Fresh Loaf

Number of cities in the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller housing index: 20

Number of cities in the report that showed monthly and annual home price declines: 20

Amount, in percentage, home prices dropped nationally since January 2008, their largest decline: 19

Amount, in percentage, metro Atlanta home prices dropped since January 2008: 14.5

Amount, in percentage, that Phoenix home prices dropped: 35

Percentage of Atlanta’s population affected by property crimes and violent crime, respectively: 6.6, 1.6

Percentage of Phoenix’s population affected by property crimes and violent crime, respectively: 5.9, .74

Percentage increase in the average home price in Inman Park in early 2009 vs. early 2008, according to Trulia.com: 20

Percentage decrease in the average home price in Old Fourth Ward, over the same time period: 28

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Standard & Poor’s, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Trulia.com

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The Old Fourth Ward, which has coped with prostitutes, drug dealers and gentrification, is on tap for a facelift.

The Atlanta City Council is set to adopt a master plan this month for the historic intown neighborhood, which includes Auburn Avenue and Boulevard. It served before desegregration as the business district for black Atlantans.

But city planners also are trying to fend off a potential traffic mess and other problems that could come with the renewed interest in intown living. The Bureau of Planning predicts the neighborhood’s population will rise over the next two decades from 6,000 to 20,000 — approximately the same number of people who lived there before the Civil Rights Movement. The redevelopment vision could create more walkable streets lined with energy-efficient buildings.

To view the plan, click here. (PDF file)

(Screenshot courtesy of City of Atlanta)

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Lenny’s in Old Fourth Ward will have to find a new home when its lease expires in two years. The music venue and bar’s Decatur Street strip mall location was sold for $3.3 million, according to the AJC.

“For us, it just means in 2-3 years we’ll probably have to move again,” says Bean Summer, the music venue’s booking agent.

“On a larger scale, I think it’s a horrible trend for the city. I think they’re pushing out culture and making really ugly choices. They’re losing control of whatever the beauty of Atlanta is becoming. What are we going to do as a city if we have miles and miles of apartments and nothing to do?”

(Read more at Crib Notes)

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JOHN BAYNE AT P’CHEEN: With Fibonacci cope

A list of the things John Bayne does with his time would fill this page. The short list: He’s a mathematician by trade, a scholar of Southern literature, a collector of books (he gave the GSU library’s its Eudora Welty collection), a raconteur, and as of last night, a professional fashion designer.

Two years ago, he needed new curtains for his windows. Instead of buying some, he borrowed a neighbor’s sewing machine and taught himself to sew. Within days, his curtains were up, but he kept sewing, turning his attention to, of all things, Episcopal vestments called copes. Some of John’s copes feature traditional Episcopal iconography. Others feature visual depictions of mathematical concepts like the Pythagorean theorem and the Fibonacci sequence. An exhibition of John’s copes opened at P’cheen in Old Fourth Ward last night.

The artist was on hand, pouring champagne for visitors and explaining each piece’s meaning and inspiration. He expects the show to remain up for about one month, after which he will turn his attention to another project – the laying of an obelisk on the recently discovered grave of obscure Southern author George Washington Harris in Trenton, Ga. Harris died in 1869.

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