Decatur’s Public Information Officer, Casie Yoder, just sent along this announcement…

State of the City postponed, other weather info

Due to the threat of inclement weather, tonight’s State of the City address, hosted by the Decatur Business Association, is cancelled. The new date will be announced once it is scheduled.

Tonight’s youth basketball practice, as well as afternoon and evening classes at the Decatur Recreation Center, are cancelled. The gym will close early today at 5 p.m. Wednesday morning classes and activities at the Recreation Center are likely to be cancelled as well. Please check the Active Living blog for the latest updates.

Snow is expected to begin falling this afternoon, and roads are expected to freeze. State routes will be the priority for road crews clearing streets, followed by major city streets. Residential streets will be the last to be cleared. City of Decatur residents are encouraged to clear the sidewalks in front of their property.

Thursday garbage and recycling pick up may be delayed, depending on road conditions. Please check back here for updates.

For any issues during the inclement weather, please contact the police non-emergency number at .

This graphic sent around by the city provides the necessary info…

The DNO e-pub put its nose to the grindstone and turned around two articles from last night’s State of the City and State of the Schools addresses at the Decatur Business Association meeting.

According to the DNO, school board chair Valarie Wilson highlighted the ongoing struggle with the state over school funding and relayed ways in which the school system has made advancements on the five key points of its strategic plan.

Mayor Bill Floyd then took to the stage, highlighting the city’s strong financial position in a tough economic climate, the ongoing effort to “get into the urban gardening business this year”, and the upcoming 2010 Strategic Plan.

Money, food, parking, zoning!?  It’s enough to make a local news junkie drool with glee.

Though there were reports of “record turnouts” at the Holiday Inn Conference Center, I’m sure there are a few of you out there – in addition to me – that have yet to see Mayor Floyd’s State of the City Address.

Well thanks to Andrea Berry and her crew, you can now watch a 12 minute video of the address over on Decatur eLife!

The mayor goes through a lot of topics we’ve discussed here over the months, but here’s one I got some clarification on.

Regarding his opposition to Georgia’s proposed HR 1, which would cap property assessments to 3%, Floyd doesn’t really have a huge problem with a residential cap, it’s the commercial cap that he opposes.  If I may paraphrase his statement, 75% of the time when you cap commercial real estate assessments, you end up putting an even greater burden on residential owners. Savannah’s mayor argued the same point before the House last week.

Though our mayor doesn’t elaborate on the details in his speech, I have to assume that this scenario occurs in communities where commercial real estate is increasing in value at a faster rate than residential.  A cap would level the playing field, shifting an additional burden onto residential.

UPDATE: Instead of voting on HR 1 last Friday, the House sent it back to the Rules Committee today.  Rumor is that Republicans currently don’t have the votes to pass it to the Senate.