Blinded By The Night

What is it with Dunwoody [City Hall] and lights? First it was advocacy against light pollution. A noble effort, so we knew that wouldn't last long. Then came the LEDs. At the city's behest Ga Power replaced traditional sodium vapor lights, which are long lived and reliable, with LED lights that go into a flashing mode, screaming "replace me now" after a few years. The LEDs are not cheaper since replacement of perfectly good equipment allows Ga Power to recover the value of working street lights. What's better is that all this was known beforehand. Then came the village parkway. Those lights have always been flaky, randomly going on and off. The only time these lights operate correctly is during the day. Oh, and they were selected by the city. 

Now we have odd pairings of a pole light and an overhead light at intersections. Some work, some don't. 

Hardly Ever Works

This is looking south on CD at the Knoll and the city-mandated overhead street light is further up CD on the same side. The illumination on CD itself is from pre-existing street lights on the west side of CD. This has always been a well lit area, not like, say, the east side of Roberts between Wintercreek and Austin where there are no lights on either side of Roberts, and arguably there should not be.

Some have conjectured that this light doesn't operate because the pre-existing lights, combined with the paired sister light, is so bright that the pole light is overwhelmed, confused, unable to distinguish night from day. Seems like someone well versed in this technology would have known this could happen. So, what out of touch bureaucrat issued the dictate to install this waste of money at this already well lit intersection? What was their motivation? Have they ever actually seen this intersection? Day or night? 

Git Mo'

One of the gunmen in Atlanta's former mayor's "autonomous zone" has been convicted of killing a young girl. During sentencing there were statements made by interested parities, including the  mother of the recently convicted.

Followed by:

Seriously? Do they allow conjugal visits at Gitmo?

Not to worry, he got quite the sentence, and thankfully that child will grow up without his guidance.

Victory Lap

One of the folks who circulated an online petition against the monstrous apartment complex proposed for the Life South property, a proposal endorsed by city bureaucrats, has done a victory lap. 

Just what was the victory?

To hear them tell it, that would be the rejection of the oft-modified proposal. That's it.

No strategic changes by folks who should care, and DHA should, but probably isn't amongst them. Nothing that takes note of the "ask for the stars to get the moon" approach often adopted by these developers. Nothing to address the fact that the city's Confederacy of Dunces who promoted and recommended approval of this fuster cluck had no elected official representing the electorate. 

Maybe these committees, or whatever the hell they are, should have at least one citizen representative from each district in the city. None of these citizens should serve in any other capacity in the city or the city adjacents: the large number of authorities, councils, committees... whatever they've thrown up as a "we didn't do it, they did" CYA. It should have at least one elected official from council or a first term mayor. In other words someone accountable at the ballot box. Otherwise we'll continue with what we have, a sham rubber-stamping whatever it is these unelected bureaucrats want, and they want what outsiders have told them to want. And maybe it is time for a Citizens Oversight Group to ride herd on this goat rodeo. 

Until meaningful, enforceable changes are made, there has been no victory.

It Really Is A Scam

It always starts like this:

But this time, it is a bit brazen. Turns out we have the workers, but we're not cheap enough. Look, everyone who's ever worked alongside H1B employees know that the only thing making them "special" is the price. Usually, no one will say that out loud. Now someone has.

What if they're not legit H1B's? Turns out, that just might be the case.

They weren't just filtering liability through "contracting companies," they were knowingly crossing the line, abusing our laws. At least we now have a media report on the Hyundai fuster cluck that actually points out that immigration law was violated. Maybe that is why there was a raid.

Wonder What's Next

You may have noticed something missing in daVille. That's right, that big, majestic tree in front of Dentistry With A Difference has been cut down. 

Why?

Well, someone with the city went on social media explaining it was coming down because it was: a) afflicted with mistletoe; and b) had been determined to be rotted. We were also informed that mistletoe is a parasite, and when someone from this city declares something else a parasite, well, you gotta laugh. Is this the pot calling the kettle black or what?

Let's look at some of that rot.

There it is with some limbs amputated, and zooming in on the nubs we see this.

See any rot? Didn't think so. Mayhap the rot was at the trunk, which would seriously increase the odds of a tragic collapse. But is it?

Does that look rotted? Hollowed out to the very core? Were we lied to? Will we ever find out the real reason this tree had to come down? Do you really have to ask?

We know what's next: the similar landmark tree in from of Novo Cucina. It's gotta go. We will be told that it has mistletoe, which it does, and has for decades. We will not be told that this can be dealt with.

The city wants these trees down and they don't want you to know why. Wonder if any of the candidates know.

Is It Part Of The Plan?

The AJC, well Torpy, dropped a nugget in a recent piece on burglary in Atlanta and the drop in rates. Being an actual journalist he checked in with some law enforcement experts with one offering a possible explanation for the drop in burglary rates. 

So, what would you do if you wanted to build a honeypot for these pivoted, lazy burglars? Well, you might entice a bunch of developers to build massive apartment complexes, with equally massive parking decks. Then the "bad guys" have a bumper crop of cars, all packed in at one place, for their smash and grabs. 

Was this part of city hall's plan all along?

BPS PSA

You've heard of BPA, right? Of course you have. Why, you'd never have any of that BPA emitting plastic in your house and you sure as hell wouldn't let your kids anywhere near it. No responsible parent would.

BPS is BPA's toxic sister. Guess where it shows up. In receipts. You know, the ones you get at checkout when you buy things. Even when you buy things at Costco, not to pick on Costco, but some Social Medialists got all knicker knotted when Costco folks at the exit stopped drawing happy faces on receipts. Why the upset? Because their children liked the happy faces and these parents let their children play with these BPS laden receipts. You may be wondering if "play" includes any oral fixation. You don't need to wonder if these folks should have ever had kids, because, well, now you know. 

Always Late To The Party

Do you ever feel like Dunwoody is run by folks who can never catch a trend in time? Like they don't do what the cool kids are doing until they've built up enough envy and jealousy, and by then the cool kids have moved on? It's not just interstate lanes in your front yard or Dunwoody Dildos at the outskirts of town, it now is apartments.

That's right, apartments. Seems the boom is over, which is a kind way of saying "developers can no longer get filthy rich building apartments." That's not to say these gulag-like atrocities are not still being built, but if developers cannot get some kind of lucrative sweetheart deal, well, then, they just cannot engorge their purses. Rental demand is being depressed because the fact is these apartments really are not "affordable" unless it involves subsidies, which are getting scarce, so developers profit the most building luxury apartments. Does anyone think that the developer's and Dunwoody bureaucrats' damp dreams about that high rise on Ashford Dunwoody was going to have apartments that meet the average person's idea of affordable?

So, you have to wonder... What was the motivation for all those bureaucrats to unanimously recommend this high rise apartment complex? Do we need to follow the money, or can we just ask? Are they just trying to play 'keep up with the Joneses?" And then they get a public spanking by a unanimous vote from council rejecting their plan. After all, they only had to convince four folks to go along with the plan. Maybe they should have had an ice cream social, as the rumor mill suggests a vote might be had for a pint of Ben & Jerry's. 

At this point, who, outside of these bureaucrats themselves, can justify what is going on at city hall? As some have pointed out, we have elections coming up and it might be a good time to ask some questions. 

Pay Your Own Way

Atlanta is in a bit of a bind with their policies directing funds to minority businesses as the current federal administration sees that as discrimination. The AJC is on top of the issue and has dropped a few nuggets.

Wow. They are facing some serious belt-tightening if they cannot feed at the federal trough. But, as the AJC reports, this affects more than just Atlanta, and some folks have banded together for some lawfare, seeking strength in numbers

And that one little phrase tells an enormous truth about what is wrong in America, particularly urban America: "their federal funds." That sense of entitlement is so pervasive, so much a part of every fiber of their existence that they are casual about it. "Of course it's OUR federal funds. Whose did you think it was?" Apparently some silly blokes thought it was federal funds, which makes it more about everyone and not just the urbanities. 

You have to wonder if the bureaucrats at our beige palace aspire to staking a claim on federal funds, no matter what the cost to the community. 

City To Sue Neighbors

Well, not unless they are forced to. And just what would be the forcing function? Well, it seems our off-tune bureaucrats have advanced from "place making" to "brand management" and the brand they think they have created and will manage is "Dunwoody." That's right, they think they created the Dunwoody brand, and if that brand represents destruction of traditional Dunwoody to tap into urbanity and the money they think comes with it, then, yeah, they created that brand.

What does this have to do with suing folks?

Glad you asked. Turns out that Dunwoody was a "place" before these bureaucrats "made place" but their taking credit for the pre-existing aura of Dunwoody should come as no surprise. Hypocritical, yes. Surprising, no. Now that they've literally staked out their territory with those Dunwoody Dildos, they're on a rampage to obliterate any use of "Dunwoody" (what they call their brand) by any outsiders. If you've bounced around north Brookhaven, cruised down Peachtree Dunwoody, or taken the scenic drive on Roberts between Dunwoody Place and Roswell Road, you've seen dozens of subdivisions, condos and apartments proclaiming themselves Dunwoody This and Dunwoody That. It isn't clear if city hall is bothered by road names or if that will be addressed in another phase of the campaign. 

But city hall is going to put a stop to all that brand misappropriation and dilution. If they learned anything from that litigious sign painter it is that you use the courts to protect your brand or you lose it. Apparently everything will not be OK without some serious legal bills, but it is rumored that someone at city hall pointed out that the PD has been lying low of late and there is quite an excess of funds in the legal war chest. So, lawfare it is. That said, they do hope to economize by threatening lawsuits and only pursuing a few in the hopes most will be intimidated into capitulation. Sound like anyone you know? One way or the other, if "Dunwoody" is in the name, it damn well better be in Dunwoody.