Nelson Ferry Road, Decatur GA

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From Decatur Police Sgt Jennifer Ross…

On 09/02/14 at approximately 7:11 pm, Decatur Police responded to a burglary in progress in the 200 block of Mountain View Street. The complainant reported witnessing four young black males knock on a neighbor’s door and then walk to the rear of the house. He heard glass breaking and called 911. Another neighbor yelled at the suspects and they fled in a black Jeep Cherokee. Additional neighbors also witnessed the suspects fleeing. Officers observed the rear door to the home to be forced open and the glass of the rear door to be shattered. No items appeared to be missing. The witnesses were able to provide physical and clothing descriptions and a tag number for the Jeep Cherokee.

A Decatur officer located the Jeep in the 300 block of East Ponce de Leon Avenue and observed a juvenile male running from the area. Another Decatur officer located and detained the juvenile in the 200 block of East Ponce de Leon Avenue. It was later determined the Jeep had been stolen from a driveway in the 700 block of South Candler Street sometime after 5:45 pm but the owner had not yet noticed the Jeep was missing until officers contacted them about recovering the vehicle.

Witnesses positively identified the juvenile detained by officers as one of the suspects. The juvenile was found in possession of a large screwdriver and empty magazine for a handgun. The juvenile, a 14-year-old male from DeKalb County, was charged with burglary and theft by receiving stolen property.

Not a lot of new info in this WABE article, but it does point out that both Druid Hills and the Medlock neighborhoods have been sort of stranded in the larger cityhood conversation and they very quickly need to figure out where they want to go.

We need to act rather than be acted upon,” says Justin Critz of the Druid Hills Civic Association. He says the group is asking its 4,400 homeowners and renters to pay attention to what is going on in the cityhood debate. Critz says the association is gathering information and putting it out to residents.

That is also happening in Medlock Park, a neighborhood with some 1300 homes near the Decatur city line. Lynn Ganim, acting president of the Medlock Area Neighborhood Association, says, “We have no clue what sort of power we have or what could happen to us, but we want to make sure that people are educated about options.”

At last night’s meeting, the Decatur City Commission had a 47 minute, open discussion on the “Compassionate Decatur” project and ultimately after a first vote to table that was voted down, the Commission unanimously voted to table the project vote until October.

City Manager Peggy Merriss started out by clarifying that Decatur’s signing of the Charter of Compassion – which stemmed from religious scholar Karen Armstrong TED talk which focuses on “restoring the golden rule” –  just provides a framework for having some difficult conversations.  Mayor Jim Baskett clarified that this project didn’t come from the city’s “Compassionate Charter”, but from discussions with the Decatur Coalition about the city’s desire to have more conversations about “where we are with diversity in the city”.  In response to a question from Commissioner Garrett, the Mayor stated that the project would be broad, encompassing the issues of racial diversity in the city – brought up by the Coalition – and beyond.

Commissioners Drake and Boykin expressed concern about a lack of details in the current project proposal with the amount of money being spent.  Commissioner Boykin also expressed concern that the project wasn’t put out for bid, while Commissioner Drake wished he could see other options before committing to any one approach.  “I want to see some different ideas. …It seems like a very quick plan without a lot of time to digest it or a lot of other options.”

In terms of cost, the city manager described the “levels of complexity” in having stackholder meetings surrounding the topic and why the $25,000 and additional funding is necessary to have proper facilitation on the topic.

Framing the conversation, Mayor Pro-Tem Kecia Cunningham reiterated that census data showed that Decatur is losing diversity in both race and income. She continued,”There is a place for an intentional dialogue about what diversity means to us as a community.  Maybe we don’t care anyone  …That bothers me personally.  So my question is ‘Does it bother you?’ And if it bothers us enough and we talk about it enough, then maybe we will do something about it.  Personally, I’m tired of us just yammering.  Over the 14 years I’ve been on this commission, I can say we’ve lost 20% of the African American population.  Our median income has gone up a tremendous amount.  Is that good? Is that bad?  I promise you, Detroit would love to be in our situation.  …I’m ready for us to do something.”

The conversation continued for another 20 minutes before the city unanimously tabled the vote for five weeks “for the sake of getting some more information” in the words of Commissioner Drake.  In response to Mayor Pro-Tem Cunningham, Commissioner Drake agreed that the commission was “committed to having the conversation” once they came back to the table on October 6th having discussed options and being given more information.

You can watch the 47 minute discussion HERE.