City of Brookhaven will create another layer of government
At a recent BrookahvenYES town hall meeting, a member of the audience asked the question “Can someone from the no side tell me why they are voting to continue the status quo?” Unfortunately, the answer provided did not address the real issue – What is the status quo?
For me, the status quo is voting to give another group of politicians the opportunity to create more government to pull more money out of my pocket to pay for their undefined pet projects. While we have heard the proponents touting their enchanting list of services, working hard to convince me that if I vote ‘yes’ on July 31, I will be immediately showered with a wonderful cornucopia of services, the likes I have never seen before. The reality is, the only thing I will have opportunity to vote for on July 31 is to extend the political status quo to a new layer of government that will then reach deeper into my pocket to support a new group of politicians.
While the multitude of BrookhavenYES flyers flooding my mailbox or the robocalls to my home at all hours of the day and night have touted the fact new cities have balanced budgets, you won’t see or hear anything in the promotional deluge about the fact this has been done at the expense of the services provided. Looking closely at the recent budgets of all new cities, I find the cost to feed the beast that is the new governments has risen year after year while the moneys available to provide promised services to its citizens has shrunk dramatically.
Spending more year after year for a new layer of government to support Brookhaven’s political wannabe’s is a status quo I have no interest in continuing.
Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek are held aloft as examples of what a city can be – young exuberant, responsive. However, the reality is that Chamblee, Doraville and even the city of Atlanta were once young, exuberant, responsive, until the political status quo had its turn with each.
After the short period of existence, the new cities are already beginning to show their true colors – tens of thousands of dollars spent investigating City Council ethics charges in Dunwoody; a decades-old family business being condemned to provide Sandy Springs room for its new palace that will be the city hall; Johns Creek voting to approve a revenue-producing rezoning over the very vocal opposition of hundreds of its citizens. In just a few short years, we’re seeing politics as usual in each and every new city in Georgia.
Because I have absolutely no interest in continuing the political status quo with a new level of government in Brookhaven, I am voting no on July 31.
Jim Eyre
July 31: My Last Chance for a Better Future
There is rarely a time where one has the last chance to change their future for the better. The vote for city of Brookhaven is just such a chance.
The vote on this July 31 is your last chance, to change for the better, the way your tax dollars are invested and the way you are treated as a taxpaying customer.
A “yes” vote means you or your neighbor will be a city council person that lives no more than one mile from each other and you or your neighbor will represent no more than 12,000 people (your county commissioner represents 150,000 people and does not live within 10 miles of your home!). The new city council member will have an actual local and family interest in doing what is right for your community. This is your last chance for actual local representation.
A “yes” vote means your property taxes are capped, by the city charter, and cannot be changed without your vote (i.e. your approval). DeKalb County has no property tax rate cap and in 2011, when county officials raised your taxes 26 percent, they neither needed nor asked for your vote or approval. This is your last chance to cap your tax rate and ensure that your locally elected officials have to ask for your vote to change it.
A “yes” vote means your tax dollars stay local. All money for parks will be spent on the six parks in Brookhaven– Ashford, Blackburn, Briarwood, Lynwood, Murphey Candler and Skyland Parks. This is your last chance to avoid having most of your tax dollars being spent in Stone Mountain or south DeKalb.
A “yes” vote means you will no longer have to swerve around potholes and metal plates that have plagued roads such as Dresden, Silver Lake Drive, Stratfield Drive and North Druid Hills for years. This is your last chance to create a new city of locally elected officials that will fix DeKalb’s neglected roads because they drive on them, too!
History repeats itself. There is rarely an exception. DeKalb has continued to fail.
July 31 is your last chance at a better future.
Vote “yes” for the city of Brookhaven on July 31.
John Clockadale
A city of Brookhaven can do what DeKalb will not
My street, Ellijay Drive, has not been paved for years. It’s full of ruts, broken asphalt, potholes and uneven pavement. The size of the hole at the foot of my driveway is expanding at an alarming rate. Maybe I need to call “Pothole Pete” in for a fix!
Requests and petitions to the DeKalb County government have gone unheeded. Oh, one time they came down the street with spray cans of paint to mark where they would make their improvements. But that was way back in early 2011. Now those paint lines are worn off and have disappeared, much like any hope for a paving job any time soon.
Since none of the DeKalb Commissioners lives anywhere near Brookhaven, they never have to drive on our nasty old pavement.
I intend to vote yes for the new city of Brookhaven, in part because I believe local control of an issue like roads will result in a more responsive city government. It’s worked for Sandy Springs and Dunwoody, and I’m confident it will work for Brookhaven, too.
Christopher Binkert