Bryan sent in this scene this morning from the site of former DeKalb Hooper Alexander Elementary School on Memorial Drive, which borders the Midway Woods neighborhood to the north.  (MAP)

DeKalb County recently tore down three vacant elementary schools around the county and plans to return them to greenspace before deciding what to do with the property, according to Crossroads News.

Back in 2012, a local resident wrote in to DM to ask for help regarding “criminal activity” at the vacant school and in January of this year there was a major fire in the building.

In discussing the coming North McDonough Streetscape Improvement project at Monday’s Decatur City Commission meeting — which Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon sounded sure would happen next summer (You may recall that Decatur first secured $1.77 million grant funding for this project way back in April 2010) — he mentioned a couple of other items that may be of interest…

1.  The traffic signal upgrades that Decatur is working with DeKalb County to implement has been pushed back two years.  When I spoke with the City Manager last summer she said that the timeline had installation happening late 2014/early 2015. Mr. Saxon mentioned at Monday’s meeting that the project isn’t likely to be implemented until 2017.  Past Citizen Surveys have shown that traffic signal timing is one of the most common transportation-related complaints in Decatur.

2.  All of Howard Avenue is part of CSX’s right-of-way.  Did you know that?  I didn’t.

From the CSD Newsletter…

City Schools of Decatur invites the community to discuss the needed capital improvements to accommodate the growing student population at Decatur High School and Renfroe Middle School. Please join us on August 14 at 6:30 PM in the Decatur High School Performing Arts Center and on August 19 at 6:30 PM in the Renfroe Middle School Library.

Master Planning Work Sessions and Forums

DHS- Thursday 8/14 School Leadership Team (SLT) Meeting at 5:00 PM (no public comment at SLT Worksession)

DHS- Thursday 8/14 Community Forum at 6:30 PM (includes public comment time)

RMS- Tuesday 8/19 School Leadership Team (SLT) Meeting at 5:00 PM  (no public comment at SLT Worksession)

RMS- Tuesday 8/19 Community Forum at 6:30 PM (includes public comment time)

Presentation of Proposed Master Plans and Phase 1 Concepts

RMS – Wednesday 9/24 at 6:30 PM

DHS – Thursday 9/25 at 6:30 PM

Mark sent in this photo of a recently pressure-washed 320 Church Street that reveals elements of a painted sign on the exterior.

Anyone recall what used to be housed in this building back at the far end of the Church Street surface parking lot?

UPDATE: here’s a picture of the rear entrance of the Belk-Gallant circa 1956 courtesy of Dennis at Next Stop…Decatur!

At last night’s city commission meeting, Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon (sitting in for City Manager Peggy Merriss) announced that GDOT will be paving the whole of College Avenue between Memorial Drive (to the east) and East Lake MARTA Station (to the west) starting this coming Sunday night, August 10th.

The paving will take place from 9p-5a and is projected to take “a couple of weeks to complete.” according to Mr. Saxon.

In other road-related news, in response to a question from Commissioner Patti Garrett, Mr. Saxon said that the three-lane section of South Candler between the southern city limit and Midway Road would be transformed into a two-lane road to match sections of the road to the north and south of this section.  The changes would be made primarily with paint, but also a few bollards would be installed to discourage use of the third lane as a passing lane.