For those who haven’t seen it yet, Creative Loafing created this mock-up of a “Dunwoody Journal-Constitution” for their current issue, which features a lead article by Scott Henry entitled “‘Burbs or Bust”.

Many in-towners – including myself - have cited the paper’s move to Dunwoody and recent articles with a perceived anti-Atlanta bias to state show that “the AJC isn’t Atlanta’s newspaper anymore”.  In his article, Henry speaks of recent editorial changes at the paper including the facts that “… reporters are now forbidden from using the word “sprawl” and other terms that seem to cast judgment on the suburban way of life. The paper has even appointed a “bias editor” to ferret out even the unwitting inclusion of a turn of phrase that might cause offense to Northside readers.”

It’s a cry of a wounded population, compelled to reference Ralph McGill in moments of nostalgia for the newspapers of old.

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Apparently discussion of the idea of putting a tunnel under East Atlanta neighborhoods – in an effort to funnel traffic away from the connector – is still going hot and heavy down at the Gold Dome.  The AJC reported on this a couple days back, but it just caught my attention again when it popped up on the front page of AJC.com.

“The tunnel is the one project that absolutely, head and shoulders above every other P3, moves the needle the most on congestion mitigation and mobility,” said David Doss, who chairs the state Transportation Board’s committee on such projects. The reason it wasn’t listed at the very top of DOT’s project list was because of the “unknowns” involved in creating a new urban road tunnel here, he said.

Where to begin this time?

Um, how about more highway pavement doesn’t actually relieve congestion?  It just encourages more folks to set up shop in the fragile exurb ecosystem?  How about the cost to build and maintain the dang thing will be astronomical?  How about the level of damage done to those east-side neighborhoods during construction and after?  (Ben’s already done a great job of summarizing these points over at Terminal Station.)

Oh, and here’s the most deliciously insensitive part of this whole cockamamie idea.

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If you’re a news-junkie with ink-stained fingers or um..carpal tunnel, you know the AJC has gone whole hog on evaluating tax assessments across the metro area and is reporting it’s findings in an in-depth series.

But the shocker being played up by the AJC, namely the widespread discrepancy of tax assessments to sales prices across much of the Atlanta metro area, doesn’t seem to shake out for ol’ 30030, according to the AJC’s zip code breakdown.

In fact, while Decatur’s sales value of homes increased nearly 10% from 2007 to 2008, tax assessments in the city went up only 3.6%.  Meanwhile, residents who filed tax returns requested a 19.2% drop in value.

So, according to this AJC analysis (story HERE, cool interactive map HERE), Decatur’s assessments aren’t currently that out of whack.  To see what a real problem looks like, take a gander at South DeKalb, or much of South Fulton, where sales value can be as much as 50% less than the property’s tax assessment.

As for the reason why assessments are so much higher than values, most across the Atlanta metro tax offices were pretty upfront with the AJC.  If assessments truly reflected current costs, local governments would go into a operational tailspin.

Is this reason enough to keep assessments up?  If you’re a city or county government unprepared to deal with massive services cuts or a political leader unwilling to propose a tax increase, probably so.  If you’re a homeowner struggling to make ends meet, probably not.

Wow.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) confirmed Monday it will leave its downtown headquarters and makes its new home in Atlanta’s Perimeter submarket in the first quarter of 2010.

The new AJC headquarters will be 223 Perimeter Center Parkway, across the street from the Dunwoody MARTA station and outside the Perimeter. The building is Macy’s former Southeast headquarters.

Welcome to the new normal.  The one where AJC reporters lunch at Perimeter Mall instead of on Broad Street.

UPDATE: Scott Henry notes on Fresh Loaf that the AJC has done business in downtown Atlanta for over 140 years.  The AJC’s official note includes this not so compensatory tidbit…

The AJC remains committed to covering downtown, Joseph said. The paper will maintain its Capitol bureau and also plans to add an intown bureau for reporters, he said. Details on the intown bureau have not been determined.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution may soon only be “Atlanta” in name only.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle is reporting that the AJC is seriously considering moving out of downtown due to the cost of operating the downtown building and settling OTP (gasp!) .

Where would it go?

One strong possibility is Gwinnett County, where the AJC decided to locate its new printing presses a couple of years ago. The production facility is at 6455 Best Friend Road in Norcross, about 17 miles from downtown Atlanta.

Other possibilities include the headquarters of Cox Enterprises on Peachtree-Dunwoody Road near Perimeter Center as well as a facility along Lake Hearn where Cox Communications, the cable company, is headquartered. Lake Hearn also is in the Perimeter Center area, but inside I-285.