Odds & Ends

A reminder that the DHA's Light Up Dunwoody is this Sunday from 3pm to 6pm at the Farmhouse.  Santa will be there with his live reindeer (as always a great photo opportunity) as well as face painting, cookie decorating and singing of carols.  The Christmas tree and Farmhouse will be lit at 5:45pm.  Click on the photo below to watch Good Morning Atlanta at the farmhouse Friday - and yes, a guest appearance by yours truly!

Womack/Vermack Intersection & More

Kudos to Dunwoody City Council, which earlier this week voted 5-1 to continue with the design improvements for the Womack/Vermack intersection.  The vote does not mean that a roundabout will necessarily happen, but that the design work will continue as the city tries to make the intersection more traffic-friendly and pedestrian-friendly.  The project would not be moving forward without the hard work of councilman Terry Nall, who understands that council just can't "stick its head in the sand" when it comes to solving traffic congestion issues.  I also have to give credit to Terry for broaching the possibility of Dunwoody having its own school system (click on link to watch video).  Is it likely to happen anytime soon?  No, but why not get the ball rolling?  It will never happen unless someone takes the first step.  Great job Terry!

Womack/Vermack; Update from Councilman Shortal

Dunwoody city council meets on Monday night, and one of the item added to the agenda is discussion of the Womack/Vermack intersection.  Kudos to the councilor (Terry Nall, I presume) that got this item added, as it gives council a chance to redeem itself for its faulty actions at the last council meeting.
In my last blog post, I didn't do a great job of explaining what council actually did at the October 29th meeting. 
By a 4-3 margin, council voted to remove the remainder of the design funding of an intersection improvement at Vermack/Womack road.  Council did this despite the fact that the designs were not complete, and that the Comprehensive Transportation Plan called for much needed improvements as congestion at this intersection is among the worst in Dunwoody.
The four councilors reasons for voting against the funding were, quite frankly, confusing and without merit.  Two councilors said they heard from their constituents (fact is, the only folks they likely heard from was the small, vocal group of neighbors who live near the intersection, that spoke at the Oct. 29th council meeting), another said let's "kick the can down the road," while the last said it was for financial reasons.  Apparently all four have little interest in fixing "what needs to be fixed."   Why else would they vote against funding that was already in the budget, and on a project that was noted as a "priority" in the Comprehensive Plan? At the very least, let's hire an off-duty safety patrol official for 3 hours a day at $35 an hour.
Let's hope council has the courage to make the right decision on Monday night.

Update from Councilman Shortal

Below is an email update from councilman Denis Shortal.  I appreciate the General sending out these updates, but it would have been nice to hear why he voted against the funding above!

My fellow citizens …, the following is an update of some items of interest ...

1. Recycling Fees ... Correction/clarification .... Below is the info I sent out on my last update. It is true that the "blue box" and the initial 100 "blue bags" are free. After you use up your initial two year supply of "blue bags" you can contact DC for a resupply but, there will be a charge of $15 for an additional 100 "blue bags" ... these additional bags will be delivered to your home within about 10 days. Recycling is still a bargain.
"The DeKalb County (DC) Commission voted last week to remove the $30 recycling fee thus making recycling free. The Blue Box Recycling Brigade should now grow by leaps and bounds. You still must sign up for recycling so that DC can properly route the truck to you area on "recycling day." To sign up for recycling service call 404-294-2900 or email to ... sanitation@co.dekalb.ga.us. It takes about a week or so for DC to drop off your Blue Recycling Box and a 100 Blue bags. A 100 bags should last you about two years and when you start to run low on bags just call DC and reorder. I am a late convert to recycling but I can tell you it is a win/win situation. Your current annual DC sanitation fee is $265 - this has been the fee since 2006 and as you know you pay this when you pay your annual property taxes."
2. Veteran's Day ... Dunwoody will celebrate Veteran's Day this coming Monday, 12 NOV 2012, at the Brook Run Park Veterans Memorial at 1:00 PM. The ceremony features the Marine Color Guard from H&S Bn, 4th MLG, Marietta, GA, guest speakers ... COL Charles Guta, USA (RET) and our very own Corporal William "Blake" Yeargin, SCNG - you may also know him as Officer Yeargin of our Dunwoody Police Department - who has recently returned from a deployment in Afghanistan. I hope to see a large number of our patriotic citizen attend to give thanks for our freedom by honoring our Veterans.

3. Marine Corps Birthday ... Keeping with a military theme, tomorrow, 10 NOV 2012, Marines around the globe will be celebrating the 237th Birthday of the U. S. Marine Corps. Have no doubt that this is a special day for me and all Marines. I attended a celebration last night and today at 1130 and will be at a Marine Corps Birthday Ball in west Georgia tomorrow night. Happy Birthday to all you Marine Warriors and Semper Fidelis.
5. Paving ...With the completion of the paving on Mt Vernon Rd last week all the paving projects for 2012 are now complete. Acadia Builders came to the city and offered to pay 2/3 of the cost of installing new curb, gutter and sidewalk to Layfield Dr and we accepted the offer. (My note ... to me that was an easy and sound financial decision.) This enabled us to widening Mt Vernon Rd all the way to Layfield Dr which is just a few feet from our western city boundary. In paving the name of the game is quality and in my opinion again this year we received a quality paving job across the spectrum. My thanks to our Public Works Director, Michael Smith and his staff for another outstanding job. Michael, you are a tremendous asset to the citizens of Dunwoody.
6. More Paving ... We were recently awarded a $640,000 grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission for the infrastructure and paving funds for Chamblee Dunwoody Road between Cambridge and Valley View. This grant came up on a short notice and thru the professional work of Michael Smith with the assistance of Ted Rhinehart of DeKalb County we were awarded the grant. To be eligible for this grant the project had to be on the planning schedule and be a multi-mode transportation project (cars, pedestrians and bicycles). We are anticipating funding for construction for next year.
A personal note on grants ... if I ran the federal government there would not be any grants especially in light of the fact the government is financially broke. However, I don't run the government and there are grants available and I think it is financially prudent to aggressively pursue ever available grant. Remember if we don't get the grant then some other city will and I can assure you the grant money will be spent .... not saved. At least this way our citizens would get some return of the tax dollars we pay to higher government levels.
7. More Paving ... At our last City Council Meeting a citizen who lives on Vernon Oaks Dr chastised the City Council and Public Works Dir. for the method and the paving of his street. I don't know if he was speaking for all the neighbors or just himself. Now folks, I have heard a lot of outlandish things in the 4+ years we have been working to make this a better city but that was the most astonishing and surprising statements that I have heard. Suffice to say, if your street is on the paving list please notify us if you don't want it paved. I assure you there are hundreds of street where thousands of our citizens live, including me and my neighbors, that would give their "right shoe" to have their street paved.
8. Light Up Dunwoody ... The annual family friendly event, Light Up Dunwoody Christmas Village, takes place on Sunday, 18 NOV, from 3 PM to 6 PM. The lighting of the tree will take place at 5:45 PM. The center of the activities will be in the area of the Farm House. Santa and the Elves will be there and there will be plenty of photo opportunities … so bring your camera. Admission is free ... you can't best that deal. There are plenty of community volunteer opportunities ... please contact Pam Tallmadge @ 770-393-9647 or pam.tallmadgega.us.
9. That is all for today. 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 input.

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

Vote; Womack/Vermack Intersection

Tuesday is Election Day - don't forget to vote!  There is much more on the ballot than the presidential race.  To view a sample Dunwoody ballot, click on the image below.

Womack/Vermack Intersection

Despite the recommendation from staff, last week Dunwoody City Council voted to do nothing to alleviate the congestion at the Womack/Vermack Intersection.  It was a 4-3 vote against the improvements, with Councilors Deutsch, Bonser, Heneghan and Shortal voting to keep this hazardous, congested intersection like it is.  For the life of me, I cannot figure out why.  Hopefully they didn't cave to the pressure applied by a small, but vocal group of neighbors who spoke before council prior to the vote.
The roundabout project proposed by staff will not only minimize the congestion at this intersection, but make it safer for pedestrians and bikers (folks at a dangerous intersection near Emory University had the same concerns a few years back, but since a roundabout was constructed, they have become believers and now extoll the virtues of the improvements).
Council Terry Nall has done more homework on this than any other council member, and is pushing for the project to be funded next year. The Dunwoody Homeowners Association unanimously approves the city's continuing of the design process of this intersection, and the roundabout has the support of Dunwoody High School principal Noel Maloof, as well as Dunwoody resident and former mayoral candidate Bob Dallas, who is the former Director of the state's Office of Highway Safety. 

For more on council's head-scratching actions on this intersection, read I'm Just Sayin' Dunwoody, Dunwoody Farmer Bob and Dunwoody Talk's blog posts.  They are much more direct in their indictment of council on this vote.  

Dunwoody Welcomes Sen. Isakson

The Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce's Fall Gala is this Monday night from 5pm-9pm at the South Terraces, featuring keynote speaker, Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson.  The event is open to the public.  Click on the photo above for more information.  
The event is a great chance to network with fellow Dunwoody business owners and residents. 

DHA To Discuss Womack/Vermack Intersection



Click on agenda to enlarge

Above is the agenda for the DHA's October meeting at 7pm, Sunday at the Spruill Center for the Arts next to the Dunwoody Library.  The item that has my attention is discussion of the Womack/Vermack intersection (city renderings below).  City staff appears to be pushing for a roundabout to replace the flashing red light.  I'm okay with a roundabout as opposed to a traditional stop light, however, I am concerned about pedestrian safety - more specifically the safety of the kids walking to school in the morning and afternoon.  I'm anxious to hear what staff has to say.  I'm also not thrilled with all the added pavement extending from the roundabout along both Womack and Vermack.  If you live near the intersection, please plan to attend the meeting.

Click on photo to enlarge

Dunwoody Football Pancake Breakfast; Update from Councilman Shortal

Update from Councilman Shortal

I'm a day late in getting out Councilman Shortal's update, but it is below and a good read, nonetheless.  Nice to see DeKalb County drop the charge for recycling!

My fellow citizens …, the following is an update of some items of interest ...


1. Recycling Fees ... The DeKalb County (DC) Commission voted last week to remove the $30 recycling fee thus making recycling free. The Blue Box Recycling Brigade should now grow by leaps and bounds. You still must sign up for recycling so that DC can properly route the truck to you area on "recycling day." To sign up for recycling service call 404-294-2900 or email to ... sanitation@co.dekalb.ga.us. It takes about a week or so for DC to drop off your Blue Recycling Box and a 100 Blue bags. A 100 bags should last you about two years and when you start to run low on bags just call DC and reorder. I am a late convert to recycling but I can tell you it is a win/win situation. Your current annual DC sanitation fee is $265 - this has been the fee since 2006 and as you know you pay this when you pay your annual property taxes.
2. Zoning Rewrite Update Public Meeting ... This meeting will take place tonight night, 2 OCT, at your City Hall at 7 PM. I strongly believe that the Zoning Rewrite is the most important task we have undertaking since becoming a city. This is all about what we want our city to be in the future. Very honestly I think the attendance at our public meetings is rather poor but tonight night I hope you will come out and pack the Council Chambers. Don't worry about all the formal zoning language ... just come out and write down your bullet item in layman's terms. By getting involved early you will know what is going on prior to us passing the new City Zoning Ordinance ... if all goes according to plan the ordinance should be voted on in 2013. For me, protection and preservation of our residential areas is high on my list.
3. Walk to School ... Tomorrow, Wed - 3 OCT, is a walk to school day. I will be walking with my usual group to Austin School ... this group leaves Mellow Mushroom in Dunwoody Village at 7:15 AM. Walking to school is a win/win situation. More exercise for our children, helps curb the obesity problem of our youth, less traffic and thus less car pollution. Wherever you live I highly recommend joining the children and parents who are walking in your area. FYI, walk to school is always the first Wednesday of every month.
4. City Council (CC) October Meeting Dates ... As a reminder, the CC meetings have been changed to the 15th and 29th of OCT (the 3rd and 5th Monday) ... this was due to a scheduling conflict.
5. Security ... Remember you are the "eyes and ears" of our Dunwoody Police. Recently in our neighborhood an alert neighbor saw two suspicious men pull into his neighbor driveway and walk around to the back of the house. He knew the neighbors weren't home and called 911 .... after a foot chase our outstanding police officers arrested both of the suspects and they are now in jail. These suspects have been implicated in other burglaries in Dunwoody and surrounding cities. The key to security is all of us should know when our neighbors are normally not home and when they are out of town. Then if you see something going on that doesn't pas the "smell test" call 911 ASAP ... don't hesitate as you will not be bothering our police but rather assisting them keeping the "bad guys" out of our area.
6. More Security ... While major crimes have decreased in Dunwoody, car break-ins are on the rise. Folks, I have hit this issue many times in my updates. By my estimate we can reduce car break-ins by 50% if we just took a couple of extra seconds to ensure we have nothing of valve in our cars that can be seen from the outside. All that the predators are looking for when they walk by your car is something of value .... if they don't see something they move on but if they do see something of value they will break into your car and are gone in a few second ... and you will be the victim. Fellow citizens, please help our Dunwoody Police, and yourselves, by enacting this security tip in your everyday actions.
7. 2013 Budget ... The Dunwoody Budget Committee - I am one of the three members — met last Friday to discuss the 2013 City Budget. Although I believe we made some good decisions there are areas that I believe are of high expenditure concern. Some of these areas of concern are:
Completing Phase II of the Brook Run Park Trail in 2013 ... If we wait until 2014 there is a better possibility of our $7 million park bond suit be adjudicated making these funds, that can only be used in Brook Run, available
The size of the increase in the police budget ... approx. $735,000 ... some of these increases I agree with as necessary ... other increases are excessive
The size of pay increase for city employees ... I firmly believe we can give our employees a pay increase for the fourth straight year ... but I think a 4% increase is excessive
The budget is on our city website (dunwoodyga.gov) for your review and the budget public hearing will take place at the CC meeting on 15 OCT with the final vote at the CC meeting on 29 OCT
8. Dunwoody Woman's Club (DWC) Home Tour ... This annual event, which takes place tomorrow, 3 OCT, raises money for many charity causes in our area. For complete information about the Home Tour go the DWC website at ... http://www.dunwoodywomansclub.org. You can buy a tickets from DWC members, various shop around town and at the door of the homes on the tour. Advance tickets are $25. At one of the homes you may know the folks that are parking cars.
9. Home Owners Associations (HOAs) .... I will be speaking at a HOA on October 8. I will be glad to speak to any HOA in Dunwoody ... just let me know a time and place.
10. That is all for today. 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 input.

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

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!