From Superintendent Phyllis Edwards’ note to the Board in preparation for next Tuesday’s meeting…

Beacon Administrative Offices are coming along.  Thanks to Mary Farmer and Jason Ware for shepherding this process.  Mary Farmer and team are set to go over first to get technology going.  Then the Central Office team will move in shifts- first floor than second floor.  We hope to have the May Board Meeting in our new facility.

A reader sent in photographs to DM and Decaturish yesterday documenting evidence of a fuel spill into Peavine Creek at the Beacon Hill construction site.

Decaturish followed up with Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon, who said that the Georgia Environmental Protection Division had been alerted by someone that the stream smelled like fuel downstream near Vickers Drive.  They investigated and found a hydrolic fuel tank that had overturned during heavy rains this past weekend. The EPD is now monitoring clean up.  More from Decaturish HERE.

Oil in Peavine Creek behind The Marlay

While the Beacon Hill complex is under renovation, City of Decatur staff is recommending that 7,500 square feet of space be leased in the Well Fargo building at 250 East Ponce de Leon Avenue for approximately $10,500/month.

According to Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon in a letter to City Manager Peggy Merriss…

The property will be used to provide office space for the Decatur Police Department’s administration, uniform patrol and criminal investigation divisions while the Beacon School Municipal Complex is under development. Funds are available for this in the Capital Improvements fund balance.

The city commission will take up the recommendation tonight at it’s regularly scheduled u-shaped table fun-fest at Decatur City Hall starting at 7:30p.

Photo courtesy of Google Streetview

Every two years, the city of Decatur commissions a city-wide survey of its populace from the National Research Center to get an updated read on opinions on everything from “quality of life” to safety perceptions, to opinions of various city’s services.  As has been the case in other years of late, the full survey made its first appearance in the appendix of the city’s budget, so you’re already welcome to view it HERE (PDF).

The ever-changing “custom questions” for this year seem to indicate that Decatur is pretty evenly divided over whether the city needs a stronger tree ordinance, is OK with the current level of traffic enforcement, and a large majority “strongly” or “somewhat” support using tax funds to renovate Beacon Hill.

Among questions that have been asked in previous years, the quality of life is at an all-time high with 92% rating it as “excellent/good”. The quality of economic development is up from two years ago to 73%, but still a bit below 2006 and 2008’s ratings.  Quality of natural environment is also notably higher at 81% excellent/good vs. 75% two years ago. Ease of bicycle use is also up 6 points to 69% from 2 years ago.

Among the lower scores, positive views on the amount of public parking is higher than previously perceived (38% vs. 32%) but still comparably low, while quality of traffic enforcement dipped 6 points to 65% from 71% two years ago.   Additionally, 45% of residents rated the availability of affordable quality public housing as excellent/good (up 2 points from 2 years prior), with only 9% rating it as “excellent”.  Availability of affordable quality child care registered at similar levels.  You can see many of the year-to-year comparisons throughout the budget’s narrative section.

Overall, according to the survey’s summary, “Most ratings tended to be stable or show an upward trend over time.”

From the Superintendent’s letter to the School Board, prior to tonight’s meeting…

I am providing you with information on possibilities for a central office location. I am not asking you to vote at this time. I believe we have two options. One is Beacon Hill, moving into the complex with the City; the other would require the central office to be built on the high school campus. There are pros/cons to both options. Clearly, we wish to move on this decision so Westchester can be placed back into service as a school.

And then there’s this detail from the Director of Facilities Jason Ware… Read the rest of this entry »