reporternewspapers.net
MAY 2020 • VOL. 11 — NO. 5
Dunwoody Reporter TO OUR READERS
This May issue of the Reporter is a digital-only edition. We made the decision not to produce the printed publication with the health and safety of our staff and suppliers foremost in mind. The Reporter will return to print in June, so look for your copy as usual next month.
Perimeter Business ► The big decision of
pandemic reopenings
► Working from home
shows positives PAGE 5-8
Pandemic produce
DeKalb Board of Education names sole finalist for superintendent
COMMUNITY
Voters Guide to June 9 primary election
BY RYAN KOLAKOWSKI
P2-4
WORTH KNOWING
Pandemic ‘victory gardens’ P12
AROUND TOWN
Catching up with catchball P13
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PHIL MOSIER
Mask-wearing manager Brandon Smith readies a pickup order for a customer on the opening day of the Dunwoody Farmers Market April 18. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the market was working by offering online orders and pick-up on Saturdays in the parking lot of Dunwoody United Methodist Church. Smith said the market had 200 orders that morning and hoped to return to closer to normal operations in May. For more information, see dunwoodyfarmersmkt.com.
City braces for pandemic budget hits BY WILL WOOLEVER Officials are bracing for a hit to the city budget from the loss of tax revenues caused by the coronavirus pandemic shutdowns. Capital projects could be affected by a 75% drop in hotel/motel tax money and a 25% decrease in special local option sales tax
(SPLOST) revenue, though reserves could allow some work to continue. And city staff has already identified $849,000 in potential cuts to general spending, from parks to police to public works. Assistant City Manager Jay Vinicki presented the estimates to the City Council at its April 27 meeting. Once the real numbers are See CITY on page 17
The DeKalb County Board of Education has narrowed its superintendent search down to a sole finalist, bringing a monthslong search for new leadership to a close. Rudolph “Rudy” Crew, president of Medgar Evers College in New York City, outlasted a field of 68 applicants to become the lone finalist, the board announced April 23. Crew, who has previous experience as chancellor of the New York City Board of Education and superintendent of MiamiDade County Public Schools, is concluding his seventh year as president of the college. If hired, the Poughkeepsie, New York native would take on his first professional role in Georgia. “We heard from the community that it was paramount that the candidate have deep experience as an educator, an administrator and a partner to parents, teachers and students,” DeKalb school baord chairman Marshall Orson said in a press release. “We are excited to not only have found a finalist who meets these criteria, but also has more than a quarter-century of experience in leading school districts, including a strong record in heading two of the nation’s largest urban districts.” As superintendent in Miami-Dade County, Crew oversaw a district of 353,000 students. As chancellor in New York City, he worked in a district of over 1 million students. Now, he is likely to take on Georgia’s third-largest district, serving 102,000 See DEKALB on page 9