Neighborhood – MartellSells.com

Braves Stadium…NIMBY?

“For nearly 50 years, the Braves have called Atlanta home. They have begun the process to build a new stadium with hopes that the Braves will open the doors to a new world-class ballpark by Opening Day 2017, and will begin the latest chapter in their history. Their new home will feature entertainment options, green space and a place to go 365 days a year. Though they will be in a new ballpark, they will continue to be your Atlanta Braves.” – http://www.homeofthebraves.com

If you live in Cobb County, you may hear various views on whether or not a case of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) is at work. Some would argue that taxpayer approval should have been received before issuing up to $397 million in bonds to pay the public share of the stadium construction; especially since many believe the stadium project is an improper use of public tax money for a private facility where the Braves reap all the benefits of the agreement. On top of that, to pay off the bonds, county officials plan to raise the cash from property, transportation, and community improvement district taxes.

Sure, no one wants higher property taxes…but, is the stadium all bad?? Could the stadium actually be what the northwest market needs to bring new life and energy to the area? The energy and activity surrounding the Braves stadium will spur denser and more diverse development such as office/retail/residential mixed-use projects, and initiate an urbanization of the northwest market.

Building the Braves stadium in Cobb County could actually mean an increase in property value! And, at the end of the day, isn’t that what every hardworking homeowner wants? Of course, no one gets something for nothing. Increased property values could actually justify those increased property tax rates. For a full report of the impact of the Braves Stadium on the Cobb County area by Cushman & Wakefield, click here.

6 Must-Have Back to School Apps

These six apps can help students of all ages make the best of the opportunities that today’s mobile devices provide. From homework trackers to ways to chat with classmates, you can do it all with your Android or iOS device. Well, everything except for taking tests — so be sure to study.

Brainscape Flashcards are a staple of studying. This app takes the pain out of making them by serving them up on a touchscreen. But more than a mere paper replacement, Brainscape tailors its timing to users’ learning needs. Though the app is free, you can purchase pre-made sets of flashcards to help learn things like foreign language vocabulary or world geography. Sharing capabilities help the app work for study groups or teams, and cross-device syncing means you can pick up on a tablet where you left off on your phone. Even if you’re not a student, Brainscape can be a smart way to continue your education while on a commute, or during dull moments of the day. Brainscape is available for free on iOS.

DuoLingo Learning a second (or third, or…) language can be a challenge, especially if you take the summer off and forget all your new words. DuoLingo is an addictive way to keep learning because it turns lessons into games packed full of listening, speaking, and translating. With hot streaks being tallied up and hearts measuring how close you’re getting to “game over,” it can be as thrilling as a racer or as confounding as a role playing game. Either way, DuoLingo is as fun as any mobile game going, with bonus points for teaching people everything from Esperanto to Ukranian. DuoLingo is available for free on Android and iOS.

EasyBib As a former English major with a Master’s degree (and therefore, a thesis paper under my belt), I can say with some degree of authority that bibliographies are a massive waste of time. Don’t get me wrong — the proper sourcing of material is vital to research, but the rigamarole of punctuation and order is exasperating. In automating the tedious task of note-taking, EasyBib is a major innovation in paper writing. Just fire up the app, point the camera at the book’s bar code, and you’re on your way to marking it up in more than 7,000 citation styles like ASA, AMA and more. EasyBib is available for free on Android and iOS.

iHomework Whether you’re a high schooler with eight periods of classes or a college student tackling dozens of credits, there’s one thing you’ve got for sure: a mess of assignments. iHomework can help you keep track of all your work, slicing and dicing it in a variety of ways. Sorting it by due date, week, month, or by course, the app is more organized than a Trapper Keeper. And in integrating data from Questia, you can link your reading material to your assignments so you don’t have to dig through a pile of papers to find the right information. A scheduling feature can help you keep track of those random bi-weekly Thursday labs, and you can even mark the location of your courses on a map so you don’t end up on the wrong side of campus. And finally, with iCloud syncing, you can access all this information on whatever Apple-compatible device you’re using at the moment — no need to dig for your iPad. iHomework is available for $1.99 on iOS.

Khan Academy “Summer Reading” might be the season’s keywords for our educational system, but why not summer math or science while we’re at it? Khan Academy, a non-profit online portal committed to feeding people’s insatiable hunger for knowledge, offers courses in almost any subject you can imagine, helping people pass tests, improve their comprehension, or even just become better rounded. Available on Apple devices (there are unofficial Khan Academy apps on Android), the app offers more than 150,000 interactive exercises with step-by-step hints and instant feedback. But it’s not all about quizzes — lectures and videos are part of the curriculum too, making this a solid competitor to distance learning programs, even if you don’t get any credits. Khan Academy is available for free on iOS.

Here Comes the Bus If you think “back to school” is all about children, you probably don’t know enough parents being run ragged by a household full of kids. As fun and full of memories as these months can be, stay-at-home parents are also anxiously awaiting the school bell to ring. Here Comes The Bus is a free app that many school districts are using to connect students, parents, and administrators with their GPS-equipped transport. With arrival and departure information for various stops and schools, it’s great for checking if the bus is running late or if you’ve missed it. You can also get push notifications for schedule changes or when the ride is five minutes away from arriving. And if you have multiple children on different busses, you can track them all simultaneously — which is more than you might say about watching them in the summer. Here Comes the Bus is available for free on Android and iOS.

Source: http://time.com/3982036/back-best-school-apps/

Where to stop when the school bus stops

Safety is of utmost importance once the school year starts especially as our children:

Walk to school
Ride bikes to school
Ride in a car to school
Play on the playground
Carry backpacks to school
Ride the bus to school

Speaking of “riding the bus”…, have you ever wondered, “Where do I stop when the bus stops??” Check out the diagrams below and you’ll never have to wonder again!

Fast Facts About Fulton School Buses –

760 buses crank every school day
79,000+ eligible riders
Travel over 10 million miles annually
Travel over 50,000 miles daily
Deliver more than 1600 morning loads
Supports all daily and extracurricular programs including athletics, magnet programs, ESOL, special needs, special needs pre-k, summer programs, TAG programs, Extended Learning Programs, sweep buses, activity buses and activity driver training

So, the next time you see the school bus in your neighborhood, be sure to thank the driver for their hard work keeping our children safe and making the journey to and from home and school an enjoyable one!