The community organization Pride Rings in Stone Mountain -- PRISM for short -- invites all DeKalb residents to a meeting this Thursday, Mar. 14, at 7 p.m. to talk about economic development on Memorial Drive. The meeting will take place at St. Timothy United Methodist Church, 5335 Memorial Dr.

Scheduled to attend "Memorial Drive Community Driven Economic Renaissance, Proactive vs. Reactive Involvement," are Charles Whatley, director of the DeKalb County Dept. of Economic Devlopment; Mike Alexander, director, research division, Atlanta Regional Commission; and David Stogner, senior vice president, Selig Development Corp.

The departure in January of the corridor's Publix will be among the issues discussed during the program, according to one of PRISM's founding members and longtime Stone Mountain resident, Joe Arrington. Questions include:

• Why the area Publix closed;
• Was it because Walmart was building a super center store a mile to the east?
• Was it because the store was not being supported by the surrounding community?
• If requested, could/would the community have taken action to rally more support?
• If not an upscale supermarket, what will the community support?
• Who are we?
• What is our demographic profile?
• What is the average household income?
• What can the community do to assist local retailers to be more successful, more profitable?