There was quite a crowd (30+) packed into the city commission room last night for Patti Garrett’s oath of office and first official meeting as a commissioner.  On a frigid night, the room was chock-full of Garrett supporters, family, big-wigs, and newsy reporters, all looking for a little warmth.

And they found it.

The mood was light and gracious, thanks to a night of appointments and honors, with both Garrett and District 1 commish Fred Boykin taking the oath of office.  (I noted the commissioners’ oath was longer than the Presidential Oath, but then reelected Mayor Bill Flood later mentioned that it was much shorter than Kasim Reed’s marathon oath of office earlier that day.)

With Jim Baskett still on vacation, commissioners Boykin and Kecia Cunningham acted as a sort of “formality tag-team” in nominating and reappointing Mayor Bill Floyd and Mayor Pro-Tem Jim Baskett to their leadership roles on the commission.

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Brick Store lovers have pined for the release of Mary Jane Mahan’s “Love at the Pub” even longer than they have been anxiously drooling over the fine craft beers aging patiently in the Brick Store’s cold celler.

I first reported Mahan’s book of BSP stories way back in October 2007 – only about a month after the birth of this blog – when Mahan offered her card to a soused DM and his wife at the Decatur Beer Festival.  And though the road to publication proved a bit bumpy, Mahan has finally completed her tribute to the Pub where she once worked.

Released TODAY, “Love at the Pub” includes many a Brick Store memory along with…

• How the Brick Store became rated the #2 beer bar on planet Earth
• What local building used to sit on the site of 125 E Court Square
• How the Georgia beer law fight was won (and who to thank)
• Why the second floor bar makes you swear you’re in Europe

Buy your book on Amazon today and enter your confirmation # on the Love at the Pub website and Mahan promises many extras; the most delectable being a free pint at the Brick Store.

Pick up your copy today and see why tears filled Mayor Floyd’s eyes “with Brick Store pride” when he read it.

Over on his blog, Mayor Bill Floyd asks for feedback on Church Street’s relatively new on-street parking.  According to the post, the city commission will decide this fall whether to make the change permanent.

The on-street parking was originally added to Church during the renovation of Glenlake Park, but the city has made little secret that it was also a test to determine the effectiveness of slowing traffic by reducing road-width.

The mayor says he believes the changes are working “quite well” to reduce traffic, though he’d like to make “some modifications.”

Extend the reduction to two lanes all the way from Commerce Drive to North Decatur Road. Add bicycle lanes and parking on both sides of the road. I would also like to see the traffic lights at Fortner and Lucerne removed and “round-a-bouts” installed.

He wants to know your thoughts, so now’s the time to speak up!

Since my pedestrian brain tends to dominate over my automobile brain these days, I love it and can’t wait ’til Clairemont and Commerce get similar treatment.

Ty Tagami has a great piece in the AJC this morning, which summarizes all the lawsuits DeKalb County is currently fighting with its cities over the distribution of HOST.

Mayor Floyd is quoted in the article saying that Decatur has spent over a $1 million in litigation costs since the HOST legal battle began 9 years ago.  But, as he also points out, what’s at stake is around $1 million a year in capital improvement costs.

Again, DeKalb County refused to comment for a HOST article.

Straight from the mayor…

I have been thinking about this for a long time, but there is a big difference between thinking about it and actually doing it. It is a big commitment and takes a lot of $$, but as we watch our legislature and state leaders at work, it continues to come up in conversations with others. This state has some major problems and at times it seems the least of them is money.

Bottom line? Sounds like it could happen.

Some days this blog just writes itself…

John forwards a link to the “My Two Cents” blog, which claims that Decatur mayor Bill Floyd is considering a run for governor – and then goes on to tout his experience and ability.

John says that the author, Jerry Eickoff, is a “Decatur local and a good friend of Mayor Bill Floyd’s”.

If true, this is big news indeed.  We’ll have to see how this story plays out.

What does DM do when he drops the ball and can’t make an important city function?

He creates an open thread and hopes to piece the event together through comments and links to other sites!

So…what did the mayor talk about last night?  Annexation?  C-2 next to R-60?  Higher taxes?  Falling real estate prices?  Property tax assessment cap?  HOST?

…according to Georgia Trend magazine.  Here’s the blurb.

Floyd, who operates his own blogsite (www.billfloyddecatur.com), has been a leader on Decatur’s political scene since being elected to the city commission in 1991. Since 1998 he’s served as mayor of one of Georgia’s most progressive small cities. Most recently, Decatur has been considering annexation (increasing from 4 to 5 square miles) and developing a local, organic, urban farming program.

Not really a much of a bio, but when you have to write up 100 blurbs I guess you have to limit your facts to things easily found online.

h/t: AJC

The AJC gets reaction from the mayor and school superindentent on the annexation votes by the school board.

The most interesting development in this article is the superintendent reluctantly saying that she believes the school system could support a “commercial” annexation.  Is this a sign of things to come?

And if the city is intent on refining its data analysis, will residents get a look at this refined data before the vote in January?

Obviously, I still have more questions than answers on this subject.

Our Mayor continues to fight the asinine 3% increase cap on property assessments proposed at the State Capitol.

This initiative was proposed earlier this year as a “solution” to local governments that were raising property assessments in place of the more obvious action of raising the tax rate.  As I said back in March, this may be an issue in some GA towns and cities, but when the heck did the “conservative” party become the ones that applied blanket rules across the entire state??  What happened to faith in local governments?!  If a community has a problem with indefensible increases in property assessments, go vote those city hall bums out of office!

But don’t create a 3% cap that rewards those communities that are just too damn lazy to be watchdogs of their government officials and hurts responsible communities like Decatur!  When the city kept the millage rate at the same level this past year, no one claimed that they were doing us this great favor.  The city straight up admitted that the increase in property values was the reason.  Does that sound like a community hiding behind some shady “backdoor tax hikes”?

Unfortunately, regardless of all my ranting, it sounds like the mayors that protested this bill expect it to pass for residential properties.  And that means one more area where the city’s hands tied when it tries to collect revenue to support all of our great city services, first and foremost the school system.

Pretty soon, annexation is going to be the only option left.