Free-For-All Friday 8/4/17
Decatur Metro | August 4, 2017 | 6:43 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.
Decatur Metro
Robert Butera
Robert Butera
Steve
The Luggage
tiptoe
cara
Scott
Robert1
Steve
cara
Leif Terry
Asked this last week, does anyone have a comprehensive list of school start and end times for Decatur schools. The CSD website has nothing!
This is from the school handbook available on the website:
College Heights Pre-Kindergarten 8:00 am – 2:30 pm
K-3 Elementary Schools (Clairemont, Glennwood, Oakhurst, Westchester, Winnona Park) 8:00 am – 2:30 pm
4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue (F.AVE) 7:45 am – 2:30 pm
Renfroe Middle School 8:40 am – 3:40 pm
Decatur High School 8:30 am – 3:30 pm
Thank you!
However, per information handed out at F.AVE, dismissal at that school is at 2:45.
When you are on the CSD website, you can choose any of the schools. Once you are on a school’s homepage, click on “about us” (at the top of the page) and every school has their individual times listed. DHS requires an additional click on “bell schedule” to see their breakdown.
Sigh. Renfroe does not have it listed on their About Page. And Fave dismisses at 2:45, not 2:30. The simple communication of straight forward information is more terrible this year.
The new websites are terrible.
We have had a spinet piano in the house for at least a year. The floor tends to bounce a little bit more than previously due to the additional weight. I’m going to guess 300-400 lb.
It’s an old house and there are no level floors anyway (“charm”) but I don’t want to make anything worse. I’d still like to call in an expert to take a look, make recommendations, and fix it (as required) to avoid permanent damage to the floor and structure.
Looking for recommendations. If you’ve been in a similar situation, who did you talk to? What was the remedy? Were you happy with the service?
Thanks for all assistance!
Mike
In the past we had a spinet and a wood stove in our house; I placed a house jack under each while we had them. It make a difference in the ‘bouncy-ness’ of the floor. After we got rid of those items I removed the jacks. Fairly cheap way to keep your house sturdy.
This.
Here’s a link to Home Depot that gives you a better idea of what Jeff is referring to.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Tiger-Brand-Super-S-Series-36-in-Jack-Post-J-S-36/100041510
Move it into a corner for better support.
I agree that it is not too hard to add a jack under your floor joists to provide more support for heavy items. but be careful to ensure that it is installed vertically and that it is secure on both ends. if your basement is unfinished dirt, you’ll want to put some kind of large footing underneath it. Plus, be careful not to jack it too high.
We had company called Structures come out when we bought our home eight years ago, and they made a similar fix using jacks in the crawl space. So far no additional problems.
I’m curious how folks feel about the abundance of Curb Alert postings on various community pages of late. Not sure how I feel about leaving unwanted stuff on the streets vs donating to a charity or community group (for their own use or for re-selling.)
I don’t have complaint about it, I just find it mildly unsettling: “here – someone come haul away my junk”. (To be honest, I’ve done the same in the past, so I’m part of the issue.)
Thought this might be a safe forum to discuss.
I think it’s great if something I don’t want can go to someone else in the neighborhood or a passerby. I often pick up other’s people’s junk myself. However, I don’t like seeing perfectly nice furniture getting hauled to the street, then rained on, and then being rendered utterly useless.
Inside CoD, the homeowner is still responsible for the disposal of whatever is put out at the curb that is not in bags or the recycling bin. So, if someone doesn’t take it, you still have to take it back in and make arrangements.
For things I am not interested in trying to sell, I usually do a curb alert to see if any neighbors are interested before I box it up to donate or otherwise dispose of. I always think of it as less wasteful to see if others want my used stuff before I just get rid of it. Depending on where you take it, donated items may never get used or sold or, if they are, may not be used or sold locally. Things are not just left out for someone else to throw away, in my experience.
It seems that in Decatur, if stuff doesn’t get taken in a few days, folks make sure it doesn’t stay out on the curb. Free stuff good.
We like the curb alerts and feel it’s nice to offer things to local folks, some of whom live on a fairly tight budget (not everyone in Decatur is a millionaire…yet). We also donate items, money and time consistently to a variety of local charities. Sometimes a curb alert is infinitely more practical…like when we needed to offload over 500 concrete pavers. We had multiple respondents interested within minutes of posting.
Yeah, echoing Al and Angelo, I don’t see the issue here. If somebody decides to pick up the unwanted stuff that I leave on the curb, it’s not junk to them. Looks like a win-win all around. As long as people don’t leave things out for days on end–and they don’t–what’s the problem?
Well, there we go. Different opinions, politely offered, and convincing. We should try this more often.
Wow – civil, discourse on the Internet… I’m in shock.
I’ve been on both sides of this transaction and don’t really see any problem with it as long as stuff doesn’t just sit on the curb for days (which almost never seems to be the case in CoD). When we put stuff out, we’ve never sent out an alert to the neighborhood list, and I’ve yet to have any castaway, no matter how humble, remain for more than a few hours. One man’s junk… Helps that we’re on Fairview, which is a well-trafficked street.
I curb alert stuff only if the weather is good and bring it in if it starts to rain. Honestly, though, things are usually gone with a couple hours.
We have been placing older furniture, older but working appliances and other assorted stuff on the curb for 20 years in Decatur and 95% of it is taken by someone. We even have bets how long it takes for someone to pick up an item. Quickest pick up was a working washing machine 11 minutes flat.
Can anyone recommend a good tree doctor in the area? Someone who can actually recommend a remedy for trees with a fungus or some other problem?
Treeinspection.com – honest arborist without having motivation to remove trees as so many tree companies do…just a phone call to most of them seems to sicken the tree!
Chris Hastings at Arbormedics.
Parents of 1st-5th grade boys,
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All boys are welcome!
I don’t think I’ve seen anyone mention this yet, but has anyone noticed that the prime real estate that was once Ruby Tuesday, then vacant, and most recently Harken Health on Ponce De Leon next to Thumbs Up/Crescent Moon (whatever they call it these days) has gone out of business? A quick internet search shows that the concept has been closed nationwide by its parent company United Healthcare.
Does anyone know (or want to guess) what is going to happen to the space? Dark for another two years? 🙁
Yeah, that was announced three or so months ago and noted here at the time. One assumes the space is on the market again.
The last time this occurred, the landlord kept it vacant under a lease that continued. I’m curious whether the Harken lease was similar, or if it terminates when the business does. Harken was a subsidiary of United Health, launched in 2 states as a trial balloon, so there may be a corporate guaranty.
How do people feel about bringing back the “My Favorite…in Atlanta” posts? Do you miss them? Not care that they’re gone?
And do you prefer to keep it local or are you also interested in broader favs, like favorite wines, etc…
I have always enjoyed these posts and have discovered many new things as a result of reading them: books, beer, movies, TV shows, etc. Keep ’em coming!
Two thumbs up on bring this back. It doesn’t need to be a every week thing like FFAF. I always liked the topics and replies.
I like it. I tried out great stuff that was recommended in those posts.
8 days away please make plans to join us for our best musical lineup yet…
https://www.freshtix.com/events/decatur-bbq-blues–bluegrass-festival–2017-01-19
What are the transportation recommendations for the festival? I have been searching for a map with near-by designated parking or remote parking with shuttle, to no avail.
The festival recommends transit, rideshare or biking over cars but if you drive, there’s plenty of on-street parking in close proximity to the event. Here’s the info:
http://decaturbbqfestival.com/parking/
Right. I was going to ask “Where do we park?”. We are not in walking distance of Oakhurst and don’t want to get booted or ticketed.
Oakhurst is not full of restricted zones like downtown. Free parking is available on most streets in the neighborhood. I don’t think there are any paid parking or booting lots there at all. East Lake can be a hassle, but Oakview is wide and usually has spaces. If the blocks next to the village are full, park at FAVE (Fifth Avenue School, a couple of blocks south of Oakhurst village at Oakview and Fifth Avenue) or at Oakhurst Elementary, a couple of blocks north of the village on Mead. Oakhurst Presbyterian is usually welcoming to visitors in their lot as long as no church activity is going on. That lot is a couple of blocks west of the village on East Lake.