poof”. Even the cache link does not work…….
I didn’t realize what it represented and it was resulting in some heated comments.
10-4. I only saw the first few posts – did not realize that the discussion had “blossomed”.
Shoot! I missed all this. What did it represent? Clearly, I’m either ignorant, or insensitive, but I’m curious. However, if the answer is hurtful to anyone, I can leave my curiosity unsatisfied.
Came across this article in the Atlantic about FallingFruit.Org – supporting “urban harvesting”
http://m.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/06/hungry-heres-map-every-urban-plant-you-can-snack/6054/
They have about 5 trees in Decatur tagged on their website – I know there are hundreds – but I’m not sure anybody wants anyone else to know about them, especially those on private property.
http://fallingfruit.org
What’s the word about school enrollment for nextyear? We’re only one month away, and I see growth everywhere. I know the rental house which is behind us was converted from a fourplex to a duplex and 2 families with school aged kids moved in immediately.
There will be a lottery to decide who gets into Westchester and who gets turned into soylent green. It’s the only fair way.
The prevalent wisdom is that condos/apartments don’t draw families with children. But I sure know a lot of children in multiple household housing. Hope it’s not like the official wisdom in 2004 that enrollment would decline even though there were babies everywhere.
Not exactly. The prevalent wisdom (or what should be the prevalent wisdom) is that condos/apartments are demonstrably less attractive to families with children than single family circumstances and that, disproportionately, people with children view life in a multifamily environment to be a trade-off, to be weighed against other decision factors, rather than a benefit.
Unsurprisingly, this has proven to be the case in Decatur as well. Of course there are children in our apartments and condos but, if you were to compare, say, the roughly 100 units in the Artisan with 100 single family homes in Oakhurst, the disparity would surely be glaring.
It’s true that that condos/apartments are less likely to have children than single family homes. What people are noticing is that the disparity seems to be less now. Units that used to never have children now do for a multitude of reasons, including the current high prices and low supply of single family homes in the CSD district, the relative attractiveness of CSD schools compared to neighboring districts, and the proximity to good private school options like The Friends School, Waldorf, Paideia, St. Thomas More, etc.
Exactly. Which is why the prevalent wisdom can’t be reduced to a black/white, hard-and-fast proposition. Conceptually, it’s a common and predictable variable but it’s the details of how it plays out in specific contexts (where it’s weighed against other unique variables like school desirability, home prices, failure of surrounding schools, etc.) that require some scrutiny if intended to be used in forecasting.
All that said, in Decatur, it remains a cash-positive strategy to direct growth to multifamily downtown development.
+1. (Disclaimer: Artisan resident with kids). Scott is right, and AtHome is right that the numbers are rising. It is all in what they mean.
I once worked out the math (back of the envelope …) from the tax digest. If you were to do the cold hard calculation of tax-revenue-per-child in multifamily housing like the Artisan, the number of kids in the Artisan could likely double or triple, and it would still be a “better deal” for CSD than what is happening with single family housing. And that is not likely happening fast. We still have a lot of empty nesters and retirees who are not going anyway (and they are an active bunch and an asset to Decatur). Finally – there are simply not that many units for sale or for rent.
The number are tiny – having looked at them all, most condos in downtown Decatur are simply incompatible with housing a family with 2 or more school age kids. The Artisan and 417 Clairemont are the only ones that offer anything over 1300 sf or so and/or have what I would call family-friendly floor plans.
So it is something to watch, but really not a huge factor – for now. I do wonder if the development at 315 intends to have many larger (3BR, 2BR+den) units. I suspect that today those would be more likely to attract families. I don’t know how CSD even does its forecasting (from its posted slide presentations, I am skeptical how sophisticated it is), but if they go down to a neighborhood/growth level, that should be taken into account.
Not sure why this is about Downtown housing. No question that places like the Artisan, Ice Lofts, and No-Walls Condos (don’t know number or name), are not going to be big sources of children, although they are providing a more than they used to. But there’s other types of condos and apartments all around Decatur, like the ones ww mentioned, often embedded in residential or commercial areas and not very noticeable. That’s where I’m seeing lots of kids in places where you never used to see them.
All this to say that I too wonder how the count is going. It was looking unusually high a month ago. Makes you wonder what the count will be a month from now………….but I’m leary of projections based on the past. You don’t want to project right before you hit the point of inflection where the trend changes.
I think downtown housing is focused on because that’s where the proposed new apartments would be.
I contend that the monthly cost of downtown rentals will continue to be a barrier for the vast majority of families with children. I have some experience with the rental market in general and have found that very few people will choose multifamily housing to be in a good school district if they can afford single-family housing in a good district further out in the suburbs.
Out of curiosity, what conversation did you anticipate when you posed the question?
Me? I didn’t pose a question, I don’t think. I was responding to ww’s comment that there’s a bunch of kids in the four-plex behind his/her house. I was basically saying that I wasn’t surprised because, despite the wisdom about condos/apartments being kidless, I’m familiar with more and more families with > one childs who have moved recently into condos/townhouses/apartments because that’s what they could find and/or afford within CSD. Not so much Downtown “high-rise” condos although I know of a few families in them. My interest is #1 how crowded will the schools be this year; even if class size is held down, there’s cafeteria and space issues; and #2 the magnitude of the upward enrollment trend is continuing and how it will be handled.
An entirely different issue is the ratio of tax revenue to # children per housing unit. This is where Downtown hi-rise condos rank high, other condos/apartments rank lower and may be decreasing in ratio value, and single family households rank lowest. A high ratio is good for Decatur tax-wise but, if the denominator increases, albeit less steeply than the numerator, you still have to deal with more children and space/class size issues.
“What’s the word about school enrollment for nextyear? We’re only one month away, and I see growth everywhere. I know the rental house which is behind us was converted from a fourplex to a duplex and 2 families with school aged kids moved in immediately.” — I was referring to your initial comment. Seems obvious to me that would elicit discussion about downtown housing, where the kids are coming from, etc.
That was ww’s comment rather than AHID.
Oick, my bad. AHID’s and ww’s quilt squares are nearly the same color and I am easily confused. To ww and AHID, I didn’t mean to come across as contentious.
I guess. To me, the discussion was initially about the increasing number of CSD-eligible children, even in condos, and what the heck that meant for overall enrollment. The fact that the high-rise Downtown condos/apartments are good for the development of a walkable, green Downtown Decatur is a different issue IMHO. WW wasn’t referring to Downtown condos. I guess the segue was that high-rise Downtown condos have less impact on enrollment than any other type of housing. I agree with that. We just have to understand more children is more children, even if it’s less more children than elsewhere.