In Concert

There has been some good news of late. It seems the DHA is awakening. To the fact that this city is built to serve many interests just not those of the residents, many of whom voted it into existence. The DHA is representing and more than a few regular residents have offered their, often not-so-humble opinions. Even some of the dwarfs piped up in the council meeting, specially called to reduce the time between first and second readings, to suggest that perhaps the powerful forces behind the rape and pillage of the village might do a better job of marketing. Not that they necessarily need to change their plans, just do a better sales job. City bureaucrats have been caught with the metaphorical knickers about their knees as they cannot even stay on top of the current zoning nor can they do the requisite research to establish the actual chain of agreements. Probably because those items do not fall in favor of the developers who have enlisted city bureaucrats to advance their, the developers' cause. 

And as bad as what is currently happening really is, there are deeper issues yet to be revealed. Of course if we had transparency in government (we don't) we would already know many, many things that the public has a manifest right to know. Who started this ball rolling. Names please. Who, EXACTLY, made the first contact regarding bulldozing the village to replace it with what, in these pandemic times, can only be described as a petri dish of pestilence and crime. Is high-rise, high density CoVid-proof? Hardly. Is it high-crime? Certainly. Look no further than Perimeter, but if you must, check out Atlantic Station. So who dropped the first dime? Sent the first email? Who, on OUR payroll was involved in that first conversation? How did this expand into ongoing conversations and what, EXACTLY, were those. What meetings were held? Who attended? Agenda? Minutes? And this transparency MUST include commissions and authority and should they feign autonomy exempting them from transparency it is incumbent upon our elected officials to de-commision and de-authorize any that propose opacity as their way of life. If transparency is an existential threat, then their existence should end. 

As the DHA, and others, are fighting the good, fight there should be a concurrent, concerted effort to root out the elements, those bureaucracies and bad actors, who place any interests, theirs or others, above those of the residents of this community. After all, it was zoning control and the associated quality of life that was a key factor in selling this city to the voters. And, if you're still wondering what those red-shirters were hoping save Dunwoody from, you need look no further than city hall and the out of control outsiders having their way with our community. 

Doctor, Doctor, Give Me Your Views

Mainstream talk shows (they like to think of themselves as "news programs") like to characterize the un-vaccinated as ignorant, uneducated, mouth-breathing Trump acolytes as if anyone with a brain is certainly vaccinated. Or...not. As it turns out, when sorted by educational level the greatest vaccine hesitancy is found among those with a PhD. Kind of breaks the narrative, doesn't it? How's your narrative working for you?

Who Does HE Think He Is?

There is an old saying, "There but for the grace of God goes...God" speaking to the hubris of unchecked ego. City hall seems to be a petri dish for hubris.

Commission Chair Bob Dallas said he understood the concerns of homeowners, but ultimately thought the development would be beneficial to the area and had the ability to drive up market values.

“That has been done elsewhere throughout this region, and values have gone up,” he said. “It’s just what the market likes, even though the individuals who live there today may not like it all.”

It is very tempting to demand that he justify "throughout this region" and the "values have gone up" with real, verifiable data demanding that he resign immediately after withdrawing this ill-conceived scheme. But that won't happen. The data aren't there and never was. You, dear reader, can conclude what his statements really are. 

But let's suppose he is right and this atrocious development drives up property values. Who does that impact? Well, not the developers nor the businesses that lease from them because the city will give them a tax handout, because, well, you know, this area just wouldn't be a viable development if we didn't pad their profits. Nope, it will be the residents who will see property tax increases. You know, the folks he admits he doesn't give a damn about. The "individuals who live there today." The ones he intends to drive out of their homes so they can be replaced by more compliant folks. 

Who died and made him god? The corpse littering city hall seems to be that of "accountability in elected office" as this is one of those appointed bureaucrats that [thinks he] runs this  city. Not beholding to the ballot box and doesn't give a damn what the folks who live here, who vote here and who have to suffer under his condescending paternalistic mansplaining have to say. Tonight we'll see if he is right, but don't expect the dwarfs to stand up for the folks who live here if it means standing against developer and business interests. Perhaps by next election day we'll see if the voters really get a voice. In anything.

Of course this is no skin off his nose as he lives far from the impact zone. And he is so proud of his actions that he had Google Maps permanently blur his home from street view. He wants his privacy all the while he laying the cornerstone of high rise apartments with balconies overlooking our kids playing in our back yards. Is it any surprise he is a business attorney? Because that is whose interests he is advocating. Exclusively.

One has to wonder what church of which religion has a seat where he can hear the voice of moral authority say that what he is doing, why he is doing it and who he is doing it for is just and right. Outside of the Church of Unlimited Greed, there is no such seat in any such pew. There is a special place in hell and it will look like a Dunwoody Yes! reunion. 

Sneaky Dwarfs

So...

Rather than take the heat during a regularly scheduled city council meeting, which was recently cancelled, the dwarfs are going to shove through their platform for high rise apartments in the Village during a specially called meeting, offering as little public notice as possible. This is the kind of sleazy behavior that drove secession from DeKalb County and now we see it in full form in this city. You know, the city that was created so we never had to put up with this kind of under-the-table, back-room political bullshit.

Welcome to the New Re-Vitalized Politicized Dunwoody! DeKalb is green with envy.

Choices, Choices

So we have two dogs in the show for District 1: a former councilman and a wannabe. The former is a known quantity and was never defeated for re-election but abandoned the office to take a run at mayor. The latter is perhaps best known for openly, on the record, declaring a greater affinity for Sandy Springs than Dunwoody almost as if it is a personal loss to be in this city. Would that we could keep it an individual shortcoming. This candidate comes with the ringing endorsement of the dwarf most prior whose inability to read and understand ordinances spoke to limited academic achievement and whose grasp of representative governance flip-flopped when "personal impact" was involved. What a vote of confidence. Wannabe intends to "bring Dunwoody Village into the 21st century" a rather shameless acknowledgement of "I will work hard for the developers" and a clear intention to ignore the residents' wishes and help over-build thousands of apartments to overcrowd our schools. And no one will be surprised when wannabe endorses enormous tax handouts to these developers further undermining those same schools. But wannabe also has plans for the old Austin site looking for something "other than a grassy area." Perhaps some 8-10 story apartments? Your developers would really like that. 

The choice is yours, District 1.

Preview The NEW Dunwoody Village

Want to see what the bureaucrats (and their developer overlords) have in store for Dunwoody Village? Of course you do! And it is so, so easy. Just take Ashford Dunwoody south from Mount Vernon, past the House of Sauron, down to Hammond and take a right. At Perimeter Center Parkway turn right and be sure not to miss our Lords of Darkness's current dumpster fire: High Street. Well, someone is high. Continue north on Perimeter Center Parkway to the intersection with Perimeter Center West and stop at the traffic light. Even if it is green, because there ain't no traffic enforcement in Dunwoody. No look straight ahead and you see what folks-who-don't-live-here want to inflict on the village. Up and to the right you'll see one floor of retail, but only along ONE side, and six, count 'em SIX, floors of apartments. Look closely and you'll see how they have thousands of parking spaces cleverly hidden behind the facade. Cool, huh? Don't you want some of that butting up to your house? Of course you do!

But wait! There's more.

This retail plus APARTMENTS is replicated throughout just as it will be in their Dunwoody Village. And did you notice that tall, rather phallic building towering over the others (quite an accomplishment given most of those other buildings are seven and eight stories high)? Yep. That's coming to their Village as well. Probably two. Why flip you off with just one hand when you can use both? Right?

And now you know where your next several years' tax increases are going. Straight to some very well connected developers' bottom line.

Personal Finance For Your Kids

For some time there have been efforts to inject Personal Finance into public schools and here's a shocker: it has met with some resistance. Until now the resistance has come from parents who distinguish themselves by actually wanting to raise their children rather than just have a baby and turn the child-rearing over to anyone else. These traditionalists  firmly believe that they, and they alone, are responsible for key aspects of their children's development and this includes things they consider very personal like money and well, personal finance. These naive parents also think they are sending their children to schools to learn, particularly core skills like reading, writing and arithmetic.

Then it went off the rails. 

Eyes were opened with the confluence of a pandemic that forced parents to see what was being served up in their children's school and wokeism (not wokeness, but wokeism), an evil corruption of something good (tolerance) with something very bad (hatred), threatening a complete takeover of school curricula. So in the prevailing context of 2+2=White Supremacy, and the willful innumeracy that entails, what the hell can personal finance even be? 

To put a positive spin on it, personal finance education may be teaching concepts. This isn't just because your child has been mathematically lobotomized by public schools but their teachers have been as well. So instead of learning how to use Quicken (or a ledger) to track a budget or a spreadsheet to determine total interest paid on a loan or compare buying, home or car, to leasing they may encounter buzz-word bingo. They may hear about dollar-cost-averaging. Maybe there will be discussion of investment returns vs inflation. Perhaps various self-funded retirement vehicles. These topics, associated with old-school personal finance, speak to a new taboo: individual responsibility.

So it really isn't likely to even be concepts. If we've learned anything during the pandemic it is that education did not abandon teaching and learning in favor of delivery of social services, but instead it was in favor of indoctrination. This will be no different and personal finance will be just more political proselytizing. Not making personal decisions based on your individual circumstances, but aligning your decisions with their dogma. 

If parents had a better foundation in personal finance themselves they would look at their property tax bill and we would soon be talking about public schools in the past tense.

You Got Nothin' To Say...

...that they want to hear about. The only opportunity we, the mere residents of Dunwoody have to speak truth to authority in a forum that cannot be manipulated (beyond time limits) is cancelled for this month. That's right, after a behind-closed-doors special meeting to address the city-as-a-real-estate-developer they've decided to cancel the meeting where they meet the people and do their business.  It is worth noting that businesses will still get their alcohol license issues reviewed and their planning put in place.  Not going to cancel those meetings because those address issues for the folks our city bureaucrats really work for.

Pretty Infuriating, Really.

Some of the dwarfs and bureaucrats at city hall are fuming at the recent news that Food and Wine Magazine have selected an NFA offering as the best burger in Georgia. Not best in the Village. Not best in all of Dunwoody. The best burger in the whole state. Yep. The best burger in the state can only be had at a gas station in Dunwoody Village. 

And this burger is the effort of a self-made burger genius. Not some "chef-inspired" creation at some overpriced, trendy burger joint (remember "Zin Burger") but a guy with passion and drive. Oh, and that one other ingredient: a community based, suburban center that fosters and encourages the entrepreneurial spirit that has infused Dunwoody Village self-renewing vitality (think: "Village Burger"). 

This doesn't sit well with the dwarfs and their bureaucrat overlords that will only tolerate things they have a hand in even if that is only to their benefit and actually stifles innovation. Because when they don't benefit it cannot be allowed. And that is why the success of NFA Burger has them pissed.

PSA: All The Waze

It has become all too apparent that some of the bureaucrats at city hall are very, very easily offended by what does, and always has, makes Dunwoody special: it is a SUBURBAN oasis. This is particularly frightening (the offended bureaucrats, not suburbia) because some of these bureaucrats, specifically those hell bent on selling Dunwoody to the highest bidder, live in their very own suburban havens.

That's right. These vandals cruise into Dunwoody from their little slice of suburban heaven, feigning to be offended by OUR suburbia and committing themselves to using our money to destroy our lifestyle. The very lifestyle we moved here to enjoy.

They have set their sights on Dunwoody Village which apparently has greatly offended them as they drive through from their suburbia to mine Dunwoody gold. A possible solution is to deny these bureaucrats travel through the village, perhaps issuing permits based on IQ. If you're not smart enough for the smart city, maybe you shouldn't be spending any time in the Smart City Village. And that's OK, because there are many ways for these bureaucrats to get from their suburbia to their office. They can come down 400 to Hammond and drive right by that other train wreck they're continually hawking: High Street-the confluence of commerce, greed and overcrowding. Or, if 400 isn't your speed, try Alpharetta Highway/Roswell Road and cut across at Mount Vernon. For real fun you can take Peachtree Dunwoody to enjoy the Gulag apartments at PD and Hammond that are just like the crap you want to plop down in Dunwoody Village. 

If more of these destructive bureaucrats lived in Gwinnett and drove through the North Dunwoody area maybe we'd see a few long in the tooth dwarfs re-discovering what folks thought they were getting when they voted for this city.