Prosperity: "someone closer to fuss at"

If, like most, you struggle to keep up with the ever-mutating DeKalb County cityhood proposal list, the AJC has a nice summary--as of last week:

map via Tucker Patch

Four different proposals swirling around could in theory create at least that many new cities in north and central swaths of Georgia’s third-largest county. But since the boundaries of these would-be cities overlap — mostly in commercial areas highly sought for generating revenue — the battle so far has focused on what the final landscape will look like, not whether the cities make practical sense. Read the rest @ AJC

→ Last week, Tucker Patch also attempted to clarify via a crazy quilt of a map that depicts current proposals.

The Civic Association Network (CAN) continues to track updates on all plans.

It all makes you wonder: what if neighborhood associations, businesses and cities in the affected areas spoke with one voice to influence our county government and address the concerns stoking cityhood fever?

Now, that's a fuss that would not fall on deaf ears.

Now found: Claude the cat

Claude the orange tabby is safely home, Yay!

Claude notes that he is "...retiring from the crawl space inspection business. It was fun at first then the mole crickets got kind of mean."

Romp through the woods 5K [Apr 20]

via Facebook:

Join the 4th Annual Laurel Ridge Elementary School “Romp Thru the Woods” 5K & 1 mile Fun Run & Tot Trot. A true off-road race through the woods between Laurel Ridge & Druid Hills Middle School. Fun for the entire family! All ages and athletic abilities welcome! 

The race is sponsored by the LRES PTA Health & Wellness Committee.

For additional details and registration, see http://www.active.com/running/decatur-ga/romp-thru-the-woods-5k-and-1mile-fun-run-2013

Druid Hills Charter Cluster: survey

via Facebook

The Druid Hills Charter Cluster Committee is encouraging EVERY stakeholder (parents, teachers, citizens) is this area to take this survey about your education desires going forward. Have a say-so whether you support the charter or not! Feedback from the community is CRUCIAL in this process! Complete ASAP if you haven't already. Thanks! 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DHCC_Survey1

Pollenfall 2013

Hide the lawn furniture, the kids, the car... pine pollen is here!

Neighborhood Watch tips & meeting reminder [Apr 24]

Meeting Reminder

Neighborhood Watch Info Meeting
Wed, April 24, 7pm – 8pm
North Decatur Presbyterian Church. 611 Medlock Rd. (map)
Description: This is a joint meeting hosted by The Pine Glen, Laurel Ridge, Medlock, Country Squire, and Evergreen Forest Neighborhoods but open to the community at large.  Major Tracy is the new head of our police precinct, central precinct, in the DeKalb Police Department. 

Neighborhood Watch Tips
posted to Facebook, via Evergreen Forest's neighborhood watch meeting (thanks to Dawn @ Laurel Ridge!):

1. Vans have been driving around their neighborhood with magnets for businesses such as Comcast, but were actually breaking into homes. Don't assume that magnets on vans/trucks mean that the business is legit or should even be at that address and please do not hesitate to call 911 if you see a van/truck with a magnet in a neighbor's home who is not home and is not usual.

2. Please be comfortable about calling 911. Calls are routed to in the order of priority, so emergencies are going to be handled first. An officer may not come out right away, but placing the call could prevent a crime. Since most of our crimes are happening during the day and we've had more patrols in our area, the police are more likely to come.

3. Please take photos of jewelry, serial numbers of electronics and the electronic items themselves. These photos will be helpful in getting your items back if your home is burglarized and they are taken. Pawn shops give the police items that they take in including serial numbers, and one burglary victim had their lap top returned after a recent burglary because they knew the serial number. Photos of jewelry items will help identify your jewelry if it is pawned. They heavily stressed that this is the key to getting items returned if your home is burglarized.

Improving DeKalb Transportation: open mike

Visit DeKalb County's Transportation Plan 2014 website to learn more about how DeKalb is trying to improve our transportation landscape.

Timeline: planning to be complete by Spring 2014.
Image via Dekalb Co.

There are a number of planning meetings coming up (April 16, 18, 20, 22, 23); you can also catch up with previous meetings here.

Even if you can't attend a meeting, you can participate in the process by adding your notes to an interactive map. You will need to log in, but you can make improvement suggestions in the following categories: vehicular, pedestrian, bicycle, transit and multimodal/other. As to feedback, the page states that

We’re looking for ideas on how the transportation system can be improved. For example, you could point out a problematic intersection, an idea for a new sidewalk or trail, a congested roadway, or a need for a new bus route. (We’re not necessarily looking for smaller maintenance issues such as potholes so please be mindful of the overall objective.)  

As a final note, the number of comments received about a certain issue or idea will not necessarily count as “votes” for that improvement. Rather, this mapping tool is one of many sources for our public input, and we’re really looking for ideas that we may not have heard elsewhere. 

You can also send suggestions to Transportationplan@dekalbcountyga.gov