In DeKalb County, this is known as traffic calming and there are several phases to the process.  We’re currently working with the County on the planning stage.  There is a meeting to design the concept for our street at 2 pm on Friday, January 29, 2010 at:

1950 West Exchange Place
4th Floor
Tucker, Georgia 30084

Signs announcing the meeting will also be posted on the street.  We have confirmed with DeKalb County that the street will be maintained as needed after speed bumps are installed. 

After the design phase, we’ll need 65% of the homeowners on St. Patrick Street to agree to install the traffic breakers.  If you live in a rental home and would like to see the traffic slowed on St. Patrick Street, please speak to the homeowner about agreeing to installing them.  We’ll be asking for signatures later this spring.

A brief explanation of the Traffic Calming Program is provided at:

http://www.co.dekalb.ga.us/transportation/faqs.htm#calming

Some pictures of traffic calming measures can be seen at:

http://www.co.dekalb.ga.us/transportation/default.html

 A good State of the Practice document on Traffic Calming can be found at:

http://www.ite.org/traffic/tcstate.asp

Note that this document addresses some measures that are not provided as options through the DeKalb Traffic Calming program, but it a great document for anyone trying to learn about traffic calming.

Tables 5.1 and 5.2 in Chapter 5 summarize impacts on speeds and volume of various measures.  FYI – When looking at the info on tables, please be aware that the County installs 22’ tables which have been shown to reduce speeds by 18%.

Please post any questions you have as a comment to this post and we’ll answer them for everyone to see.

I just had a report of a Green Durango (late 90s to early 2000s vintage).  The vehicle was driving erratically through the neighborhood potentially casing houses.  Driver appears to be a mid-twenties African-American.  Handicap license plate.  The police were called.  If you have any additional information please email me @ info@dekalbcrimewatch.org or post in the discussion area.

This is a great article on the AJC sent in by one of our residents,  Don B.

Welcome to the safety patrol arms race in Atlanta, where citizens are increasingly hiring their own armed guardians to protect their neighborhoods against criminals getting run out of other protected areas. With Atlanta’s police force chronically undermanned and fear of crime growing, private patrols manned by off-duty cops, a long-standing tradition in many neighborhoods, are becoming more attractive.

This is something we should consider as a community.  Time-permitting we can discuss at our meeting this week.

Happy New Year friends and neighbors!  We would like to kick off the new year with a meeting to discuss the current crime and other issues facing our neighborhood.  Please join us on Wednesday, January 13th from 7pm to 8:15pm. 

Items on the agenda include:

- Introductions and overview of the Neighborhood Watch program
- Update on installation of speed breakers on St. Patrick Street and next steps
- Blue Sky Condominiums and future plans for the property
- Recent crime in the area and crime prevention
- Any other issues or concerns from the community since our last meeting

A representative from the Dekalb County Police Department will be in attendance to give us an update on area crime and answer any questions you may have.  Don’t miss this opportunity to meet your neighbors and voice your concerns!

UPDATE: We had a baby!  Sorry things have been so quiet on the site.  We had our new baby boy and things have been hectic as you might imagine.  I will try to get our next meeting setup before the upcoming holidays so I am thinking mid-month to give everyone enough notice.  Please stay tuned.  I will send out an email once we lock down a location/date.  Thanks for everyone for hanging in there!  Will get the meeting schedule back on track ASAP!

Greetings neighbors.  I know it has been some time since our last meeting and want to get something on the calendar in early November December.

I would like to discuss crime prevention ahead of the upcoming holidays which typically brings a spike in crime.  If there are any topics for discussion you would like to cover please email me at info@dekalbcrimewatch.org.  We will be preparing an agenda ahead of this event and will be asking the police department to attend to address any concerns you may have.