Vermack/Womack Intersection Improvements

I spent a few minutes at Dunwoody High School last night talking with city officials about the two proposals to alleviate the traffic congestion during rush hours at the Vermack/Womack intersection.  One proposal is a roundabout (above).  The other is a traffic light (below).  The cost of the projects range from $600,000 to just north of $1,000,000. 
Either project will solve the traffic issues, but not without creating other problems - mainly safety concerns for children walking to school, and encroaching on neighboring properties.  And, oh yea, there's the price tag.


Click photo to enlarge

 After speaking with city officials and neighbors, the latter who seem unanimous in opposition to either proposal, I believe the most cost-effective solution is the best solution (one not suggested by the city, but some of the neighbors) - hire part-time safety-trained personal to act as traffic officers at the intersection.  One of the neighbors told me finding retired or off-duty officials to handle the job would not be a problem (I have no idea).  He said the going rate is $35 per hour.  At a maximum of four hours per day (two in the morning, two in the evening), the cost would be less than $30,000 a year. 

Not only would this plan be prohibitively more cost effective, but likely do a better job in alleviating traffic issues.  It definitely would be safer than either of the city's proposals (and city officials will tell you that safety needs to come first). 
I know the city spent in excess of $100,000 to perform a study and hire a company to come up with their two proposals, but to me, the neighbors' solution is far superior.  At the very least, the city should test this plan to determine if it works.  The cost would be minimal.  Why not at least give it a shot?  And, if it works, it would give city officials an additional $600,000-$1,000,000 to waste spend on their beloved makeover of Dunwoody Village Parkway!
Just my two-cents worth.

Councilman Update and Ethics Board Meeting

The following is an update from Councilman Terry Nall.  I am particularly interested in the Vermack/Womack intersection meeting, as I don't live far from there and am very familiar with the heavy congestion during both morning and afternoon rush hours.  It's too bad this project is not higher on the list of the city's priorities and has to take a backseat to the mess that is Dunwoody Village Parkway.  Whatever happened to "fixing what needs fixing!" 

Upcoming City Council Meetings at 7:00pm


September 24
October 15 (note this one-time change to 3rd Monday)
October 29 (note this one-time change to 5th Monday)

Project Renaissance Parks and Trail

Two additional public meetings are scheduled to hear your input for the design of the four public parks and trail within the 35-acre Project Renaissance development in Georgetown. These additional meetings are during the day in an effort to reach those who are unable to attend night meetings.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 9:30am-11:00am AND 3:30pm-5:30pm
Dunwoody Public Library; 5339 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road

Vermack Road & Womack Road Intersection

A public meeting is scheduled to share your feedback about the design possibilities for the Vermack/Womack intersection improvement:

Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Dunwoody High School Cafeteria (Note the revised location)

The two conceptual designs include a traditional traffic light and a roundabout. After an advance view of the designs, I personally favor the roundabout design for these reasons:

• Retains a 24-hour traffic calming effect on Womack and Vermack - all cars will slow down to 15 mph to proceed through it
• Has a protected pedestrian island so a pedestrian crosses just one travel lane at a time - a vast improvement over today's configuration
• Involves the least amount of right of way acquisition
• Reduces potential for head-on and t-bone crashes
• Retains the neighborhood look and feel
• Improves the efficiency of the intersection, but doesn't add additional capacity for volume
• Offers the best intersection improvement ratings for the projected over the next 25 years
• Less expensive than the traffic light design option.

Zoning Code Rewrite

Module 2 of the Zoning Code Rewrite Project will be ready for public input in early October. You're invited to attend the public meeting of this next module and share your thoughts. More information about the entire project is at www.zoningdunwoody.com.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012 at 7:00pm
City Hall, Council Chambers; 41 Perimeter Center East

A Message from Dunwoody Police

September 14th at about 3:30 PM a 14-year old student from Dunwoody High school reported that as he was walking home from school on Manhasset Dr, a white Nissan Frontier 2 door pickup drove up to him. He said the passenger of the truck asked if he wanted a ride. The DHS student was savvy enough to immediately walk up to the nearest home and call his parents and 911. The Nissan continued toward Manhasset Dr and Mt. Vernon Rd and was not seen again. Officers were in the area within minutes but did not locate the suspects.
Talk with your children, even the older ones, and make sure they know what to do in the event something like this happens to them. It was very smart of the student in this case when he walked up to the nearest house and got on his cell phone. Encourage students to walk with friends. Children should never approach strange vehicles or people. In fact, take several steps away from strangers and their vehicles. Call 911 and report any and all suspicious people and or vehicles immediately.
If you have input or suggestions on these or any other City Council issues, please let me know. I am available to organizations, church groups, neighborhood associations, etc. that desire a City Council member to attend and provide in-person updates.

Terry Nall
Dunwoody City Council (At Large)
Email: terry.nall@dunwoodyga.gov

Ethics Board Meets

The Dunwoody Board of Ethics met last night and recommended City Council sort out the mess before having any formal hearings.  The board also dismissed charges against all council members except Adrian Bonser and Mayor Mike Davis.  I'm guessing the charge against the mayor will be dismissed in the near future as well. 
For more on how the hearing went, read the ethics story in the Dunwoody Reporter or check out Kerry de Vallette's blog at I'm just sayin' Dunwoody.
I was unable to make last night's meeting, but I do want to go to one to see how the board operates.  However, when Kerry uses words like "laborious" to describe last night's meeting, it doesn't sound like I'm missing much!

Update from Councilman Nall

The following update was provided by Councilman Terry Nall.  It is a partial update, as Terry sent it out on Monday, and my apologies, I'm just now getting it posted so I have omitted the dated materials. 
I'm glad to see council finally get around to talking about possible traffic congestion improvements to the Vermack/Womack intersection.  I'd love to see some talk about improvements along Mt. Vernon Rd., as well. These are roads/intersections that are more pressing, unlike Dunwoody Village Parkway, which was not on any one's radar until the council brought it up in the last year or so.  Quite frankly, I never heard anyone talk about changes to DVP in the first 16 years I lived in Dunwoody!  It seems the only reason we are even talking about Dunwoody Village Parkway is because we have secured federal and state grants.  It's as if the city painted itself into a corner with these grants, and now is basically forced to spent $1 million of capital improvement funds, unnecessarily.  Granted, at some point in time, Dunwoody Village Parkway probably needs to be addressed concerning redevelopment of the Village.  But not now.  Just one humble voter's opinion. 

Vermack Road & Womack Road Intersection Public Meeting

Continuing with City Council's desire to make substantial traffic congestion improvements, a public meeting is scheduled to share your feedback about the design possibilities for Vermack/Womack intersection as noted below:

Thursday, September 20, 2012 at 6:00pm - 8:00pm
City Hall - Council Chambers; 41 Perimeter Center East

Dunwoody Village Parkway

Last Monday, the Council divided on the vote to continue with the original scope of the Dunwoody Village Parkway project, which was designed, funded, and approved by last year's Council. The project includes tearing out the parkway median, reducing lanes of traffic, and adding dedicated bike lanes and sidewalks for a total cost of over two million dollars to be funded from Federal and State grants and capital improvement funds from the City of Dunwoody.
Though some elements of the project have merit, such as the much needed sidewalks, I believe the parkway project is not our highest priority at this time in light of the other infrastructure priorities we face. However, the City ran the risk of blacklisting from future grants if we cancelled the plan completely.
I recommended a compromise plan, as reported in the August 29 issue of the Crier (click here) that would not add dedicated bike lanes as the traffic counts do not warrant it, save the median and its landscaping (after proper pruning), add sidewalks and streetscapes, and avoid $300,000 of the median demolition cost.
After much discussion, the final vote was 5-2 in favor of continuing with the project as previously approved by last year's Council. While I did not share my colleagues' vision and votes, we remain colleagues and neighbors both before and after Council meetings. On this issue, we simply agree to disagree.
This parkway work will not begin until after the July 4, 2013 parade.

Fire/Rescue Service

This year, Dekalb County increased its millage rate for Fire/Rescue service from 2.70 to 3.29 mills. This is an annual increase of 22% and a 30% increase over the last two years. DeKalb County also relocated out of Dunwoody its fire/rescue ambulance unit that was stationed at the Roberts Drive Fire Station 12.
At last Monday's Council meeting, we learned the average Dekalb Fire/Rescue response time in Dunwoody for the first six months of 2012 (measured from when a citizen first contacts ChatComm 911 to when the first fire/rescue unit arrives) is almost 11 minutes. Because this is just an average, some Dunwoody residents receive a much longer response time. In my opinion, that's not acceptable in life-threatening situations where the "window of opportunity" for optimum care is half this time. At my request, the city manager is researching the many fire district service models available to Dunwoody. More on this public safety initiative is to come later this year.
If you have input or suggestions on these or any other City Council issues, please let me know. I am available to organizations, church groups, neighborhood associations, etc. that desire a City Council member to attend and provide in-person updates.

Terry Nall
Dunwoody City Council (At Large)
Email: terry.nall@dunwoodyga.gov

Odds & Ends

Wow - I cannot believe it's been 15 days since my last post.  That's the longest I've gone between posts since I started blogging four years ago.  I'll never be a threat to John Heneghan's record number of post in one year (in 2009, John had 534 posts.  My record is 131 in 2010). 
A lot has happened since my last blog.  Dunwoody real estate has caught fire, at least comparatively speaking.  I have two Dunwoody proper listings, and both went under contract.  One was under contract in less than two weeks, the other had multiple offers.  I also have a buyer under contract on a home in Dunwoody North.  And I even have an offer on my $1,200,000 listing on the Dunwoody side of Sandy Springs (click on photo above to view more pictures and listing details of this fabulous home on the Hooch).  Other agents are experiencing similar results.  Now if we can just get prices up!!!

Butterfly Festival

I went to my first Butterfly Festival at the Dunwoody Nature Center on Saturday and it was fabulous!  In 18 years living in Dunwoody, this is the first time I've attended.  Truth be told, I didn't even know the festival existed until DNC Executive Director Alan Mothner asked me if our All Saints' Knights of Columbus would volunteer to grill hot dogs and help as servers.  Alan - it was a lot of fun.  My guys estimated they grilled up almost 700 franks!

DeKalb Tax Bill Snafu

Oh, how I love DeKalb County.  Last year I filed an appeal of my property taxes.  Finally, in May of this year, I received a postal notification of my hearing.  The only problem was, I received it two days AFTER the hearing!
The hearing was rescheduled, and when I finally had my day in court (so to speak), I got $52,000 knocked off my assessment, and in the process froze my taxes for the next couple of years.
Well last week I received my tax bill for 2012, and lo and behold, the $52,000 had magically reappeared!  DeKalb tells me it was an error, and that my mortgage company will be notified.  Like I said, I love DeKalb County!

Bad Press for Dunwoody PD

It hasn't been a good week for the Dunwoody Police Department.  Chief Billy Grogan's staff is feeling the heat for not treating Andrea Sneiderman as a suspect in her late husband Rusty's murder right from the get-go.  The Atlanta Journal Constitution has called the department to task.
I remember when the murder happened, my neighbor blurted out, "you watch, the wife is involved."  Even he knew!  I'm not sure if the DPD handled this in the correct manner, but I'm willing to give the department a pass.  Dunwoody Police have done too much right to let this drag the department down. 

Bob - You Da Man

Finally, I'm tired or reading follow up comments on the Crier, the Patch, the Dunwoody Reporter and other blog sites slamming Bob Lundsten for going public on an executive session leak.  Here's a guy that's done more for the Dunwoody community than all of those nameless critics combined.  He was a past president of the DHA spending countless volunteer hours ensuring we had the best zoning possible (under DeKalb County), was responsible for lifesaving portable defibrillators in every Dunwoody Police car and was a large part of the creation of the Dunwoody Community Garden at Brook Run, which donates thousands of pounds of food to the needy every year.  Bob thanks for standing up for what you believe in and walking the walk.  I owe you a breakfast at Old Hickory House!

Dunwoody Paving Project

This week, the City will be paving on Winters Chapel Monday-Wednesday with a lane closure between 9:00am and 4:00pm.

The City will also be paving Broughton, Tyndall and Tichenor Courts on Monday. Starting Wednesday, there will be periodic lane closures on Mount Vernon west of Ashford Dunwoody for work on the bicycle and pedestrian improvement project.
To lean more about the City's ongoing paving and construction project follow the link below.

Dunwoody Construction Updates

Thumbs Down on T-SPLOST, Thumbs Up on Brookhaven

There will not be a one percent sales tax on Dunwoody residents, or for that matter Atlanta area residents, to pay for transportation projects.  The T-SPLOST vote was defeated soundly on Tuesday, by almost a 2-to-1 margin.  Why did it fail so miserably? 
The reason I voted against it wasn't so much that I didn't want to pay an additional penny to resolve metro traffic issues, but that the tax really didn't solve the major congestion problems.
For years, our legislatures have known that we need a northern arc in the worst possible way.  We need an outer perimeter on the north side, stretching from I-575 near Woodstock to I-85 near Highway 316.  No ands, ifs or buts about it.  It would do wonders to alleviate traffic on I-285.  However, our legislatures know that such a proposal would get major resistance from the folks who live close to any major thoroughfare project.  Our legislatures don't have the stomach to push for it.  If we're going to spent $7.2 billion dollars, that needs to be part of the plan. 

Click T-SPLOST to read more on the T-SPLOST vote.  Click Results to see statewide results.  the T-SPLOST vote was a regional.   Of the 12 regions across the state of Georgia, nine voted against it. 

New City of Brookhaven

The city of Dunwoody will have a new neighbor.  On Tuesday, residents of the Brookhaven area voted to incorporate - congratulations!  It seemed like a no-brainer.  For more on the vote, click Dunwoody Reporter. 
Perhaps the new city of Brookhaven and the city of Dunwoody can get together and form a fire department.  Dunwoody city council is looking into the possibility of starting its own fire department, however the cost might not make sense.  However, splitting the cost between two or three cities may be a way to make it work financially, as well as provide better service than DeKalb County.  Stay tuned.

Vote

Tuesday is election day, don't forget to vote.  The big item on the ballot is the T-SPLOST.  But there is also an important school board election as well.  To view a sample ballot and find your polling place, click VOTE.  See you at the polls!

T- SPLOST Debate, Return of the Blackberry

The most important item on next Tuesday's ballot is the T-SPLOST referendum.  Do you know what it is?  Or how much it will cost? 
The DHA is holding a T-SPLOST debate/forum 7pm Thursday night at the Perimeter College auditorium. 
Speaking in favor of the T-SPLOST will be Bob Dallas, past Director, Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety and Terry Lawler, Executive Director of the Regional Business Coalition of Metro Atlanta. Speaking in opposition to the T-SPLOST will be Ron Sifen, Past President of the Cobb County Civic Coalition, and Mike Lowry of the Georgia Tea Party.

This forum will be conducted in a Question and Answer format. Questions will be asked by the Moderator, and the parties will alternate their responses. The parties have agreed to the format and time limits of the debate. Audience members may submit questions in writing to the Moderator, Greg Crnkovich, A DHA board member. Program starts at 7:00 PM and ends at 8:30 PM.

The DHA hopes that you will attend to hear both sides of the issue and ask your questions regarding the T-Splost referendum, which is on all ballots for the General Primary Election Tuesday, July 31. For maps and project lists go to: http://www.metroatlantatransportationreferendum.com/

Phone Woes - Call Me, Maybe

Okay, sometime soon I will relinquish my Blackberry and trade up to an iphone or android.  That day almost happened on Tuesday, as my phone was on the fritz.  The keypad stopped working.  But a funny thing happened on the way to the T-mobile store.  Actually, the funny thing happened IN the T-mobile store.I was bemoaning to the young clerk, who just told me my beloved Blackberry was "fried," the hefty price tag on the new phones.  A Samsung Galaxy S III for $199 upfront, and $20 per month for 20 months! 

As we were discussing the new phones and my options, I casually was tossing my fried Blackberry in the air.  Well, on one of the throws, the phone slipped through my hands, and crashed onto the tiled flooring.  I bent down to pick it up, and guess what?  The keypad was back -working perfectly! 

The moral of the story?  I'll let you know when I figure it out.  In the meantime, I'll keep using my Blackberry.

Update from Councilman Shortal

The following update was emailed to me from Councilman Denis Shortal this morning.  It preceeds this evening's city council meeting.

My fellow citizens .... the following is an update of items that maybe of interest ...

1. Good News - Charlie Was Found ... My thanks to all of you who got involved in the search for the McCrocy's family Dog ... Charlie. About a day after I sent out the email with Charlie's photo asking for help, some fine citizens spotted Charlie and he is home safe and sound. Below is a note from the McCrorys and photo of Charlie after he was found:

CHARLIE IS HOME!


We would like to thank everyone in Dunwoody for helping us bring Charlie home. We found him this afternoon in a backyard on Withmere Way. We have lived in Dunwoody for many years, but this experience has really showed us the true community of Dunwoody. We would like to thank all our family and friends for their relentless searching (too many to name right here but you all know who you are), as well as total strangers who reached out with sightings info, offerings of help and some just calling and e-mailing to check on the search. We will be eternally grateful to the Dunwoody community for bringing Charlie back to us!

2. Green Market .... For those of you looking for the Green Market it has moved to the Spruill Center Gallery which is located on the corner of Ashford Dunwoody Rd and Asbury Square. The Green Market will still be on Wednesday mornings with the same vendors and great selections. The reason for the move was the Post Office needed the old location space do to the closing of the Post Office Branch on Shallowford Rd.

3. Paving ... There are three different paving projects that are on going somewhat simultaneously by three different contractors ... Paving is a great enhancement to our City but paving will require patience from all of us as there will be traffic disruptions.  Full Depth Reclamation Paving (FDRP) .... There are seven streets in this project ... These are streets that had extensive deterioration and lacked adequate pavement thickness for normal resurfacing. FDRP is a process where the existing pavement is completely pulverized, mixed with the underlying soil and then cement is added to form a stabilized base which is then overlain with new asphalt pavement. (That is probably more info than you needed.) One of those streets in now complete in Leisure Valley ... this is street DC accepted before our cityhood. The street wasn't up to specs and by default the responsibility fell upon us when we became a city ... (as you know the City has responsibility for all streets and roads within our boundaries). This is a new construction area where the old builders went broke. We were fortunate enough to work out an arrangement where the new builders paid about 56% of the cost. The other streets in this project are... Tennille Ct, Vernon Oaks Dr, Tichenor Ct, Broughton Ct, Tyndall Ct and Arnaud Ct. Total cost of this portion of the repaving is approx. $370K.

Capital Paving Plan (CPP). CPP is the type of paving we have done in the last two years. This process involved milling the streets, deep patching the bad spots and then overlain with new asphalt. This work was started over a week ago on Perimeter Center East which is currently a little over half done. The other streets in this project are Ashford Ctr Pkwy, portions of Winters Chapel Rd, Ashley Ct, Sanlee Ln, Arrie Way, Lakesprings Cr, Lakesprings Ct, Charmant Pl, Joel Pl, Joel Ln and W. Fontainbleau Ct. The rain we had last week slowed progress on this project but I won't complain about the rain as it was needed to get our lawns, etc. back to good health.

The third Paving Project is the enhancements on Mt Vernon Rd … this includes widening the road, adding curb and gutter where needed, adding sidewalks on the south side and repaving ... there will be bike lanes as part of this enhancement. There will be some tree removal (which is currently in progress) involved in this project to accommodate the sidewalks. A second part of this project is enhancement to Chamblee Dunwoody Rd south of Womack Rd. This portion of the project has been put on temporary hold pending the outcome of a "shovel ready" grant that we found and have applied for ... we are awaiting the outcome of that grant application.

4. City Signage ... Thanks to all of you for your input. There is a blond lady that I hang around with a lot and she also agrees with your point of view. You can rest easy as we are going back to the "drawing board" on the city/way finding signage. That is one of the reasons we became a city .... your representatives are fellow citizens that you know, and can contact easily and they will respond. The public feedback is a key part in running our city as long as that feedback is not individual self-motivated ... in this case it definitely worked. I was out on the road with the paving crews this week and I have a fairly good working knowledge of that subject. When it comes to art and signs ... I personally can't even draw a "stick man." We will get a couple of graphic art type folks combined with some citizens with a good corporate knowledge of historic Dunwoody and proceed forward.

5. Voting ... Candidate Primaries and other major issues are on the 31 JUL 2102 election ballot .... just nine days for today. This is your website for all voting Information ... http://web.co.dekalb.ga.us/Voter/default.html

How and Where to Vote ... See under "Normal Voting" below for instructions to see "specific" sample ballot for your area of DC.

You can still vote absentee but time is getting short. Go to the above website and on the left side of the page click on "Application and Forms" and in the middle of the next page click on "Absentee Ballot Application." Fill out the application -- remember this is a primary and you must choose either a Republican or Democratic Ballot (the general non-partisan issues will be on both on these ballots). At this date I recommend you fax your ballot application to DC Election Office (DCEO) ... Fax Ph # is 404-298-4038. Your application must be received NLT 4 PM on Friday, 27 JUL ... You will receive your ballot in the mail .... fill it out and mail it back to the address shown. To be counted your ballot must be received NLT 31 JUL at the DCEO.

Advance Voting ... Advance Voting is voting in person from 7 AM to 7 PM at five polling places around DC starting 23 thru 27 JUL 2012 ... the closest Advance Voting Polling Place to us is Chamblee City Hall, 5468 Peachtree Rd, Chamblee, GA 30341. Remember whenever you vote in person you need a picture ID.

Normal Voting ... Normal Voting will be at your regular polling place on Tuesday, 31 JUL from 7 AM to 7 PM. To find your regular polling place go to the above website, click on "Current Election Information" ... first items on the top left column ... and on the next page click on "Voter Specific Sample Ballot," it is the second item in the center of the page, fill out the required personal information and click "submit" and a page will come up showing your polling place and location. Also about 1/2 way down that page you will see a paragraph entitled "Your Sample Ballot(s)" and at the bottom of that paragraph you can select the "specific" Republican or Democratic ballot for you area of DC.

My Comment of Voting ... Over the last 10 months I have been the senior Marine at the funeral, in the Atlanta area, for two very patriotic young Marines who lost their lives preserve your privilege to vote. Pls. keep faith with them by voting at this and all subsequent elections!

6. TSPLOST .... This issue, among others, will be on all ballots for the 31 JUL election. Basically it adds a one cent to the sales tax in each region. There are 12 regions in the state and DeKalb and nine other counties are in the region which encompasses the greater Atlanta Region. Each of the 12 regions across the state will vote independent of each other whether or not to pass TSPLOST … i.e., only those regions that vote in favor of TSPLOST will have TSPLOST. As I see it the positive for Dunwoody are ... we would get approx. $12 million from the regional funds to complete the Mt Vernon Rd enhancement from the city east boundary to Ashford Dunwoody Rd and additional $112.5 Million with $337.5 million in matching federal funds to enhance the I-285 / 400 intersection plus we would get approx. $800 — 900K annually for the 10 year life of TSPLOST for capital road enhancements within our city. The negative are it is a sales tax increase of approx. 14% ... also we are the only region to have a 85%/15% split where 85% of the funds go to regional projects across the region and 15% of the funds go to local projects for the individual counties and cities ...… all other regions have a 75% / 25% split. The last negative factor is trust. How you vote is your decision ... you decide!

7. DeKalb County Fire & Rescue (DCF&R) ...… Currently DCF&R is planning on outsourcing ambulance service in DC. There is currently a Request for Proposal (RFP) on the street with a due date of 9 AUG 2012. If this project goes forth this will probably be implemented sometime later this fall. This is brought on by the fiscal issues in DC. How it is currently envisioned to work is that when you place an EMT / Paramedic 911 call the first response would be a fire truck from one of our fire stations and on the truck will be an EMT and a Paramedic. At the same time the contract ambulance will be dispatched to the scene with an EMT and Paramedic on board to take anyone who requires it to a medical facility. I will keep you updated as this situation develops. I like the current system better.

8. Stage Door Players (SDP) ... Meredy and I went to see SDP production of "High Society" last night ... all we can say it was excellent and we highly recommend the play. The remaining shows are on Th, Fr and Sat 26, 27 & 28 JUL and 2, 3 and 4 AUG @ 8 PM ... There is also a Sunday Matinee on 29 JUL and 5 AUG at I think 2:30 PM. Call 770-396-1726 or go on line at info@stage door players.net. The plays have been sold out so get your tickets early. If you haven't been to SDP we would highly recommend you start supporting this crown jewel intimate theater of Dunwoody. One day I envision some of our generous citizens stepping forward with the funds to renovate the Brook Run Theater (I am pretty sure we can get the votes to name it after you) which would be a venue enhancement while more that doubling the seating capacity.

9. City Meetings and Event of Interest ...
23 JUL @ 7 PM ... City Council Meeting @ City Hall
24 JUL @ 1 PM ... Dunwoody Design Review Committee Meeting ... At the Dunwoody Homeowners Association Office ... 5527 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd.
24 JUL @ 4 PM ... Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) Meeting at City Hall
26 JUL @ 7 PM ... TSPLOST Forum @ Georgia Perimeter College (GPC)
28 JUL @ 7 PM ... Dunwoody Nature Center (DNC) Summer Concert @ the DNC ... Bring your food and beverages in a picnic basket and enjoy a wonderful evening for the entire family.
01 AUG @ 7 PM ... Dunwoody Zoning and Land Development Code Rewrite ... Public meeting @ The Fellowship Hall @ DUMC

10. Dunwoody Bakery Grand Re-opening ... I attended this event this passed week. Jill, the owner tells me she uses all organic ingredients and everything is also gluten free. She is going to start serving lunch starting in August.

11. Pat Sadler .... At tomorrow night's city council meeting we will honor Pat Sadler who for the last ten years has been the President of Dunwoody Senior Baseball. Pat, is moving to NC to retire and play golf. Pat, on behalf of all the citizens of our fair city ... Thanks You! You are my definition of a real "community activist."

12. It is about time I put an end to this update before I have to get a copy write. Please pass this on to all your friends, neighbors, members of your HOA or anyone else you think maybe interested. If anyone would like to be added to my email list please let me know and I will make that happen. Thanks for your continued support and remember that each of us are the City.

Let Us Continue To Build Our City Together

Denny Shortal
Dunwoody City Council, District One, Post-1
Mayor Pro Tem
denis.shortal@dunwoodyga.gov
PH (O) 678-382-6700 (C) 678-246-9006

911 Follow Up, T-SPOLST

Dunwoody City Council meets again on Monday evening, and Councilman John Heneghan, true to his word, had an update on the city's 911 services placed on the agenda. 
Two blog posts ago, I published an email by former Councilman Danny Ross on the progress  - or lack thereof - of service provider ChatComm's CAD-to-CAD (computer-aided dispatch) function (read July 14).
Since that time, I spoke with Councilman Terry Nall, who says don't be so quick to place all the blame on ChatComm, the private company hired by the city to replace DeKalb County's 911 services.  Terry says a lot of the issue lies within DeKalb County and two of its IT departments , which can't seem to get on the same page. 
And to add fuel to the fire - so to speak - DeKalb has pulled one of its rescue crews - Unit 12 - out of Dunwoody in order to serve other areas of the county. 
-
One other item on the agenda of note, longtime Dunwoody resident and remodelor Sam Portis will be added to the Design Review Advisory Committee.   Any committee that has Sam as a member is better for it!

T-SPLOST Prospects Look Dim

I found the following article on Dunwoody Patch concerning T-SPLOST very interesting.  In some respects, T-SPLOST makes a lot of sense.  In others, it makes no sense.  15 years ago Georgia legislatures had the opportunity to do the right thing and build a northern arc.  They didn't have the backbone.  And now the metro area suffers.  We still need a northern arc, however it's not part of the penny tax.  My inclination is to vote against T-SPLOST.   And I am very pleased to see the Ga.400 toll coming to an end, albeit 3 years too late.

By Perry Parks
Georgia Republicans' aversion to any kind of tax, and concern about riling the Tea Party, are helping to consolidate opposition to the state's one-percent sales tax referendum for transportation, UGA professor Charles Bullock said in an analysis of a Patch survey.

Patch's unscientific survey of about 60 state Republican activists, candidates and office holders showed overwhelming opposition to the TSPLOST referendum. Bullock, a longtime observer of Georgia politics, says that while the Tea Party didn't put up as many primary challengers to sitting Republican legislators as it had hoped, anti-tax pressure within the party remains high.
Click Dunwoody Patch to read full story.