I just received a phone call from a woman (she said her name, but I’ve forgotten it) who said that Doraville City Council is planning on changing the law to allow bars to remain open until 4am, a change from the current 2am serving cut-off. According to the call, this change will be done at the February 4th City Council meeting.
I don’t know if this is actually being done. If it is being done, there are a couple of legitimate reasons such as protecting Doraville from imminent legal action if Doraville would be certain to lose. But IF it is being done, and IF there is a valid reason for this to be done, an issue this big should not be done quietly, without plenty of advance notice and information about the arguments on either side.
I question whether this is true, because the Doraville political contingent that has a habit of trying to do things “in the dark” seems unlikely to back an issue like this, and the people likely to attend a regular city council meeting would probably be strongly against this.
I’m going to contact my city council members for the truth on this story, and I encourage you to, as well. I will post any further information here.
We’ve been discussing this article on the Northwoods neighborhood e-mail list. It tells of a plan to tame Buford Highway and make it into a pedestrian-safe shopping area. It’s a partnership of several organizations, including DeKalb County, Georgia DOT, and the CDC, which has a new major campus still developing near PDK airport. They have many ideas to improve the Buford Corridor from Sydney Marcus Blvd to Dresden Drive, at PDK just south of Chamblee. One important idea is to remove “Highway” from the name of the road, since it implies a large through road for long-distance travel. An interesting side note is that the Buford Highway corridor is the only area in metro Atlanta where public transportation turns a profit. I suppose that’s why there are a couple of private lines operating busses. Although the fact that any name change would require the Georgia General Assembly makes it more difficult to think anything sensible would come out of the process.
We’ve had some discussion that the new crosswalks in the Chamblee-Doraville segment of the road have not helped as much as they were expected to. I personally put the blame on drivers who just need some time to adjust and learn the new rules (an aggressive ticket campaign might help, if necessary), and on pedestrians who are … well, I can’t think of a nice way to say what I’m thinking. I was amazed to see that there are only 3-4 pedestrians every year struck by cars. I’m appalled to see the pedestrians pushing strollers across the busy street, often within a few dozen feet of the nearest crosswalk. I’ve been a pedestrian nearly daily for the last 8 months or so, crossing Buford Highway a couple of times each day, and I’ve found it worthwhile to go an extra block to the crosswalk at Park Avenue. That’s even without police out enforcing laws against jaywalking. Maybe we could hire a few extra police to ticket people for jaywalking along the few blocks of Buford Highway, as part of this campaign to improve the road for pedestrians.
At any rate, Doraville should be taking a part in this group to improve Buford Corridor. Although after seeing how Doraville could mess up a two-block sidewalk and continue to NOT have a sidewalk along Park Avenue to the police station, or along Central Avenue at all, we’ve seen how Doraville can mess up simple transportation projects when politics gets involved. So we need Doraville to take an INTELLIGENT role in this improvement process.
I need to be sure and add that the above opinions are purely my own are are NOT the blame of anyone in the discussion on the e-mail list.
Georgians are strung along when decision makers don’t make decisions. Our Homeowner’s Association promptly switched off its irrigation system when a ban on outdoor water use was imposed last fall. Assuming the ban would be only for a few months or that a decision outlining how long it would continue would be forthcoming within a couple of months, the Association is paying a couple dollars a month “Readiness to Serve/Commodity Charge” to DeKalb County for the irrigation water meter, and about $10 per month to Georgia Power for an electric meter service that operates the irrigation system.
There are deterrents to immediate discontinuation of water (and in this case electric) when a temporary outdoor watering ban is imposed. DeKalb Water dings you $20 to turn a water meter on, Georgia Power a similar amount or more for an electric service. There’s the hassle of requesting services being turned on and off to consider. (It took three communications to DeKalb Water for them to turn the meter on the last time!)
It’s been over four months since the outdoor watering ban was imposed. Ratepayers deserve information enabling them to make decision and save cash if the ban will continue well into 2008. Statewide it’s a chunk of change for water and electric utilities, considering the many ten of thousands of irrigation water meters, and thousands of electric meter services serving only irrigation systems. This situation is but one of many other costs associated with uncertainty about water that continue because decisions are being made.
Are there any Doraville politicians caught up in this investigation, as reported by the AJC? I understand that at least our Mayor has a citation to pay for misuse of city time or resources on his last campaign, but I don’t know if anybody qualifies as a “serial violator.”
Dr. Mel Colon attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Star Towers. He mentioned that it is 58% pre-leased already, a year and a half before completion. He also linked to this video from CBS 46 News at the event.
It seems to be a little slow on Dorablog of late, so I thought I’d share my most recent experience with Georgia Environmental Protection Division. Based on this experience and a previous experience (that unlike this one was irrefutably a serious violation), don’t expect this agency to be receptive to citizen comments about the state water plan.
Prior to writing EPD, DeKalb County Code Enforcement demonstrated itself ineffective. County Commissioners Boyer and Stokes, as has always been the case with any letters and/or e-mails, found my concern to unimportant and trivial to even acknowledge, what with all the developer’s interests to attend to and all.
21 January 2008
Dear Director Couch:
I have twice previously written the Environmental Protection Division (EPD), copies attached, to complain about the operation of what to me constitutes an unlicensed waste transfer/storage facility, a (Budget) Truck/Equipment Rental business located at 3084 Chestnut Drive / Atlanta, GA 30340. The written communications were addressed to the address provided on an EPD webpage for complaints. The first communication was mailed over 75 days ago and the second three weeks ago. Both communications specifically requested that I be contacted concerning the disposition of the complaint.
Attached is a photograph taken 13 January 2008 of an uncovered container stored on the ground and loaded with dirt like material. I think it not unreasonable to be concerned that the dirt like material may be hazardous waste or otherwise contaminated, non contaminated or non hazardous dirt typically being hauled by dump truck. The other attached photograph, taken the same day, is that of an uncovered container full of garbage on a truck. The Chestnut Drive property where the containers are stored is surrounded by motels and office properties, and is not secured nor screened. The pictured containers were stored on the property from at least sometime Saturday until after Monday morning.
I can certainly understand that my complaint may not have presented sufficient information or otherwise did not warrant further EPD consideration, or that an investigation determined the complaint to be without merit. I cannot understand however, failure to acknowledge receipt of the complaint, let alone offer an a simple explanation. Can you provide reason for me to believe that EPD properly manages complaints from the public, let alone investigates them?
Dave Bearse
During last year’s election, one of the key points in Ray Jenkins’ mayoral campaign was that he supported John King as the city’s police chief. Although Jenkins presided over the illegal council meeting that fired the police chief in the first place, he quickly re-instated King once the media got involved and then made his support of the chief a key piece of his reelection campaign. In fact, the first campaign signs I saw during election season were in the yards of the mayor’s supporters claiming support for both “Chief King and Mayor Ray Jenkins.”
With all this focus on this issue from Jenkins, and all the credit he got for standing up to Spangler, Hart and Lowe in the last election, I find it disappointing that the mayor voted to postpone the signing of a contract between the city and the police chief at the last council meeting. If anyone who was at the meeting could post a comment about what the arguments were in favor of postponing the signing of the contract, I’d like to read them. I can’t help but wonder if all that campaign rhetoric about supporting the chief was just a lot of hot air.
For the record, Spangler, Roche & Fleming all voted in favor of postponing the signing of King’s contract; the mayor broke the tie in their favor. Thanks to Karen Pachuta for writing about this on the ONA and NNA e-mail lists.
It’s a new year and we have a new city council. I’m hoping that all the new people in office are able to work together for the betterment of the city and will be able to get more done than we’ve seen in previous years. The top things I’d like to see this year include:
- Passing a zoning ordinance and a comprehensive city plan that includes mixed-use development in the downtown area
- Hiring a city planner
- Making the city website more navigable
- Letting residents pay bills via the Internet — particularly garbage bills
- Making video of the city council meetings available on the city website. If a little blog like this could host the videos, there’s absolutely no reason that the city could not do it.
What would you like to see the city council accomplish in 2008?
Up to now, I’ve allowed comments from anyone who wanted to contribute them. Because of one individual who can’t seem to stop from making personal attacks against another resident, however, I have decided to require registration with a valid e-mail address before allowing anyone else to comment on the site. You may register on this page — the whole process will take about a minute.
Feel free to discuss any issues you may have with the new registration process below, or e-mail me directly at joseph – a.t.- doraville.org.
(1) A relatively small minority of people are responsible for a majority of government bureaucracy and regulation. The Doraville requirement to register and pay a security deposit to conduct a yard sale exemplifies government regulation necessitated by some people’s lack of simple common sense or laziness and lack of respect for their neighbors. The household at 3563 Stewart Road recently advertised a yard sale by duct taping signs to highway traffic signs. The advertising signs were left up after the sale was over, the paper signs becoming rags in the recent rains. The real problem as the need for regulation however, was that the duct tape damaged every one of the signs it was applied to. This household ought to be charged for the replacement of every sign damaged by the duct tape. At about $50 a pop that’s a pretty penny, but I’d guess the household didn’t even register nor was cited.
(2) On another note, I went to Tower Liquor early New Year’s Eve to pick up some Gran Marnier after deciding to christen 2008 as the year of the Cosmo. The place was electric with activity and the collection of sales and alcohol taxes. Modifying our $50 billion a year war on drugs by replacing the prohibition of soft drugs with regulation, taxation, education and treatment is in order, given drug are as cheap and plentiful as ever.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/17438347/how_america_lost_the_war_on_drugs
Old ladies are not pushed down and their purses taken for money to buy a bottle of Chardonnay, the mafia is not operating stills, and I’ve never heard of the US military assisting in the interdiction of truckloads of tequila in Latin America.
(3) Have you seen the two new homes under construction on formerly vacant land on the southwest corner of Aztec Road and Chestnut Drive, the only corner at that intersection that is not within Doraville limits? Without even considering interior trim level that can escalate price, I anticipate the smaller of the two will list at $400,000 and the larger at over $500,000. The construction, especially given its initiation in a weak housing market, clearly demonstrates our areas potential. I doubt the development would have occurred or be at the level it appears it will be without the townhomes on Chestnut.
Happy New Year