Medline LCI Study Open House: mark your calendar

Details coming soon!

Two words: food trucks.

Just click to review our other posts on this project or to visit the Medline LCI website.

Adopt a dog or cat this Memorial weekend

Our local shelters need your help...

FULTON COUNTY and  DEKALB COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES are SLASHING ADOPTION FEES to relieve overcrowding

ATLANTA, GA -- (May 23, 2014)  Warmer weather has brought an influx of animals to Fulton County Animal Services (FCAS) and DeKalb County Animal Services (DCAS), and the shelters are overrun with dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. To save lives and encourage adoptions, FCAS is waiving the adoption fee on all adoptable animals from Friday, May 23, to Monday, May 26!  Similarly, DCAS is offering reduced adoption fees of only $20 for dogs over six months and $10 for cats over six months until the end of May.  Adoption counselors will be on hand to ensure the animals are being placed in good homes.

According to FCAS Director Lara Hudson, her shelter is beyond its comfortable capacity. “This shelter was originally designed to house only 80 animals at a time, but can comfortably house about 250,” says Lara. “Today we are housing 350 dogs and cats, so we are asking the community to step in and save lives by adopting dogs and cats free of charge.”

DCAS Shelter Director Susan Feingold says that besides needing the public to adopt their wonderful dogs and cats, they also need help fostering underage kittens.  “We’ve had so many kittens too young to adopt come into our shelter that would do much better in foster homes,” she says.  “The public can help us by fostering kittens for a few weeks.”

Adopters at both FCAS and DCAS will receive a dog or cat that has been spayed or neutered, has had all vaccines and is microchipped – a $200 value.  To view animals available for adoption, or for the shelter’s address and phone number, please visit the shelter or visit www.fultonanimalservices.com/adopt  for FCAS or www.dekalbanimalservices.com/adopt for DCAS.

About Fulton County Animal Services
Managed by LifeLine Animal Project, Fulton County Animal Service’s mission is to provide a humane environment for Fulton County’s homeless pets while placing them into loving, permanent homes, and to end pet overpopulation by promoting spay/neuter, advocating for life-saving public policy, increasing public awareness of homeless pets and educating the community about responsible pet ownership. For more information, please visit www.fultonanimalservices.com.

About DeKalb County Animal Services
Managed by LifeLine Animal Project, DeKalb County Animal Services provides humane care for animals at the shelter, veterinary care, pet adoptions, pet reclaim services, volunteer opportunities, foster care, and rescue group coordination.  To learn more, please visit www.dekalbanimalservices.com.

Lost cat: Julius

Last seen on Willivee Place around May 10.

Medium-large, eight years old, male. Very friendly.
Distinctive mole visible through the fur in front of his right ear. Also has a little white tie on. He does not have a collar or tags on.

If you've seen a cat matching this description, or seen any new orange cats around at all in the past two weeks, please call or text 678-488-3182.

Medline LCI big reveal! [June 5]

Image via Medline LCI proposal [pdf file]

As reported in previous posts, on February 2013 the Atlanta Regional Commission approved study funds for the Medline Livable Centers Intiative. Encompassing ~520 acres around DeKalb Industrial Way, Church Street, Scott Boulevard /  Lawrenceville Highway and North Decatur Road, the study area is "extremely under developed and ripe for infill and redevelopment as a mixed‐use center serving walkable and transit oriented neighborhoods."

Per the Medline LCI website, "This project will result in a master plan that brings various stakeholders together to form a unified vision for the ultimate enhancement of the Medline area.  The plan will include a short-term work plan, providing a collaborative approach to guide next steps toward implementation. ... The master plan will recommend a variety projects, and some of these may be implemented within a year or two of plan completion. Other projects that require detailed engineering and significant funding will take longer to implement."

The study process began early this year with a survey and a series of meetings with property owners, residents and businesses, with the goal of  determining how to improve transportation and quality of life for all who live, work and spend time in this area. The June 5 meeting offers yet another opportunity to provide feedback, in particular for those who have not been able to participate in other meetings. The study group's written report will be available online soon.

For additional information, presentation slides from all meetings and a comprehensive listing of the professionals involved in this project, visit the Medline LCI site. The FAQ page is a particularly good starting point for those who are just learning about the Medline LCI.

Proposed master plan "cartoon." Please attend the June 6 meeting for more details. Click to enlarge.

North DeKalb Mall sold, remodeling expected

Atlanta's Tomorrow's News Today shared in its Facebook page that North DeKalb Mall has been sold.  A little Google hopscotch led to this press release that announces (without offering additional remodeling details)

"plans to convert the enclosed portion of the property to an open-air concept. Lennar and Sterling acquired ownership interest in the property and Sterling will manage the center. Timing on the redevelopment has not been finalized."

Over at the Lennar Commercial website, North DeKalb Mall is already listed among other properties they manage. A quick scan reveals their holdings fall into two broad categories: those located in areas with household incomes in the ~$60-80K's (similar to North DeKalb Mall), and those in the ~$100K+ range (such as The Avenue@East Cobb). So let the guessing game begin as to what new stores may come our way! Looking at North Dekalb Mall-like Lennar properties, they appear to feature merchants similar to the ones that Selig Enterprises is negotiating for Suburban Plaza.

We will post additional information as it becomes available.

Addendum: For fun, a couple Atlanta Time Machine views of North DeKalb Mall in the 1960's:

1965: http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/commercialbldgs/north_dekalb.htm
Undated: http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/commercialbldgs/north_dekalb_undated.htm

Info for May 20 election

Neighbor Jo Ann sends us this link to DeKalb County's Voter Registration and Elections site:

http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/Voter/CurrentElectionInfo.html

which includes early voting sites, qualified candidates (non-partisan and Democrat), sample ballots  and a link to the  generating voter-specific ballots).

The following precinct changes affect nearby residents:

NORTH DECATUR moved to North Decatur Presbyterian Church (4/11/13)
Relocation of all voters from North Decatur at Scott Boulevard Baptist Church to
North Decatur Presbyterian Center due to sale of church.

MEDLOCK moved to International Community School (4/11/13)
Relocation of all voters from Medlock temporary location at North Decatur
Presbyterian Church to International Community School.

Paper Shredding AND Book Swap @ ICS [May 18]

see details/map here

Community Shredding & Neighborhood Book Swap & Donation Drive to benefit the International Community School, organized by Lisa Crowder

Sunday, May 18th  2-5p

1) Book swap and donation: 
1-2pm -- book donations drop off only. Volunteers will help you unload your books.
2-3pm -- donate books to receive swap tickets (1 ticket for each 2 books you donate; 1 ticket gets you a book during the book swap). Books will be accepted thru 3pm but please come early.
3-5pm -- book swap! Redeem your tickets by "shopping" the book collection. Remaining books will be donated to ICS school children and otherwise donated to the DeKalb Public Library.

2) Secure on-site shredding:  
2-5pm -- $5/box, with proceeds to benefit science education at the school

King of Pops will be on-site; each pop sold earns $1 for ICS.