This “conversation with my neighbors” is the first of several which will keep us “Smoke Risers” and “Southlanders,”which number about 5,000 households, up to date about the Village’s resurgence and its benefit to us to think “Village First!” Stone Mountain Village is undergoing a renaissance that will soon return it to the fun place to visit it once was. Main Street Stone Mountain, ART Station, the Stone Mountain Historical Society, the Downtown Development Authority, the DeKalb Council for the Arts, Inc. and the city council and mayor have jointly committed to initiate and support a “…

The federal Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a consent decree, mandating a minimum of $700 million in sewer upgrades after reporting more than 836 raw sewage spills. Sewage spills continue from the crumbling system, which is one of the oldest in the Metro Atlanta area.  In response, the county commission authorized water and sewer rates to increase 49 percent over the next four years to help pay for $1.35 billion in upgrades. The county also agreed to pay a $453,000 fine for the spills and an additional $600,000 to clean up the South River, Snapfinger Creek and the South Fork …