Julia sends along this announcement…

Do you have left over paint? Most of us do. Now you have somewhere to dispose of it! Decatur Presbyterian Church will hold its 2nd Annual Paint Recycling Fundraiser on Saturday, March 8 from 10 am until 2 pm.  Look for signage that directs you to DPC’s rear parking lot on Church Street in downtown Decatur.

DPC will earn $1 for each gallon can. Proceeds will be used to fund other recycling projects. You will be charged for disposal of your old latex paint ($3/gallon can) and oil-based paint ($4/gallon can) regardless of how much paint remains in the can.

Disposal of Household Hazardous Waste (i.e. paint) can be a problem. The City of Decatur does not recycle or dispose of your paint, and to put in a landfill, the paint must first be dried. Atlanta Paint Disposal, the event’s vendor, not only keeps your paint out of the landfills; it recycles it into environmentally friendly paint. APD sells their recycled paint to contractors at a discount.

Chris sent in a couple photos of Decatur Presbyterian Church’s new streetscape, which was recently unveiled from out behind orange fencing. The changes will be more noticeable than most small streetscape projects as the church sits at the busy intersection of Sycamore and Church Street.

The plan was approved by the city commission back in March 2012.  The “treecycling” of an old Black Walnut tree at the site was chronicled here by Chadwick back in June of last year.

Chadwick writes in with this excellent report.

First off , thanks to DM for putting me in touch with Pastor Todd Speed. Having just went through a similar experience with an historic pecan ( http://www.decaturmetro.com/2012/03/16/tree-cycling-at-the-marlay-lumberjack-style/ ) I shared my experience with Pastor Todd and his team. They were eager to work toward a solution that would salvage as much of the tree as possible.

Read the rest of this entry »

Pastor Todd Speed writes in…

Attached is a photo of a beloved Decatur tree at the corner of Church and Sycamore that is reaching the end of its long life cycle. This black walnut is at least 150 years old and has graced the Decatur Presbyterian Church landscape for all of those years.

Sadly for all of us, the city arborist agrees that the time has come to take it down before it comes down on its own.

…the wood will be available for local woodworkers. This is a special tree that could result in some beautiful works of art.

This evening, Decatur Presbyterian Pastor Todd Speed presented the church’s proposed streetscape improvement plans at the corner of Sycamore and Church Street.

Among the proposed changes were eliminating four public parking spaces on Sycamore in front of the church to widen the narthex terrace and to add a pedestrian crosswalk.  The sidewalk along Sycamore will also be widened to “coincide with the new street alignment in front of the Recreation Center” according to a letter from the church’s pastor to City Manager Peggy Merriss. The church also asked the city to jointly repave and improve the Church Street sidewalk by “allowing the city to pave two additional feet on our property”.

Asst. City Manager Hugh Saxon was generally supportive of the church’s plan from a “good neighbor” standpoint, but wasn’t supportive of the city paying into the repaving of Church Street sidewalks or the mid-block Sycamore crosswalk being requested by the church.  Mr Saxon also was concerned about the close proximity to the signalized crosswalk at Sycamore and Church intersection.

The church also was originally planning to take down the Black Walnut tree at that intersection, but according to Pastor Speed’s initial remarks, after conversations with the City Arborist, the church has decided to wait and see if the tree will “leaf out” this year before making any final determinations about it.

After discussion, the Decatur City Commission decided to approve the entire plan – with the exception of the Sycamore mid-block crosswalk – and committed up to $5,000 to pay for the redevelopment of the city’s portion of the Church Street sidewalk.

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

Maureen Downey wrote an excellent profile of the Global Village School a couple days back in the AJC. The school, which opened in August, helps teenage survivors of war and refugee camps acquire the necessary education to attend and graduate from high school and college.

As Downey explains, the school – which teaches an “intense, extended five-day program” – grew out of a Saturday class at the International Community School on Covington Highway. Students get up as early as 4 a.m. and take trains and buses into Decatur every morning, looking to learn to speak better English and improve math skills.

The school utilizes donated classroom space at Decatur Presbyterian and students eat lunch everyday in Agnes Scott College’s dining hall.

Thanks to Adam for pointing out this great article!