Free-For-All Friday 11/8/13
Decatur Metro | November 8, 2013Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not yet 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 yet discussed here over the past week.
Comments close on Monday.
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FM Fats
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I’m first!! Wowzers!
Does anyone know if there is a site plan available that shows what Ebster field will look like after construction?
I believe DM covered this in August. http://www.decaturmetro.com/2013/08/09/decatur-city-commission-approves-renovation-plan-for-ebster-pool/
Ask Hugh Saxon or David Junger.
If you are out and about tonight, swing by Trinity Mercantile store for a meet and greet with 10 local artists and some locally brewed beer.
The event is 5-9:30 tonight at 131 E Trinity Pl, Decatur, GA 30030, next door to the Chick-Fil-A, across the street from the The Big Peach shoe store.
In the spirit of disclosure, my wife is one of the artists displayed!
Big game tonight for DHS Football! A win against St. Pious means playoffs for the Bulldogs.
@ EcoNuke,
I’m new to the community, and I’m interested in going to the game tonight. How does it work and at what time does it start? any advice would be greatly appreciated. I know to keep my IPhone out of sight
Thank you in advance.
Walking or driving?
Walking, Thank you Steve
Unfortunately, you have drive to this one. The last game of the season is on the road. As noted by Robert it is 7:30 at St. Pious. However, St. Pious has set up a shuttle for parking as theirs is limited. Details on the DHS Website/Athletics/Football, I believe.
The game is at Pius at 7:30
…so I wouldn’t recommend walking. You might need your iPhone to call a taxi.
With last night’s loss, is DHS out of the playoffs?
yes, it was do or die.
nevertheless, they had a great season and did far better than most, myself included, expected them to with all of the unexpected turnover in the coaching staff.
great job Bulldogs, we’ll get ‘em next year!
Please don’t shoot me for asking this, but I am curious as to what residents with younger kids (or those anticipating kids) think of the proposed new school districts. Our daughter is at F.Ave, so I don’t have a dog in this hunt, but in looking at the proposed districting maps, there are many things that don’t make sense. I don’t want to weight in with a vote, but I am interested to know what impacted people think. I would also be eager to see an overlay of what the districts were prior to to the change to K-3 vs. what is now proposed. ***Ducking now***
Here’s my two cents from a very granular perspective. We’re on Lamont Drive, currently zoned for Clairemont, and in all three maps under review (5-7), we would stay in Clairemont. That said, in both maps 6 and 7, half of Lamont as well as Garden Lane are re-zoned to Westchester, while the rest of Lamont and Vidal remain in Clairemont. That bothers me.
There’s been a lot of talk about keeping communities together, particularly with regard to Oakhurst and Winona Park. Yet our street (and our neighborhood) is cut in half. We have a strong neighborhood community that I think, in part, draws from all our children going to the same school. Under the recommended map, if I walk just a few houses east on our street, I’ll enter a different school zone.
I don’t see a lot of other examples of streets being cut in half like that, so I’ve sent an email to the committee and school board members asking that our street be kept in the same school zone, whether it be Westchester or Clairemont.
The Westchester zone in Map 7 looks identical to my memory of what it was before the configuration of 2003-2004, with the exception that it no longer has Gateway Homes. Talk about full cycle! Unfortunately, that cycle again flips Lenox Place out of its familiar school. I think Glennwood and Clairemont are pretty similar but I never knew those old zones as well. The south side is by definition different because College Heights and Fifth Avenue were K-5 schools back then and neither are in the mix now.
Don’t know. I remember the good old days when CSD was able to keep elementary class sizes under a limit of 25 children or less, with a cap of 20 for kindergarten. In addition, all kindergarten and first grades had a full-time parapro. Second and third grades had half a parapro. It’s a little more complex to do the accounting now because many classrooms have a special ed teacher in the classroom either full- or part-time. IMHO, more important than anything else, including brand of curriculum and electric whiteboards, is keeping the number of students in a classroom down and the number of effective adults up.
This comment belongs somewhere else. Sorry.
Evidently, the comment to which I was responding got deleted.
Sorry, that was mine. I deleted it because I thought it would be better to have it in the other thread. Then I got busy with work and didn’t get back to it. I do thank you for replying (or attempting to reply anyway).
My bad…I posted after several list-serve and facebook postings on the issue and before the DM article. I will move over there to educate myself.
Thanks!
Not sure where this belongs but since AHID’s comment is still here, I will reply o it here.
The class sizes you remember weren’t due to CSD .They were related to the state mandated class size max.
When my children were in elementary school – one is in college , one just out of college so about 14-17 years ago – Kindergarten classes had 28 students with para pro. Classes in older elementary grades could be as large as 32 with para pro. When Roy Barnes became Governor he passed education legislation that cut Kindergarten size to 18 and upper elementary classes to around 25. Since then, the legislature has gradually increased the class size maximums. CSD’s class sizes have risen accordingly.
With our small system, classes must be close to state mandated levels in order for the district to maximize state funding for classrooms. My kids were in CSD elementary just before the reorganization when enrollment was low. Nevertheless, class sizes were not small at Clairemnot, Westchester and Winnona.
I did not know Shirley Kendrick, but I was of course saddened by what happened and moved by the response of the community. This morning as I was walking through Oakhurst Park, I wondered what people would think of renaming the park for her. Since she was a strong presence in the Oakhurst community and specifically at the park, it just seems like the logical thing to do. Does anyone agree or know what steps to take to propose that to the city?
I think that’s a nice idea.
I don’t know what logistical hurdles would need to be cleared but this is an excellent idea and I hope that the City would allow it to happen.
At the least, the concession stand could be officially named after her.
+1 Perfect fit.
As someone who lived in Oakhurst for nearly 15 years and walked through that park all the time, but never was involved in any kid rec activities there I can tell you that I would never notice who the concession stand was named for or if it even had a name. Go for the whole park.
I thought the “Street Sweeping Tuesday” sign on Coventry was a nice notification, but it has been out there at least a month. I’m not certain if a sweeper made it by during that time span.
Call COD Sanitation and ask. 404-377-5571
Has anyone had any experience taking a child out of elementary for an extended trip? My husband is from another country and his father is very ill. We have planned this trip for nearly 8 months and contacted the school about this before we bought tickets, but I am still nervous. He would miss 10 nonconsective days of school and we have a plan worked out for schoolwork with teacher.
We had a similar experience dealing with family issues planned well in advance. Then we had an unplanned child illness shortly thereafter. I believe that if a child misses more than 6 days during any planning period/6 week period, you get a not-so-nice letter from the school district that you have to sign concerning truancy issues and then return. Ultimately, there was no problem, but I recommend that you contact the central office to let them know of your issue. You will likely still have to sign the truancy acknowledgment letter, but the more open and proactive you are, the more cooperative the school/school board will be. That was our experience. Bear in mind that state and federal funding are based on attendance, so the school and school board have to be very diligent about this issue.
Agree with advice to be open and proactive with school system. But be aware that they have limited options. A lot is set by law and funding. Some folks have had to disenroll their children and then re-enroll them upon their return.
Just try to work with the teachers. They cannot stop you. We have mostly found them accommodating.
At 10 days you will get a letter scolding you and telling you that they might need to talk with you or send a court appointed counselor. We got such a letter – nothing ever happened. They are just following the law.
Best part – we received a second letter with the sole purpose of telling us that due to state law, our child w 10 absences was not eligible to obtain a drivers license this year or next …. She was a 4th grader at FAVE
Clearly automatically sent, but still funny.
The days are not consecutive. There 5 days, then the break and then another 6. I feel better other people have done it. Mrs. Hall is going to talk to Mrs. Mack today or Monday. I talked to them last February but no one seems to remember
My advice is to write all communications with the school and teachers, and keep copies of all correspondence for yourself too. If it isn’t on a piece of paper, you can’t prove you told them anything and that might weigh against your child’s reentry into his/her class after your travels.
Good point. All the teacher discussions have been via email- we have been lesson planning. The front office is supposed to call on Monday; I will recap the conversation in an email and send it in.
Smart strategy. cc a copy of your email to yourself, so you can save/print it if you need to later on.
Agree that is smart strategy. Copy your spouse too.
Someone also told me before that you can do that by unregistering the child for the duration of the trip saying you’ll be home schooling, and re-register upon return… although there will be no guarantee the child will be in the same class.
There is a certain number of consecutive school days (and yours would be considered consecutive even though broken up by a break) that you can legally miss until you have to withdraw. I know there is a kindergartener currently at CL whose family is out of the country for a month and had to withdraw. Their plan is to re-enroll upon their return. That plan usually works just fine but I’d check your child’s grade level capacity (how many spots are open). I know Glennwood’s kindergarten is completely maxed. If someone withdrew, their spot could be taken pretty quickly as the district is getting new students each week. If their are multiple spots, you’d probably be fine for 3 weeks (one being a holiday).
The best person to contact would be your school’s administrative assistant. It is not something the teacher or principal really has control over. It is district policy. The administrative assistants know all about those particular policies. I’m not saying that the principal won’t have to approve it, but you might be able to get your information quicker by calling the front office and asking the AA about the policy.
That is who I am dealing with. The teacher is fine with what I am doing and approved our lesson plans. It looks like the Thanksgiving break with prevent me from having to disenroll him
Oh, and the school told me the break did make a difference
Our child was out 5 consecutive days for an out of the country, dying grandfather visit and out another 2 (2 months later) for an unexpected illness.
Similar…we had a discussion with the teacher and principal and both told us as parents it’s our choice to make the decision best for our child. We got the letter from the district and we got a call from the school counselor (months later) asking if everything was OK. All expected and all seemed OK.
What I didn’t expect was getting a letter at the end of the school year warning us that because of attendance we were in jeopardy of being disenrolled and that our childs attendance would monitored the following school year – eek!
That was enough for me to feel like maybe we shouldn’t have made that trip as a family and that I needed to keep attendance rules in mind should this happen again.
The disenrollment letter is a real threat to tuition families. Absentee records are often in error, for many reasons (e.g. child gives doctor’s note to teacher and somehow it doesn’t wend its way into records). Folks don’t worry about these errors until they get the threat of losing their tuition spot. A LOT of tuition families got a letter last year/summer and are staying on top of the situation this year.
For resident families, the threat of disenrollment is pretty hollow, right? They still have to let you back in if you are a legal resident of the City of Decatur, right? It’s probably a bureaucratic headache for a family, but not a disaster. The only huge threat might be if you attend an over-enrolled school and a child moves into the system and takes your child’s spot. Then you might be re-enrolled in a different school that has space.
Well, there probably won’t be many tuition families in the future for this to be a concern!
Yvette, I am sorry, but a dying grandfather outweighs attendance. You did the best thing for your child. Don’t doubt that.
So begrudingly I need some information about dance lessons for kids….I have 2 toddler girls (2.5 & 3.5) who are begging to go to dance class. Any recommendations?
Decatur/Dekalb YMCA
Decatur School of Ballet
are two places my daughter attended when she was younger. She had good experiences at both places.
Barefoot in Motion in Oakhurst
Barefoot is closed/closing/moving, FYI.
And Barefoot is an organizational disaster.
+1
Barefoot has reopened on Clairemont, next door to the Visitor Center.
I try really hard to cut and paste everyone’s service provider recommendations and keep them in a file for when I need them. So I apologize in advance because I know Orthodontics must have already been covered. Anyone willing to shout out for their favorite orthodontist? Prefer Decatur or Midtown. And seriously–how much are they generally? All I know is that they are EXPENSIVE! Thanks in advance!
We go to Dr. Clinebell (as does much of Decatur it seems.)
He is on LaVista not far from Montreal Rd.
He was great, the office is new and the staff very friendly.
Our two-year braces run cost about $5,500. IT was something like 40% down, with monthly payments after that.
Good luck.
It seems like most families I know use either Dr. Clinebell or Dr. Mary Lynn Crews.
We used the services of John Clinebell when he shared the building with Howard Grant. It was a fine experience, and you’re pretty much guaranteed to run into somebody you know in the waiting room.
As a former 8th grade teacher, I have seen hundreds of teens with braces. I love the “big reveal” day that often happens around age 14 when the braces come off!
I like Dr. Clinebell’s work the best. His smiles look perfect yet natural. When I decided to get braces myself, that’s who I chose.
Yeah- I could have spent that money to go to the Bahamas instead, but . . .
Wright Orthodontics at Toco Hills- I was extremely pleased!! I also felt like his prices were more reasonable than others.
We did #1 with Clinebell, and would never repeat what left lifelong issues, so #2 did Crews with excellent results, and much better long-term support.
A few readers here may remember that I made a remark a few months ago about how convoluted the new procedure was if you paid your water/sewer bill in person, with scanning the check, signing a voucher and then giving your check back to you while the County didn’t get their money any quicker. The clerks really didn’t like it, especially at the drive-thru, where it required at least 3 back-and-forths with the drawer, considerably slowing the line.
Well, they are back to the old system. I guess the vendor who convinced them to do that may be out of favor now that there is a new CEO in town.
Did you see today’s Google Doodle honoring Hermann Rorschach? It’s awesome. Unfortunately, every single one looks like a proposed CSD redistricting map.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/11/08/google-doodle-honors-hermann-rorschach-inkblot-test-inventor/
The way he used to laugh at Kotter always slayed me.
You are a true loon.
(that IS a compliment)
Funny, I thought all of the images looked like different parts of female anatomy…
What were these Horshak tests supposed to test for again?
(-:;-)
I thought they looked like various parts of Sandra Bullock’s anatomy while dressed as a nurse. Not even Vinnie Barbarino was as bad as I.
Anybody been to Pallookaville or the new Thrift Store up from the big Kroger’s? The pics of the corn dogs look yummy and the thrift store seems to have a lot of traffic.
Tried to go yesterday outside of normal lunch hour. Still jammed out the door. Guess I will wait a while.
Does anyone know the name of the thrift store Gatree is referring to?
I think US thrift store. If you are on North Decatur, going past Kroger, headed toward Memorial, it’s 1/2 mile on the right,
Interesting article in the WSJ Opinion page today, “We Have Not Yet Begun To Fight the Bike Lanes” by F.H. Buckley.
“…. And as for me, give me Liberty, or give me _______”
No argument that things are heating up in some places as certain factions, who’ve assumed ownership of public space, face the prospect of sharing it. But it’s worth noting that, in Decatur, our most visible bike lane project not only didn’t take people’s on-street parking, it actually created several spaces per home for people who previously had none.
That doesn’t surprise me, as Decatur tends in practice to be centrist and pragmatic rather than playing to the extremes left or right. So don’t count on the Bike Wars getting too bloody round these parts.
Thanks Scott.
“…as certain factions, who’ve assumed ownership of public space…” In my opinion, that has already happened in Decatur, where a small but influential interest group, bike riders and the organizations that support their agenda, call the shots when it comes to transportation decisions. I can’t think of a single proposal when bike riders did not get what they wanted.
“… our most visible bike lane project not only didn’t take people’s on-street parking, it actually created several spaces per home for people who previously had none”. Assuming your describing the West Ponce bike lanes, yes it’s true that parking was created for homeowners that already had plenty of parking in their driveways. And the parking on Church Street was not created for homeowners, but for park visitors. And a property owner on N. McDonough has already told me that the upcoming proposal actually decreases parking for businesses. This business person also thanked me for the info on the upcoming N. McDonough street improvement meeting because no invitation was sent to the property owners.
“…Decatur tends in practice to be centrist and pragmatic…” I can only speak from experience. I opposed bike lanes on Church Street. I attended at least one meeting, maybe two where I expressed my concerns about traffic congestion and the danger of encouraging people, especially young kids, to bike on this dangerous road. But my views are ignored. Decatur is centrist and pragmatic only if you support the transportation plans of the minority. The concerns of property owners and people who have to work (and drive) for a living are ignored.
But hey, that’s just my opinion.
Just curious:You imply that your views are those of the majority , so I was wondering how many other people aligned with you at these public meetings?
Like all things, Chris, it’s a matter of perspective based on what matters to you. That’s all good. But you seem to see recent bicycle infrastructure decisions as only bicyclists getting what they want. For that, allow me to offer an analogy:
Let’s say there were a dozen apples that had come from a community-funded orchard. For years, all 12 apples were given to Mr. Car because he was big and powerful and everybody seemed to like him. But lately, he’s been falling out of favor with some folks, who find him a little overbearing and some of his habits a little obnoxious. So Mr. Bike goes before the commission and says, “I know that Mr. Car is a powerful man with many folks in his camp but would it be possible that, say, some of those apples might come to my family? That would still leave Mr. Car with a hefty share. All I ask, as a member of the community, is enough of this shared resource to ensure I don’t whither.”
So the commission allots 3 of the 12 apples to Mr. Bike. From Mr. Car’s view, Mr. Bike got everything he wanted but as Mr. Bike sees it, he’s still existing on a third of what is given to Mr. Car. So there you go. If you start from a position of unfairness, anyone benefiting from the status quo will be inclined to keep things the way they are, and will see any successful efforts to reallocate public resources as activists dictating the process. But it’s a hard sell to suggest that the bicycle lobby is all that powerful when they still end up with the far smaller fraction of the pie.
I think it is more a question of whether the power held by a group is proportional to it’s numbers.
it’s not just the group that’s wielding power. the community and city are also asserting a vision for the future which encourages less reliance on cars and more on bikes and walking as a way to increase community health while decreasing auto emissions.
this seems to be a macro trend among more progressive communities and while it may strike some as paternalism or nanny stateism, to me it’s a laudable policy direction—our over reliance on cars in the metro area is one of our weaknesses re: quality of life.
“it’s not just the group that’s wielding power. the community and city are also asserting a vision for the future which encourages less reliance on cars and more on bikes and walking as a way to increase community health while decreasing auto emissions”
Well said, Rick. You are right, this is neither a case of a vocal minority nor a nanny state driving progress.
That’s sort of a weird analogy, because bikes can use the roads whether or not dedicated bike lanes are present.
So can cars. The issue is not bike lanes or no bike lanes but rather the shared understanding that the space from property line to property line — what we call the street — is public space. It is the shared resource of all if us and it’s incumbent on community at the local level to determine, through local process, how that space should be divvied up. It’s a reflection of local values. Just because some members of the community might disagree doesn’t invalidate the process. Democracy is no guarantee that you get everything you want. Personally, I’m not a cyclist and might even be inconvenienced by bike lanes. But that doesn’t matter, as I hate monocultures because they’re not competitive in the long run. So I like bike infrastructure.
I agree with you re: shared space, but I thought the limited issue in ths thread was, in fact, bike lanes, as that’s what Mr. B posted about.
In any event, I come at it from what sounds like the opposite end of the spectrum. I bike commuted nearly every day for about 6 years, and almost never used bike lanes, nor wanted them. The y seem to be somewhat divisive and largely unnecessary (though admittedly in limited cases, they do work well). In some cases they are counter-productive to cyclists. I just don’t understand the big push for them, except (as hinted at above) more nanny state social engineering.
Drivers suck. Cyclists suck. Sharrows are just a joke.
But Scott gets a gold star for using “allot” correctly, to mean doling them out rather than meaning he’s got allot of fruit.
Hi!
The Science of Fun will have full day STEM (science technology engineering mathematics) break camps during the Thanksgiving break and December holidays! We also have just expanded our K-5 Tues/Thurs afternoon classes to accept more kids (we filled up on our first month- yippee!).
We had a great time on the Nov 5 teacher workday. We built roller coasters, designed and tested aluminum foil boats, had an egg-drop contest, and ended the day with Mentos and Diet Coke fountains.
Thanks to everyone who joined us and to DHS students Becca and Joey Emerson for volunteering to help!
Please join us for a break camp or for our K-5 Tues/Thurs afternoon classes- http://www.TheScienceofFun.org
Thanks!
Kris Webb
former Renfroe Science Department Chair
Is this a STEM sell?
Rim shot!
2 points!
Question: When you use a service like Onyx for massive computer revival, should you tip the particular professional who helped you? I certainly wouldn’t at the Apple Store. And I don’t usually tip for professional services, e.g. dental, tax, alterations. But it hit me that I probably would have paid the same service fee whether the computer professional recovered my data or wasn’t able to. And I’m sure that the extra effort I saw recovered more data. But I just paid the fee and didn’t tip. And if I could have tipped, what amount? 10% of the cost of the repair/recovery would have been over my budget.
Anyone know what movie is being filmed in Decatur today? Apparently Samuel L Jackson and Jessica Alba are in it.
Barely Lethal.
Tell me that is not really the name.
Anyone have any good BBQ recs? Wyatt’s looks promising – lots of smoke, downscale. Fox Bros was recommended, and it was fairly good, but it was too much salt, not enough smoke for my tastes.
Old Hickory House near Northlake Mall. Real BBQ-they are cooking it in pits in front of you. Moist, flavorful pork. Their Brunswick stew is the best as well.
+1 It may be a chain, but it fits the bill pretty well.
Community Q
Fox Bros is great too.
I really love Burnt Fork. I find Community Q bland, even though the sides are okay.
Never been a fan of burnt fork…. always felt like community q had more flavor. Different strokes
For ribs we’ve been pretty happy with Miss Betty’s House of Ribs in a double wide in the Texaco station at Fayetteville Road and Bouldercrest in East Atlanta.We’ve been happy also with Wyatt’s. There’s excellent Q ta Taqueria el Vecino in Oak Grove, surprisingly.
Looking for recommendations for precooked Thanksgiving meals from a store or restaurant. Unexpectedly in the position of having to feed 10 people. Dining out not an option. Not looking for anything too fancy or too cheap.
We have used the The Colonnade for exactly such a scenario. I have never thought their normal food was anything to write home about, but their Thanksgiving is excellent.
Tried last week, will try again: Got a chimney that, as far as I know, has not seen use since the Ford Administration. I’m guessing it’ll need flue cleaning, etc. Any advice?
Try LM Richardson- (404) 289-1695. Great service and prices.
Does anyone know the best way to get car detailing/car wash done at Pure? Call? Just show up? I haven’t seen hours posted on their physical or online sites.
At Home in Decatur, just give us a call here at PURE and we can schedule you in for a detail. Our phone number is 404-856-0393, Just ask for Barrett and we’ll get you taken care of! Thanks!
Evidently a big accident earlier this morning near Scott and Clairemont, maybe involving a Decatur police officer. I might have heard the clunk of the accident but I didn’t hear the helicopters folks are talking about. Not sure of status now.
Let us know what you hear.
We heard the helicopters for a good 20 minutes on Garden. I could have actually slept in this morning if not for the dogs being very unhappy about the choppers. Seemed to be police, fire and ambulance sirens all responding to. I actually just came here to see if anyone was talking about it to find out what happened.
Dang, did I just give away my super secret Parrot Head identity? Doh!
I am looking for a recommendations for furniture refinishing. We have a couple of old chests we want to have redone instead of buying new pieces to replace.
Braves: why? This is one season ticket holder who won’t be renewing once you relocate to Cobb Co.
I will believe it when I see it. Kasim Reed isn’t going to allow this to be his legacy.
I hope you are right. For us east siders, they could hardly have picked a worse spot for a new stadium. And I find the notion that Turner Field needs hundreds of millions in renovations to be laughable.
How about southsiders? Their journey could easily take 30 more minutes than it already does. Plus, public transportation?
I am with you DEM – plus, I can’t imagine the people of North Fulton or Gwinnett are very happy either. As of now, they can drive to Marta and take that into the city if they don’t want to deal with the traffic.
After a move to Cobb, there are no options other than to drive, and may even take longer from areas like Johns Creek, Duluth or Alpharetta.
this is all about the Falcons getting some public funding for improvements, and the Braves wanting their cut…
Interesting that the Tea Party hotbed, Cobb County, is going to provide public funding for the stadium.
There goes that nanny county!
Sadly, public financing of sports teams and stadiums is a mania that knows no party affiliation.
We’ll see. The deal was negotiated in secret, but now that it’s public the $450 million tax bill for Cobb County will be very controversial. Throw in the backlash from additional traffic in that area, and then all of this talk about possibly adding Marta/CCT mass transit to the site, and I don’t think this idea is going to be so popular up there.
WHat??