A few months back, after readers of the popular design blog “Design*Sponge” cried out that Decatur was underrepresented in the site’s Atlanta City Guide, the site’s creators said that if someone created a Decatur-centric post, they would post it.

Well it looks like Carla Schwartz of decorativity took on the challenge and created an extensive to-do-see-buy-drink-eat list within the Decatur city limits!  Here’s a snippet of the intro…

One of Decatur’s biggest draws is that it’s walkable and family friendly. In fact, Decatur was just named “most walkable city in Georgia” by the website Walkscore.com, based on its proximity to surrounding amenities. Because Decatur is so accessible and friendly, I have been able to explore its city life from the time I was a young child. From eating burgers at the Brick Store (long before I was old enough to sample their famous beer menu) to checking out the sophisticated clothing in Squash Blossom to falling in love with music at Eddie’s Attic’s all-ages shows, Decatur has had my heart. Downtown Decatur is worth spending a whole day exploring. If you want to spend the day there, here are the places to go and things to see from morning until night.

From Decatur’s Linda Harris…

The City of Decatur Zoning Board of Appeals meeting scheduled for Monday, January 10, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. has been canceled. It will be rescheduled and we will send out a notice once we have received final confirmation of the date.

UPDATE: OK, so the whole premise of my original post was wrong, as noted to CSD’s Bruce Roaden in the comments.  A new Public Works building would actually serve as a joint MAINTENANCE facility with the city.  Not an administration building. Oy.

My apologies.  So here’s my revised – and much shorter – post.

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Tonight, the Decatur city commissioners took quite a few steps forward towards finalizing the bond projects that will finance the city’s Rec Center, Fire Station #1 and Public Works facility.  They designated the “Redevelopment Area”, finalized the Urban Redevelopment Plan, “activated the Redevelopment Agency”, and  agreed to lease-purchase the property adjacent to the current Public Works facility for $1.1 million.

And as for that public hearing: well, only one resident spoke up.

The only remaining step – accepting the bonds and the bond rate – will take place on December 15th.

For any and all Decatur residents hoping to wrap their heads around the potential funding options the city is considering for outstanding capital improvement projects (Public Works, Rec Center, Fire Station #1, etc)…

City of Decatur residents and property owners are invited to a public information session regarding the capital bond projects, financial options for capital improvements and future financial projections on Thursday, September 2 from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. in the City Commission Meeting Room, Decatur City Hall, 509 N. McDonough Street, Decatur, GA 30030.

The summary from the second strategic planning meeting is now online and can be read in full HERE.  (I hit the high points below, though Mr. White’s summary is quite readable in itself.)

Here’s one of the more interesting lines, “The sentiment appeared to be that citizens didn’t necessarily need city government to do more for them, but they would appreciate the government’s help in doing more for themselves. Providing more information, they suggested, was one way.”  I would say that this might be one of the largest differences between this Strategic Plan and the last round in 1998.

Anyway, onto your ideas and images for Decatur moving forward!

1. Sustaining and Preserving Decatur
   1. potential loss of diversity
   2. keep citizen involvement levels high
   3. build Decatur’s commercial tax base
2. Tending to the natural environment
   1. protect and extend Decatur’s tree canopy
   2. information on being better environmental stewards
   3. improve storm water infrastructure
   4. use zoning and building codes to require more green developments
3. Present and future mobility Read the rest of this entry »

Daren spotted this former Decatur resident (Sunday Paper) hanging out at the intersection of Ponce and Highland Ave in, uh, well, Poncey-Highlands.

Got ours in yesterday’s mail along with our 2010 Census.  Who else out there has been tapped?

How would you evaluate Decatur’s overall performance and amenities today vs. two years ago?

I’ve been thinking that my “Decatur Tips & Links” page needs a revamp.

But instead of just links to the city’s recycling page, I was hoping to create a comprehensive list of all the “inside scoops” about Decatur.  So, in addition to “Park in the Courthouse Deck after 6p!”, what other tips would/do you give to visitors (or new residents) about our fair city?

After we’re finished here, I’ll compile them all on a new and improved page!

UPDATE: City Manager Peggy Merriss confirms in a comment that the city is looking into the application.

“City staff downloaded the application yesterday (Wednesday) and will be evaluating it to determine whether to apply. The deadline is March 26, 2010.”

Andrew and Kristian wrote in this morning and pointed out that Google has put out an request-for-information (RFI) to local communities across the country who are interested in participating in the Google Fiber experiment.

What’s it all about?

Cities looking to fill out an RFI and residents looking to nominate their community and should CLICK HERE.

Revenue & Technology Manager for the City of Decatur, Russ Madison, reports on the Decatur Tax Blog he’s finally gained some traction in getting Bank of America to resolve this “lost escrow check” issue…

After several phone calls between my office and Bank of America yesterday and today, I was able to open a formal “research request” with Bank of America’s tax department this morning.

One of their tax specialists informed me that he was submitting the request to higher levels within his department to research and reissue payment for the affected customers, with an estimated completion date of February 3. Bank of America should pay the penalties and interest, and the late payment would not affect their customers’ escrow accounts.