The votes have been tallied and here’s a smattering of races with a local connection:

• Elena Parent won the Democratic nomination for Jason Carter’s vacated Senate seat, attracting 65% of the vote to Kyle Williams’ 35%
• Decatur former School Board member Valarie Wilson is in a strong position to be the Democatic candidate for State School Superintendent, with the most votes of any Democratic candidate. But without “50% plus one” vote – Wilson will need to enter into a runoff with the second place candidate, which looks to be state Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan to secure the nomination.
• And of course, Gov. Nathan Deal and Jason Carter now officially are poised to go head-to-head in the governor’s race.
• Also, DeKalb Sheriff Jeff Mann and former DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones are headed for a runoff for County Sheriff.

Lynne points to this Elena Parent/Kyle Williams forum tomorrow evening at ASC, hosted by Jim Galloway…

WHAT: GA Senator Jason Carter is running for Governor, leaving an open seat in Senate District 42. Please come out and hear from these highly qualified candidates before the May 20 Primary! To see if you live in Senate Dist 42, go to: http://goo.gl/REsSxR for a map. Neighborhoods: North Druid Hills, Druid Hills, North Decatur, City of Decatur, Oakhurst, East Lake, Kirkwood, Edgewood, & Belvedere Park (and surrounding neighborhoods).

WHEN: Tuesday, May 6, 2014 from 7:00 PM 9:00 PM; Doors open at 6:30 PM

WHERE: Agnes Scott College, 141 E College Ave, Decatur, GA 30030 in Rebekah Scott Hall

RSVP: Reservation Required to enter. First come, first serve on a space available basis after 7:00PM. RSVP on FB: http://goo.gl/te5VW8 or Brown Paper Ticket

CONTACT: Maggie Paynich, Treasurer, DeKalb Young Democrats: [email protected] or 404-804-6405

With Georgia Senator Jason Carter announcing that he’ll challenge Gov. Nathan Deal for the Georgia governor’s seat next year, the Georgia 42nd district seat will be vacated.

DM has confirmed that Decatur attorney Kyle Williams has filed the paperwork to run for the open Senate seat and plans to make a formal announcement mid-week this week.  With the announcement, Williams says he also plans to release a list of first round endorsements.

“Numbers support our run and we can win.” Williams tells DM.

Mr. Williams’ registration form lists Jesse A. Davis as his Campaign Manager and Christa Dell Sobon as his Treasurer.

By Katie Pedersen and Kyle Williams

On Tuesday, November 8^th, we have a chance to vote “Yes” for City Schools of Decatur.  Tomorrow, Decatur voters decide whether to continue the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) by answering “Yes” or “No” to a very long, legalese question that begins “Shall a special one percent sales and use tax for educational purposed continue to be imposed in DeKalb County for not longer than 20 quarters, beginning July 1, 2012, to raise not more than $645,000,000 in the aggregate. . . .”

First passed in 1997, SPLOST provides a means for school systems to meet capital improvement needs through the collection of a 1% sales tax.  SPLOST is not a new or additional tax – it is already a part of our 7% sales tax.  But the sales tax will expire in the next few months unless we ‘Locally Opt’ to keep it in place.

Since its inception, SPLOST has funded 38% of all capital projects for CSD, bringing in more than $34 million dollars. Thanks to SPLOST, CSD has:

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Love it!  ZBA member Kyle Williams writes in about last night’s approval of a new community garden tucked behind Northern Ave and Oakland Street residences…

Last night the Zoning Board of Appeals approved plans for Tanyard Community Garden (see Agenda Item No. 1 on the…agenda materials). The proposed garden is a tremendous community-led initiative to create useable greenspace in city-owned stream buffer areas that will “build strong communities” as you highlight in your post from yesterday Are Environmentalists Just “Fiddling While Rome Burns?” Our approval might also be the first official action on the new Strategic Plan:

The Tanyard Community Garden is consistent with the goals outlined in the Strategic Plan under Goal #8, which recommends that the city develop a “necklace” of planted bicycle and pedestrian linkages connecting the major green spaces of the city. The connection of the various green spaces will result in multiple benefits: I) easier, safer and more aesthetically pleasing access to existing green space, 2) “new” green space on existing public land, and 3) traffic volume and speed reductions. The City believes that the project will promote a more healthy and active community.

Tanyard Community Garden comes on the heels of ZBA’s approval of Sugar Creek Garden and is part of a citywide effort to identify and create useable community greenspace in these pockets of flood, detention and stream buffer areas.

On your November 2nd ballot, Decatur residents will find this lovely legalese…

Shall the Act be approved which authorizes the City of Decatur to exercise redevelopment powers under the ‘Redevelopment Powers Law,’ as it may be amended from time to time?”

In layman’s terms this essentially asks you, “Should Decatur have the option to create Tax Allocation Districts inside the city limits?”

Tax Allocation Districts or “TADs” have been used with mixed success throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area in recent years. The most prominent – and successful example – being Atlantic Station.  In a nutshell, TADs use additional tax revenue generated by new development on-site, (i.e. – the difference between your taxes pre-renovation and after renovation) to pay-off the very construction bonds that funded the development in the first place.

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At first glance, it may seem that there are few local topics up for discussion as insanely boring as parking.  But just try discussing it with your neighbor and you’ll quickly discover that “parking” is a volatile closet issue for many.  Open that door and you may suddenly find yourself knee-deep in a personal struggle for “what is right” and “what is annoying.”

Here in Decatur, a walkable ‘burb fighting the influence of surrounding speedable sprawl, the issue takes on added weight and dimension.

For decades now, Decatur has bucked almost any developmental trend taken up by the rest of greater Atlanta.  Back in the 1970s, when many of those same suburbs shunned MARTA, Decatur asked that the line be moved so it would cut straight through the center of the city.  And while the Atlanta suburbs continued to crawl across the Georgia piedmont and into the mountains and swamps (circa 2008), Decatur looked towards greater density, shunning wider artery roads with highway-like speed limits in favor of street-narrowing.

But there’s one area where Decatur has a harder time ignoring the car-tendencies of greater Atlanta. Parking.

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