Students from Charles R. Drew Charter School will be walking and rolling to school Wednesday, Oct. 3, along with parents, teachers and community leaders including Atlanta City Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong and representatives of the office of Atlanta Public Works. The event will begin at 7:20 a.m. with kids, parents and community leaders walking in groups from both East Lake Terrace in Kirkwood and the Villages of East Lake. Walkers will arrive at the school by 7:45 a.m. Other special activities associated with the walk include a walking school bus route to and from school that day and …

Editor's note: Bob Eberwein, a longtime Inman Park resident, posed a question to his fellow neighbors on the neighborhood listserv regarding Little Five Points and its worn and rough-around-the-edges look. Namely, he asked if it could retain its hipster appeal while cleaning itself up aesthetically? Mr. Eberwein shared his piece with the greater East Atlanta Patch community. I would like to open up a serious conversation about Little Five Points. There are many things I can like about it: whimsical building colors, murals that are (sorta) meaningful or artful, a neat skull, fanciful clothing…

by Rae Anne Harkness I am a parent of two children who attend school in south DeKalb County. I have always paid my PTA dues, blindly believing that it was part of being an engaged parent. Last year I had the difficult choice of deciding where to send my daughter for middle school. I liked the local middle school magnet program, but was hesitant to send her there because of school-wide discipline issues. I worried even more because at 11 years old, my daughter (who is a gymnast) is very physically fit, but also fully developed and subject to inappropriate comments from older boys. Our home …

by Henry Bryant We are building a new multi-million dollar Youth and Teen Development Center at the old YMCA site at Memorial and Wilkinson drives which will include an Outdoor Acquatic Center. The groundbreaking ceremony was last month. Metro YMCA executives were there as well as elected officials and community residents. There were a lot of people involved in funding this new facility. There will be a gym and computer center and cyber cafe space for the teens. The Y is already working with multiple groups of kids at the main facility. This will give them their own space. Construction is …

Last week, the trendsetting website and e-newsletter Daily Candy announced the finalists of its nationwide "Start Small, Go Big" contest. The contest recognizes the most talented and creative up-and-comers in Fashion, Health & Beauty, Food & Drink, Home and Digital & Tech. Last year, more than 3,000 entrepreneurs entered; 18 finalists were selected; six won. We were thrilled to learn that Honeysuckle Gelato is one of this year's three food finalists!  As the only company selected from Georgia, we hope to represent our home well! My two business partners and I started Honeysuckle Gelato last …

PARKatlanta has claimed its fair share of victims. On Friday, Carolyn Kayne, a singer and musician, became another one of them. The Old Fourth Ward homeowner was picking up her bicycle at Outback Bikes in Little Five Points. The spaces in the lot behind the Euclid Avenue store were full. She parked her Ford Explorer across the street, dashed across the street and into the store to retrieve her bike. The process, she said, took all of two minutes. But that was enough for a PARKatlanta ticketing officer to be at her vehicle, writing a ticket even as she was loading her bike into the Ford. The …

by Geneva Hall-Shelton Beginning next week, dozens of Atlanta women will come together to construct a safe, energy-efficient home for a working Atlanta family. The 2012 Atlanta Women’s Build takes place Aug. 18 – Oct. 6, continuing a growing city tradition of women building Atlanta Habitat homes for women. Led for the second year by honorary co-chairs Brenda Wood and Lane Carlock Howard, the Atlanta Women’s Build started in 2003, with women joining forces to complete beautiful homes for five qualified families. This year’s build will include a special Executive Women’s Build Day on Sept. 20 …

by Glen D. Bottoms On July 31, you, the good citizens of the Atlanta metro area, get the opportunity to vote on a measure that would raise more than $7 billion (over a 10-year period) for highway and transit projects throughout the 10-county metropolitan area. This is a momentous occasion that may determine whether Atlanta moves forward to invest in critical transportation infrastructure or begins to slide toward mediocrity and despair over its inability to achieve a simple 50 percent consensus to address what may be the nation’s worst traffic congestion. Growing up 90 miles from Atlanta, I …

by Callie McLean First off, let me just say that I don't like sales taxes either. They are regressive and affect poorer people more. There's no getting around that. However, most of that sales tax income actually comes from people outside of Georgia. I forget the exact percentage I heard, but it's astoundingly high.Secondly, yeah, it's going mostly outside our area, which sucks. But I know many of us in the area, myself included, travel far and wide to get to work, to shop at certain places that are just not in town or in our area. Those really terrible areas that are begging for improvement …

by Tony Roberts When a charter school closes because it has failed to meet the academic goals set out in its charter, it’s disappointing, but as every charter school knows, accountability and performance are the “rules of the road.” It’s something entirely different when a charter school high school with a 93 percent graduation rate has to close because it’s become a scapegoat for district-wide mismanagement and overspending. That’s exactly what happened to Tech High School, Atlanta’s only charter high school offering a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) focus. Atlanta Public …

by Tris Sicignano On July 9th the APS Board of Education will vote on whether it will allow Drew Charter to expand its charter to include a high school. Drew supporters are planning a rally scheduled for July 8 to show their support for the charter expansion. Drew Charter School is an Atlanta public school. Founded in 2000, Drew is the City of Atlanta's first charter school. The school started with 240 children in grades kindergarten through fifth and has since grown to serve more than 850 students ages 3 through eighth grade with an average class size of 22 students. In 2000, Drew Charter …

I feel that it's extremely important that I address some issues relating to crime in Zone 6. Crimes have started to occur in areas where we historically have not had problems, but the men and women in Zone 6 have worked very hard to correct this problem. I would like to share these numbers with Patch readers: Three weeks ago Zone 6 officers arrested six burglars and two robbery perpetrators. Two weeks ago six individuals were arrested for an automobile larceny and three burglars were arrested as well. Last week three burglars and two robbery perpetrators were arrested. So far this week, …

by Larry L. Johnson The numbers are in:  Teen dating violence cases are increasing at alarming and epidemic rates. The number of teen dating violence incidents has increased from rare to far exceeding. These teen dating violence incidents are taking place across cultural, economic, religious and sexual orientation lines and across  the state. Teen dating violence is now a national epidemic. Teen dating violence deserves high alert. Youth who report being physically hurt in a dating relationship are more likely to report that they engage in a lifetime of risky sexual behavior, binge drinking, …

Editor's note: Parents and supporters of Drew Charter School will have to wait until next month to learn if the Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education will approve the East Lake school's request to amend its charter to include a high school. Blogger Robert F. Stockwell, a finance and accounting expert by trade whose past corporate posts include McDonald's Corp., PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC and LastMinuteTravel.com, wrote a piece on the Drew Charter situation for his blog, Financial-Deconstruction.com. by Robert F. Stockwell Recently Drew Charter School requested that they be allowed to …

Editor's note: To parents of Wesley International Academy in Custer/McDonough/Guice, it's a no-brainer: Their charter school needs a new home. Atlanta Public Schools closed seven schools amidst falling enrollments and property tax revenue, including Cook Elementary in Capitol Gateway. Wesley parents want to rent Cook and APS' approval would mean $875,000 a year in rent to the district — money, parents say, that could be used to bolster academic programs. Wesley parents, who already have 657 signatures on a petition for the Wesley-to-Cook initiative, plan to make their case for APS to support …

Editor's note: Parents and civic leaders in the East Lake community have been pushing for an expansion of Drew Charter School — the highest academcially-performing school in East Atlanta Patch — to include a high school. In order to do so, Drew, must obtain approval from the Atlanta Public Schools. Schools Superintendent Erroll B. Davis Jr. opposes the expansion. Undeterred, parents and community leaders continue to press the issue, arguing APS should put the interests of children first. Doug Williams, an East Lake parent, wrote a letter to the APS Board of Education to make the case for …

by Shakoora Sabree The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an influential leader in the history of the United States, once, as widely known, said a short but powerful statement that altered the world. He said, “I have a dream.” I, Shakoora Sabree, one in the many valedictorians of the 21st Century Generation, also have a dream, a dream that has taken root and sprouted over the years. A dream that consists of making the world a better place by improving self-respect and respect for others; by increasing the work effort young students give in school; by treating others the way one wishes to be …

As far as he's concerned, there's no wiggle room or squabbling about the city's intent when it instituted a rule that any establishment serving hard liquor be at least 300 feet from the nearest residential property. In this Patch Voices editorial, Ed Gilgor, chairman of Neighborhood Planning Unit-W, explains why the group voted last week against approving the liquor license application by the Asylum Restaurant & Lounge.

by Kat Lindholm On Monday, May 7, during the East Lake Neighbors Community Association monthly meeting, Drew Charter School presented to the community its plans to expand to include grades 9-12. After the presentation, the community was given the opportunity to ask questions and have its concerns addressed. Immediately following the question and answer session the ELNCA membership voted unanimously to support the expansion of Drew Charter School. Drew Charter School has been a community school for the past 12 years. During that time, Drew Charter School has improved the educational outcomes …

by Alisa Chambers Are you a member of the Grant Park Conservancy? If not, now is the time to join! If you love programs like the Grant Park Farmers Market (held every Sunday at Milledge Fountain from 9:30 a.m.- 1:30 p.m.) and the Summer Shade Festival (held this year on Aug. 25 and 26), or just enjoy visiting Atlanta's oldest park, we hope you will consider supporting the Grant Park Conservancy by becoming a member. From now until July 9, we're presenting new members with a special offer. We're partnering with the Atlanta Braves and area restaurants and business to bring you an amazing …