Decatur Heights Neighborhood (Decatur, GA)

New information related to potential Winn/Arcadia garden

Per a phone call to David Junger around 2:25pm 3/31/2010.

David Junger informs me DeVry University owns all the property north of Winn Way at Arcadia Avenue, excluding the fenced in area owned by Comcast (where the communications tower is).

So, to use the 1/4 to 1/3 acre between Winn Way and Comcast, we'll have to approach DeVry University, to see if it will donate it for the purposes of a community garden. If it will not, we'll have to see what whomever eventually buys the property says.

David said the triangular property south of Winn Way, east of Pinehurst St, and bordered by Arcadia Drive to the east is owned by DeKalb County, but that doesn't necessarily mean we cannot use it for a garden. He noted the triangle at W. Ponce and Scott Blvd. is owned by DeKalb County, but Decatur has a sign on it and maintains it.

The DeVry property north of Winn Way looks bad, with scraggly pines and kudzu. The triangle to the south of Winn doesn't look all that bad, but has a mixture of mostly weeds and grass allowed to grow about a foot high. It's not uncommon to see candy wrappers and other trash in it. I'm convinced a Northeast Decatur garden group could make it look a lot better while providing flowers and vegetables for local use. [see plan in earlier DH post]. 

Stay tuned here for updates, as we're going after this!

DeKalb County has no short range plans to repave Sycamore Drive

Per a call to David Junger around 2:25pm:

DeKalb County has no short-range plans to repave Sycamore Drive.  The activity and markings we're seeing are all related to Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) trying to clean up its lines.

So, we're no longer under any tight time pressure to work on road calming measures via lane remarkings and possible parking markings, augmented by "turtles."

That said, it would still be wise to go ahead and work with the city and county to determine what we want, so it will be a standing plan, ready to be implemented whenever it makes sense and funding can be obtained.

Wide open Wednesday (WoW)

As is the custom here, you can post any comments of possible interest to your Decatur Heights (and Northeast Decatur) neighbors here.

Decatur Heights was not represented at the Decatur neighborhood meeting

It appears the DHNA has dropped the ball for our neighborhood once again.

Decatur News Online reports which neighborhoods were represented at the city neighborhood meeting. Sycamore Ridge and Sycamore Station were. Decatur Heights was not.

I'm sure a number of neighbors would have been willing to attend this meeting, had received an e-mail form DHNA saying none of the unelected officers (at least in the last 8 years) could attend. [I know I would have. I elected not to attend for fear it would appear I was usurping on their authority.] But, we received no such e-mail.

If anyone on the current DHNA wants to explain how this happened, I'm sure all neighbors reading this would be happy to hear it.

If you're interested in having neighborhood leadership which is elected annually and feels a true sense of responsibility to our neighborhood, please reply or email dav3kell@gmail.com. Since the DHNA e-mail list is not published, I need to create a new e-mail list for the neighborhood.

Just to be clear, I have no desire to be a community leader. My interest lies in providing an easily accessible format for interactive communications between neighbors. 

The next city-wide neighborhood meeting is in September. Let's make sure our neighborhood is represented, but that's a long ways off. In the meantime, we have some short-fuse items to deal with, like the repaving of Sycamore Drive. Those of us who have a real-time interest in our neighborhood need to step up and take the ball others have dropped and run with it.

Cleanup of future Winn/Arcadia Garden

We have dreams of a half-acre (or so) garden where Winn Way dead ends into Aracadia (see earlier DH post).

But, at the moment, that property is still in DeKalb County.

One energetic neighbor suggests those living in NE Decatur volunteer to clean it up during a Clean Up day the county has announced:

   

If enough of you comment showing you're willing to help, we'll call to volunteer our team.

Urgent action needed on Sycamore Drive road calming

Signs are DeKalb County is preparing to repave Sycamore Drive in the not-to-distant future. Lines are being marked with paint and repaired. A straw boss on a county crew told me they were preparing for resurfacing.

Decatur's transportation plan calls for road calming measures and a bike path along Sycamore Drive.

We need to find out if and when the resurfacing is scheduled, and push for low-cost road calming measures.

We can work with each other, the City, and the County to determine what should and can be done on short notice.

I'd suggest:

• Marking parking on one side only, with white paint for parking spaces and plastic "bott dots" (which look like white turtles -- such as are used on Church St. near Glenlake Park) at each intersection.
• Marking just two rather narrow traffic lanes, one northbound and one southbound.
• Marking a bike lane where the road is wide enough (the width varies considerably).

Who wants to volunteer to work on this?

Open Art show at the Church Thursday evening (to help Haiti)

These flyers were noticed stapled to neighborhood poles today.

 
 

If somebody involved could comment with more details, it would be most helpful.

Wide Open Wednesday (WOW)

As is customary, here's the weekly post to which you can comment about anything of interest to most of your neighbors.

City gives our neighborhood some credit

Cheryl posted a photo of the Northeast Decatur ING Marathon cheering section, which consisted predominantly of DH residents, at The Decatur Minute.

 
 

There was one more, but he was taking photos of other parts of the route through Decatur when this shot was taken.

Northeast Decatur was represented for ING Cheering

Seven of us met at Hillcrest and Sycamore Drive at 6:45 a.m., walked to Decatur around 7 a.m., and cheered from the time the first runner came through around 8:09 a.m. until they picked up the cones at 10:30 a.m.

We were joined by many more from around Decatur who lined the streets despite the cool temperature and light rain to cheer the runners, who were appreciative.

A montage will be posted at nDECATUR.com tomorrow, showing stills and live clips from Fillini's to Decatur First Baptist.

 
 

If you couldn't or didn't join us, there will be more upcoming special neighborhood projects in which you can participate.