A quick post to let you know what’s going on in literary (and porkarary) Atlanta during the next seven days.

This Week

Allen Kurzweil, author of Potato Chip Science (an Atlanta Science Festival event), Thursday, March 27th at 7pm, Little Shop of Stories, free.

Girls Gone Sci-Fi Tour with Jessica Brody (author of Unremembered), Jessica Khoury (Origin, Vitro), Tamara Ireland Stone (Time Between Us, Time After Time), and Lauren Miller (Parallel), (not an Atlanta Science Festival event), Friday, March 28th at 7pm, Little Shop of Stories, free.

Austin Kleon, author of Show Your Work!, Friday, March 28th at 7:15pm, Decatur Library (sponsored by Georgia Center for the Book), free.

Mail Chimp presents Baconfest 2014, Saturday, March 29th at 1pm, Dad’s Garage, $27 to $92 (depending on the level you wish to pig out).

Kate Sweeney, author of American Afterlife: Encounters in the Customs of Mourning, Saturday, March 29th at 7pm, Little Shop of Stories, free.

Emory professor Patrick Allitt, author of A Climate in Crisis: American in the Age of Environmentalism, Monday, March 31st at 7:15pm, Decatur Library (sponsored by Georgia Center for the Book), free.

Dr. Michael Saag, author of Positive: One Doctor’s Personal Encounters with Death, Life, and the US Healthcare System, Tuesday, April 1st at 7pm, Carter Presidential Library and Museum Theater, free.

Here are the details..

Wednesday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m.
Decatur Recreation Center
231 Sycamore St.

Decatur Neighborhood Alliance will meet on Wednesday, March 26 at 6:30 p.m. at Decatur Recreation Center. Representatives from the police department will provide an overview of crime trends in Decatur and walk you through examples of how issues are addressed. The presentation will also include a summary of educational programs offered by the police department as well as a “Quick Tips” session covering basic crime prevention information for the crimes/trends/issues we most commonly see in our community.

Representatives from Decatur neighborhood associations, condominium associations, block associations, and anyone interested in starting a neighborhood group are invited to attend. City staff will be available to answer questions. Please call or email to confirm your attendance and/or update your neighborhood association listing that is currently posted on the website.

As part of the agenda items included for the Decatur School Board’s April 1st meeting is updated enrollment figures compared to CSD’s projections.  Registration for new 4-12 grade students just opened on March 17th, so this is an early look at those levels, while kindergarten registration opened at the beginning of March.

Enrollment in many grades is still below projected enrollment levels, while grades 10-12 have already exceeded it.  In a March 2013 Atlanta Magazine piece on CSD closing its tuition program, Superintendent Phyllis Edwards noted that the main registration period was generally in “late spring or summer”.

In total, there are already 66 more students enrolled than went to CSD last year.  At this early stage there are 319 spaces before CSD hits its projection, with 90 of those in kindergarten.

The first day of school is August 4th.

Here are the details…

Decatur Farm to School’s main fundraiser is tonight from 5pm to 9pm at a variety of restaurants throughout the city, including: Brick Store Pub, Cakes & Ale, The Iberian Pig, Farm Burger, Lawrence’s Cafe, Leon’s Full Service, Matador Cantina, Raging Burrito, Sapori di Napoli, Steinbeck’s, Universal Joint, and Wahoo! Grill. A portion of every purchase during that time will be donated to Decatur Farm to School to support programs like the taste tests, school gardens and cafeteria nutrition. T-shirts and raffle tickets will also be sold at most of the locations. Come enjoy a night out in Decatur tonight with your family and support a great cause!

Do you like to discuss stormwater runoff and infrastructure in your spare time? Well then…

STORMWATER | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26 | 7-9 PM | DECATUR CITY HALL

Join us Wednesday, March 26, from 7 – 9 p.m. at City Hall, 509 N. McDonough St., for the second of our UDO Drill-Down sessions. Members of the UDO engineering team will be on hand to present on Decatur’s stormwater challenges and how those challenges are currently managed.

More information about this and future Unified Development Ordinance meetings is available at DecaturNext.com

A recap of the Community Character meeting can be read here.

Also a new post on Decatur Next gives a more detailed overview of the issue and what you can expect at the Wednesday night session, including some interesting “unresolved questions”:

1. Trees. Trees aren’t currently recognized, at least in the code, for their ability to absorb water and contribute to stormwater reduction. This results in trees being periodically removed to allow for required stormwater retention systems, creating a scenario in which addressing one problem (retention) exacerbates another (tree canopy). Should the UDO rectify this?
2. Green Infrastructure. A variety of low-impact, lower cost, green interventions — such as permeable concrete, grass-paving systems, rain gardens and cisterns — have reached the point where they’re now proven and recognized within state ordinances. Should Decatur add these approaches to its list of choices in how homeowners can meet requirements? Which green approaches do you prefer? Is there anything we haven’t thought of?

Photo courtesy of The Decatur Minute