From CSD….

City Schools of Decatur will be closed Thursday, February 26, for the safety of our students and staff due to potential icy conditions. All employees who work 225 days or more should report at 11 am if conditions are safe for travel.

Atlanta and DeKalb are also closed on Thursday.

From the City of Decatur’s Casie Yoder…

All city buildings are currently open and will close by 5 p.m. today, including City Hall and the Decatur Recreation Center. All evening activities and classes at the Decatur Recreation Center are CANCELLED for tonight.

Georgia DOT asks motorists to limit driving to emergencies or essential travel only. Be aware of black ice. If you do decide to leave your house, especially once temperatures drop below freezing after dark, there is likely to be ice on the roads and sidewalks.

City Schools of Decatur are closed today. CSD will post its decision regarding school tomorrow on its website.

As of this posting tomorrow, Thursday, Feb. 26:

• All city of Decatur offices and buildings will have a delayed opening of 10 a.m.This includes City Hall, Design Environment & Construction and the Decatur Recreation Center.
• Thursday trash and recycling pick up is expected to take place as usual
• Municipal Court will occur as scheduled at 6 p.m.

Important phone numbers

• If you see hazardous or unsafe conditions in Decatur, or require assistance from police or fire, please call the police non-emergency number: .
• Report icy conditions on interstates and state routes to GDOT: 511.
• Power outages or trees on power lines should be reported directly to Georgia Power: .

Prevent burst pipes
As the temperatures drop, pipes in your home or business are likely to freeze unless you take necessary precautions. The easiest way to prevent burst pipes is to leave your sink running with a small stream of water (a drip is not enough) before you go to bed.

Reminders

• Be neighborly and take a few minutes to check on the seniors in your neighborhood. See if you can bring in their mail or wood or something else they may need, and make sure they have plenty of heat, food and water. Sometimes simply being checked on is greatly appreciated when staying indoors gets to be lonely. If you have a neighbor who needs help please call the police non-emergency number at .
• Bring all pets inside.
• Register for Smart911 now at Smart911.com. You can opt-in for severe weather and other notifications as well as create or update your Smart911 profile with any special medical concerns (such as a household member who uses medical equipment that requires electricity).
• Charge all cell phones and put fresh batteries in emergency radios. When contacting loved ones, a text message is more likely to get through than a phone call.
• Download the FEMA smartphone appfor additional tips and emergency information.

Polls are showing that Atlanta’s $250 million transportation bond is likely to pass when it goes before city of Atlanta voters next month.

We reported back in January that the plan included removing the DeKalb Avenue “reversible lane”.  But obviously there are a lot of other projects on the proposed list.  A broader reaching item on the list is syncing Atlanta’s traffic light system.  Creative Loafing reports…

As part of its upcoming $250 million infrastructure bond package, it currently plans to spend more than $35 million — the final figure and list of projects is still being approved — to sync traffic signals and replace others across the city. Though traffic engineers have updated signals in some parts of Atlanta, lights haven’t been synchronized on a citywide level in a long, long time. According to at least one report, we’re talking the 1970s.

More than one-third of the city’s intersections with traffic signals — about 350 out of 960, the mayor’s office says — has received upgrades. Some of those improvements have occurred thanks to a Georgia Department of Transportation grant program. Mayor Kasim Reed spokeswoman Jenna Garland tells CL the city could complete the work needed to sync up all intersections if voters approve the bond package on St. Patrick’s Day.

However, when drivers wins, pedestrian and cyclists often lose.

CL quotes Sally Flocks, president and CEO of pedestrian advocacy group PEDS, who suggests that the city should make sure lights are timed to encourage driving at slower speeds.  Additionally, Michael Hunter, an associate professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, suggests that all modes of transportation need to be considered while optimizing traffic lights.  He also notes that a one-time influx of funding to fix the issue isn’t enough.  Funding for ongoing maintenance is important and often overlooked by cities.

**Related Note** And before anyone jumps off on the tangent about Decatur’s traffic light synchronization, check out this post from last August.  Decatur is waiting for DeKalb to upgrade traffic signals around the city before taking over traffic light synchronization.  That upgrade project has been pushed back until 2017.

• Decatur High Girls Basketball team wins, headed to final four [Decaturish]
• General Assembly may step in to reform DeKalb [AJC]
• DeKalb breweries ask for support of senate bill on beer sales [Neighbor Newspapers]
• Atlanta’s Tiny Neighborhoods [Curbed]
• Photos: Demolition underway for 675 N. Highland project [Atlanta Intown]
• Jim Stacy’s new dinner series combines eating and anthropology [CL]
• The danger of being neighborly without a permit [City Lab]

Just in from City Schools of Decatur…

CSD Administration has been following the National Weather Service forecasts closely. Models are predicting potential icy conditions on the roads in the morning and possible snow accumulation in the early afternoon. Our primary concern is to make sure that all students and staff are able to travel safely to and from school. Therefore, City Schools of Decatur will be closed Wednesday, February 25^th.

Atlanta Public Schools and DeKalb County Schools are also closed.

Decatur Metro just received this letter from the Clairmont Heights Civic Association to the Georgia Legislature requesting inclusion in the referendum that currently includes annexing Druid Hills and Emory into the city of Atlanta…

To our elected representatives in the Georgia legislature,

The Board of the Clairmont Heights Civic Association (CHCA) supports our inclusion in the bill authorizing a referendum to annex into the City of Atlanta. Our neighborhood survey from September, 2014, which had a very high participation rate, indicates that our residents favor inclusion in an existing city versus a new one. Our residents feel strongly about retaining access to our elementary school and deserve a voice and vote on this important matter.

You may find our survey results at http://clairmontheights.org/node/4208 .

In addition, The CHCA Board believes that the proposed annexation map preserves critical local control over the major access points to Clairmont Heights and decisions regarding future area development. Local jurisdiction over entrances to Clairmont Heights is vital to safety, service delivery, zoning and land development, and traffic issues – especially in long-range planning for proposed major mass transit expansion.

Signed by Board members of the Clairmont Heights Civic Association

• Michael Dowling, President
• Pete Rumsey, Vice President                                    Jim Smith
• Pam Daily, Treasurer                                                 Brian Feagans
• Nancy Moore, Recording Secretary                          Ian Sifuentes
• Julia Byrne, Corresponding Secretary                       Mike Fink

UPDATE: Decaturish’s recap of last night’s school board special session is now live.  Check it out here.

Dan’s report includes many additional important points that came up last night.

The value of the mill in the previous analysis was incorrect

Dianne McNabb, with CSD adviser Public Financial Management, said those projections were based on incorrect information.

“We got the new data on the value of a mill,” McNabb said. “That amount was higher than the one we were working with.”

Previously presented debt limit data wasn’t quite right.

According to Decaturish’s report, Urban Redevelopment bonds don’t count against the city’s debt limit.  That wasn’t taken into account when we discussed the debt limit last time.

With those caveats in mind, McNabb said the city’s limit is $141.5 million, based on property values from 2014. The outstanding debt as of Jan. 1, 2016, as it applies to the debt limit, will be $36.7 million. That will leave the city with a debt capacity of $104.8 million. If the voters approve issuing an $82.8 million bond, the city would only be able to borrow $22 million for projects, according to McNabb’s figures.

More meetings.  Public forums.  Resident polling.

Board members said there will be two joint meetings between board members and city commissioners, one in March and one in April. There will also be two public presentations on the bond request. CSD also intends to poll residents before moving forward.

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OK, so we’ll use this thread to aggregate articles and comments on last night’s Decatur School Board special session to discuss the $82 million GO Bond it has requested to accommodate enrollment growth.

Longer amortization = Lower yearly tax impact

For starters, here’s an AJC blurb by Bill Banks stating that the School Board received revised tax increase projections for the $82 million bond, after extending the repayment of the loan from 20 to 25 years.

That means taxes on an $150,000 home would cost $223.24 annually, on a $300,000 home $446.48, on, a $500,000 home $744.13 and on a $700,000 home $1,041.79.

No Bond = More Portables

Additionally there’s another new post on the AJC quoting Superintendent Edwards that if the bond doesn’t pass the result is would be more portables or cutting programs.

If we don’t get it passed, then we’re either adding more portables, or we will have to cut the existing budget substantially, meaning we lose a lot of good programs already underfunded.”

We’ll be adding to this post throughout the day as we come across additional articles that include info coming out of the meeting.  Stay tuned.

Photo courtesy of Google Streetview