Update from Councilman Shortal

The following is an update from Dunwoody City Councilman Denis Shortal. Great to see the General mention next Wednesday's Walk to School Day. However, I'm not sure about "rain or shine." I go for a jog every morning at 7am regardless of the temperature, however I have no interest in running in the rain, and I'm certainly not walking my children to school in the rain! Now if the General wants to baby sit my kids should they catch a nasty cold and have to stay home from school, then I might, might consider it!

Fellow Citizens ... The following Is an update of some items of interest :

1. Thanks ... Our thanks to all of you that supported our Police Officers, myself, Bill Riley and Bob Dallas in our Polar Plunge last Saturday to raise funds for GA Special Olympics. The DPD won the honors as the top fund raiser in the Law Enforcement Division. A special thanks goes out to Chief Grogan and his Officers for providing the leadership. FYI, one of our Officers won best costume. FYI, a 42 degree water temperature is a lot colder than it sounds! I am challenging the rest of the city council to join us next year!

2. Class "B" Airspace .... By now all of you know that the FAA has a proposal to lower the Class "B" Airspace over Dunwoody by 1000'. We had a presentation at our city council meeting last Monday night. On next Monday - 1 MAR 2010 - the FAA will hold three public hearings - times are 3 PM, 5PM and 7PM - at the Chamblee Civic Center. This Civic Center is part of the Chamblee City Hall complex located at 3540 Broad St in Chamblee. I would urge all of you to attend one of these meetings. I would also urge each of you to write the FAA objecting to the lowering of the Class "B" Airspace. A few bullet point to stress (and I am sure you can think of many more) are ... increased noise, increased pollution, reduced safety i.e. the same number of aircraft in reduced space and lowering of property values for our citizens which also mean less tax revenues for cities and the county to provide services to our citizens. All written comments have to be received by the FAA by the deadline date on 1 APR 2010. Address your comments to: Mark Ward, Manager, Operations Support Group, Eastern Service Area, Air Traffic Organization, Federal Aviation Administration, P.O. Box 20636, Atlanta, GA 30320. Pls take action on this item ASAP.

3. Walk to School Day .... The Safe Walk to School Day in next Wednesday - 3 MAR - and it will be a go rain or shine. Encouragement to increase the number of students/parents walking and biking to school is a win / win situation .... less traffic on our roads and therefore less pollution as well as healthier children and the parents who walk with them to and from school. I encourage everyone to walk to school that day .... adults that don't have children in the school are encouraged to also walk to show solidarity on this issue. For Austin school, folks will be walking from various locations. For those of you who will join us I will be walking with the group that is gathering at Mellow Mushroom and we will depart from there at 7:15 AM to walk to Austin. This would be convenient for those of you coming from south, east and west of Austin. Then we will meet at Austin at 2:20 PM to walk back up Roberts Rd to Dunwoody Village. Remember it is rain or shine! See you there!

4. Road Damage on Meadowcreek Dr. ... No doubt those of you who live in our local area have seen the three large areas where the street was damaged. This damage was caused by A-1 Driveway and the trucks of concrete company they employed to deliver the concrete for a driveway. Our estimate of the damage is $3000. To date, neither A-1 or the concrete company have agreed to pay for the damages in full. We are pursuing the full payment of damages through various channels.

5. City Council Meetings .... At our last meeting the city council voted to change the dates and times of the city council meetings. The new schedule which goes into effect on MAR 1, 2010 is ... the second Monday of the month will now be a work session and it will start at 7 PM. The fourth Monday of the month will be a short work session starting at 6 PM to be followed by a regular voting meeting starting at 7PM. Note there will no longer be a meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month. The new meeting schedule will be on a three month trial bases and will be reevaluated at the end of the three month period. Personally, I was not in favor of changing the meeting schedule but I am willing to give it a try.

6. Noise Ordinance .... A couple of updates ago I discussed changing the construction quiet hours in our city. I received several responses from you supporting slightly later morning start times. I put forth an item in front of the council proposing a change in the Monday - Friday start times from 7:30 AM to 8:00 AM and on Saturday from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM. For various reasons this proposal didn't receive the support from the council members. One reason given was that no one had complained about the start times. I am currently exploring different wording and limitations to go along with the later start times. I am requesting your feedback to determine if this is an issue that you would like me to continue to move forward.

7. Again, thanks for your support, involvement and interest in our City. Please forward this email to your friends and neighbors. Let me know if you would like to be added to my email list and I will make it happen. Let Us Continue to Build Our City Together!
Denny Shortal, Dunwoody City Councilman, District One - Post 1, Mayor Pro Tem.