The Emory Wheel reports…

Atlanta-based restaurant chain Tin Drum Asia Cafe announced this month that it will be taking over Wonderful World’s space in Emory Village to open its 10th restaurant. Tin Drum features a pan-Asian menu with more than 35 items made with Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese and Indian influences.

…Wonderful World will close its business this Sunday and Tin Drum is scheduled to open within the next two weeks.

 

To countless millions, actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar will always be 1980s icon Zack Morris.  Poor guy.  From the Emory Wheel…

American-Dutch actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar was chosen to be the speaker at Emory University’s Class Day this year.

Gosselaar is most famous for his role as Zack Morris on NBC’s “Saved by the Bell.” The event is geared towards seniors, though open to all students.

College senior Jessica Vaccaro, a member of the selection committee, said the committee looked at three different criteria when determining its candidate, including the speaker’s name appeal, the relevancy of the speaker’s message for seniors and the respect that the speaker commands in his or her field.

Last year’s Class Day featured Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, who addressed corporate social responsibility.

“[The committee] felt Gosselaar was the best choice due to his name recognition and the fact that so many seniors remember him on ‘Saved by the Bell,’” Vaccaro said.

The Emory Wheel reports on a whole laundry list of car break-ins recently at Emory’s Peavine Parking Deck that sits along Fraternity Row (near the massive, new, under-construction Psych building)   But the article also goes on to state that this “trend mimics similar cases around the Emory area, including Decatur”.

According to police, most of these recent break-ins involve stealing GPS units.

If you’ve ever found yourself cruising the Emory Village strip some random Wednesday night, looking for a place to down a couple of cold ones with your buddies, you’ve recognized the general lack of establishments at which to partake in this time-honored tradition. Now that Park Bench is long gone, you probably found yourself at Everybody’s. And while I do enjoy their pies and appreciate their local brews, its far from the perfect hangout for someone looking to forget about grad school finals for a few hours.

So what the hell? Supply and demand implies that Emory Village should be crammed full of bars, crammed full of Emory students from across that vast five-way intersection. Well, see that church up on the hill yonder? That’s why.

“Whaa?” you might mumble.

Well, apparently there’s a DeKalb County ordinance which states that “distilled beverages” cannot be served within 200 yards of a church or school (I like to think of it as keepin’ the drink away from preachers and teachers). Whaa? “But what about Everybody’s?” you retort. Umm…I guess it got an exemption because its a restaurant and not a bar? “What about Park Bench?” you counter. Umm…I have no idea. I’m just as confused as you are. Read this AJC article to understand how vague and hollow the ordinance really is.

Well that brings us to last week when Julia Ann Griffith, a Druid Hills resident against the revitalization, called on Emory in the AJC to support the existing ordinance “for the health and safety of Emory students”.

Well, to Emory Wheel Senior Staff Writer Steven Stein, Griffith’s message reeked of ulterior motives. So he responded in his own paper thusly…

“Griffith, advancing the same type of logic that made the Prohibition so successful, writes that college-age drinking is bad. Apparently there’s a big brouhaha over whether alcohol should be sold in Emory Village. Griffith believes the demon whisky (and beer… and wine…) should be banned from that stamp-sized stretch of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Griffith and some of her Alliance to Improve Emory Village cronies claim to be looking out for the well-being of us young’uns. It seems more likely that they’re trying to protect the integrity of the “historical Druid Hills neighborhood” (read: property values). This is why, when Dave’s Cosmic Subs moved into its shack at the edge of the Village, a bunch of Alliancers tried to shut it down. It was an “eyesore,” delicious subs be damned.

Griffith’s solution to the epidemic (plague…scourge…) of college-age drinking is as absurd as the idea of Soulja Boy doing the Lindy Hop. Think about it: Griffith wants to get rid of all the places students can walk to for a drink.”

Stein has a lot of fun with the Griffith in his article, but I agree with his point. There are many good reasons to be against the redevelopment of Emory Village, but I wouldn’t be so bold as to argue that my opposition is based on the health and well-being of Emory students.

A strip of hopping bars within walking distance might actually make them safer.

Photo Courtesy of The Emory Wheel

The Emory Wheel leads with a eye-popping proposal being considered by Emory administration officials to consolidate the university’s medical school onto one campus by moving all medical facilities from Clifton Road to the Clairmont campus.

The proposal, which would need to be approved by the University’s Board of Trustees in the spring, is a significant departure from the original master plan for campus remodeling, which did not include any changes to Clairmont. Emory’s administration is placing portions of its master plan on hold for three months to evaluate the idea, which was disclosed to the Wheel on Friday.

University officials say the switch might be the best option for Emory and its Strategic Plan, which calls for the expansion of Emory’s health care arm. Doing so on the crowded stretch of buildings on Clifton Road would end up being costlier than relocating to Clairmont, officials say, notably because Emory would need to build an underground parking deck at Clifton at a cost of about $50,000 a space.

But more importantly, according to Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Mike Mandl, the change could bring about higher patient satisfaction and a more cohesive undergraduate experience.

This initial explanation seems to have its merits, though a transfer of this magnitude is obviously a major undertaking. North Decatur traffic is terrible, due partially to the comings and goings of hospital workers throughout the day. Anyone commuting from Decatur to I-85 has to be concerned about the impact this would have on the Clairmont commute.

UPDATE: A Wheel staff editorial supports the plan.