Photo submitted by Chris

From Decatur PD…

On 09/29/13 at approximately 1:32 am, Decatur Police were dispatched to a burglary in progress in the 500 block of Kirk Road.  The homeowners reported hearing their burglar alarm activate and then hearing a commotion downstairs.  Officers located a cut in the screen door leading to a rear porch, which had previously been latched.  A screen had been removed from an unsecured rear window leading from the porch into the living room.  A large flat panel television was ripped from it’s mounting bracket and taken from the living room.  Other valuable items in plain view in the living room were left untouched.  It appeared the suspects left the residence through the same window they entered.

On 09/29/13 at approximately 2:18 am, Decatur Police responded to a burglar alarm in the 100 block of Hilldale Drive.  The homeowner told the alarm company someone had attempted to open the front window, but were unsure if they had gained entry.  Officers arrived and conducted a check of the residence (inside and out) with negative results.  Officers located a window on the front of the house which was open approximately three inches.  Officers located two other windows on the residence which were unsecured but unopened.  No items were taken and it did not appear the suspect(s) made entry.

On 09/29/13 at approximately 10:15 am, Decatur Police responded to the 200 block of Buchanan Terrace in reference to a burglary.  The complainant reported he went to sleep the previous night at approximately 11:00 pm and woke to find the door to the storage closet located in the back of the open carport of the residence open.  This door was previously secured with a padlock.  It appeared the latch was pried off.  Miscellaneous tools were missing from the storage closet.  An officer located the missing tools inside of a vehicle parked in the carport.  The vehicle had a broken steering column but was previously inoperable and would not have started anyway.  There was also a bicycle missing from the front porch of the residence.   An additional entering auto was reported at the residence across the street.  An unsecured vehicle was entered and a wallet was taken.  A bicycle that did not belong to either victim was located in the second victim’s front yard.

The Medlock Area Neighborhood Association website has an excellent, extensive summary of the North Decatur Road Safety Audit presentation last week.  Cutting to the chase, here are the audit’s official recommendations…

1) a complete street conversion (“road diet”) to reduce North Decatur Road from 4 lanes to 3, by creating a center turn lane and bike lanes. Study of this option suggested.
2) create a multi-use trail to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists
3) widen the street to create a “complete street boulevard” (which includes 2 traffic lanes and a center turn lane, dedicated bike lanes on each side, and dedicated pedestrian sidewalk on each side)

But of course, funds are limited…

…the County’s resources are limited for doing necessary improvements. For example, the County has ~2,000 miles of roads but, with a $120 million resurfacing shortfall, the budget only allowed for the resurfacing of 35 miles of roads. Patrece added that road maintenance is HOST based, so, the County splits available funds with its cities.

That said, neighborhood representatives seem encouraged by the County’s willingness to address and consider these issues and there are a number of less expensive work-arounds that are mentioned throughout the post that seem much more likely to become reality.

Map courtesy of MANA from the DeKalb 2014 Transportation Plan - which deserves it’s own separate post at some point!