Opening
– Meeting opened at 7:00pm
– Welcome, new members
– MLK inspiration from Troy
– New officers introduced
– December minutes approved
Public Safety Update, Captain Shaw (APD) & Captain Meers, Lt. Woods, Sgt. Cloud (DeKalb Police)
– Much tighter integration between Atlanta and DeKalb
– Significant bust in January, $50k in recovered material from both Atlanta and DeKalb
– Q&A
- How many burglaries in January, solved?
- Burglary team out of Zone 6
- DeKalb had 17% clearance rate in December
- Straddling the border presents challenges
- How to tell if someone is casing a neighborhood / house?
- Call if anything suspicious
- The more info the better
- All calls get routed through 911
- Working on a 311 non-emergency number
- Be aware of truant students during the day time, people knocking on the door
- Vehicles used include Chryslers, Jeeps, minivans, and other stolen vehicles from DeKalb
- If there’s a case where the response time is too long, call and ask for a Supervisor
- Higher priority calls might delay a response, but unnecessarily long response times can be identified and addressed
- Young department
- Rumors about people doing illegal activity getting tipped off that they were reported to the police
- Recurring question about speeding
- Parking Lot
EACA 2014 Goals
– Increase membership and community participation
- More participation makes us a stronger community
- More involvement
- Only $10 to join
- Discounts in the Village
- Voice in EACA (voting rights)
- Renew or join at meetings or online
– Increase general fundraising through events
- Beautification
- Social events
– Continue public safety awareness activities and outreach
- Not just APD, but a community effort
- Open to ideas from the community
- Neighborhood Watch
- Notify authorities of lights not functioning
– Maintain open lines of communication with local officials, community groups, businesses, and nonprofits
- Councilmember Archibong
– Met with Lt. Browning, point person for APD Community Policing Unit
- Getting 3 cameras
- Linked to cameras already at Moreland and Glenwood provided by the State
- Glenwood/Flat Shoals and other locations
- $18k each
– New welcome sign is beautiful
– Councilmember Archibong attended the APS Swearing In yesterday
- Positive momentum
– Old Fire Station bids have come in, developer of Gordon School won
– Q&A
- Heard about Mayor Reed’s interest in road improvement—can Flat Shoals be on the list?
- Send any requests to CM Archibong
– Sidewalks, gravel roads, etc.
– City is thinking about floating a $250M bond
– The list of priorities will be submitted to the community, bond won’t be finalized until the list is approved
- CM Archibong will present to EACA, NPU for approval
- Question about fixing manhole cover in front of Homewatch Caregivers / old library
Committee Updates / Call for Members
– Anyone interested in participating should email commitees@eaca.net or email committee chairs noted on eaca.net committee pages
– Rose noted that Neighbor in Need and Arts & Culture were just ideas a few years ago, but people took ownership and put a lot of effort behind bringing them to the community
Announcements
– Jackson K8 Cluster meeting – “State of the School”
- Thursday, January 16, 6:30pm
- School was completely renovated, state-of-the-art (rooftop farm!)
– Upcoming park improvements
- Building bocce court and horseshoe pit—will need volunteers
- Disc golf grant wasn’t received
– East Atlanta Beer Fest in May
– 150th Anniversary BATL between July 12 and 20
– East Atlanta Strut in September
– Friends of East Atlanta Library, Gina Root
- 4 book sales (March 1, June 28, September 20, December 6)
- Ongoing book collection
- Always looking for volunteers and members; email friendsofeatl@gmail.com
– Toastmasters meeting next Thursday (23) at 6:15pm at First Iconium Baptist Church
- Contact Nicolia McCoy, nicolia.mccoy@gmail.com
- Add to newsletter
– East Atlanta Farmers Market will start back up in April
Land Use and Zoning
– Alcohol license at 1981 Flat Shoals Road, Chevron Food Mart
- Change of ownership, applicant has agreed to sign “good neighbor” agreement
- Good Neighbor agreement is mostly a restatement of existing ordinances
– Does it have real teeth? TBD
– Are there more things we can do to police businesses? Yes, but need more people to get involved in the community
– Recent rewrite of the Alcohol Advisory code, including adoption of penalty matrix, tracking of limits on sellable alcohol, etc.
– Jenny asked to send out Good Neighbor agreement
- Motion to approve, approved 14-3-1
– 1341 Ormewood Avenue, variance to reduce setbacks for second story addition
- Half-depth front yard setback from 17.5 to 13, reduce front yard setback from 35 to 34, side yard from 7 to 6
- Deferred to next month’s meeting
– What was the status of the Stokeswood application from October / November meetings?
– Mary reminded the group that we should be informed about properties and applications; Henry noted that BZA takes community support into serious consideration
– Troy asked if addresses of applications could be sent in the newsletter so folks can visit properties
- Ed says yes; dependent on him providing the information
- Ralph suggested it go under the Land Use and Zoning agenda item
Closing
– Email president@eaca.net to get on the monthly meeting agenda
– Question about DeKalb vice-president suggested in late 2013 meetings
- Mary suggested we will need a process to make a determination
– Suggestion for refreshments at each meeting; motion to allow President to appoint “Social” committee chair
- Amended to have further discussion; motion removed, will be discussed at Board retreat
– Board retreat
- Officers, committee chairs
- Timing and agenda TBD (@ Village Church of East Atlanta)
– Meeting adjourned at 8:24
