After 20 years on the Sandy Springs City Council, Tibby DeJulio can ride his bike down High Point Road to a park named in his honor, where Windsor Parkway crosses Nancy Creek.
Sandy Springs officials unveiled a new sign Jan. 16 at Tibby DeJulio Park at Windsor Meadows, which was renamed late last year in honor of the former District 5 council member.
Two dozen residents, mostly from the High Point neighborhood, attended the unveiling. Some High Point residents in the crowd first met DeJulio more than four decades ago, watching their neighbor turn the 20-year-old city into what it is today.
Mayor Rusty Paul said city leaders found a fitting way to honor the former council member’s decades of service within District 5, which he represented for 20 years.
“We have a history of recognizing our pioneers, putting their names on things,” Paul said. “I don’t think anybody, other than maybe Eva Galambos, had any bigger role in the creation of Sandy Springs.”
DeJulio worked with former Mayor Eva Galambos from the mid-1980s through the early aughts to convince legislators to give the community the choice to incorporate. After five terms on council, the Vietnam veteran and Purple Heart recipient is a citizen again.
The four-acre passive park at Windsor Parkway and Northland Drive in southeast Sandy Springs is a popular neighborhood destination for walkers and cyclists. The city acquired three single-family homes within the Nancy Creek floodplain in 2012 with federal disaster recovery grants, preventing future residential floods while preserving the natural environment.
DeJulio said it’s been a long haul to get Sandy Springs to where it is today. He thanked the crowd for their support and complimented city leadership, assuring neighbors that the city is in good hands.
“It’s been mostly a fun time,” DeJulio said. “I will have to say, though, trying to organize the city was a heck of a lot more fun than trying to manage the city.”