Fresh Loaf

Good morning, John Oxendine, Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate. What bad ideas do you have for us this morning? Oh, you think we should talk about building a “parallel downtown connector” that could plow through most of East Atlanta! OK. Lemme just first clean up all this coffee I spit all over my desk.

Oxendine pitches the idea — along with a Western Bypass, a new Northern Arc, and a couple of other projects that will most likely never get built — in this campaign video.

Building a massive asphalt artery through some of the city’s most vibrant neighborhoods isn’t going to win Oxendine any support inside the perimeter.

But this pie-in-the-sky idea, which will most likely never happen, could win the gubernatorial hopeful points with the North Fulton crowd, a tried and true Republican enclave that’s thought to most likely favor Karen Handel. The Ox says that people who live in the Ga. 400 and I-85 corridors — unlike potential voters in Cobb County — don’t have the luxury of bypassing the city.

But anything to get Georgia out of gridlock, right?

(H/T to Jim Galloway)

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An East Atlanta community activist and businessman has joined the race to represent Cabbagetown, East Atlanta and west DeKalb in the state House of Representatives.

Kevin Johnson announced his House District 58 candidacy today, joining attorney Asha Jackson and lobbyist Michael McPherson in the race to fill the seat vacated by Robbin Shipp. In late April, she resigned halfway through her second term.

A special election has yet to be scheduled.

From a press release from the Johnson campaign:

Johnson, an East Atlanta resident, has extensive political experience. Most recently, his work on a state and federal level to reform unfair credit card practices has been praised locally and nationally. In May, his efforts led to legislation in the Credit CARD Act of 2009 (signed into law by President Obama), which addresses unethical consumer profiling in communities like East Atlanta. Furthermore, Johnson has worked on major political campaigns, including a congressional campaign and President Obama?s presidential campaign.

(more…)

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This Saturday, a meeting is scheduled with the intriguing title “Fighting Foreclosures: A Call to Action.” I’m not sure how you fight foreclosure other than keeping up your mortgage payments or reaching an agreement with your lender, but I guess that’s what the meeting’s about.

Anyway, the list of sponsors and participants in the event reads like a Who’s Who of left-leaning organizations: the ACLU, Georgia Coalition for a People’s Agenda, Open Door Community and many others. The media sponsor is WRFG; the host is the activist Pastor Tim McDonald; and welcoming remarks are by some guy representing the Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America!

But, kidding aside, the event – which begins at 11 a.m. at the First Iconium Baptist Church in East Atlanta – isn’t a protest rally but a foreclosure seminar in which useful information should be disseminated. State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, will discuss fair lending laws; William Brennan, director of Atlanta Legal Aid’s homeowner assistance program, will talk about predatory lending; and Emory political science professor Michael Rich will attempt to explain the foreclosure crisis for the layperson.

There will also be time for a Q&A and action proposals. The primary sponsor is the Georgia Rural Urban Summit, which can be contacted at 770-313-4628 for more information.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Last night saw an unusual event go down in East Atlanta’s Martha Brown church when two Fulton County Superior Court judges met with neighbors concerned about crime to discuss their sentencing philosophy when it comes to serial burglars.

They've got a name for people like you. That name is called "recidivism." Repeat offender!

The meeting was called after Sylvan Hills resident Monica McAfee wrote Judge Alford Dempsey a letter asking why he’d sent chronic perp Johnny Dennard, a nine-time loser with six prior burglary convictions, to a drug treatment program instead of hard time in a state prison.

Dempsey, who was accompanied by Chief Judge Doris Down, explained that he saw McAfee’s letter and similar expressions of outrage from neighbors as an opportunity for greater understanding – what Oprah Winfrey might call a “teaching moment.”

It’s not often that judges come into the community to explain their methodology in dealing with criminals, but these are desperate times. Atlanta homeowners victimized by crime are mad as hell at what they perceive as lapses by the public systems – the cops, the prosecutors, the courts, the prisons, etc. – that are supposed to protect them from the bad guys.

(more…)

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Burglars, beware. Big Brother — or at least a fancy surveillance system — is watching.

Atlantans are fighting back against break-ins by publicizing videos of the culprits. The latest: A brief snippet of a guy who attempted to break into an Adair Park home using two shovels. The man is believed to be responsible for a dozen burglaries in the neighborhood.

Last month, homeowners in Grant Park and East Atlanta caught their break-ins on camera. Two days after the videos went viral, six suspects believed to be involved in at least one of the burglaries were arrested — and police recovered eight stolen flat-screen televisions, three laptop computers and several digital cameras.

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The five four men who abducted two lawyers leaving an East Atlanta bar last year were given prison sentences ranging from 15 to 22 years, AJC.com reports.

The incident garnered national attention and came in the midst of a perceived spate of crime.

(Weirdly, all four of the kidnappers are named Christopher. Thanks to Pecanne Log for pointing out that bit of weirdness.)

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Empty and silent for more than three years, the former Echo Lounge has lately served as a sad reminder of the apparent downturn of an Atlanta live-music scene suffering the loss of several notable venues.

But that may soon change when it reopens as East Atlanta Icehouse, a nightclub and restaurant that promises a wide range of musical acts.

“We’re hoping desperately to be open by the end of May,” says Chip English, who, along with partner Mike Murphy, is working to secure the remaining permits needed to reopen the venue.

English, who will manage the facility, says the musical acts will be “anything from rock-and-roll to bluegrass to zydeco. We’d like to be known for variety.”

Unlike the Echo Lounge, which was forced to close when city officials realized it was operating on a restaurant license but didn’t even have a kitchen, the Icehouse will offer a full menu and even serve lunch on a patio.

According to English, the building had sat vacant so long because a daycare had opened nearby shortly after the Echo Lounge closed, which made it impossible to renew the liquor license. Once the daycare finally closed, the partners jumped on the property.

However, the Icehouse still needs a zoning exemption because, as a music venue, it’s too close to neighboring homes. But Ed Gilgor, chairman of the local neighborhood planning unit, says that’s a small hurdle.

“The community wants this facility,” he says. “But, given its proximity to homes, we have to be certain it happens in a way that works for everybody.”

Noise shouldn’t be a problem. Originally built as a storage house for ice in the 1920s, English notes, the building has eight-inch-thick walls that are virtually soundproof.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Several residents of East Atlanta have expressed annoyance and outrage at what they perceive to be the local media’s failure to adequately highlight tornado damage in their neighborhood. Some of that annoyance has been directed at us.

East Atlanta was hit hard by the tornado.

Based on the concentration of downed trees and power lines, the tornado appears to have crossed I-20 at Glenwood Park. It then tore through the North Ormewood neighborhood and continued southeast, crossing Moreland Ave into East Atlanta between McPherson and Metropolitan avenues. The worst damage I saw was in the residential area directly southeast of the intersection Flat Shoals and Glenwood avenues.

Here’s a map (click to enlarge):

The points on the map above show places where someone at CL photographed storm damage last weekend. By plotting the points on the map, you can see the tornado’s west-to-east path from Vine City to East Atlanta.

This map was on CL’s Flickr page on Sunday. Photos of the damage in East Atlanta were on our Flickr page last Saturday. Here are some thumbnails:

Nevertheless, because I didn’t post anything on this blog alerting readers about the updated photos and map, some readers were clearly left with the impression that we ignored East Atlanta.

We didn’t ignore East Atlanta, but we didn’t put our coverage in a place where a lot of people would see it. For that, I apologize.

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SpaceMax, an Atlanta public storage company with two locations, is offering four months of free storage to people in metro Atlanta whose homes were seriously damaged during last week’s storms.

John Rinehart, an assistant manager at the company’s Zonolite Road location, says he was moved to initiate the offer after seeing the extensive tornado damage in East Atlanta.

If you’re a tornado victim in need, he says just call the Zonolite (404-888-9688) or the Decatur location (404-292-0606) and tell them.

They can verify your claim with insurance documents, or by simply visiting your damaged house.

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If you live around South Moreland Avenue and want to have a say in how the area between I-20 and Constitution Road may look in the future, be sure to attend a public meeting with members of the City of Atlanta’s Bureau of Planning on March 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Mt. Nebo Baptist Church, 1025 McDonough Blvd. The city department is drafting a plan that, according to a press release, would “enhance the quality of life in the South Moreland Avenue corridor through a combination of land use changes, transportation enhancements and redevelopment opportunities.” Neighborhoods in the study area include Ormewood, East Atlanta, Eastland Heights, Woodland Hills, Custer/McDonough, Thomasville Heights, Thomasville and Norwood Manor.

Planning officials say 300 residents and stakeholders attended previous planning meetings and gave suggestions on the project. Neighborhood input is critical to the project, they say.

Some of the plan’s ideas include:

• Land use zoning changes along parts of Moreland Avenue to encourage multi-story, mixed-use redevelopment.

• Expanded sidewalks, street trees, landscaping and pedestrian crossings on Moreland Avenue.

• Realignment of off-set intersections such as the one at the Glenwood Avenue and Moreland Avenue intersection.

• Large-scale mixed-use redevelopment at the Moreland Plaza commercial center (at Custer Avenue) and the Thomasville Heights Housing Project.

• New multi-use trails along Entrenchment Creek and other greenways.

• Creating a new park on Entrenchment Creek near the Custer Avenue intersection.

To view concept drawings and read more about the project, click here. The Web site has a hefty amount of information and is well worth a look.

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EAST ATLANTA STRUT PARADE: Troop 124 is renowned for its liberal membership policies.

(Photo by Sarah Harms)

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If you want to meet me, or make sure you avoid me, note that I will be one of the judges of the East Atlanta Queen of the Strut Pageant on Saturday night. The pageant winner gets to ride on the Queen of the Strut float in next week’s East Atlanta Strut parade.

What: East Atlanta Queen of the Strut Pageant

Where: Mary’s, 1287-B Glenwood Ave., East Atlanta Village, 404-624-4411

When: 10:00 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8

Why: Because your $5 cover charge goes to Animal Action Rescue, a local nonprofit that rescues and finds homes for abused, abandoned and stray animals — such as little Stanley:

Show up and say hi to me, and I’ll buy you drink. I’m easy that way.

Do it for Stanley.

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Less than two weeks after the early morning kidnapping of two bar-goers in the popular commercial district made national news, East Atlanta Village was hit with two daytime armed robberies Friday.

At approximately 10:30 yesterday morning, police say SunTrust bank at 514 Flat Shoals Avenue was robbed by an armed man described by Atlanta Police as a bearded white male, in his mid-30s to early-40s, wearing a green baseball cap, a collared, blue, short-sleeve shirt, and dirty-white tennis shoes. No one was hurt. 11 Alive has a photo of the suspect.

Just after 5:00 p.m. yesterday, police and nearby merchants say two armed men robbed Navy Blu, a men’s clothing store located across Flat Shoals from the bank.

According to police, the owner of the store was shot in the leg while pursuing the robbers outside the store. Police describe the two suspects as black males, one of whom has dreadlocked hair. Police say they fled in a gold, Nissan Pathfinder with South Carolina license plates.

Anyone with information about either robbery is being asked to call 404-577-TIPS (8477).

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DEERHUNTER AT THE EARL ON SATURDAY: Blue man sings the whites.

Saturday’s sold-out show at the Earl in East Atlanta featured not just one, but two rock-snob favorites.

Brooklyn’s the Fiery Furnaces headlined. Led by brother-and-sister duo Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, the group makes “experimental” pop music, by which I mean music that is both grating and unpopular. I like it though.

Local favorites Deerhunter managed to get the writers at Pitchfork to stop fellating them long enough to open the show. Live, the band forgoes the dreaminess and textures of its records, swapping for an amps-to-11 wall of sound. I like it, too. But my ears are still ringing.

(Photo by Andisheh Nouraee)

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So far, people have felt safe moving back into the city, but if another kidnapping happens, or if worse, one is successful, those condos will become very inexpensive very quickly and Real Estate Developers will egg on an already eager legislature to punish the city.

-Bloglanta on early Sunday morning’s kidnapping of two men from an East Atlanta street. The two men were held captive in Cabbagetown while their kidnappers used their credit cards.

The victims were found unhurt and were home Sunday night.

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Throughout the debate on immigration, polls have shown that most Americans are not the raging xenophobes leaders on both sides of the aisle feared and many on the right courted and ignited. Most Americans just want an alternative story to “amnesty for dark-skinned lawbreakers who steal our jobs and want to say the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish.” They want a narrative that has the ring of truth–but comprehensive truth about comprehensive reform.

-Emory University professor of psychology Drew Westen on Huffington Post.

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In reality, the iPhone is yet another symbol of the rape of the American consumer by a plutocratic oligopoly of the big cellular providers.

-Shelbinator doesn’t like the iPhone.

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I just got this e-mail from Patrick Hill, promoter and booking agent for the Earl. It makes me real sad:

Howdy folks-

After a seven-year relationship with Corndogorama and David Railey, The EARL is disappointed to announce that we will not be hosting this year’s event, previously scheduled for June 21-24.

When Corndogorama first came to our venue in 2000, it was a moderately attended one-day event. Over the course of the past seven years, we have been delighted to watch it grow into an eagerly awaited four-day festival.

Corndogorama, while increasingly hosting national acts, was always known to those in the East Atlanta music scene as the preeminent showcase for local talent, always eclipsing more established and better funded local “showcases.” More than just a music fest, though, “Corndog” became a celebrated meeting place; for newcomers to the scene as well as former Atlanta residents whose vacations revolved around the event. Or, as many put it, “Corndogorama is my favorite damn weekend of the year.”

(more…)

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