Category — Uncategorized

This was in the AJC a couple of days past. Our odds were too generous. We know, this site has sucked lately.

(h/t - M.T. Ryder)

We saw this article in the AJC.  Grady says it may not be able to work the Peachtree this year.  They go on to say this.

The overall cost of Peachtree coverage, not counting setup, is close to $20,000, Grady officials said. Grady does not bill the Atlanta Track Club, which furnishes some equipment to the bike teams. “It’s the hospital giving back to the community,” Davenport said.

Wow, whatever will the Road Race do?  We are guessing they will hire a private company to work the event.  Some quick arithmetic indicates that $20,000 is barely more than one percent of the amount of money brought in by entries alone.  Add sponsorship dollars and we are guessing this sum equates to less than one-half of one percent.

[Taking bids now!]

This is not a clever ploy.  Outside the city (and often within) Grady is seen as a money hemorrhaging, medicare/medicaid abusing, hospital for the poor.  The Peachtree Road Race is one of the hospitals best opportunities to show exurbanites all the good it does.  Remember, it is much easier to hate things you aren’t familiar with.

The papers reported this yesterday.  The following e-mail was just sent out to all GSU students.

Georgia State University Faculty, Staff and Students:

Are you ready to tailgate??!!   If you are, then plan to be at the Student Center Atrium tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 p.m. for the announcement regarding the future of football at Georgia State.

You don’t want to miss this one!!

Don’t know what the “You don’t want to miss this one!!” language means.  Surprises possible???

This team will provide more opportunities to play near home for many talented Georgia high school athletes.  Believe us, there are hordes of them.

Georgia State, soon to become our own little USF.

[Right…………….]

1. The Senate decided that they wouldn’t allow the death penalty where the jury verdict wasn’t unanimous.  Shockingly humane of them, we know.  Peach Pundit with a blip.
2. New blog called Atlanta Bar Talk.  Caution, QSFW (Quasi-Safe For Work).
3. Omnivore Atlanta thinks that the Vortex’s poo does not, in fact, smell like roses.
4. We are skeptics when it comes to descriptive value of the term “green,” but Dekalb County schools don’t appear to be abusing the word with their long term environmental plans.  These plans include the state’s first LEED certified school.  The AJC shows its love for the imprecise adjective.
5. UGA racks up some Sears Cup points with their seventh place finish at the NCAA Swimming and Diving National Championships.  Official UGA says its a rebuilidng year.  Insert reloading-related cliche here.

We were in the Cnn Center drinking beers when it hit. Scary as hell. Here are some pics.

[Police fencing blown away.]

[More chaos outside of CNN.]

[Trashed.]

[City trash can out of place.]

[Scrap metal. No idea from where.]

[More of the same.]

[Not republicany enough?]

1. The AJC takes a pessimistic view on the Beltline’s future, despite whatever nonsense is flowing from the Mayor’s office.
2. Everyone is gunning to take down newly elected Athens area U.S. Representative Paul Broun. Peach Pundit with the details.
3. Sad architectural news from CL. Don’t worry the Buckhead Library is still standing.

We have had a submit a link feature up for some time. Nobody has ever used it. If you see something Atlanta-related (loose interpretation of “related”) please send it to us via this feature. Fifteen seconds of your life that can never be recovered were spent reading this text. We apologize.

 This from a meeting of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association:

Margaret D. Kaiser, Georgia state representative from District 59. Kaiser introduced her initiative to raise the homestead exemption on property from the current $15,000 to $50,000, phased in over five years. She encouraged members to sign up for legislative updates and asked residents to host yard signs proposing the homestead exemption bill. The original intent of the homestead exemption, said Kaiser, was to protect lower and moderately priced homes, adding that inflated property taxes have increased exponentially. She said she is also working to log all vacant properties in District 59 to be taken into context when property reassessment is done. She asked for volunteers to walk and help log vacant houses, which, along with foreclosures, also contribute to declining property values.

[Dame Kaiser]

Kaiser is right to worry about assessments. Cities throughout the country use assessments as a back door tax hike. To raise taxes this way is both deceptive and economically inefficient.

People need help out there, but is this just straight pandering? It seems a tad irresponsible to cut tax revenues when the city is facing a budget shortfall. Of course, Kaiser is not part of the city government. One thing is for sure if this tax cut comes to pass; Margaret Kaiser’s star will be rising.

A lack of funds made Sunday Brunch impracticable this week, but Lady d’Urbain and I were able to spend our last red cent on Friday at Atlanta’s restaurant of the moment, Depot. Upon arriving we were amazed at the number of cars in the parking lot, and we were braced for an arduous wait. Once inside we were seated after only 15 minutes.

The restaurant is located in an old train depot, and unfortunately, this may be the eatery’s most interesting aspect. The restaurant is located here.

[For those who can’t read gibberish the restaurant is located at 904 Memorial between Boulevard and Moreland.]

Depot’s future is as a bar; not as a location for dining.  The restaurant is situated perfectly for this type of arrangement.  Directly behind a bar spanning 3/4 of the restaurant’s length are long tables made for leaning.  In this area alone we surmise that more than 100 drunken revelers could be contained. [Read more →]

After a flurry of articles about how the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision will affect the highly anticipated and highly popular Beltline, there has been a relative silence. Without the TAD money there is little chance this project can go forward. Nobody seems willing to admit that this is the case.

[Too bad this old bastard gave all his money to Vandy. Mayor Franklin could use it.]

An excellent Los Angeles Times article suggests that the mayor is interested in finding alternative funding from private and philanthropic sources. We guess these would be the same public slash philanthropic partners the city has been begging for Symphony Center money to no avail. That is $500 million project, the Beltline has an estimated cost of $8 billion. [Read more →]