Category: Maps

Decatur and DeKalb Under Drought Restrictions

Wow, is it just me or did this sorta came outta nowhere?  From the DeKalb County and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, via The Decatur Minute…

DeKalb County is one of 52 counties under Level 2 drought restrictions being mandated by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) and enforced by the county.

Under Level 2 drought, outdoor irrigation for purposes of planting, growing, managing or maintaining ground cover, trees, shrubs, or other plants are limited to two days a week on an odd-even schedule:

  • Even numbered addresses and sites without numbered addresses may irrigate on Wednesdays and Saturdays before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m.
  • Odd numbered addresses may irrigate on Thursdays and Sundays before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m.
  • No outdoor watering is allowed between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The following outdoor water uses  are prohibited:

Continue reading “Decatur and DeKalb Under Drought Restrictions”

Decatur’s Air Quality Worst Along South Candler & Scott Boulevard; Ponce Thru Druid Hills Has Area’s Worst Air Quality

air quality decatur

airquality legend

Check out this cool new map.  You can look at air quality (aka “Particulate Matter levels”) around Atlanta down to the street level!  As the ARC notes on its website…

Understanding air quality at the neighborhood level is also important in addressing land use and site planning- particularly for schools where children are most vulnerable to the effects of air pollution. It can also help us identify communities that are affected, but may be underrepresented in local decision-making.

Not too surprisingly, the air quality is best in residential areas away from major traffic arteries.   So Decatur Heights, Oakhrust and Winnona Park all look pretty good.  School-wise, College Heights, Oakhurst and Winnona Park have the best air quality.

The worst areas aren’t necessarily those that host the most traffic, but the areas where congestion is the worst.  Around Decatur that means the intersections along Scott Boulevard and South Candler fare the worst.   But they are nothing compared to how poor the air quality is along Ponce de Leon Ave between Moreland and Clifton in neighboring Druid Hills(as you can see above), which sees regular congestion during the work week and even often times on weekends.  The other pop of red of the map is at the intersection of North Decatur and Clifton, which sees substantial backups in the afternoons when Emory students and staff get out of work.

And of course, nothing in the Atlanta area compares to the poor air quality around the Connector downtown, especially north of downtown.  Yikes.

Take a look at Decatur and the larger metro region yourself and let us know what you see!

Decatur Average Commute Time is 20-30 Minutes According to U.S. Census

commute map

There are few things that make us more excited than transportation maps!  And HERE’S an apt, good one.

The U.S. Census has mapped the self-reported commute times of respondents from its 2013 American Community survey.  Above is a look at the Atlanta metro with a skew to the east side of the city.

Decatur averages between a 20-30 minute commute throughout all the census districts.

Downtown Atlanta, parts of Midtown and Buckhead have average commutes below 20 minutes.   If you zoom in closer, you may also note that Druid Hills also registers an average commute below 20 minutes, likely due to the very close proximity to Emory.

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In the Atlanta metro area, only Fulton and Clayton have average commute times below 30 minutes. (The whole of Clarke County, where Athens, GA and UGA is located, has an average community below 20 minutes.)

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And just for kicks, above is the average Atlanta commute times way back in 1990. 🙂

Take a look and tell us what interesting trends you noticed!

MM: Details on Scout, DQ and the Arlo, and the Education Money Problem

Source: Education Week, U.S. Census Bureau</
Source: Education Week, U.S. Census Bureau</
  • Scout seeks to “redefine comfort food” in Oakhurst [Atlanta Magazine]
  • Construction of Dairy Queen at new apartment development could begin soon [Decaturish]
  • Decatur’s Arlo Apartments Materialize; DQ Construction to Begin [Curbed]
  • You live in the Piedmont Geographic Region.  Why not learn a bit more about it?! [New Georgia Encyclopedia]
  • SweetWater Goin’ Coastal drops pineapples this weekend [BSJ]
  • Why America’s Schools Have A Money Problem [WABE]

Source: Education Week

Where are Atlanta’s Jobs?

atlanta jobs map

We’ve sorted through a lot of different maps around here over the years.

Here’s a cool, new one based on the 2010 Census that maps every job in the United States as a colored dot.  The color-coding is as follows…

  • Manufacturing and Trade
  • Professional Services
  • Healthcare, Education, and Government
  • Retail, Hospitality, and Other Services

Looking at the Atlanta metro through this lens is pretty interesting.  Decatur’s reliance on the green-colored healthcare, education and government jobs comes thru pretty clearly, with a hint of the blue “Professional Services” thrown in.  The DeKalb Medical and Emory pop out in green in Decatur’s surrounding area.

Downtown Atlanta and Midtown are a smattering of green, blue and yellow, while Buckhead is the clear leader powerhouse when it comes to Professional Services jobs.  Manufacturing is pretty light inside on the northside of the perimeter, but is definitely more prevalent on the westside of Atlanta than the eastside.

Also, here’s the map of the whole Atlanta metro area, which shows how dispersed Atlanta’s jobs are along its major interstates.

atlanta metro job

Take a look at the maps above (click to enlarge them) and play around with the full interactive map HERE and tell us what other interesting items you uncover!

Check Out This Great Atlanta Streetcar Map

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Tucked at the bottom of Maria Saporta’s recent report from the launch of the Atlanta Streetcar, there’s this great map of the Atlanta Streetcar system from the 1940s that you’ve gotta see.

CLICK HERE for the high-res version of the map, so you can zoom in close and see all the different trolley and bus routes all over the city!

Here’s a quick peek at the Decatur/Druid Hills/Avondale area to get you started.

Screen Shot 2015-01-01 at 10.16.48 AM

Solid green lines are the trolley lines, and the dashed red lines are bus lines.  (And if you run across the dashed green “Trackless Trolley” line – like up in Buckhead – it was basically an electric bus that drew its electricity from overhead wires.)

AJC Attempts to Explain the “e” in Clairemont Avenue

Screen Shot 2014-12-23 at 10.01.51 AM

The AJC’s Actual Factual Georgia feature tackled this question yesterday.

Q: Clairmont Road gains an “e” heading south toward Decatur, or Clairemont loses an “e” when heading north away from Decatur. What’s the story behind that?

The answer is incomplete at best, but it’s worth a quick look so you can bring it up at Decatur area holiday parties over the next few days!

Thanks to Chris for pointing out this feature!   He adds…

“Years ago, a local historian who researched at the DeKalb History Center (McCurdy?) told my students that the road was named after a beautiful girl named Claire.  The boys who courted her had to climb stairs to the house, “… To get to Claire, you had to climb the mountain.”  I always assumed that the Ridley house was across the street from the YMCA, a house with many steps but the AJC article says the land was at the corner of Clairemont and Garden Lane.”

Unfortunately, Sanborn Maps of Decatur only go a bit north of Williams Street (see above), so those don’t answer the question of the location of the Ridley house. However, the map does introduce another alternative spelling of the street, “Claremont Road”.

Perhaps there are just too many ways to misspell “Claire”.