atlantalarry

Flynn Broady runs for Cobb County District Attorney

Flynn Broady, the Democrat who ran an unsuccessful campaign for U.S, Congress from Georgia's heavily Republican 11th District during the 2018 midterm elections will be running for Cobb County District Attorney in 2020.

Broady is a retired Infantry First Sergeant, who is currently a prosecuting attorney for the county's DUI accountability court.

His experience in the Cobb County court system includes working as an Assistant Solicitor General, serving the role of Veterans Treatment and Accountability Court Coordinator, and is now Prosecuting Attorney for the Cobb County DUI Accountability Court.

He holds bachelor’s degree in Public Management from Austin Peay State University a Master’s of Public Administration degree from Kennesaw State University and a law degree (JD) from the Seton Hall School of Law.

Read about Flynn Broady on the Cobb County Courier

 

A Pacific adventure

As part of my outreach effort for the Cobb County Courier

I do a weekly event called Meet the Editor at The Cenacle Coffee Shop and Bistro in Austell.  Simply put I invite readers, or anyone else with questions, suggestions, or even complaints about the Courier to show up and chat with me in an informal setting.  Sometimes people show up, sometimes they don't.

One Friday I had a conversation with one of the cooks at the Cenacle, a young man named Jacobo Junior.  He told me about a fascinating adventure he and a friend undertook.  They bought a one-way ticket to the Pacific, and starting in New Zealand, they visited Australia and a number of other countries.

He pointed me to his blog that had a lot of descriptions of his travels, and photographs.

I asked him if he was interested in summarizing his adventures in a series of short articles for the Courier. 

Here's a link to the first article in the series, that describes how the journey started.

What's new on the Cobb County Courier

Silver Comet Trail cyclist

Most of my time now is spent building an audience for my news site the Cobb County Courier.

I haven't lost interest in the liveability, quality of life, and New Urbanism issues I posted about so frequently in the past.  I just shifted my focus to Cobb County. 

I wound up in Cobb by accident of love and marriage.  My wife's business was in the county, so I sold my house and moved here.

Once in the county, I did what I usually do wherever I am.  I learned about the area.  At the same time, I retired from my previous career as a software systems engineer and went back to school for a journalism degree.

So here I am, with a recently conferred degree, writing about the county.

So what have I written about that relates to my interest in New Urbanism, cycling, and quality of life?

I cover mixed-use development regularly, like this article and slideshow on Riverview Landing in Smyrna on the Chattahoochee River.

As for cycling and multi-use paths, we've been doing regular coverage of the Silver Comet Trail like this article by Haisten Willis on the extension of the Silver Comet Trail eastward toward the river, and the City of Atlanta.

I also run the usual things a news site covers: crime, education, restaurant openings, and a lot more.  I've particularly been interested in covering education more thoroughly.  Rebecca Gaunt is reporting on both the Cobb County and the Marietta boards of education.

I also do a weekly event called Meet the Editor every Friday morning from 7:30 - 10:30 a.m.  I currently do them at the Cenacle Coffee Shop at 2844 Veterans Memorial Hwy. Austell, GA 30168.  It's an informal setting, so if you have any complaints about our coverage or suggestions for what we should be doing, I'm always there to listen.

I'll close with a plug for our free weekly newsletter that summarizes a few things we've published over the previous week, and informs our readers about what's going on at the Courier.  You can sign up by following this link.

Java Cats Cafe in Marietta

I've largely let this long-standing blog lapse to focus on the Cobb County Courier, my news site.

I've decided to revive the blog to both highlight the work going on at the Courier, and to write the sort of personal essays that are not really appropriate on a news site.

Today's feature is an article by Rebecca Gaunt, who's written a number of impressive articles for us, including ongoing coverage of a deteriorated shopping mall in East Cobb that has residents up-in-arms.

This article is on a more uplifting subject though.  Java Cats Cafe, which opened its first location on Memorial Drive in the Grant Park neighborhood in Atlanta has opened a second location, a short walk from Marietta Square in downtown Marietta.  Follow this link to read the article about Java Cats Cafe, which is now open to the public. Java Cats is both a coffee shop and a cat adoption area, with the food service area separated from the space where cats and humans socialize separated for the obvious health department reasons.

The Braves, Cobb County, and General Bullmoose politics

I live in Cobb County.  Yet I don't care if the Braves build the planned stadium in Cobb County.  In fact, I wouldn't care if they moved to Moose Jaw.  But give me a break, folks.  The stadium deal was pushed through like Francisco Franco was running the project.  It was almost comically dictatorial.  The commissioners and supporters of the stadium should have been festooned with epaulets.

When I heard about the tightly orchestrated Cobb County Commission meeting the old song from the musical Little Abner ran through my head:  "He calls the shots and he intends to keep it that'a way ... what's good for General Bullmoose, is good for the USA!!!!".

 

 

It's obvious to anyone who browsed the story of the Braves move that the details were hammered out in secret to avoid any discussion of the deal in public, and that subsequent actions have been carried out to stop the public from having any oversight or input.  It's been a case study in the opposite of good government and transparency.  Whether the stadium construction and the planned mixed use projects surrounding it have good impacts or not (and I suspect they will have some beneficial impacts) the process was crazily dictatorial, and put an embarrassing spotlight on how business is carried out in Cobb County.

 

Cycling to the MARTA Station from south Cobb (and from there to the Dekalb Farmer's Market)

I mentioned in a previous post that I've been exploring bicycle routes to various destinations from our house in south Cobb.  This is a description of today's errands by bicycle.

I had a bit of uncertainty about titling this post, since today was quite an adventure for me.  I not only cycled in Cobb County, but in Fulton and Dekalb Counties as well.  My objective was to familiarize myself with the route from Oakdale Road to the Hamilton Holmes MARTA station, but I needed an errand to justify the trip.  Monday is my day for shopping at the Dekalb Farmer's Market, and the Avondale station on the East line is very close to that market, so I decided it would be an excellent time to check out the route.

Google Maps came up with the following simple route, which was the route I'd have guessed would be most efficient.  I simply took Oakdale Road to Veterans Memorial, which becomes Donald Hollwell Parkway after crossing the Chattahoochee River, turned right on Hamilton Holmes, took a right alongside I-20, and entered the station.  Here's the map:
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All in all it was a pleasant ride.  Traffic moves pretty fast along Veteran's Memorial, but there are two lanes of ample width, so cars and trucks were passing me with plenty of clearance room.  Hollowell Parkway narrows inside I-285, but it isn't far from there to Hamilton Holmes.

The trip from the Avondale Station to the Farmer's Market was even more straightforward.  One of the exits from the station empties onto Ponce De Leon, and the Farmer's Market is about a mile from the station.

After shopping I rode back to the station, and discovered that a medical emergency at the Georgia State station had stopped train service between Candler Park and the Georgia World Congress Center.  MARTA was providing emergency bus service, but rather than hope that a bike rack was available on one of those buses, I decided to cycle to the GWCC station.  This added quite a few overall cycling miles to my day.

After I put away the groceries from the Farmer's Market, I had one more errand.  I rode to the Lewis Ray branch of the Cobb Public Library on Oakdale Road.

My final cycling mileage for the day was 48 miles.  I'm feeling it at the moment, too.

Cycling in south Cobb County

I've been living full time in south Cobb, near the Chattahoochee River, since I sold my East Atlanta house about a year and a half ago.  One thing which has been on my todo list for the entire time I've been here is exploring the area by bicycle.  Despite the reputation of "Outside the Perimeter" (OTP) areas of Atlanta as unfriendly to cyclists, I see cyclists on the roads regularly here, and the Silver Comet trail, which starts near South Cobb Drive, has encouraged cycling in this area considerably.

I've finally gotten my gear in order and began exploring my immediate environment, which includes Oakdale Road, Veteran's Memorial Highway (the old Bankhead Highway), South Cobb Drive, the East-West Connector, and Atlanta Road.

My goal over the next few weeks is to map out good routes to the grocery stores in the area (there are three viable Publix stores and two Krogers), the post office on Floyd Road, the public libraries on Oakdale and Floyd roads, the Hamilton Holmes MARTA station, and the various CCT and MARTA bus stops in the area.  I'll post maps here as I explore them,

Today I made my first utility trip in the area, riding from our house on Brookside Drive to the intersection of South Cobb Drive and River View Road.  It was a pleasant ride, on Brookside, Roberts Drive, Oakdale Road, Dickerson Road, River View Road, and South Cobb.

Here's the Google map of the route I took.

 

View Larger Map