A New Model for Cooperation

Another article posted to the AJC on June 18, 2013

Burrell Ellis, is CEO of DeKalb County. Despite his recent indictment on felony charges, he finally weighs in on the incorporation movement currently raging in DeKalb County. His article was posted to the AJC along with the previous article written by Mary Kay Woodworth and Jason Lary.

Disregarding his recent difficulties, its about time that someone representing DeKalb County stepped up to address the burning issues driving the incorporation movement. It remains to be seen if his successor chooses to pursue this issue in a positive manner and offers real constructive solutions, or if he will fall back on the old-news and inconsequential standard response of DeKalb County leadership of shouting 'No, No, No ! ! !'
________________________________________________________________________________

A New Model for Cooperation

By Burrell Ellis, CEO, DeKalb County

Since 2008, DeKalb County has seen a growing interest in cityhood and annexation movements. For some communities, that interest is related to localized control and having more say on how taxes should be spent. For others, it is about obtaining additional revenue to support growing demands for services. Some neighborhoods are even now exploring options to incorporate merely as a defense mechanism from being drawn into other proposed cities where they lack “common interests.”

Cities Are DeKalb’s Path to Prosperity

An article posted to the AJC on June 28, 2013.

This is an article posted to the AJC's Atlanta Forward blog, jointly written by Mary Kay Woodworth, Chairperson of the LCA, and Jason Lary, Chairman of the Stonecrest City Alliance.

The main article, as found on the AJC site, is only accessible by those who have bought into the AJC's premium services.  The blog article, however, can be accessed here.


________________________________________________________________________________

Cities are DeKalb's Path to Prosperity

By Mary Kay Woodworth and Jason Lary

Inappropriate zonings. Lack of sufficient police protection. Pot holes that go unfilled. A need for economic development.

The Hot Potato Being Tossed About By Chamblee, Brookhaven and DECA

Century Center Office Park

Tom Hogan, Councilman for the City of Chamblee, wrote a very interesting article on his Facebook page regarding the recent controversy over the potential annexation of Century Center into the City of Brookhaven. Like the Northlake area, Century Center is an office and commercial district that is coveted by adjacent municipalities for its considerable tax potential. However as Century Center is much denser and more office based than a commercial district like Northlake, its revenue stream will be far more positive.  

A recent history.  The proposed City of Brookhaven had originally included Century Center in its early maps, but backed off after local opposition.  This was followed by its inclusion in the DECA vote over annexation into Chamblee, which lost by an extremely narrow margin. (A second effort for DECA annexation into Chamblee, which continues to include Century Center, is currently underway.) The LCA's first map for the proposed new City (With No Name Yet) included Century Center, along with other commercial areas north of I-85, but they quickly backed off after a sharp backslash from the representatives and communities in the adjacent areas. 

Recently, the property owners of Century Center contacted the City of Brookhaven to consider the direct annexation of Century Center into the new city.  Annexation of a commercial, institutional or industrial district differs from the annexation of a residential district as no public vote is required. (If an area has no residents, no vote is possible.)  The General Assembly, in its infinite wisdom, has provided a variety of means for an existing municipality to annex adjacent commercial/industrial/institutional districts, all of which will ultimately require enabling legislation by the state, but again, no vote of local residents. Its strictly a negotiated and technical process between the landowners, the interested city, and the state government.  

Mr. Hogan's article explores these issues.  His article after the break.

LCA Reaches Fundraising Goal

Mary Kay Woodworth, Chairperson of the Lakeside City Alliances, announces that the LCA has reached its fundraising goal of $30,000 for the state required feasibility study, and has contracted with the Carl Vinson Institute of the University of Georgia to conduct that study.

The video, after the break.

Betsy Parks' Virulent Rant

An LCA Supporter Speaks Out. How Sad.

In my commitment to respect ALL views in the community regarding incorporation, I was fortunate enough to run across this virulent posting by an ardent and outspoken LCA supporter, Ms. Betsy Parks. I say fortunate only because I, as is my habit, managed to copy her words before she thought it appropriate to delete them. Let the lesson be learned, Ms. Parks, that once its on the Internet, it will never die.

Ms. Parks, in her passionate support for the LCA and their proposed City (With No Name Yet), chose to start a blog under the auspices of the Tucker Patch. This was her first post to that blog. She had attended the final informational meeting put on by Tucker Together, held Monday night, June 24th, at the First Christian of Atlanta in Tucker. (Was she a spy, planted there by the LCA?) This is her summation of that meeting. I can't be sure if she was trying to be cute, or funny, or ironic, or sarcastic in her rendition, but it quickly becomes clear that she failed at whatever she was trying to accomplish. She did manage, however, to thoroughly embarrass herself and her patrons at the LCA. She must have realized this as she deleted the post from The Patch only after a few short hours, once the commentary began to come in.

I do believe that both Ms. Parks, in particular, and the LCA, by extension, owe the Tucker community and the Steering Committee of Tucker Together a heartfelt and sincere apology. In the ongoing debate regarding incorporation and the differences between Tucker and the City (With No Name Yet), there is really no need to stoop so low as this in order to support your cause. The LCA will only continue to lose respect and support as long as they allow the likes of Ms. Betsy Parks and RandyRand to represent their interests in the public forums.

Her words and vile tone will not be easily forgotten. 

Following is her post, copied verbatim from the Tucker Patch.  The only editing performed on the post was due to formatting concerns when transferring to Blogger, and to eliminate superfluous lines. The few comments that followed her posting are included.

I will refrain from further commenting.  Her words speak for themselves.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

The Proposed New City of RandyRand

RandyRand - Our Hero!

I've gotten to know RandyRand so well over these last few months, that I felt so sorry for him when he mentioned yesterday that he didn't have a map of his very own.  So I did one for him!

After the break:

6/28/13 Update! Revised Map!

A Spat Over The City of Briarcliff Initiative

Over on the North Druid Hills - Briarcliff Patch, there is a nasty spat going on between our old friend RandyRand, LCA head Mary Kay and a spokesman for the City of Briarcliff Initiative, Herman Lorenz. (You can find their conversation here.) I know Herman to be a well spoken, upright and respectable gentleman, whereas RandyRand . . . well, a mutual friend claims he is a decent guy in real life, which is hard to believe given his irrational posting, but we all know how Internet anonymity allows all the crazy to come out.  Anyhow, the dispute revolves around the City of Briarcliff Initiative's origins, its puzzling relationship to its predecessor, and the old news City of Lavista Hills.  This was my attempt to weigh into the conversation, but the Patch's new commenting software has proven inadequate to my purposes.  So, here it is for all its worth.

Gentlemen

Allow me to help resolve this spat over the Lavista Hills map.

Tucker 2014

The new pro-city pro-advocacy group for the City of Tucker

At the final Tucker Together informational meeting held last night at the First Christian Church of Atlanta, Sonja Szubski announced the formation of the pro-Tucker advocacy group TUCKER★2014. This will be the primary community based group actively pursing incorporation of the City of Tucker.  Their website can be found at www.Tucker2014.com, and their Facebook page here.

A critical TUCKER★2014 organizational meeting will be held on Monday, July 8th, at the Greater Good BBQ, from 7:00 to 8:30 PM.  Any and all Tucker residents interested in and committed to the Tucker community should attend.  Many volunteers will be needed as TUCKER★2014  picks up the mantle from Tucker Together and moves forward with the critical work necessary to raise community awareness, work with the legislature on the enabling legislative, and to secure the final vote for approval in 2014.

Here is Sonja's introduction to TUCKER★2014 from her new blog on the Tucker Patch:

My name is Sonja Szubski and I am a proud resident of Tucker. 

I would like to thank Tucker Together for getting the ball rolling and taking on the task of educating the Tucker community on what is involved in becoming a City in Georgia.Tucker Together has done a great job in educating, but to move Tucker forward we need a group that will not be restricted by its 501(c)(3) status. So I am pleased to announce the formation of Tucker 2014. Tucker 2014 is a group of Pro City of Tucker neighbors that are working in conjunction with Tucker Together and taking up the fundraising for the feasibility study. Tucker 2014 will also be attending neighborhood hosted meeting to discuss just how Tucker can best benefit from incorporation.

Tucker Together Informational Meeting

Tucker Together Informational Meeting

7:00-8:30PM, June 10, 2010

First Christian Church of Atlanta
4532 Lavista Road, Atlanta, GA 30084

Subject:  Parks & Recreation

Stonecrest Update

The Proposed New City of Stonecrest in south DeKalb County

Things are moving quickly in south DeKalb County as Jason Lary pursues his dream for a new City of Stonecrest, centered around Stonecrest Mall.  As currently conceived, Stonecrest would be the largest city, by land area, in the county.

Mr. Lary and other Stonecrest supporters have formed the Stonecrest City Alliance and are actively raising funds for the state required feasibility study.  The SCA has also been receiving support from area politicians.

A CrossRoadsNews article, dated May 24, 2013, on recent developments in Stonecrest, can be found here.

Another article on Stonecrest, from The Champion, dated May 17, 2013, can be found here.

Update 9/3/13:  Newer maps for Stonecrest can be found here.

New maps for Stonecrest, showing how the proposed city has grown even larger, have been recently issued.  After the break . . .

ONE DeKalb

Here is an interesting website I ran across today, http://planningdekalb.net/.  Although it contains some very interesting material on zoning and planning issues, it is also very incomplete in many areas.  It's a beautifully designed site but there is no way to tell who or what is behind it.  It's all about DeKalb County, but doesn't seem to have been created by the County. They refer to their group or organization as ONE DeKalb.  You should check it out.

From their About Us page:

DeKalb County is home to 300+ neighborhood and civic organizations. These organizations represent the County’s diverse neighborhoods and communities. ONE’s goal is to engage these organizations for the purpose of making them a viable, organized, engaged, and active voice in their community and county government. ONE is also the vehicle through which the CEO and Board of Commissioners will use to promote community engagement, facilitate neighborhood capacity-building and increase the flow of information to citizens about County departments and programs.

They have posted an interesting document titled Zoning Code Update, dated May 7, 2013, which can be found here.  Public comments were to have been submitted by June 7, 2013 (too late now!), with a Public Involvement Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, June 18, 5-7pm, in the Maloof Auditorium.  Check out their Zoning Code Update page here.

As near as I can tell, the site has been around for over a year, but hasn't been very active.  It will be interesting to see how it develops in the next few weeks or months.