AUG. 15 — It’s Cathy from Rough Draft with my weekly newsletter on Tucker. It’s Friday, friends, so you’ve got that going for you, no matter what horrors the week brought. At least you aren’t this guy.
🗳 This week’s newsletter discusses Tucker’s marathon city council meeting that resulted in a lot of good news about upcoming and ongoing projects, a little blurb about the Tucker Police Precinct meeting, a gentle nudge to those who have said that they could do a fine job as an elected official, and a report on the future of Lawrenceville Highway and how you can influence it.
🥳 Have a great weekend,
Cathy
🥃 Sip, savor, and celebrate ATL’s culinary scene at Atlanta Hawks Forkside Seats! Join us September 28 at State Farm Arena featuring Chef G. Garvin, ATL’s hottest new restaurants, VIP perks, and giving back to food service workers in crisis. Learn more. SPONSOR MESSAGE
🍔 During a marathon meeting on Aug. 11, the Tucker City Council voted 6-1 to tighten restrictions on drive-through facilities in several defined areas, but eliminated some supplemental changes made between first and second read.
According to a staff memo, in the downtown area (DT-2), it would remove the option for a Special Land Use Permit for restaurants, thus making it a prohibited use. In the Northlake area, it would remove the option for a SLUP in the NL-2 and NL-3 areas. For Lawrenceville Highway, the SLUP option would be removed in LH-3 area. In other areas that are defined as city-wide, it would require a SLUP.
The council looked at two options, one with extra stipulations that were introduced at the July 14 meeting, and one that approves the changes to the use table and definitions only without adapting the supplemental changes. The passage ends the moratorium and allows time to discuss possible changes as part of a future text amendments.
The meeting was a long one, with lots of discussion about future projects. Click here to read about it.
🇺🇸 P.S. The picture above shows DeKalb County’s Teacher of the Year, Dr. Latalia Robbins of Smoke Rise Elementary (far right), delivering the Pledge of Allegiance.
Keep the fridge and your crew full with fresh, local groceries delivered right to your door with Fresh Harvest. Choose a produce box packed with seasonal fruits and veggies your whole family will love, then stock up on snacks, pantry staples, and weekly essentials. We’ll deliver everything in our reusable green bin – no plastic bags, no last-minute grocery runs, just easy meals ready when you are.
➡️ Fresh food, fewer errands, and less stress for you. Sign up now with code ROUGHDRAFT20 for $20 off your first delivery.
🛢️ At its monthly Tucker Police Precinct virtual meeting on Aug. 13, Brenda Winston of DeKalb Watershed Management talked about how FOG (fats, oil and grease) poured down your sink is the cause of 60 percent of DeKalb’s sewer spills.
She also said so-called flushable wipes, which are marketed as degradable and safe for pipes, actually are magnets for the above-mentioned FOG. The department did an experiment by putting toilet paper and flushable wipes in a water-filled mason jar, and the wipes never degraded while the toilet paper did.
In addition, Winston mentioned that what you put down your sinks and toilets are most likely to affect your personal property, so you should think before you dump that bacon grease, meat, and other foods down the disposal.
Although this wasn’t one of the most riveting meetings, there is a lot of good information disseminated by the police moderators, and you will have the opportunity to ask top police personnel questions. There has only been 10-20 people at the meeting the handful of times I’ve attended, so there’s room for more.
🚔 The schedule for these county-wide meetings and other DeKalb County live and virtual events can be tracked on the department’s Facebook page.
🫶 Fear and stigma around mental health and addiction persist — but change is happening. See how one community is breaking the silence. Southern Live Oak Wellness is working to educate and provide resources. Learn more here. SPONSOR MESSAGE
🚏 When it comes to roads in Tucker, I believe Lawrenceville Highway is the one that terrifies me the most, for many reasons, mostly because of the wide disparity of speed – one day it’s the Autobahn and the next day, a maddening five-mile-per-hour creep.
Tucker City Council Member Cara Schroeder feels passionate about LVH and its development. She recently wrote an op-ed piece about its future.
Here’s an excerpt: “When I first ran for Tucker City Council, I committed to addressing road safety and investing in the corridors that connect city neighborhoods. One of the most important and most challenging of those corridors is Lawrenceville Highway.”
🚧 There was an open house last night that I was not able to attend, but you can find plenty of information here from a 2021 comprehensive report and read Schroeder’s op-ed piece here.
🫶 Fear and stigma around mental health and addiction persist — but change is happening. See how one community is breaking the silence. Southern Live Oak Wellness is working to educate and provide resources. Learn more here.
✅ It seems like it’s been a topic of discussion for months, but the time has now come to put up or shut up. Tucker will have three city council posts up for election, as well as a mayoral election to replace the only leader the city has ever had.
All three incumbents, Roger Orlando (District 1), Cara Schroeder (District 2) and Alexis Weaver (District 3) have indicated they will seek re-election. Former council member Anne Lerner is running for the mayoral seat now held by Frank Auman, who is term-limited.
Not much intrigue so far, but things could change. Qualifying for the above-listed offices will begin at 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 18 and will end at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 21.
🗳️ You can find more information about the process here.
Use the personal referral link below and get cool stuff.
Read more on Rough Draft Atlanta
