What if you had a plan, a really massive plan, one that dealt with developing all sorts buildings and amenities in what might be a prime, well-located piece of real estate.

But there's one problem. A really big jail, a whopper of a correctional facility, dominates the landscape and makes potential visitors a bit creeped out by the notion of going there with the kids.

That is the dilemma of DeKalb County's Interim CEO Lee May, who has proposed creating what he calls Downtown DeKalb on I-285 and Memorial Drive. So, what is he going to do about it?

In today's Bill Torpy at Large column, Torpy suggest that May should be building something else first.

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Students line up after school for school buses at Sequoyah Middle School in Doraville on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. The school’s principal told teachers not to talk to students about ICE, and teachers and activists are pushing back. (Arvin Temkar/AJC)

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com