Free-For-All Friday 8/5/16
Decatur Metro | August 5, 2016 | 7:25 amFeel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not yet discussed here over the past week.
Feel free to use this post to make comments and ask questions about local issues not yet discussed here over the past week.
Macarolina
Nicole Kaplan
brianc
brianc
brianc
DocG
Decatur Metro
Irene
brianc
Upatoi Boy
sansho1
Chris Billingsley
Woke up this morning and realized that the whole apartment complex on oakview at maxwell was vacant…everyone gone. Things just got whiter in Oakhurst. I know the reasons but wondering if this is where I belong.
The building you’re referencing is being redeveloped by the Decatur Housing Authority to increase the number of affordable housing units in Oakhurst, improve substandard facilities, and make the building more accessible overall for the disabled.
The present residents have been relocated to downtown DHA housing and are being provided the opportunity to return when the new building is complete.
The future building will serve more low income residents than ever.
Why would this signal a neighborhood in which you don’t belong?
(guessing he assumed the lot was being cleared for McMansions)
Confirmation bias is a surly beast.
All well and good, but I sympathize with ‘B’ if the concern is that we’re becoming a community of McMansions and DHA housing. Lots of people in between, including the people who work for the city of Decatur, are getting squeezed out. That’s not diversity either.
^This.
Any IT folks out there looking for work would be well advised to inquire with the county — they need a savior. If they’re not hiring, they should be. DeKalb is on its third probate court database program in the last two years, at least one of which is down at all time and none of which can image results (the imaging software doesn’t work either). Some of the estate paper indexes are mis-alphabetized, leading to potentially crucial missing info in property research. They have three different civil suit search programs (two of them are currently down), and their online portal hasn’t worked in over a year. They imaged some, but not all, of their plats, but if they catch you taking a phone scan of a physical book they’ll ream you out. You’re supposed to wait 15 minutes at the counter for a clerk-provided copy at the cost of $1 per page. Worst of all, the tax commissioner search tool has been down for almost two weeks due to some sort of meltdown while uploading 2016 data. This takes Fulton County, for instance, about 24 hours. Since real estate closings depend upon access to property tax data, many closings have been delayed for this amount of time. It is a disaster, far worse than it’s been in the last 15 years.
And we just reelected the”interim” tax commissioner. Don’t expect things to change any time soon.
I love how DeKalb’s property appraisal maps are available by subscription ($$$) only. That’s really low drag.
Is that different from the GIS here: http://mapping.dekalbcountyga.gov/parcel/
That’s free.
You should be able to access the property appraisal maps by finding your record at the link and clicking on the parcel ID number at the top of the screen. I can’t verify that it still works, since it’s Flash-based and our IT uninstalled that months ago.
http://taxassessor.dekalbcountyga.gov:81/PropertyAppraisal/realSearch.asp
Yeah, it works fine.
Thank you. This is helpful.
Yes, don’t fall for any of the “qpublic” websites. Total gyp.
FYI, I check tax records for a living and DeKalb qpublic is the only one I’ve encountered that charges for it. Many counties have moved to qpublic and it’s a breeze to use. Much better than whatever piecemeal records they had before. It’s not qpublic charging – it’s DeKalb.
Agreed. I have used qpublic in other counties without fees.
Tax records are (ordinarily, when the system is up) available for free at the link Queen Cersei provided above. Of course, having a free portal and a pay portal to the same info is just Dekalb County all over….
I’ve noticed increased police and security guards around Westchester. That is awesome!
PLEASE REMEMBER that the school zone does not end right after the school though. Drives me crazy when people slam the gas on as soon as they pass it. Kids are walking all over the place. Your job probably isn’t that fun that you need to get there 30 seconds sooner!
They need to extend the school zone past Coventry. Everyone floors it as they crest the hill, but there are always lots of kids (and parents) standing on the side of the road waiting at the intersection.
Double poster here!
If I wanted to use the small field at westchester elementary early on a saturday morning to do some sprints, will I get kicked out? I am thinking its school property….
Most school yards are used like public parks. You will be fine unless there is an organized school or DAL athletic going on. I think DAL uses Westchester for soccer on Saturday mornings but doubt they start super early.
One important exception is that during school hours you are not permitted to use outdoor school facilities even if they are unoccupied. This caused a bit of a kerfuttle last year at Winona Park where many play structures are far removed from the school.
I think at Winnona Park you can used the play structures during school hours if there are no classes using them but you need to vacate when a class comes out. This may be a WP specific policy.
The entire school grounds are technically off limits during the school day and police were called on a father with his child 2 years ago. Despite the name of the neighborhood there is no park in Winnona Park.
And no lakes in the Great Lakes or Lake Claire and no estates in Glenwood Estates. Development names always crack me up. Are there oak trees in Oakhurst? That seems more likely.
I once lived in a subdivision called Pine Valley, which was in a valley and did have pine trees.
Did you hang out with Susan Lucci? (Only former All My Children aficionados will understand.)
Take note of the road names next time you drive through the great lakes.
“Are there oak trees in Oakhurst?”
Not for much longer, given the current pace of scraping lots clean.
The oaks are just too greedy.
LOTS of oak trees in Oakhurst! At least in my immediate vicinity. In related news: piles and piles of free acorns will be available soon…
You’d be fine. I live adjacent to the school. Folks use it all the time. I would suggest, if the field is overly occupied, you could go all the way down to the dead end of Westchester, and utilize the huge green space which is Hidden Cove park.
8 days away from the 16th annual festival (Saturday, August 13th 12pm-8pm) – kids 12 and under are free, 10 bands over two stages, one in Harmony Park the other in the main Dollar Tree lot – (4) BBQ vendors, cold beer from New Belgium and much more, click on the banner ad at the top of this webpage. Tickets are $ 12 in advance $ 20 day of, proceeds as always go to the Community Center of South Decatur and other Decatur based charities through a grant program. http://www.decaturbbqfestival.com
Hoping for an unseasonably cool day/evening…
As are we but with Harmony Park now open there will be built in shade there, we will have the DFD misting truck on site along with hand fans being given out by sponsor. In addition you can bring beach type chairs with umbrellas, and we will put astro turf down again in main lot. Forecast right now is high of 86!!!
Where can I find some boxes? Moving further north in DeKalb county next week. Thanks.
Look or post on Nextdoor
Liquor stores for smaller boxes suitable for books and things like that, Kroger/Publix/etc. for bigger boxes. Just go to the back and ask an employee if they have any that are broken down. If they don’t, ask when a good time to come around would be when they would have them.
I have had good luck at Target asking employees for boxes. They usually put up stock in the mornings but may have boxes in the back at other time–office supply stores too.
Liquor stores tend to have boxes available on certain days and are usually happy to tell you what days to come by.
The GoFundMe for Gerard Foster’s family is so close – just $119 to go! http://tinyurl.com/h8gjnfh
Just got told that the high school now has over 1200 students. It seems like just yesterday that it had 750. Sure hope that everything is keeping pace, not just space which has just expanded, but also teachers, counselors, media specialists, school nurse(s), special ed staff, IB and grad coaches, maintenance staff, cafeteria workers, coaches, office staff, psychologist(s), and any staff I’ve forgotten. What’s made DHS great for years has been its great staff who had plenty of time and dedication for the great students.
My *general* observation as my kids have risen through Renfroe and DHS the last few years:
— new teachers are being hired to go with the growth in enrollment
— my kids have had new-to-Decatur teachers every year
— in general, the quality of these new teachers has been excellent
One perk of being a highly ranked school system is it attracts an outstanding applicant pool of top teachers every time there is a position open.
Last year I had an exchange with my DHS daughter where she mentioned how one of her teachers was a Harvard alum. The point she was attempting to make (misguided as it was, in all the most delightful adolescent ways) was that this represented some fall from grace. As in, “look at her, she attended Harvard and now she has to teach at my high school.”
After I was done being amused I had to clue her in to how fortunate she is to attend a school district so desirable that it’s able to recruit teachers from Harvard. I suspect in about five to ten years she’ll finally have a sense of what I was talking about.
Hope there was something memorable about that teacher besides the H-word.
Curious as to where all the road diet advocates went with all the despair over the roads by Arlo and increased traffic due to construction and lane “renovation”…
There’s been despair? I’m fine with it. Find another way if you don’t enjoy driving slowly through the neighborhood.
Anyone know what is going next to the dry cleaner’s across the street? There is construction fencing up. Not sure if it’s just Arlo construction equipment.
I imagine it has to do with the continuing storm drain construction as it moves up toward E Howard.
That is exactly what one of the dry cleaner employees told me. It is a the construction office for the storm drain project.
Does anyone know of a local place (besides Sears) where I could get my Kenmore canister vacuum cleaner repaired? I don’t know if it’s even worth repairing a vacuum cleaner these days, let alone one that’s 10 years old. But I like it, and I’d just as soon not add it to the landfill if I can get it fixed. Thank you.
There used to be a vacuum repair place down on Candler south of Memorial.
Never used them but see it every time I go to Toco Hills. There’s a little shop next to the Regions Bank.
Thank you both.
Anyone know of or is a realtor with experience in selling teardowns? Have an impeding situation with a family member who has a terminal illness and a home in disrepair (NOT in Decatur.) Location has one main developer/realtor company dominating the real estate market, so am looking for for someone local to me willing to let me pay a fee for an hour of their time to pick their brain so the family can be ready when the time comes. Any suggestions?
Any Realtor should be able to pull data for you for any location in metro area. I will be happy to do it at no charge. ChrisCarroll At Realtor dot com.
To whoever put the orange crossing flags at the Adair/Atlanta Ave. crossings: thank you, thank you, thank you! Especially helpful for Howard crosswalk at Adair, where there’s no light, cars speed, and hardly any drivers stop for pedestrians. (Who did this wonderful deed, anyway?)
info for you here; https://decaturhac.wordpress.com