Free-For-All Friday 11/21/14
Decatur Metro | November 21, 2014 | 7:48 amFeel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here in the past week.
Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not discussed here in the past week.
Deanne
At Home in Decatur
Marais
Scott
Mic
Mic
Scott
David
Revenue Neutral Hous…
Revenue Neutral Hous…
Mary
At Home in Decatur
Is it just me or is it actually a fact that the new AJC.com is totally worthless?
lol. It’s completely unusable. Mind-bogglingly bad design.
The old version was not great, but this new one is worse. Awful and slow.
The design has been so bad for so long, it’s almost a mystery. (My personal favorite: ‘Breaking News Sponsored by Xfinity’ — a newspaper’s news is sponsored by a cable company?)
That they blew the chance to improve it — making it worse — is beyond comprehension. You could argue that the logic is to make the free site so bad that you want to go over and pay for the MyAJC.com site — yet you can’t get a digital-only subscription to MyAJC.com. You have to take at least a day or two of home delivery.
(If I have that last part wrong, someone please inform me. I’ve looked and tried to buy digital-only.)
Looks like it was done from a free website template. Just awful.
Ridiculous when the newspaper web site for a major metropolitan city looks like like USA Today meets TMZ.
Had to go see, couldn’t believe it was THAT much worse than it’s been for years. Weirdly, it is. I can barely sort out the news items from the paid ads. Wish I could believe that’s intentional instead of a sad commentary on the state of journalism.
Spot on as usual, STG. Print media is hurting.
It is awful! Little valuable content, too many graphics, too much white space.
You’re right, but some are worse. Take a look at nola.com form New Orleans.
The flashing, jumping images are good for triggering seizures.
And it’s a bandwidth hog.
My favorite part is the “Things to Do By AJC Access Atlanta” that lists events (like a 4th of July celebration) that are months old. Pathetic!
As someone who has access to myajc.com–I can report that it’s a mess too. A different mess. To get it to work from some computer systems I’ve had to do some weird “Translate from bing” thing. You end up in archives when you’re looking for current columns. My sense is that, not only is the new design screwed up, so is the IT structure behind it. Kind of reminds me of the rollout of HealthCare.gov–couldn’t they have hired someone who could do the job right?
Two differences: First, the federal government had plenty of money to get it right (and still couldn’t manage it). The AJC is looking under couch cushions for pennies. Secondly, heatlhcare.gov eventually got fixed and actually works quite well now. I have zero expectation that the AJC’s web presence will ever improve…At best it’ll eventually just go away.
“Quite well” in the sense that it doesn’t crash. But my understanding is that back-end functions are still largely not functional. Security is a big concern, and the website still takes applicants’ word for it with regard to income and subsidy eligibility, which is frankly pretty amazing.
I’m sure they’ll get Gruber on the job post-haste.
The horror that is ajc.com is apparently not limited to AJC. The Austin American Stateman (also owned by Cox) has the same template. So these bad decisions are being made at an even higher level?
I’d say you’re right. Palm Beach Post uses it too.
sfgate also has switched to this template- I hate it.
I wouldn’t think that Cox would use a different template for every one of their papers. Has anyone checked the Dayton paper? I’ll bet it’s the same.
There seems to be two issues for the new external AJC website: 1) an awful redesign; and 2) IT malfunction. For the internal myAJC site, even though the design change is much less radical and pathetic, the IT malfunction is still there.
It’s awful, but I think it also has to do with the lack of any actual news on the free site. They’ve got any stories worth reading behind their paywall, and the remaining free site looks like some sort of trashy gossip site, which I guess it sort of is. Every time I break down and purchase access to the main site for a day, I’m always disappointed. I just can’t justify paying for this paper.
Yeah, it’s terrible. Why is it so photo-heavy, making it more difficult to use? Did some survey indicate that AJC users prefer pictures to words? Why don’t newspaper sites emulate what the NYTimes does? It’s not perfect, but it’s so much easier to engage with than most others.
A few months ago it became really difficult to find local news stories, too much entertainment, which prompted me to pay a little more attention to the morning news and just investigate stories I wanted to know more about on my own, from local blogs or other sources. A week or so ago I heard a story in the car and went to the AJC, and was pretty dismayed with everything I saw, absolutely nothing local, and couldn’t locate anything.
I am not at a shortage for local news, haven’t “read” the ajc online in months, don’t need it at all. I feel pretty envious when I see cities papers that we should be comparable with journalism wise, and this is what we are stuck with in terms of a major newspaper. I’m sure the reporters and people working at the AJC are perfectly competent, this strategy appears to be a top down thing, management really seems like it has lost it’s focus on actual news, they don’t seem as if they have a purpose related to news, or the city. Rant over
Can anyone recommend a good web hosting company? I need to move about 5 GB of web pages and images.
@Decaturite Mom
Amazon Web Services
http://aws.amazon.com/websites
bluehost.com
If you’d like local, reasonably priced with good support I can recommend krohnert.net
Where would you go if you were looking for a fresh Christmas tree that’s tall and very skinny, maybe 9-10′ tall and no more than 3′ biggest diameter? (After Thanksgiving)
@smalltowngal
Winnona Park Elementary Holiday Tree Sale
The tree sale will start on Sunday December 7th from 11:00am to 3:00pm.
Fraser Fir trees and wreaths are delivered freshly cut from a farm in North Carolina.
There are several sizes to choose from.
I believe the Winnona Park Elem. Christmas tree sale is on Saturday December 6th. 9-3
We always get our trees from Troop 103 on Lawrenceville Highway.
Actually, you are both correct. The sale begins Saturday, Dec 6 at 9 AM and end at 3 PM. The tree sale will also be open on Sunday (12/7) from 11 AM to 3 PM, until supplies last. Fraser Fir trees and wreaths are delivered freshly cut from a farm in North Carolina. There are several sizes to choose from, with prices ranging from $65-$85. Checks and credit cards are accepted.
First Christian Church always has an excellent selection and a well-organized production line. There’s also tree sales by the Boy Scout Troop that meets behind Oakhurst Presbyterian.
Thanks to those of you who provided Thanksgiving volunteering ideas last week. I had hoped someone would have a last minute suggestion because it seems all the non-profits are maxed out with volunteers!
If you’re still looking, I’ve got a yard you can rake…
Worth a shot.
Ha Ha
See Smith’s post.
Good one, Lump–made me holler. 😀
Decatur Co-op Ministry needs volunteers for thanksgiving baskets on Monday and Tuesday of next week
4043719334 or 4042844411 call today and leave msg about volunteering.
DPD misses an amazing revenue collection opportunity each and every morning. If they were to position themselves at or around the Church St, Medlock/Forkner corner any day of the week- say between 5 a.m.- 7 a.m., they would have a field day. Shooting fish in a barrel comes to mind. School buses, USPS tractor trailer trucks, and the average Joe… race down that hill.
YES!
One if the restrictions on running radar is that the slope of the road cannot be greater than a certain amount. That hills coming down to that intersection may be greater than allowed.
That’s the best part. If the po’po’ were a little farther down, (the dirt road to the park maybe?) they could clock them at top speed! I rarely see brake lights at all.
10% grade IIRC. I think that may be only state roads though.
If course, DPD could just do what lots of agencies do, and write tickets anyway, throwing out any of the few that mention the secret “10% rule”.
Josh I am pretty sure it’s 6%, not 10. And it only means (assuming the hill is in fact 6%, which it may not be) that speed detection devices can’t be introduced as evidence. The cop can still testify as to his visual estimate of speed, though obviously that’s a lot less likely to hold up if the driver contests the ticket all the way to an actual trial.
It’s that time of year. No, not the holiday season – leaf season. Email [email protected] to get them removed.
Is anybody else finding that someone is drawing smiley faces with a slash through them in the moisture on their car windows? Might this be connected to the rash of car break-ins?
Doubtful, probably just grumpy teenagers.
I would be thankful it’s only smiley faces…
You’re not the person who parks too close to me in the parking decks are you?
We’ve decided to take the kids to see Santa this year. Which mall experience will be the least painful? Is there anywhere you can sign up for an appointment window ahead of time? Thanks in advance.
See the thread “Breakfast with Santa Tickets Now on Sale”. We managed to get through umpteen kid-years of Santa belief without ever having to get on a mall line by attending the Decatur Santa event instead. Much more enjoyable IMHO.
We’ve always had good luck with Santa at North DeKalb Mall. Never waited more than 10-15 minutes. The Santa at Phipps does take reservations, but according to his website they are full for this season.
Seconded. The North Dekalb Santa is fantastic (both in appearance and professionalism). Last year was our first experience with him and we got a wonderful photo out of it. And a lot of this is due to the lack of wait time, minimizing stress on kids (and parents). After years (pre-kids) of witnessing the seething chaos that is the Phipps Santa experience, we knew we wanted no part of it.
Also, I think it got canceled last year (or maybe we just missed him), but photos with Santa on the Decatur bandstand (which in the past coincided with the Decatur bonfire/marshmallow roast) is also a pretty low-stress way to get the kids on Santa’s lap, although the outdoor nighttime setting under artificial light (and kids likely bundled up) may not yield the ideal photo.
+++ on N. DeKalb Mall Santa. This will be our 15th year to visit him (and it’s been the same great guy the whole time). If you go on a weeknight, there might be 1 family in line.
+1 North DeKalb Mall (thinking this is the only “Santa experience” that we repeated because of the wait time or lack of wait time).
Breakfast with Santa with Santa arriving in the fire truck is good too. Seems like Santa was at the Decatur bonfire – check the city’s website (looks like that will be Dec. 18th). We’ve seen him while eating eating out on a Terrific Thursday – he came over to our table and chatted with the kids – completely unplanned and the kids were starstruck. 🙂
Thank you, GDOT for needed roadway improvements at East Lake and Parkwood. New curbs, new railroad crossing, traffic calming…sort of reminds me of West Ponce entering Decatur, i.e., a neighborhood, not an interstate highway.
Totally agree with the improvements…however, there could have been some signage somewhere on East Lake so that I, and many like me, did not blow through the new stop signs for the first few days or end up on the wrong side of the double lines after going through the light. Good work – poor implementation though…
The lane striping proceeding through the stop sign is squirrely, like they failed to account for the curve in the road.
But why oh why oh why did they make the split going up to Wahoo a left/straight lane and a right-only lane? Why not a left only and a right/straight lane? I was recently in line heading away from Oakhurst on E. Lake at the light there at Park Place. A left turner was in front of the line and was the only car that made it through that cycle of the light. And that only because they (thank goodness) sort of ran it after it turned red and on-coming traffic stopped.
Also, I’d be interested in finding out if speeds along East Lake have actually been lowered. It is a lot easier and more tempting to go fast on one big wide lane than on two narrow lanes with cars right beside you.
Traffic is definitely slower at the bad curve where all the wrecks were. Therefore a success as far as I am concerned. Traffic is not as bottle-necked as I expected either.
Time for another rant about the parking lot by the Art Institute on Ponce. People, THE SIDEWALK IS NOT AN EXTENSION OF THE PARKING LOT!!!!!. Wednesday morning there was a landscaping truck smack in the middle of the sidewalk. There was a passenger car parked in the middle of the sidewalk yesterday morning. Cars often pull onto the sidewalk to drop off passengers.
Thank you. We now return you to your regularly scheduled FFAF.
That’s close enough to the Square that an officer assigned there could come down and write a ticket rather quickly. Next time, call the non-emergency number and report it, including description and tag number.
On my way to meetings both times. I talked to the landscapers and I don’t think they understood me. I tapped on the window of the passenger car. The passenger was an elderly disabled man who could barely speak. I politely asked him to tell the driver not to park on the sidewalk anymore and left quickly.
” I talked to the landscapers and I don’t think they understood me.”
They would understand a $60 ticket.
Why would landscapers be parked in that lot?
Breakfast at Thumbs Up? It had a trailer, too.
Where do you go to get your annual car inspection? The place I used to go to @ Tocco Hills closed.
If you’re talking about emissions, just head over to Pure on Ponce. Those guys rule.
Dad’s Emissions (insert joke here) is the best. They have a station at Patel Plaza and at Pure.
+1. Dad’s emissions can handle pre-1996 cars (where they drive my former van 30mph on a rolling tube). Most emission stations don’t have that setup.
Hmmm…So apparently Decatur is eschewing an actual tree this year for a “customized light display?” I’ll try and stay positive until the display in question is unveiled. Hopefully it’s spectacular. But at first blush this smacks of Christmas Merkins 2.0.
It actually wouldn’t even bother me that much if they weren’t framing the decision as being made in the name of “sustainability” (the same sleight of hand Macy’s attempted last year in moving from a real tree on the roof to a fake tree in the parking lot). I’m sorry, but no. Real Christmas trees are about as sustainable as you can get. Conifers are easily renewable (even the huge ones Macy’s/Rich’s has used for 60 years), growing much faster than deciduous hardwoods. As they grow they provide nature habitat and trap CO2. After they are cut down, you know what? It’s really easy to chip and/or compost them locally leaving virtually no environmental footprint. Or they can be reused in dozens of other environmentally beneficial ways you’ve never thought of (I’ve written articles about some of them).
I’ll cut Decatur some slack, because I’m far more inclined to believe that they (versus Macy’s) actually made an environmentally-driven decision. But it still feels like the more honest answer is likely, “this is cheaper and easier.”
Remember that the tree or whatever is not a COD project. It’s a private effort among several downtown merchants.
Good point. And I realize this is an act of goodwill toward the city on their part, so perhaps I am looking a gift reindeer in the mouth. But it just gets my hackles up a bit anytime tries to use “green” or “sustainability” as disingenuous cover for decisions that were more likely made for reasons of cost saving, liability, safety, etc. “Hey, we just laid off 50 people! Think of all of those cars off road due to those people no longer needing to commute to work! WE’RE SUSTAINABLE!”
Just be honest about it.
Allow me to add that we’ve been quite enamored with the new citywide holiday decorations (lamppost wreaths, light swag, wrapped trees, etc.) and the plans to augment them next year, and the city always does a great job with holiday festivities generally, so I don’t mean to sound like a total jerk.
Put our High School kids in trailers + lamppost wreaths, light swag, wrapped trees, etc) all over town = Lipstick on the pig.
Nice transition…
CSD != COD = bad equation. revise and see me after class
So no tree lighting on the Square at Little Shop of Stories this year? Wah!
A lighting, but not a tree, on December 4.
Can anyone recommend a good house cleaner for routine every other week type cleaning. Also looking for service or individual who can do the heavy yard work every other month. We rake leaves and mow, but our yard has been neglected and needs some help re. removing shrubs, digging up weeks, getting ivy off house etc. Gutter cleaning too. Yes, we are realizing that we can’t do it all.
For yard work, give Mike Samford a call for an estimate:
Michael Samford 678 773 4521
When I park in the lot behind the Decatur library, I’ve noticed a “thump” where one of the concrete pads seems to shift. Today I happened to be walking in when a car drove over that pad and the pad noticeably tilted. Is this something to be alarmed about? I had visions of the pad flipping and all the cars parked on it crashing to the lower level. But I recognize I might be overreacting. 🙂
All I can say is it’s been that way for a long time and nothing bad has happened yet.
Maybe it’s built to handle earthquakes?
Isn’t there usually an electronic recycling event in Decatur in the fall? Or have I missed it already? Does anyone know of an event anywhere?
You missed it but there’s lots of alternatives which my brain hasn’t retained but other helpful folks on this blog will fill you in on….
DeKalb County has continuous electronics recycling, but I don’t recall the location without looking it up.
Buckhead (2nd Ponce Baptist Church, I think) – 1st Saturday of each month
Old Fourth Ward – 2nd Saturday of each month
Can’t remember name of the program, go googling.
http://www.keepatlantabeautiful.org/
Thank you!
Any opinions about North DeKalb Orthopedics on Winn Way (Drs. Bachner and Doute)? We might have to switch from our wonderful Emory orthopedist to one outside the Emory system and I’m looking for a close-by recommendation for arthritic knees. Thank you.
I had a good experience with Bachner.
I have a friend who did not have a good experience with Doute.
Thank you
Noticed signs for “Dos Madres” Mexican restaurant coming in the old Native space on Ponce. Any word on opening date?
I think they are shooting for just after Thanksgiving. At least that’s what they told us at the Decatur Wine Festival.
Check their Facebook page for updates.
So, does anyone have a good recommendation? Not looking for anything in particular; be as specific or general as you like. Just looking for good recommendations – things to do, things to avoid, could be a service, a business, an item, an experience, shoot, could be a mindset, a gesture, a habit, an outlook, or a thought. Thanks in advance.
Perhaps I can recommend beginning with fixing all the problems. There is always a call for that around here. And there does seem to be an awful lot of them, so that should keep you busy for awhile, Stud. Oh, and do, please, remember the children and Christmas and CSD and COD and DCS and DIY and climate change and
I recommend spending a rainy Sunday in bed.
ATL Collective. monthly retelling of a classic rock album. their layla show on saturday was great. they’re doing james brown funky christmas next month.
What do you mean exactly by “retelling”?
Gotta assume it’s an assembled band playing the album live, start-to-finish. There’s another guy — Paul Melancon — who does it once a year at Kavarna. This year he and his band did Radiohead’s OK Computer. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say it was epic.
Wish I’d caught that. Acoustic? Here’s an interesting cover of probably my favorite Radiohead song (and I’d imagine one of the most difficult to play),”Let Down”, by one of the guys who’s in Fleet Foxes now.
youtube.com/watch?v=S8VtRfXSihQ
Not acoustic. Ragin’ full on.
Here’s their version as played at Kavarna. They did a nice job with it, based on this video.
youtube.com/watch?v=rQpQhVVJKH4
what Scott said, more or less. usually 3 or 4 various artists/bands come together to cover the album.
Highly recommend the Sleep Number beds. Pricey, but we are loving ours (a mid-level model).
I also highly recommend the Jazz brand of apples, which I just bought at the BuHi Farmers Market.
I give a qualified recommendation to the Amazon original series Transparent (the qualification being it’s not for the easily offended).
LOVED Transparent as well. Binge-watched the season.
DM, here’s an idea for an end-of-year thread: what were your favorite binge-watches in 2014?
Great idea!
No problem.
I love this idea. DM, PLEASE make this happen!
Would love it even more if people threw in the best books they read as well.
Yep. We always do “best books” “best movies” “best tv”, etc in separate posts in December.
Looking at the map over at Decaturish of proposed new DeKalb cities and proposed annexations into the current cities, I now really understand what people mean by the balkanization of DeKalb County. Sure hope that whatever happens to DeKalb County, it’s less disastrous than the history of the Balkans.
Coming in late to the thread, but I’m wondering why, with their giant parking lot, the Methodist church is allowed to clog up city streets with their morning and afternoon dropoff/pickup line. Coming around the curve on Commerce can be a hair raising experience, even at low speed, finding cars stopped in the right lane waiting to turn the corner to the front of the church. Seems it would be safer for all concerned if they pulled in and looped around the parking lot.
Because there’s not enough parking in the lot due to the hospital using half of it. Also, it’s easier to drop the kids off than to park and walk them in. Pick another route that time of day, because it’s not changing any time soon.
Interesting about the hospital taking up a lot of space in the church parking lot. I’ve never seen the parking deck next to the hospital full so I googled Decatur Hospital and found the following :
“Parking is free at the First United Methodist Church on N. Candler Street across from the hospital. However, to park there you will need a parking pass, which can be obtained at the front desk on the second floor. Check in for Outpatient Rehabilitation Services is also completed at the front desk. Please note the signs in the lot directing you where to park (first five rows).
You may also park in the parking deck. However, because it is not owned or operated by the hospital, you will have to pay to park there. Handicap parking is available in the deck, but please have your permit visible.”
Very weird but I always found that whole building and parking structure weird. I’ve learned that Decatur Hospital is now called DeKalb Medical Downtown Decatur and it’s a long-term acute care facility for things like wound care, traumatic brain injury, ventilator care. Back when it was Decatur Hospital, someone told me that it was a drug treatment facility; not sure if that was ever true. And I finally understand that DMDD is a separate entity from the 755 medical office building that also opens onto that private parking structure. Somewhere in there, the bakery Ratio is located but I haven’t negotiated the maze yet to figure out where.
I’ve yet to see that lot so full it couldn’t accommodate cars driving through for drop off/pick up. Guess it will take a bad accident to change things. Pity they put revenue over safety.
Revenue Neutral Household – Thank you very much for your suggestion regarding direct sales to developers. We closed last week and are now settled in Chicago.
It looks like there are some interesting changes going on in Decatur and I’ve enjoyed following everything on DM the last 6 1/2 years. Take care everyone,
Peter in Decatur
Sorry to see you go Peter no longer in Decatur. I will miss your comments. Good luck to you in Chicago!
Best of luck Peter! Thanks for reading.
Glad it worked out! That’s the first time I’ve ever known that anyone has taken any of my advice on this blog. 🙂 Best wishes.