For the impatient here is the bottom line: if a City of East Cobb is formed you will be screwed.
You are right to be concerned about the secrecy surrounding the railroading of this project and the deceptions are only beginning. As they move forward there will be, if there is not already, a commissioned assessment that in fact is little more than a ghost-written bit of fiction. When they start the city they will outsource functions and when they do this transparency will go out the door right along with your money. This is one of the first ways you'll be screwed, but it is far from the most painful.
And the lies have already begun starting with the politicians' perennial favorite: "your taxes won't go up." But they will because your home value will likely rise, as it has. These are just run of the mill politicians who will, with each annual tax increase, trot out the old bromide of "we didn't raise the tax rate." This has happened in Dunwoody each and every year. Perhaps you could suggest that the city charter must mandate revenue neutral budgeting with TAX increases only by public referendum but public protection is not on their agenda. So you'll be screwed.
"Improving public safety?" You should laugh in their faces. You live in East Cobb not South Chicago. And if Dunwoody is your guide you'll go from marginally acceptable policing to totally inadequate. Dunwoody refuses to do any routine traffic patrols, even as speeding in school zones has gotten completely out of hand. If you don't get run over you'll at least get screwed.
And "local control?" Don't fall for that one. Dunwoody's elected officials adamantly refuse to come into the community to witness out of control speeding and other traffic violations, or illegal signage and any of a variety of quality of life issues. If it isn't happening on their street they don't really care. For them control and responsibility is hyper-local. From your perspective they are just as out of touch and inaccessible as any county or state politician. You are going to be ignored. And screwed.
And that BS about "preserving and enhancing" is particularly odious. The primary goal will be to sell out all the things that made your community desirable, that convinced you to move your family, to the highest bidder, their current and soon to be BFFs in the development community. In under five years even the most ardent supporter who finds themselves outside the power elite will be baffled by what has happened and wanting a do-over. But you don't get a do-over. You do get screwed.
But the biggest lie, the whopper, is that a city would not affect the schools. Really? Are they willing to write into the charter that there will be no Development Authority or any other means for the city to dole out property tax exemptions and abatements to developers and businesses? Because right now their intention is to do just that and in so doing they will not only forgo city property taxes but the mechanisms they use will mean the schools get no taxes either. So yeah, the schools are going to get screwed and so are you.
You are right to be concerned about the secrecy surrounding the railroading of this project and the deceptions are only beginning. As they move forward there will be, if there is not already, a commissioned assessment that in fact is little more than a ghost-written bit of fiction. When they start the city they will outsource functions and when they do this transparency will go out the door right along with your money. This is one of the first ways you'll be screwed, but it is far from the most painful.
And the lies have already begun starting with the politicians' perennial favorite: "your taxes won't go up." But they will because your home value will likely rise, as it has. These are just run of the mill politicians who will, with each annual tax increase, trot out the old bromide of "we didn't raise the tax rate." This has happened in Dunwoody each and every year. Perhaps you could suggest that the city charter must mandate revenue neutral budgeting with TAX increases only by public referendum but public protection is not on their agenda. So you'll be screwed.
"Improving public safety?" You should laugh in their faces. You live in East Cobb not South Chicago. And if Dunwoody is your guide you'll go from marginally acceptable policing to totally inadequate. Dunwoody refuses to do any routine traffic patrols, even as speeding in school zones has gotten completely out of hand. If you don't get run over you'll at least get screwed.
And "local control?" Don't fall for that one. Dunwoody's elected officials adamantly refuse to come into the community to witness out of control speeding and other traffic violations, or illegal signage and any of a variety of quality of life issues. If it isn't happening on their street they don't really care. For them control and responsibility is hyper-local. From your perspective they are just as out of touch and inaccessible as any county or state politician. You are going to be ignored. And screwed.
And that BS about "preserving and enhancing" is particularly odious. The primary goal will be to sell out all the things that made your community desirable, that convinced you to move your family, to the highest bidder, their current and soon to be BFFs in the development community. In under five years even the most ardent supporter who finds themselves outside the power elite will be baffled by what has happened and wanting a do-over. But you don't get a do-over. You do get screwed.
But the biggest lie, the whopper, is that a city would not affect the schools. Really? Are they willing to write into the charter that there will be no Development Authority or any other means for the city to dole out property tax exemptions and abatements to developers and businesses? Because right now their intention is to do just that and in so doing they will not only forgo city property taxes but the mechanisms they use will mean the schools get no taxes either. So yeah, the schools are going to get screwed and so are you.
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