To answer a question

There was a question about whether or not I have heard about funding for Point Mallard.

I have not heard about anything as of yet… Unfortunately, there’s no telling if we’ll ever see that money. Unfortunately, the time it takes to switch mayors will drown out the voices of the proponents that want this money. *sighs* Sadly, the bigest advocate for this project would usually be the mayor and the parks director. But, oddly our new mayor likely does not share the same vision as Don Kyle did. I’m sure Stanford has a great vision, but my vision for the city matched more closely to Don Kyle’s.

Some of my opinions…

Ok, so, to reply to some of the comments I’ve gotten lately.

I do live in Decatur. I live in the Brookmeade area in SE Decatur. I’ve lived in Decatur all but one year of my life. I attended Eastwood, Oak Park, and Decatur High. I am a very proud citizen of Decatur.

That being said, I’d like to clarify something. I know I seem very pessimistic about Don Stanford, and I apologize for that. I shouldn’t have used the title “Optimism has left the building…”. I actually am optimistic that Don Stanford can do a good job, and I intend to support him in most everything he does. That is, so long as the things he is doing are things that I think will benefit the city.

It’s the same thing with the presidential race. I am a conservative, but if a liberal were to be elected, I would support them to make the right decision. No matter who wins elections, they deserve respect and support. Because without either of those, we can never expect them to do a good job. Bud Cramer was one of those politicians that had both respect and support from his citizens, and I think we all know how well that worked.

Yea, I realize that it was bad that Don Kyle was just STARTING to have a vision, but I believe that since I was not old enough to vote in that election when he was elected, it’s better late than never.

Again, I do apologize. I do not hate Don Stanford, nor do I wish for him to be unsuccessful. For, if he is unsuccessful, the Decatur would not be the winner. I think you all know that I want Decatur to be the winner.

I also apologize for any spelling mistakes that I make. Haha, I just got home from Atlanta from the Alabama v Clemson game. Needless to say, I’m exhausted after having marched a halftime show and blowing my lungs out, and screaming at the top of my lungs.

Have a good day. It’s likely I won’t be waking up for about 12 hours…

Optimism has left the building…

Get ready Decatur. These next few years are gonna be ROUGH. I am extremely disappointed that Don Stanford one the race. Right when Don Kyle’s administration was starting to have some vision, and I was actually starting to have some faith in him, this happens… I can’t believe this is happening…

I don’t know what’s going to happen to the city. I can’t even begin to guess. Anything. All I know is that this man does not have the same vision for the city that Don Kyle, and his administration, were starting to develop. They were starting to realize the importance of redevelopment of downtown. They were starting to realize the importance of Northside (Northern reaches of the city limits) Development.

Ahhhh, this man is a cook I swear. He says that the city has already borrowed enough money, which means Sweetwater is good as dead. I don’t understand why he thinks that. I thought that the city has a near perfect credit score because it never borrows money.

The city was heading in a great direction. I think that’s probably over now. The bad thing is that in Decatur the transition between mayors usually takes about 6 months.

Thankfully though, Hartselle is keeping it’s current mayor. So that’s some good news. As far as I know, he’s been doing a pretty good job. Though, I’d like to see some more downtown redevelopment in Hartselle.

Some more good news is that Priceville is also keeping their mayor, Melvin Duran.

Yea, can you say stagnate? I welcome any and all responses I’ll do my best to get to them and reply in posts.

PS: Grazie Oogaboga, haha, I tend to mess up my grammar when I rant….

Buses, Sweetwater and a sit down with the Mayoral candidates.

Decatur City Schools has approved expanding the current bus systems from 17 routes to 27 routes.  This will enable the busing system to encompass the entire system and allow full busing for all students.

The Daily recently sat down with mayoral candidates Don Kyle and Don Standford.  Both candidates talked about things like energy issues, citizen complaints, and Calhoun’s venture to locate an arts program downtown.  Both candidate’s answers were almost exactly the same, and both seemed like genuinely good candidates, but I’m still partial to Don Kyle. 

Some things I found interesting in the interview with the candidates was the mention of the downtown redevelopment proposals and some road construction proposals.  The downtown redevelopment was what I most enjoyed.  They both expect to have lower Bank Street redevelopment started in fiscal 2009 (if funding is available) and 2nd Avenue started in fiscal 2010.  2nd Avenue would be the most expensive at around $1.2 Million and Bank Street would be the least  at $874,000.  The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has already given $350,000 to the 2nd Avenue cause and local businesses have amassed some $112,000. 

As for road construction, there was mention of a proposed connector of Auburn Drive and Modaus Road in Southwestern Decatur.  This was interesting to hear, cause I’d NEVER heard of it.  There weren’t any details really offered at all.  But, it definitely sounds like a good proposal that would encourage a lot of residential growth in the Cedar Ridge area.

Finally, after 4 months, the city council is set to vote on whether or not to approve a contract with Genesis USA for the Sweetwater development.  If approved, Genesis would develop the first planned phase (125 acres) of the 536 acre property at the corner of Alabama 20 and I-65.  Sweetwater is to contain a Bass Pro Shops.  Genesis USA has yet to formalize a deal with any hotel developmer, which is key to repaying the debt that the city of Decatur would incure by offereing incentives to Genesis.