Month: March 2016

Arts & Tech Non-Profit Plans To House “a Sort of Hogwarts Meets Skywalker Ranch” at Decatur’s Houston House

houston house

We recently featured an ad in a brewing newsletter for Decatur’s historic Houston House and asked what you might like to see in that space.

I’m not sure anyone specifically mentioned this – though it sounds pretty darn cool.

According to the website of The Märchen Sagen Academy, Decatur’s historic Houston House will soon be restored “blending old and new stylings, warm lighting and tones and creating a sort of Hogwarts meets Skywalker Ranch right in the middle of Downtown Decatur.”  The Academy plans to open to the public in the Fall 2016.

The Academy plans to offer an after-school program for third graders with a focus “on audio and video production”, according to the website.  A bit more on the after-school program…

It is the intent of The Märchen Sagen Academy to provide an environment of academic, artistic and social development. The Academy’s after school program will furnish healthy snacks, play time, in class lectures, in studio exercises, field trips, hands on, collaborative and supervised use of professional cameras and equipment, as well as guest lectures by industry experts as guest speakers.

The Academy also plans to offer “free, in-class lectures at local elementary schools.”

It will be run by veteran video and music producer, Couleen LaGon.  According to the website, Mr. LaGon “is a world traveller and Sony/ATV music producer with film and television placements to his credit.”  The site also mentions that Mr. LaGon worked with Ceelo Green earlier in his career.

Related: want to see a photo of the Houston House circa 1982? CLICK HERE.

Photo courtesy of Next Stop…Decatur

MM: Decatur Expenses Examination, More on LSOS Expansion, and Is UberPool Revolutionary?

Little Shop

  • City of Decatur credit card holders often dine on the taxpayer dime [Decaturish]
  • Little Shop of Stories expands to Vivid Boutique [3ten]
  • Decatur Restaurant and Bar For Sale [Shumacher]
  • Six Restaurant Counting on Success in Oak Grove [TNT]
  • Census: Atlanta among fastest growing metro areas [ABC]
  • Sandy Springs Streetcars Floated by Panel [Curbed]
  • Car-Pooling Helps Uber Go the Extra Mile [NYT]

Photo courtesy of LSOS

Best Patio Dining in Decatur/Atlanta For Spring

Rooftop Garden Patio

I stole this post idea from somewhere, though I’m not entirely sure where it came from.

What are your favorite restaurant patios in the Atlanta/Decatur area for Spring dining?

Photo courtesy of Eddie’s Attic

No More Cones on Commerce Drive!

scottcones

Breaking news!  Cones gone from Commerce Drive Scott Boulevard!

Photo courtesy of Chris

MM: Tax Exemptions and School Funding, Student Behavoir, and Parrots are Awesome

  • Ga. Tax Exemptions May Equal Trouble for Schools [WABE]
  • Decatur High students show “alarming rates” of risky behavior [Decaturish]
  • Senior strives to improve police-student relations [3ten]
  • Rising Son Debuts Tuesday Morning in Avondale Estates [Eater]
  • Mayor Reed releases statement on passage of MARTA funding bill [ABC]
  • Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’ [NYT]

Photo courtesy of Rising Son Facebook page

Google Fiber Hut Installed in Downtown Decatur

google fiber2

googlefiber1

Finally!  Something better than secondhand hearsay from a “survey guy” wandering the neighborhoods regarding Google Fiber!

Marcia took these photos of the arrival and installation of the Google Fiber hut in downtown Decatur last Friday.   This is definitely the most visible sign that Google Fiber is coming to Decatur thus far.

An unofficial map of permits issued for Google around Atlanta shows there are a variety of Google Fiber Huts popping up around the metro.

The Google Fiber website has Atlanta in the “construction” phase of work.   After that it’s just “Sign Up” and “Installation”, so it seems like things are truckin’ along.

What Should Decatur Do About Glass Recycling?

We foretold this.  Recycling

Well, maybe not so much “foretold” as casually brought it up randomly at one point last year.

In a post last August about our love/hate relationship with our big blue recycling bins, I noted, if I may quote myself…

…glass is already a questionable recyclable commodity.  It has little value to recyclers and a lot of it gets broken in transit.  Mixed with other recyclables, broken glass leads to contamination of other items and makes them um, un-recyclable.

Then, right on cue, at the beginning of year some metro Atlanta communities stopped accepting glass recycling.

Decatur Asst. City Manager David Junger told the AJC around that time that the city would continue to accept glass in our one-stop-shop bins, but the writing seemed to be on the wall.  At the time, Mr. Junger noted the city was looking at every possibility for the most unwanted member of the recycling family.  We summarized the options thusly…

  • Stop recycling glass (and send it to the landfill)
  • Have Latham collect glass separately
  • Have the city collect glass separately
  • Set up drop off locations in the city for glass recycling

Now the chickens are coming home to roost.  (Man…a lot of metaphors in this post.)

Decaturish reports that “Pratt Industries of Conyers, Ga. has informed the city that effective June 1 it will no longer accept recycling materials that contain glass.”  The city has a few months to decide what to do.

So what should we do?

According to Mr. Junger, every option will cost more – including taking it to the landfill.  Are you up for separating glass and recycling it at the curb?  Do you want to make separate trips to recycling locations around the city to dispose of your empties?  Do you just want to chuck it all in your Decatur-bespeckled trash bags?

The city wants your feedback.