What TAD?

The AJC is reporting, all but celebrating, the developments going in Doraville at the former GM plant. How can that possibly be? Remember back when the local yokel politicos were screaming their chicken-little heads off about a TAD being absolutely necessary to develop this land and further how DeKalb Schools simply had to give in to developer demands? Recent events seem to have proven that you could not have prevented development of this property and questionable government-to-corporate welfare was totally unnecessary. So why were these politicians so hellbent on handing over our money? What did they expect to get and from whom? Must we  re-elect them? Could we really do any worse?