As part of $33.6 million in budget cuts demanded by the DeKalb County Commission, DeKalb Police have decided to ground its police helicopter.  From the AJC…

DeKalb Chief William O’Brien grounded the helicopter to meet a $4.7 million budget cut, according to a memo obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Effective immediately, helicopter response to calls for service is very limited. Aerial Support is suspending all helicopter activities, operations and call-outs,” Assistant Chief Lisa A. Gassner wrote to staff on Thursday.

The helicopter will only be used for critical public safety emergencies, such as floods and officer-involved shootings, police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said.

Sounds like DeKalb police chases may have just gotten a bit more challenging.

The DeKalb County Commission has to have its budget balanced each year by March 1st.  Its the law!

Faced with the unenviable task, CEO Burrell Ellis’ administration asked DeKalb’s Parks and Rec Dept., which Recreation Centers should be closed.

According to North Druid Hills Patch, Mason Mill’s Recreation Center – inside Mason Mill Park off Clairmont Road – was among the five recommended for closure, based on “a number of factors”, such as age, location and maintenance costs.  A bit more from Patch…

Closing the centers is estimated to save the county $500,000.

…“We asked our parks and recreation department to identify which parks and rec centers would be the most appropriate to close, based on a number of factors,” said DeKalb Chief Operating Officer Richard Stogner. “These recommendations were based on a number of factors, such as their respective service areas, age, and maintenance costs.”

Photo courtesy of DeKalb County’s website

Yum.  Sewage leakage.

The AJC reports in an extensive article this morning that the Environmental Protection Agency has mandated that DeKalb County upgrade its 50 year-old sewage system after over 800 leaks have been reported over the past 5 years.  Failure to do so will result in daily fines of $37,500 a day.

The DeKalb County Commission is scheduled to vote on over $1 billion in sewer and water system upgrades at tonight’s commission meeting.  Many DeKalb residents have voiced passionate displeasure at what this will mean for their water bills – which will increase dramatically over the next couple years – citing the recession and financial difficulties.  Unfortunately, raw sewage waits for no man or woman.

And it seems like Decatur has been ground zero for pipe failure lately…

Two weeks ago, the county had to close portions of Second Avenue in Decatur after pipes broke and 40,800 gallons of sewage spilled, according to water department records. Last week, the county had to suspend water service for 12 hours to residents near Glenwood Road and Parkhill Drive in Decatur after a water main burst. And a rail section in Decatur is closed this weeks to repair a water main under the tracks.

Yuck.

From the AJC…

This week, the DeKalb County Commission signed an agreement to buy land at 1812 Ridgewood Drive NE in Atlanta for $415,000. The property was listed at $400,000 and the additional $15,000 will cover title search, an environmental assessment and other closing costs, county spokesman Burke Brennan said.

Here’s a map of the location if you’re unfamiliar with the Ridgewood area.  If you don’t know much about this area, you might want to take a walk or drive through there some day.  With all the hills, valleys and woods back there, it’s a pretty unique and hidden neighborhood.

Oh, and my question of the day: where would you ask your city to build/create a park?  (And feel free to unpave a parking lot and put up a paradise)

Neighborhood Newspapers reports that last week the DeKalb County Commission approved the county’s second crematory.   A.S. Turner & Sons on Winn Way, just outside of the Decatur city limits, will now operate a 112-square foot crematory on-site.

Apparently up until now, restrictive ordinances had limited the number of crematories in the county to one; located in Stone Mountain. But according to the paper, those ordinances were recently relaxed by the commission, allowing the emergence of other crematories in the DeKalb.

h/t: Georgia Zoning Blog