Free-For-All Friday 5/27/16
Decatur Metro | May 27, 2016 | 8:00 amFeel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local topics not yet discussed over the past week.
Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local topics not yet discussed over the past week.
James
Chris Billingsley
MelissaM
Robert Butera
Robert Butera
Decatur Metro
Robert Butera
At Home in Decatur
Julie
altmod
Parker Cross
Steve
HE’S BACK, HE’S BROKE. And he’s ready to get your deck ready for grilling. Jacob the Pressure-Washing
kidGuy returned late last night from his first year at college.Sidewalks, driveways, outdoor furniture, porches, siding, and eaves. Give him a text: Jacob 404-309-9863
I would like to highly recommend Ben & Bud’s, local college kids who did an outstanding job on our yard. We were dealing with several years of ivy invasion and overgrown hedges and bushes. In one day, they had everything cleared and cut back, and the pricing was very reasonable.
So if you are tired of watching your yard getting taken over by all manner of invasive species, send them an email at [email protected] .
Well, I see that the turnout in the recent election was typically miserably low. I’m willing to bet that the turnout this November will be very high. Always puzzling because, on a day to day basis, which elected officials make the greatest difference in how we live? It starts at the bottom, but we don’t show up for local elections.
Given the lack of excitement about the candidates for both parties, I expect a historically low turnout for a presidential election. Does anyone actually like Hillary or Trump? Even the fallback vote for the lesser of all evils isn’t clear this year.
I’m really bothered over Rahn Mayo’s loss. I felt he was doing a pretty good job as State Rep. Can anyone provide an insight into what went wrong? I hate thinking it may have come down to a few yard signs and the rather distorted mailers sent out by his opponent. Was there a major misstep I somehow missed?
IMO, Rahn just got beat. His opponent was knocking on doors 3 months before the election (she knocked on mine) and had (obviously) effective advertising. Rahn didn’t seem so serious, didn’t try to counter what she was saying, and perhaps took the attitude that incumbents usually get re-elected.
I have always been a fan of Decatur schools but have to vent about the 5th grade moving on ceremony.
I’ll start by complimenting Mr. Brooks and the amazing job he did leading the children in a great song.
But unlike every other 5th grade graduation across the country where you celebrate the accomplishments of children the focus was placed on the teachers. Don’t get me wrong I love our teachers but this was a time to celebrate what the children have done. This was the time to celebrate their accomplishments and a time to recognize each child.
I’ll explain what they did for those of you that missed it: 2-3 kids from each class mentioned what they enjoyed at FAVE then spotlighted what their teacher did to showcase the IB principles. While this is nice where was the student recognition?
I only bring this to everyone’s attention in hopes of being better next time. Our kids deserve it.
When our kids finished 5th grade at Westchester (obviously quite a few years ago), there was a nice moving up ceremony. Each child was called forward and received a baby sized red sneaker from the Principal. The PTSA was very much involved and paid for the sneaker. One important consideration though. There were only 50 kids or so in the class so the ceremony only took an hour or two in the morning and many parents could attend. I assume the 5th grade at FAVE is more like 400? That may be why the school can’t do more individual recognition – the ceremony would be too long.
We still have our sneakers. (Ms. Kuebler gave them out liberally during the last few months that the old Westchester was still open, knowing that her stock would not be needed in the future.) I can only hope that current elementary school families are having the magical experience that we had at Westchester for a few years.
If you’d have been at Clairemont this morning when we were saying goodbye to the principal, you’d know the magic is absolutely still happening. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. People here honestly love the schools, at least the K-3s. I can’t speak for the others yet.
The K-3 years are the most intense in terms of school community bonding and nostalgia. Lots of great things happen later but there’s nothing like the magic of a kindergartener who loves school.
I have to disagree with your comment. All 371 students were recognized by sharing their inquiry projects with their parents.
i’ll offer a different perspective…
After the students spoke about their teachers, they all went to classrooms and presented actual work they had been doing in preparation for that day. So instead of hearing comments/compliments, we were able to see first hand what they have accomplished, and we were able to provide authentic accolades.
These students are great, but I see no shortage of celebrating them in our community. If anything, they need to be reminded that until they graduate and have created a path to successful and productive adulthood, the real work of school is yet to be done. These 3rd, 5th, and 8th grade ceremonies attach far too much importance to what should be our most basic expectations.
Kudos to the staff at FAVE for coordinating the nearly 400 students AND their families in and out of the building on one day and coordinating it so that the each and every 5th grade student had an opportunity to present each of their own individual exhibition research topics to parents and younger 4th grade students. Seeing them present their work first hand along with student led conferences earlier this month is all that I need to witness. I enjoyed hearing selected students talk about their favorite memories at FAVE along with good examples of their teachers in the classroom.
I was totally fine with the moving on ceremony for my snowflake- in her words, “C’mon, let’s just move on!” It’s 5th grade, not their senior year in high school.
David, did you miss the classroom presentations?
Hats off to J_T and his Free-For-All Fridays advice to those with lawyerly questions. Last Friday he once again offered assistance. This is why we love Decatur and its folks!
Hey now, let’s not go ruining my bad reputation. But glad I could help!
Was at YDFM this morning and wondered about the status of their seemingly stalled construction.
There was a flurry of grading for a while, then it went cold and it doesn’t appear much has been done in the last several months. Anyone heave a source for info or status update?
All I know is there’s no construction loan encumbering the property, so he appears to be paying cash for the work and doing it in stages. It certainly is a long process.
I think that businesses on the square should promote a pleasant and safe environment, pedestrian safety, and responsible behavior by employees. Cakes & Ale does the opposite. They have created an unsafe environment by allowing their employees to purchase alcohol at their back door after hours. I was almost run down on the sidewalk by one of their employees (who seemed to have already been drinking) last weekend. When I complained, I was told by the owner that this is allowed. I don’t even think its legal. It is certainly unacceptable to me and I will never return.
wait, what? are you complaining that workers at cakes and ale have drinks there after hours? isn’t that true of every restaurant that has ever happened? I’m pretty sure one of the few perks of working in the service industry is the time spent after the place closes when you can share a few drinks with your coworkers.
also – there are quite a few non-restaurant employees in the many bars on the square imbibing alcoholic beverages every night. why single out the service industry workers? should no one be allowed to drink at the square? or anywhere in public, for that matter?
I am totally befuddled by your comment.
No. I’m composing that they do it outside and park on the sidewalk while they get their to go bottles from the back door.
Complaining
Kinda like a bootlegger’s setup– selling unopened bottles out the back door? Is that what you mean?
It is my understanding that to-go bottles are not legal. You cannot walk away from a bar/restaurant off-premises with a beer that was served there. Though outside the back door might still be on-premise …
Related: Some mornings (once a month) walking the dog I’ve found a bottle sitting on the curb outside Ted’s, right next to where the off-work employees were hanging out and jabbering for an hour the previous night …. (which I know because I can look down at them)
I don’t care what they do inside the restaurant after hours. What they are doing outside on the sidewalk is dangerous and makes the business look bad imho
How come you went from being a little ‘s’ to a big ‘S’? Do you swell up with angst?
Fantastic!
Apparently C&A also permits non-employees to buy drinks there. Some of those non-employees buy (and consume) the drinks, then use the roads and sidewalks on their way home.
Bottom line, it is completely unacceptable that people are allowed to do stuff when there is a risk that something bad might happen.
So the real complaint is that the employees are parking on the sidewalk illegally and dangerously while they go in to pick up their to-go containers of alcoholic beverages, right? In addition, they appear already intoxicated while they do so (which might explain the parking on the sidewalk which is never ok, day or night, by anyone but perhaps the police, right?). How are they getting up on the sidewalk? Jumping the curb? Going up the pedestrian ramp?
If the employees are coming off of a shift, why don’t they purchase their closed container(s) of alcohol on their way out and then walk to their vehicle which would obviate the need to come back and park on the sidewalk? Or are employees who aren’t even working at that time coming and parking on the sidewalk to get their alcohol. I’m confused.
” It is certainly unacceptable to me and I will never return.”
Certainly your prerogative. But are you really in such high dudgeon about this that you feel compelled to do your flouncing off in a public forum?
The world would be a much more fun place if everyone flounced in public once in a while.
Depends on what yer flouncin’ about. 😛
You need to be wearing a skirt to flounce, right? Petticoats help, right? And maybe a buoyant ponytail?
Nice props, but not necessary. Not if you’re a veteran flouncer.
Yeah! Go get ’em! But important stuff like this is going to get lost in Free For All Fridays. We should start Narc on Your Neighbor Tuesdays!
New Monkees album drops today! Summer is here!
Recommendation on an accountant?
HLM Accounting located in the Lion bank building downtown. They’re local folks and Lynn (the head honcho) knows her tax laws inside and out. Been with them for 5 years now.
Chet Burge is the best. Right in downtown Decatur.
Have any of the CoD homeowners’ associations’ seen and responded to Google Fiber’s request for permission to enter streets owned by homeowners’ association/homeowners to install fiber cables? If so, any feedback from Google on what the installation entails?
Feeling relaxed and comfortable. Having trouble finding something to complain about this morning. Strange, uncharted territory. What do I do?
Incidentally, this is not me. I’m still balancing my usual mix of angst and ennui.
Ride your bike to the Decatur Arts Festival. Free bike valet by the courthouse.
DM – now that summer vacation season is upon us; how about a an eye on the street foreign locale version? It would be interesting to see where my fellow Decaturites are traveling this year.
Sure! I’ll put a call out.
The Ties That Bind…
Earlier this week, during a stop at a flip house off Second Avenue and McAfee, I made a friendly comment to a woman working in her front yard, an older black lady, maybe in her late sixties or early seventies. I asked her if she was looking forward to Memorial Day. “Not really. When I was working, the day off was something to look forward to but now, it’s just another day. What about you?” When I told her about my Memorial Day weekend plans, it opened a conversation about the many things we had in common.
She had grown up in Decatur, on BlackBerry Street* and knew well people like Clarence Scott, Jack Pitts, Alma Fleetwood, Elizabeth Wilson and many other members of Decatur’s black community. When I told her that years ago, I bought a house owned by Abraham Giddings, she smiled and described the families that lived on Norris Street “back in the day”. I told her that when I closed on the house, I entered a room with Carl Renfroe, Frank Calloway (a deacon at Thankful Baptist and long time employee of Decatur Federal) and Mr. ___ McCurdy. She smiled again and said, “Those men knew everyone in Decatur!” She asked me if I knew anything about “Paradise”, a small black community that existed somewhere on the property where Decatur First Baptist is and I was stunned. I had never heard of of it!
Our conversation rambled on for quite a while. She told me that she was the first black employee hired to work in city hall and remembered the first time she saw an very young woman with long red hair, a recent graduate of Agnes Scott College, walk into the office for the first time, Peggy Merriss. We talked about Clark’s Grocery Store, Trinity High School and all the changes that have taken place over the last twenty years. Just when it seemed like our conversation was running out of steam, I mentioned my career at DHS. “Did you know my daughter Tonya?” I remembered her well, a beautiful girl, quiet and the sweetest smile. Another twenty minutes of stories and laughter.
Later I started thinking about the small community called Paradise, exactly where it was located and wondering if anyone here at Decatur Metro was familiar with it. But I also began to reflect on what ties will bind new residents to Decatur. Will it be fond memories of bars, festivals and community action plans? I hope it will be life long memories of people, employment, faith, family and real community. Happy Memorial Day.
*Over the years, several people have mentioned Berry Street and two communities. “White Berry” still exists between Commerce and the railroad depot. “BlackBerry” was located where the First Methodist Church rear parking lot is today. I remember seeing it on the 1925 insurance map of Decatur that was featured on Decatur Metro several years ago and there was a picture of the homes somewhere. I don’t recall where I saw it.
“Berry” or “Barry”? Map now says Barry.