Q & A on Tucker Discussions

A member of Tucker Discussions, who I'll refer to as MNK, asked a set of simple questions on why we would want to become a city.  BD, who may be just a little bit biased, provided some answers.  You may or may not agree.

We need more questions like this.  The internet is proving to be incredibly effective as a real democratic process dealing with issues important to the community.  Twenty years ago, an open exchange of reasoned opinion and valid arguments, between interested and committed strangers, was almost impossible.  Now it can be everyday.  If you have questions, come here or go to Tucker Discussions and ask them.  You will be sure to get an answer.  You may not like the answer, but you are free to respond.  Become involved.  Let your voice be heard.  In the City, someone will hear you.

DeKalb County Property Taxes

Will a new city force our property taxes to increase?  

The most immediate answer to that is 'Not necessarily.'  Of course this a very complicated issue because residential property taxes will always be dependent upon the level of services being offered and the revenue stream from other sources, such as commercial property, business licence fees and hotel/motel taxes.  In other words, residential property taxes will result from the balance between residential and commercial properties within the city.  Residential property taxes will necessarily be higher in a city that has a very low commercial tax base, and will be much lower in a city with a high percentage of commercial property.  This would explain why new, and even existing, cities are always looking to add commercial property to their tax base.

As an aid to understanding taxes in DeKalb County, I have collected property tax rates from the county and each one of its cities for comparison purposes.  The tax statements are freely available from the DeKalb County Tax Commissioner's website.  They were chosen randomly from throughout the county and from nine of DeKalb's cities (Atlanta and Brookhaven being excluded) and all identifiable information has been redacted to protect the innocent.

Oliver Porter at the LCA Meeting, April 18th, 2013

Oliver Porter

The Lakeside City Alliance (LCA) held a community meeting April 18th at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation on Clairmont Road, where the featured speaker was Oliver Porter, a Sandy Springs resident and expert on the formation of new cities, who has been a critical consultant to Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and other new cities at their early formation.  He is the author of the book Creating the New City of Sandy Springs:  The 21st Century Paradigm. The website for his firm, PPP Associates, LLC, can be found here.  PPP stands for Public Private Partnership.

The meeting attracted perhaps 120 people, 40% of whom were of retirement edge.  The only elected representatives present were Rep. Michele Henson (D), Stone Mountain and Rep. Tom Taylor (R), Dunwoody.  The initial presentation was made by Mary Kay Woodworth and Kevin Levitas, which is documented in a Powerpoint presentation that can be found here.  Mr. Porter's presentation was followed by a Q&A session by the LCA Board, with some answers provided by Mr. Porter and Rep. Taylor.

The City of Lavista Hills

Update Saturday, 4/27/2013

With all the interest in looking at the Lavista Hills map, I've drawn my own version, taken directly from the original.  This one omits the tax info and council districts, which were the main concerns with the originally posted map.

The City of Lavista Hills (pdf)

Update:

Distribution of the City of Lavista Hills map was not fully authorized by the originating group, although I was led to believe otherwise.  I have chosen to remove it from this site, and from the file hosting service.  No request was made by any individual or organization to take this action.

I would ask that anyone who obtained the map in the few hours it was up to please refrain from any further distribution.

My apologies to any confusion that may have resulted from this posting.

An Uncivil Exchange on the North Druid Hills Patch

On the North Druid Hills Patch the following exchange took place in a comments section that illustrates how not to behave.  This was between myself and another regular poster named Ralph, who is an ardent supporter of the LCA and their goal to incorporate the new City of Lakeside.  A controversy has raged as to just how far the Lakeside city limits should extend into the heart of the Tucker community.

The discussion centered on a statement made by Oliver Porter during the LCA informational meeting held April 18th, where he discussed the optimal size for a city.

Although I do not apologize for my comments, or the tone that I eventually assumed, I would offer that I normally try to stay out of the gutter with the likes of Ralph.  I make every attempt for my comments to be factual, intelligent, respectful and considerate.  I cannot say the same for Ralph.

The Future of DeKalb? (Stonecrest)

Attached is a map I first made available to the Tucker Patch which tried to anticipate how the existing and new cities in DeKalb might look a few years from now.  The problem was that some of the proposed new cities had no internet presence - DeKalb, Stonecrest and Prosperity.  Recently though, I had the opportunity to chat briefly with one of the leaders of the City of Stonecrest movement, who was kind enough to share with me his vision of their new city.  So, with this map, I am now including Stonecrest.  He has assured me, however, that the Stonecrest group has set their sights on an ultimate size well beyond the city I'm showing here.

The Future of DeKalb?

A Primer on Making a City

Kevin Levitas was a former state Representative representing northern DeKalb County, and is currently on the board for the Lakeside City Alliance (LCA).  He has a blog, North DeKalb Cityhood Blog, where he has been discussing cityhood for North Dekalb, started before the LCA was formally organized.  With his permission, I am replicating one of his articles here, as it serves as a very valuable and informative primer on the process of making a city.  

(With my apologies to Mr. Levitas, I have slightly edited his notes for formatting purposes, and to update or remove some inconsequential references.  His original posting can be found here.)

Cityhood Meeting Summary

On November 12, 2012, about fifty neighbors gathered to hear a presentation by Sen. Fran Millar, Rep. Tom Taylor and former Sen. Dan Weber about the ins and outs of forming a new city.

The discussion was lively and informative, and another meeting is planned for the near future for a discussion of the pro's and con's of city formation in our area.  Stay tuned for details...

Below is a summary based on my notes of both the presentation and some comments from neighbors in attendance.  The summary is merely a reiteration of the discussion.  You will have to decide issues of accuracy (both as to my notes and as to the contents of the discussion) for yourself.