Frequently asked questions

last updated January 16, 1999
house

Some people have asked who I am, why I have this site, how do I generate the pages, etc. Here are answers to basic who, what, when, where, why, and how questions.



Who am I?

I have been on the 2nd District Community Council since 1996 and a resident of DeKalb County since 1983. I work on the zoning committee of my civic association and coordinate my neighborhood watch. I became interested in zoning and development during the 1995 hearings on the county Comprehensive Plan and Land Use map.

My work is with computers as a technical analyst. This site is a result of my interests in the Internet and local government.


What is this site?

This site started as a way for people to know about rezonings in their neighborhoods in a timely manner.

Since creating the site, I have found that the county and state have provided a number of public forums where people can have input on development, schools, and other government activities. If more people knew about these procedures and understood them, then they would be more effective in shaping public policy. I list these forums as I learn about them.

The little house at the top of each page is not my house. It is just an icon placed on each page so that people will know when they are in the site.


When is the site updated?

This site is updated whenever I see any news. Please visit as often as possible.

If you know of any news item that I could add, please send me a message by e-mail. (You can get free e-mail by using the public library computers and visiting http://www.hotmail.com or http://www.rocketmail.com .)


Where?

All parts of DeKalb County, Georgia are covered by this site, but emphasis is given to unincorporated DeKalb County.


Why did you create this site?

At the time I was considering creating a web site to learn more about the Internet, I attended a public meeting on zoning. There was a question from the public about having a web site for county zoning information. A private consultant to the county responded that there was no need for a web site, people could just come to downtown Decatur on their lunch hour. That was an unsatisfactory answer to me. So I decided to create this web site.

Why the site name? I did not want anyone to confuse this with any official web site. I thought having a personal name in the title would make it clear to everyone that it was unofficial.


How is the web site created?

I hand code the HTML for this site. My design goals have been -

  1. Keep the pages quick. I have used a 14.4 modem and found pages with large graphics to be too slow. Hand coding the pages helps to reduce the size. Rewriting one page cut the size from 11K for a computer generated page to only 3K.
  2. Keep the site informative and timely. I try to update the site as frequently as possible, and I keep an eye out for DeKalb news.
  3. Keep it easy to navigate around the site. I am still working on this, so you may see changes from time to time. Visit often and let me know if the changes are for the better.

Please send your comments on this site to Blair Belton

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