Wendy Parker, Author at East Cobb News

Severe weather threat for Cobb includes overnight storms

March 17, 2021 4:11 PM by Wendy Parker

Updating yesterday’s story about stormy weather moving in:

The National Weather Service Wednesday afternoon issued a hazardous weather outlook that includes severe thunderstorms overnight, including the possibility of tornado weather.

The outlook, issued shortly before noon, calls for heavy rains across much of north and western Georgia, starting Wednesday night and overnight into Thursday morning.

That threat includes Cobb and metro Atlanta, generally from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday.

The NWS Atlanta office said that “the primary risk will likely be with an area of storms pushing eastward late tonight into Thursday morning. The main threats will be tornadoes (some of which could be significant or longer tracked), damaging winds over the primary risk will likely be with an area of storms pushing eastward late tonight into Thursday morning.

“The main threats will be tornadoes (some of which could be significant or longer tracked), damaging winds over 60 mph, large hail, and flash flooding. mph, large hail, and flash flooding.”

Georgians are being asked to prepare to move to safety, including signing up for alerts, finding a safe place in their homes

A tornado watch was issued for much of Mississippi and Alabama Wednesday afternoon, and there are some portions of Alabama under a tornado warning.

That storm front is expected to move into Georgia and metro Atlanta later this evening. Here’s the NWS briefing.

Cobb County government issued the following information shortly before 4 p.m. Wednesday:

“Cobb EMA will be monitoring the system, and we do have a robust network of tornado sirens in the county. However, you should not rely on these sirens as a warning device in your home because in tree-laden Cobb County these sirens can often be hard to hear inside a house.

“Cobb DOT has crews on standby tonight to respond to any reported storm damage or road closures and to deal with isolated road flooding that could occur.

“If conditions are dangerous before sunrise, please avoid venturing out on the roads.”

Wednesday’s low is expected to be in the high 50s, with the chance of storms dropping to 50 percent by Thursday afternoon and highs in the high 60s. Lows will be in the mid 40s as the storms clear through.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Cobb school board agenda includes virtual learning options

March 16, 2021 4:03 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb school board

The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday will hear a presentation by Superintendent Chris Ragsdale about virtual learning options for the 2021-22 school year.

He’s also expected to provide an update on the district’s purchase of aqueous ozone hand sanitizing machines as a COVID-19 safety measure.

Those items are included on the agenda for the school board work session that starts at 1 p.m. Thursday. An executive session is to follow, and voting meeting starts at 7 p.m.

You can view the agendas by clicking here.

Last month Ragsdale said there would be virtual learning options as there are for the current school year, and “that is emphatic and definite.”

What had to be worked out, among other things, is how teachers would teach. This year they’ve been required to teach students in-person and remote simultaneously.

Ragsdale said at the time that “we are learning from mistakes” and “seeing the impacts” a dual learning system has had on students and teachers.

“We recognize the extreme level of difficulty for all team members this school year,” Ragsdale said then.

For the spring semester, around 66 percent of the Cobb County School District’s 107,000 students chose in-person learning.

An Indiana company called 30e is the manufacturer of the hand sanitizing machines that are being installed in elementary schools, after a proof-of-concept at three schools in the fall semester.

Those were part of a $12 million purchase of COVID-19 safety products that included special UV lights at elementary schools.

But earlier this month the district announced it was cancelling that contract, with Kennesaw-based ProTek Life, after a malfunction at a school.

The safety spending was opposed to two school board members and a parents’ watchdog group, Watching the Funds Cobb, called it into question.

Board members have brought agenda items about a recovery plan for academic gaps caused by COVID-related changes and updates from the Georgia legislature, which will soon finalize its state budget.

The Cobb school district gets nearly half of its $1.2 billion annual budget from the state.

Among the action items on the school board’s agenda Thursday is a request for $2.389 million for HVAC modifications at Addison Elementary School in East Cobb.

Cobb approves rezoning for subdivision on Childers Road

March 16, 2021 3:15 PMMarch 16, 2021 12:55 PM by Wendy Parker

Childers Road rezoning

A 2.24-acre infill lot on Childers Road that’s the site of an older ranch home will soon contain five single-family homes.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved by a unanimous 5-0 vote a delayed request by Galaxy Childers Land to redevelop the property at a higher density level for single-family use (revised site plan here).

Childers Road is located off Shallowford Road, near the Johnson Ferry Road intersection in northeast Cobb.

The request had been continued since December after some neighborhood opposition surfaced over density and stormwater issues.

Harry Joseph, the Galaxy Childers Land applicant, said the five homes are necessary to make the project feasible.

He said the R-15 category he was seeking (from R-30) would come close to the density of the nearby Coventry Green subdivision and is the same as that and other neighborhoods.

Among the stipulations presented by commissioner Jerica Richardson require the developer to maintain what would be a private road in the subdivision.

Other stipulations cover stormwater detention, tree replacement, landscape buffers and the creation of a homeowners association.

This was one of the few zoning cases in East Cobb that came before commissioners Tuesday.

The county continued the “JOSH” redevelopment plans for a church, townhomes and retail until April. Earlier this month, the Cobb Planning Commission voted to continue the Sprayberry Crossing rezoning case, also to April.

Both have been continued several times already. In moving to table Sprayberry Crossing, new planning commission member Deborah Dance said it was with the understanding this would be the final delay.

Cobb’s St. Patrick’s Day will be soggy as temperatures drop

March 16, 2021 2:38 PMMarch 16, 2021 9:24 AM by Wendy Parker

Cobb St. Patrick's Day weather

The warm sunny weather we enjoyed over the weekend will come back later in the week, but the next few days in Cobb County will be wetter and colder, including through St. Patrick’s Day on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service in Atlanta is projecting between 1.5 and 2 inches of rain for the Cobb area by Wednesday morning, as rainy weather moves into metro Atlanta Tuesday.

The chance of rain in the area is 100 percent by mid-afternoon Tuesday, tapering off to around 30 percent overnight.

The high Tuesday is expected to be only in the high 50s, after overnight temperatures fell into the mid 40s.

Lows Tuesday will reach into the low 50s, and Wednesday’s highs will be in the mid 60s. There is an 80 percent chance of rain during the day Wednesday and severe thunderstorms are in the forecast from Wednesday night through Thursday morning.

Thursday’s lows are expected to be in the mid 40s.

By Friday, the sun will return with highs near 60 and lows in the low 40s. Saturday’s weather is expected to be the same, with warmer weather returning by the weekend and into next week.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Cobb school district opens registration for virtual hiring fair

March 15, 2021 4:18 PM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb County School District announced Monday it’s holding a virtual job fair in late March to fill more than 750 new certified teaching positions.

The hiring fair takes place from March 23-25, and registration is underway now through March 21.

The district said in a release that the fair “puts teachers face to face with school administrators in a relaxed and personal setting.”

Amanda Shaw, the district’s assistant director of employment, said that “all schools will be attending the Hiring Fair, so, it’s an ideal time for potential teachers to
make a great first impression on principals.”

Nearly 98 percent of current teachers with contracts have chosen to re-up for the 2021-22 school year.

More information can be found by clicking here.

East Cobb resident appointed to Cobb Board of Ethics

March 13, 2021 7:39 AM by Wendy Parker

Winter Wheeler, Cobb Board of Ethics

Submitted information and photo:

Chief Magistrate Judge Brendan F. Murphy has appointed Winter Wheeler, Esq. to the Cobb County Board of Ethics. The vacancy was created by the appointment of Alyssa Blanchard, Esq. to the Magistrate Court bench.

“With her deep knowledge, extensive experience, and ethical reputation beyond reproach, I know Ms. Wheeler will serve with distinction,” said Judge Murphy.

Wheeler is a talented attorney and mediator and active member of the legal community. After graduating from Georgetown University and Tulane Law School, she built a career as a top civil litigator at prominent midtown Atlanta law firm. Finding her niche as a problem solver, Wheeler currently serves as a Mediator and Arbitrator at a highly-regarded Atlanta firm.

She is passionately engaged in the legal community. She provides leadership on the boards of the Women Lawyer Division of the National Bar Association, the Women in Dispute Resolution Committee of the American Bar Association, and the Georgetown Club of Metro Atlanta. A member of the Lawyers Club of Atlanta, Ms. Wheeler serves as the Co-Chair of its Membership Committee and as a member of the Long Term Planning Committee. She is also a member of the National Bar Association, American Bar Association, Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys, Gate City Bar Association, and Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association.

Wheeler has been previously recognized by the National Black Lawyers as a Top 40/Under 40 and as a Top 100 for 2020. She resides in east Cobb with her family.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

COVID update: Cobb schools report 132 confirmed new cases

March 12, 2021 6:25 PM by Wendy Parker

*Cobb COVID cases by date of onset. To view more data, **click here**.*

The Cobb County School District said Friday there were 132 confirmed new cases of COVID-19, a little higher than last week but still reflecting a steep decline in recent weeks.

The district’s weekly update showed a total of 4,132 cumulative cases since last July 1. Last week’s 106 cases among students and staff were the fewest since November.

For the second week in a row all schools reporting cases had 10 or less. The most this week were 8 each at Wheeler High School and Still Elementary School.

Of the 11 schools in the district, 51 did not report any new cases this week.

The district’s data does not break down numbers of cases between students and staff, nor does it indicate how many other people may be out due to quarantine for possible exposure to the virus.

The falling numbers in the Cobb school district are in line with similar trends in Cobb County and much of Georgia.

There were 120 new cases reported in Cobb Friday in the date of report category, with a 7-day rolling average of 81.1. That’s the lowest since late October.

In the date of onset category (in the chart above), Cobb’s 7-day moving average as of Feb. 26—the last day before a current 14-day window—was 98.6 cases, the lowest that figure has been since late October.

Cobb’s community spread metric also is dropping close to what it had been in the late fall, after last summer’s surge and before a winter surge.

As of Friday, the 14-day average of cases per 100,000 in Cobb was 179 for PCR tests, the first time it’s been under 200 since October.

Combined with Antigen tests, Cobb’s overall community spread is now in the 300-350 range, according to Dr. Janet Memark, director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health.

In a message sent out Friday, she said that “we continue to have a growing problem with the UK and the South African variants in Georgia. If these variants take hold before we have enough people vaccinated, we may suffer another tremendous surge and more loss of life. Continued preventive measures like wearing masks, physical distancing and washing hands still need to be taken during this time.”

She also referenced remarks made by President Joe Biden of having a goal of Americans returning to “normalcy” by July 4.

“How beautifully fitting would it be for our country to celebrate its independence in this way? To meet that goal, we all need to work together,” Memark said. “Please get vaccinated with whatever vaccine that you can and protect each other by not gathering without masks or socially distancing if you aren’t vaccinated. We look forward to the day when we can all be together again.”

EAST COBBER Parade and Festival cancelled for 2021

March 12, 2021 5:10 PMMarch 12, 2021 1:42 PM by Wendy Parker

East Cobber parade cancelled — *The annual East Cobber parade and festival features dozens of community participants.*

For the second year in a row, the EAST COBBER Parade and Festival has been cancelled due to COVID-19 issues.

Publisher Cynthia Rozzo said in a message in the current March-April issue of the magazine that public health compliance concerns prompted the cancellation of the event, which had been slated for Sept. 18.

Although initially hopeful due to the arrival of vaccines, she said that “under current CDC guidelines for community events and large gatherings we could not figure out how to keep participants and guests safe.”

The logistics include several months of planning and involve many community groups and organizations. “Those planning steps have been hampered by the outbreak and the uncertainty about it,” Rozzo said.

This was to have been the 25th anniversary of the parade, which travels down Johnson Ferry Road from Mt. Bethel Elementary School to Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, where a community festival follows.

Rozzo started the free community magazine in 1993, publishing 11 times a year. But after the COVID-related business closings last year, she has reduced publication of the EAST COBBER, which is mailed to more than 22,000 subscribers, to six times a year.

Georgia COVID-19 vaccine eligibility expanding to 55+, others

March 11, 2021 3:57 PM by Wendy Parker

Georgia COVID vaccine eligibility expanding — *To look through the Georgia DPH vaccine dashboard, **click here**.*

Georgians aged 55 and older and those with certain health issues will be able to sign up to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting Monday.

Gov. Brian Kemp announced the expansion on Wednesday, citing figures showing that 92 percent of Georgians who’ve died from the virus have met those thresholds.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities also will be eligible for the vaccine, although the Pfizer vaccine is the only one that’s been approved for them.

Parents of children with complex medical conditions who are at high-risk for COVID-19 also can sign up to receive the vaccine.

Those with the following medical conditions and who are over the age of 16 also will become eligible on Monday:

Asthma
Cancer
Cerebrovascular Disease
Chronic Kidney Disease
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Cystic Fibrosis
Diabetes
Hypertension
Heart Conditions
Immunocompromised State
Liver Disease
Neurologic Conditions
Overweight and Obesity
Pregnancy
Pulmonary Fibrosis
Sickle Cell Disease
Thalassemia

Cobb and Douglas Public Health has set up an online booking appointment link for those and the others who’ve already been eligible for the vaccine: Health care workers, first responders, people age 65 and older and school teachers and staff.

You’ll be asked to fill out a questionnaire, as others in higher tiers have had to do. Appointments are necessary to receive a vaccine.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health vaccine dashboard, more than 2.5 million vaccines have been administered in the state, 1.5 million of them first doses.

In Cobb County, there have been more than 150,000 vaccines distributed, with 87,000 of those being first doses.

Georgia DPH also has a COVID vaccine locator list of private providers, including grocery stores and pharmacies.

Citizens do not have to get a vaccine in their county of residence but they must be a Georgia resident.

Children’s Unicorn Book Series comes to Mountain View ES

March 11, 2021 3:22 PMMarch 11, 2021 12:17 PM by Wendy Parker

Emily Isabel, Unicorn Children's Book Series — *Emily Isabel*

Children’s author Lisa Caprelli and 12-year-old students Sofia Swade and Emily Isabel connected with Mountain View Elementary School students Wednesday as part of Caprelli’s Reading Across America tour.

Caprelli is the author of the Children’s Unicorn Book Series, Unicorn Jazz, which celebrates diversity, belonging and believing in others.

Swade and Isabel are young actresses who’ve been taking part in efforts to encourage reading and literacy.

Here’s more from the girls’ publicists:

“They are part of the Unicorn Jazz kid’s club, a musically-inspired brand dedicated to creating and sharing happiness for kids through stories and digital media. It is through this wonderful educational platform that Sofia and Emily have the opportunity to encourage boys and girls their age to dream big, dance, sing and read! Sofia and Emily even regularly donate their allowances to charity initiatives to get more books in the hands of students and pediatric patients at local children’s hospitals!”

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

East Cobb food scores: Longhorn Steakhouse; Vatica; more

March 12, 2021 5:08 PMMarch 11, 2021 9:35 AM by Wendy Parker

Longhorn East Cobb, East Cobb food scores

The following East Cobb food scores for the week of March 8 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:

Harry’s Pizza & Subs
2150 Powers Ferry Road, Suite C
March 10, 2021 Score: 99, Grade: A

Heritage of Sandy Plains
3039 Sandy Plains Road
March 10, 2021 Score: 88, Grade: B

Longhorn Steakhouse
4721 Lower Roswell Road
March 8, 2021 Score: 90, Grade: A

Vatica Indian Cuisine
1475 Terrell Mill Road, Suite 105
March 9, 2021 Score: 86, Grade: B

Waffle House
1811 Williams Drive
March 9, 2021 Score: 100, Grade: A

Marietta City Council tables Powers Ferry rezoning requests

March 10, 2021 7:08 PM by Wendy Parker

Powers Ferry rezoning cases

Just a few hours before its meeting Wednesday, the Marietta City Council tabled two rezoning requests in the Powers Ferry Road area that have drawn substantial opposition.

They’re for a mixed-use project and a townhome development by Macauley Investments, and the main property owner for the assemblages is real estate investor Ruben McMullan.

Kevin Moore, an attorney for the applicants, sought a delay before last Tuesday’s Marietta Planning Commission, after filing a revised traffic analysis with the city hours before.

But the planning board voted against tabling both, then voted to recommend denial of the requests in 7-0 votes in both cases.

Moore said he would seek another delay before Wednesday’s meeting, and the agenda was revised late in the afternoon to reflect that both requests were being tabled to the council’s April 14.

Residential opponents in both the city and unincorporated Cobb said the proposed developments are too intense and would have singular access via narrow streets in their neighborhoods.

Nexus Gardens would have apartments, senior living and restaurants on nearly 17 acres, mostly undeveloped and facing Interstate 75. Some of those parcels include 19 single-family homes.

The density of the project calls for two five-story apartment buildings totalling 280 units served by a three-story parking deck, a five-story senior-living building with 160 units, 39 townhomes and restaurants and retail space.

Laurel Park, with 204 townhomes, would be accessible via four residential streets in Cloverdale Heights, which residents said would be a traffic nightmare in their community.

Town Center at Cobb to hold Easter Bunny photo sessions

March 10, 2021 2:49 PMMarch 10, 2021 11:35 AM by Wendy Parker

Town Center Easter Bunny Photos

Submitted information:

The Easter Bunny is making a triumphant return! Town Center at Cobb will welcome the Easter Bunny for an egg-cellent holiday experience from March 17-April 3. Local families are encouraged to celebrate the season with memorable Easter Bunny photos. Prioritizing the well-being of its guests, Town Center at Cobb has put in place increased health and safety precautions for the photo experience, including social distancing from both the Easter Bunny and guests, face-covering requirements, contactless payment options and enhanced sanitization following CDC recommendations.

WHAT:
Photos with the Easter Bunny
Celebratory professional photos with beloved Easter Bunny

WHEN:
March 17-April 3
Monday-Saturday, 12-7 p.m. / Sunday, 12-6 p.m.

WHERE:
Town Center at Cobb in Center Court
400 Ernest Barrett Parkway
Kennesaw, GA 30144

HOW:
Reservations can be booked by visiting bit.ly/TCCEaster2021. Appointments are recommended but not required. Walk-in visits are available as space allows. Families should review the COVID-19 guidelines prior to their photo session.

For more information, visit towncenteratcobb.com.

Related story

The Avenue East Cobb to hold Easter-themed spring festival

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

Cobb commissioners approve $2M for COVID vaccine call center

March 9, 2021 7:13 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb health director COVID vaccines — *Dr. Janet Memark of Cobb and Douglas Public Health said that while COVID transmission rates are falling, they’re “still extremely high.”*

The Cobb Board of Commissioners Tuesday voted to spend $2M in federal CARES Act funding to create a COVID-19 vaccination call center.

The center will provide updated information to the public about COVID-19 guidance and will allow citizens to schedule vaccine appointments.

The only commissioner to vote against in a 4-1 vote was Keli Gambrill of North Cobb, who said she hasn’t seen sufficient data showing that the call center software is effective.

JoAnn Birrell of Northeast Cobb, who recently received her second dose of the vaccine, said “we’re still getting a lot of calls and e-mails” about how to get vaccines from the public that are being left with a variety of county agencies.

Chairwoman Lisa Cupid noted that the most vulnerable to COVID-19 are older people who are “less likely to be familiar with technology and most frustrated” at having to go online for information and to book appointments.

“We have some responsibility to make sure our vaccinations are accessible in Cobb,” Cupid said. “There are some things we need to get in front of.”

Cobb and Douglas Public Health launched a website in January as the vaccine rollout began, but it crashed initially and citizens expressed frustrations booking online or not having technology access to do so.

Dr. Janet Memark, the director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, told commissioners that having a call center is an important step as vaccine eligibility expands, and as variants of the virus are still in the community.

During an earlier briefing, she said that more than 143,000 doses of the vaccines have been administered in Cobb. There have been more then 170 cases of a British variant, the B.1.1.7, but said that’s likely a “huge undercount” due to limited testing.

Another COVID-19 variant that originated in South Africa also has been detected in Georgia, and she said there are three confirmed cases in the state.

Cobb’s COVID transmission rate continues a major decline, with a 14-day average of 356 cases per 100,000 for PCR and Antigen tests combined.

The PCR community spread metric is 197, the lowest it’s been since the fall. But since 100 cases per 100,000 is considered “high community spread,” the current numbers are “still extremely high.”

Memark and Lisa Crossman, the deputy director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, said they were encouraged by CDC guidelines issued Monday for fully vaccinated people visiting safely with others.

They include relaxing mask-wearing and social-distancing habits in some instances.

“We see a light at the end of the tunnel,” Crossman said, adding that when she read through the guidelines it “almost brought tears of joys to my eyes.

“This gives a lot of hope to our seniors who’ve been isolated for the last year.”

Cobb has 873 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 56,276 cases since last March. The 7-day moving average is 152 new cases as of Tuesday (compared to 526 on Jan. 13, a single-day high).

Crossman still urged citizens to continue to wear masks and socially-distance in public, and when people become eligible for the vaccine, to sign up.

“Whatever brand of vaccine you have access to, please get it,” Crossman said.

Cobb students create virtual crystal growing competition

March 9, 2021 2:14 PMMarch 9, 2021 12:04 PM by Wendy Parker

Cobb Crystal Growing Competition

Submitted information:

We are the Structural Nucleic Acid Anticancer Research Society (STARS), and we are a group of Cobb County high school students who enjoy performing research for crystallography. In fact, in the summer of 2019, our founder and president, Susanna Huang, presented a 20-minute presentation at the American Crystallographic Association about her research in selenium-modified DNA crystals. Also, in the spring semester of 2020, our team placed 2nd at the national US Crystal Growing Competition for the crystal quality category.

Recently, we were inspired to host our own 2021 Cobb County Crystal Growing Competition. The crystal growing season has started already and will end on April 11th. Due to the pandemic, many extracurricular activities have been cancelled. Unfortunately, because of this and because of social distancing measures, many students are often deprived of scientific and hands-on activities at home or in school.

Through this virtual competition, we hope to provide students K-12 a fun STEM experience and an exciting contest to compete in while staying protected in their homes. Since salt is a safe, relatively common, and easily accessible household product, we settled on centering the competition on growing crystals of salt.
Through this competition, we hope to help students better understand the scientific theories of crystallography. Though they are only growing inorganic salt crystals, the general methodology of experimentation and research is very similar to that of growing organic crystals (which is important for x-ray crystallography and curing diseases like cancer). Please find the playlist of introduction videos that we prepared for competitors that discusses and explains basic crystallization topics (e.g. What is a single crystal, saturated vs unsaturated solution, how to maintain a crystal solution, etc.): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUhmxDvClcLkFkqB10LrKn4OdcFNn2QXl Through our competition, we hope to spur the creativity and scientific thinking of students.

Update on Cobb rental assistance relief funds; eviction FAQs

March 9, 2021 1:57 PMMarch 9, 2021 8:49 AM by Wendy Parker

Submitted information:

Last week [March 2], the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved emergency funding to provide additional rent relief for qualified Cobb residents who have been adversely affected by COVID-19 and fees related to that process. To watch a short video from the BOC meeting, click here.

This funding in the amount of $22,880,880 is available through federal Emergency Rental Assistance grants approved by the U.S. Congress and signed into law on Dec. 27. The grants are designed to help those impacted by the pandemic, and struggling to recover, stay in their homes.

As part of the additional federal emergency COVID-19 relief bill, state and local governments with more than 200,000 residents were allocated funds to provide assistance with rent, rental arrears, utilities and home energy costs, utilities and home energy costs arrears and other expenses related to housing.

This program is separate from the CARES rental and mortgage assistance approved by the Cobb BOC in 2020.

Who is eligible to seek assistance?
An “eligible household” is defined as a renter household in which at least one or more individuals meets the following criteria:

Qualifies for unemployment or has experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs or experienced a financial hardship due to COVID-19

Demonstrates a risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability

Has a household income at or below 80 percent of the area median

Service providers will prioritize applications received from eligible households if one of the following conditions exist:

The household income is at or below 50 percent of the area median

One or more individuals within the household have been unemployed for the 90-day period preceding the application date

For what can these funds be used?
Assistance can be provided for rent, rental arrears, utilities and home energy costs, utilities and home energy costs arrears and other expenses related to housing.

Who will handle applications for the funds?
The same groups who worked with the county on the CARES assistance will also handle this new grant program. Those groups are:

HomeFree-USA

Star-C Corporation

MUST Ministries

The Center for Family Resources

Sweetwater Mission

When can I apply?
Those groups are sorting through the new program requirements and developing applications and we hope to have them available soon. We will post the latest when that information is available and keep updates on our COVID Assistance Center page at cobbcounty.org/communications/news/cobb-covid-assistance-center.

Cobb Magistrate Court Judge Brendan Murphy also provided the following update about how eviction cases will be proceeding:

(1) The Cobb County Board of Commissioners appropriated approximately $22.8 million in federal rental assistance funding to five (5) total providers: The Center for Family Resources, HomeFree-USA’s Cobb County HomeSaver for Renters, MUST Ministries, Star-C, and Sweetwater Mission. Tenants and/or Landlords may apply for the program through any provider as the terms and eligibility requirements are identical. A provider will also be available at the courthouse each Friday when dispossessory proceedings are scheduled to ensure that everyone that qualifies has an opportunity to apply.

(2) In a Feb. 23 Order Amending Courthouse Safety Guidelines for all Classes of Courts and Reinstating the Plan to Resume Jury Trials in the Cobb Judicial Circuit, Chief Superior Court Judge Robert D. Leonard, II vacated his Dec. 22 order limiting in-person proceedings and allowed courts to “resume in-person proceedings…in strict compliance with public health guidelines and guidance issued by the Supreme Court.”

(3) The CDC’s limited, temporary halt in certain residential evictions remains in place until “at least March 31, 2021.”

(4) The Magistrate Court is returning to the Fall 2020 dispossessory hearing scheduling procedures. Residential, non-payment cases will not be automatically set but may be heard by written request. All other dispossessory cases with an Answer filed will be automatically set for a hearing.

Please click here for updated FAQs re: eviction cases in the Magistrate Court of Cobb County. If anyone has a question about the status or scheduling of a particular case, please call the Magistrate Court Clerk’s Office Civil Division at (770) 528-8900.

Cobb schools make calendar changes for teacher vaccinations

March 8, 2021 6:17 PM by Wendy Parker

The Cobb County School District on Monday said the school calendar will change for two days next week and the week after so teachers and other district employees can receive their first COVID-19 vaccinations, and in similar fashion in April for second doses.

In a release, the district said the instructional support days that had been scheduled for Wednesday, March 17 and Wednesday, March 24 will be switched to Friday, March 19 and Friday, March 26, respectively.

Teachers and staff who elect to get shots are scheduled to receive drive-up vaccinations from Cobb and Douglas Public Health at Jim Miller Park on March 19 -20 and March 26-27.

In April, instructional support days slated for Wednesday, April 14 and Wednesday, April 21 will be moved to Friday, April 16 and Friday, April 23, respectively.

Second doses are scheduled for April 16, 17, 23 and 24.

During the current 2020-21 school year, the Cobb school district had designated Wednesday as a non-instructional day, allowing for one-on-one interactions, small group sessions and related activities.

On Monday, public school teachers and staff in Georgia became eligible to receive vaccines through the state’s public health system. The current Tier 1A+ includes health care workers, first responders, people ages 65 and older and their caregivers.

The Cobb school district release said staffers are able to use their employee login ID to sign up for a vaccine and must show their badges when arriving at Jim Miller Park.

“The choice to take the COVID-19 vaccination will remain just that, a choice,” the district statement said.

The vaccinations will be given by public health personnel and nurses trained by Cobb and Douglas Public Health to administer the COVID-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer and Moderna.

“Our nurses have provided ongoing education and support to our school community, and we are hopeful that widespread vaccinations will help to bring an end to this pandemic that has brought so many challenges to our lives over the last year,” Melanie Bales, the Cobb schools nursing supervisor, said in the district release.

Three Cobb teachers died of COVID-19 between Christmas and mid-January, prompting teachers, parents and others to demand the district switch to an all-online learning format.

At an emotional Cobb Board of Education meeting in January—the day two of those teachers died—speakers implored the board to go all-virtual, and chided Superintendent Chris Ragsdale and board members David Banks and David Chastain of East Cobb for not wearing face masks at the meeting.

That made national news, but the board did not respond. The district is continuing with both in-person and virtual options through the school year and will be offering a choice for the 2021-22 school year.

For the spring semester, roughly two-thirds of the district’s 107,000 students signed up for in-person learning.

Last week, 106 new COVID-cases were reported in the Cobb school district, the lowest figure since November.

Chairwoman urges Chamber audience to ‘think big for Cobb’

March 8, 2021 3:49 PM by Wendy Parker

Lisa Cupid, Cobb Commission Chair candidate

In her first State of the County address as the Cobb Commission Chairwoman, Lisa Cupid laid out what she called her five “I” goals before the Cobb Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

While “Cobb’s future has always been bright,” Cupid, the first African-American to head the county government, said there are still parts of Cobb “that have not been included. We have what it takes to make sure our success reaches everyone.”

Cupid, who was a two-term commissioner from South Cobb before defeating incumbent Chairman Mike Boyce last November, said a desire to foster greater inclusion stretches across geographic, economic and cultural lines.

The other goals she discussed included “leading with integrity,” developing a framework for making “intelligent” decisions, innovation and “investing in Cobb.”

Above all, Cupid said, she wants to foster a climate to “think big for Cobb County, to think outside of the box.”

Of her leadership style, Cupid said it’s important to have “tough but honest conversations about the state of our county. We all want Cobb to move forward together.”

She conducted a board retreat in January and concluded that “it is when we have the tough conversations that we can begin to experience our breakthrough.”

She referenced issues such as transit, housing affordability and investing in a “robust capital maintenance plan” and “our county employees.”

Cupid, who leads a new Democratic majority on the commission, said she wanted to push for “fair and equitable elections,” responding to current Republican-sponsored legislation in Georgia to curtail voting availability.

Those measures include reducing early voting periods and to eliminate no-excuse absentee voting, as well as increase voter ID requirements.

“It’s heartbreaking to see all the work to get people to the polls is being eroded,” Cupid said, saying such “rollbacks to the past” harken back to a time when people like her were not welcome in the corridors of government and business power.

Speaking on International Women’s Day, Cupid noted not only her status as the first woman to head county government, but in leading Cobb’s first all-female Board of Commissioners and a county government staff headed by a woman, County Manager Jackie McMorris.

“Together, we have been making herstory,” Cupid said.

You can watch her full remarks by clicking here; they begin around the 32-minute mark.

At 7 p.m. Monday Cupid also is providing similar remarks for the general public in a socially-distanced address at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.

A limited number of people are attending in an invitation-only setting, but the address will be shown on Cobb County government’s Facebook and YouTube channels.

The Avenue East Cobb to hold Spring Festival on March 31

March 8, 2021 1:00 PM by Wendy Parker

Submitted information for The Avenue East Cobb Spring Festival, scheduled for March 31 from 3-6 p.m.:

Join us for an afternoon of springtime fun with a touchless 2D EASTER EGG SCAVENGER HUNT. Pick up the Scavenger Hunt sheet at the Red Avenue Tent and start searching for our colorful 2D decorated eggs. Write down where each egg is located, and the first 100 kids to return the sheet receive a coupon for either a free SMALLCAKES Cupcake or free 5oz. MENCHIES Frozen Yogurt to be redeemed the day of the event! Visit our Balloonist, Caricaturist, mini-Farmers Market and take a picture in the butterfly chair with the Easter Bunny! Easter Bunny photos are first-come, first-served and taken with your own camera or cell phone.

No tickets or reservations required.

Visit www.avenueeastcobb.com/events for complete details.

*This event is weather permitting. If it rains, we will postpone and reschedule.

Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!

East Cobb Flying Biscuit opening awaiting alcohol license

March 8, 2021 3:56 PMMarch 6, 2021 2:50 PM by Wendy Parker

On Wednesday the new Flying Biscuit Cafe at the Parkaire Landing Shopping Center announced its opening was “one week out!”

(The restaurant is now saying the doors will open on Monday, March 15, starting at 7 a.m.)

It’s been nearly a year and a half since the popular Atlanta-based breakfast and brunch spot announced its return to East Cobb. Those plans were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, the Cobb Board of Commissioners will take up Flying Biscuit’s appeal of a denial of an alcohol license for beer, wine and Sunday serving.

It’s a routine process that happens frequently with new businesses selling or serving alcohol.

The Cobb County Code has distance requirements for those establishments regarding their location to homes, schools, religious institutions, parks, day care centers, addiction treatment centers and in the case of Flying Biscuit, a library.

The code states that any place serving alcohol must be at least 600 feet from a library. The East Cobb Library branch at Parkaire is 573 feet away in Parkaire.

So the initial alcohol license was automatically denied in January by the Cobb Business License Division.

Businesses can appeal to the Cobb License Review Board, a five-member appointed body, and on Feb. 24 that panel voted 4-0 to recommend approval.

Flying Biscuit hired Parks Huff, a noted Cobb zoning attorney, to handle the case, and he told the review board that the restaurant estimates that no more than 3 percent of its sales will be alcohol-related.

He also pointed to seven businesses nearby that have alcohol licenses.

Whenever a business makes such an appeal, it also has to fill out a lengthy questionnaire that requires many details to be explained about how the business will operate.

Restaurant manager Alexandra Baptiste said she plans to have 25 employees “when fully operational” and that staff will be trained every six months about alcohol sales.

When Flying Biscuit finally opens its doors—more than a decade after shutting them further up Johnson Ferry—the hours will be Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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