Atlanta Chat Thread (get credit, movie theater, approval)

[InLovewithMoving]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

This is a good one...

This is a link to the rental search engine of the Georgia MLS (Multiple Listing Service), which is a publicly-accessible variation of the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) that licensed real estate professionals use...

https://www.georgiamls.com/real-esta...yp=rent&typ=rr

Thanks

[Gilah G.]

On pins and needles already
Waiting for Tuesday night to see what cobb county does with weather & school.

[CaliDreaming01]

I am so sick of having to stay out of work for snow days. It's been over a month since I've been to work a full week. I had been hoping we'd have a mild winter after having to be out for Hurricane Irma, but oh well.

So are all the kids going to have to make up these days?

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by CaliDreaming01

I am so sick of having to stay out of work for snow days. It's been over a month since I've been to work a full week. I had been hoping we'd have a mild winter after having to be out for Hurricane Irma, but oh well.

I feel you on that one.

But, hey, winter happens.

Even as far south as Georgia, we can have challenging winters from time-to-time.

Originally Posted by CaliDreaming01

So are all the kids going to have to make up these days?

I think that it might depend on each individual school system as to whether students will have to make up these snow days.

I think that some school systems (like a Gwinnett, for example) potentially might not have to (and/or may decide not to) make up these snow days later this school year because they've declared these snow days to be online instruction days... Which I think may count towards being one of the 180 days of school instruction that the State of Georgia generally mandates for school systems but had not always been strictly enforcing since the Great Recession started pounding school system budgets back in 2008.

[Born 2 Roll]

One of the most powerful figures at the Georgia State Capital and in state politics in general, Republican Georgia House Speaker David Ralston of Blue Ridge, appears to have picked up a challenger from his right in the Republican primary in his North Georgia house district, Georgia House of Representatives District 7, which includes part of Dawson County and all of Fannin and Gilmer counties.

North Georgia Mountains online media outlet FetchYourNews.com reported on Tuesday that Republican Margaret Williamson of Ellijay has stated her intent to qualify in March to become a candidate for the Georgia House of Representatives and challenge the powerful speaker in the May 22nd Republican primary.

"Margaret Williamson to challenge David Ralston in Republican Primary" (FetchYourNews.com)
Margaret Williamson to challenge David Ralston in Republican Primary | Fannin

Williamson does not yet seemed to have staked out any political positions or raised any money.

The pundits over at Georgia political website GeorgiaPol.com seem to have gotten much amusement from the news that Speaker Ralston is receiving yet another challenger in the GOP primary.

Their amusement likely comes from the fact that the last two primary challenges to Speaker Ralston (two challenges that were backed and driven by the state's Tea Party apparatus) ended very poorly for the challenger (teacher and wrestling coach Sam Snider of Ellijay) with Ralston taking nearly two-thirds of the vote on both occasions in 2014 and 2016.

The GeorgiaPol.com pundits were so amused by the report of yet another primary challenge from Ralston's right to frame the situation as not much more than a fundraising opportunity for the Speaker. The GeorgiaPol.com pundits also used the news of the impending challenge to Speaker Ralston's state House seat to take some shots at some of the Georgia Tea Party leadership that the website's leaders and the Georgia Republican establishment has not always seen eye-to-eye with in the past.

"Republican Primary Challenger Presents Fundraising Opportunity For Speaker David Ralston" (GeorgiaPol.com)
https://www.georgiapol.com/2018/01/1...david-ralston/

[PKCorey]

She doesn't stand a chance. I expected Ralston to make a step to a higher office in the state but I guess he is fine with being the speaker for now.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by PKCorey

She doesn't stand a chance. I expected Ralston to make a step to a higher office in the state but I guess he is fine with being the speaker for now.

I agree.

Even with Ralston's ethical issues (ethical issues which came extremely minor compared to the previous speaker he replaced in an increasingly emotionally unstable Glenn Richardson), the voters in that district (Georgia House District 7) are not going to vote to replace someone as powerful as Ralston.

The voters of that district are not going to vote to replace Ralston because his power as Speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives gives those residents of that traditionally isolated rural mountain district a very large seat at the table in the government of a state that (because of the explosive growth of its capital city into a large major metro of international influence in Atlanta) is now a place of both national and international importance.

Even with some of Ralston's (comparatively minor) ethical issues, the people of that traditionally isolated rural mountain district are proud that the powerful political position of one of their native sons gives them an outsized voice in guiding policy decisions at the state level in Georgia that have national and even international implications.

The voters up there know that if they were to vote Ralston out of office, the Georgia House speakership would leave their rural mountain district and go to a politician in another district in a more heavily populated part of the state (like probably Gainesville or metro Atlanta).

They know that any politician that they would pick to replace Ralston would instantly become some legislative backbencher and they know that their rural mountainous House district probably would never again get to experience enjoying one of their own having that kind of political power.

They know that having one of their own as Speaker of the Georgia House is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and most of the voters up there seem determined to enjoy having access to that type of immense power for as long they can.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by CaliDreaming01

I am so sick of having to stay out of work for snow days. It's been over a month since I've been to work a full week. I had been hoping we'd have a mild winter after having to be out for Hurricane Irma, but oh well.

So are all the kids going to have to make up these days?

I think the state and the local governments need to reassess their school closure policies.

Wednesday's closure, fine. Thursday's closure, most of the snow had evaporated (or sublimed, if you wanna be technical). But Friday's? Come on. Most of the roads are fine. Maybe the occasional icy patch, and just just gotta be careful when they come.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

I think the state and the local governments need to reassess their school closure policies.

Wednesday's closure, fine. Thursday's closure, most of the snow had evaporated (or sublimed, if you wanna be technical). But Friday's? Come on. Most of the roads are fine. Maybe the occasional icy patch, and just just gotta be careful when they come.

Sublimated to be very technical! But, wholly agree with you. It's gotten silly.

[Born 2 Roll]

Some historical and archival photographs of Gwinnett County...

"Flashback photos: Through Gwinnett’s past, 1942-1992" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Historic and archival photos of Gwinnett County


Some historical and archival photographs of Interstate 75 through the Atlanta area...

"Flashback photos: I-75 through the years, 1957-1999" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Flashback photos: I-75 before SunTrust Park, 1959-1999


Some historical and archival photographs of Interstate 85 through the Atlanta area...

"Flashback photos: I-85 through the years, 1951-1997" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
I-85 in photos: Atlanta's highway from 1951-1997