Our Floundering Fathers

Our founding fathers were stung by a recent news article covering the racial underpinnings of newly formed cities, including Dunwoody, a previously unincorporated suburb created by decades-long White flight. 

Did 'em's get 'em's li'l feelin's hurt?

Apparently, because these White men, and they are all men and all White, are basically shouting "I'm not a racist." Perhaps, but they were, and remain, clueless as any White man knows that is exactly what NOT to say. Not at this moment; not with today's movement.

They kick this off by claiming that a historian (we're going to grant a history professor, emeritus, that designation) had no evidence. How could that possibly be? Could it be that the founding fathers did their work behind the cloak of private corporations, Dunwoody Yes! and Citizens for Dunwoody? Could it be that there are no published meeting agendas or minutes? Could it be that there are no interim or final drafts of "Task Force" reports? You know, the reports that informed, mayhap even "drove," the actions of the founding fathers? Could it be because there is no historical record? Could that be because of the actions of our founding fathers and their co-conspirators?

They go on to enumerate what "drove" them to form a city as if it were out of their control, not an ambition of theirs, not a projection of their own egos. These drivers include areas where the city has shown epic failure but end with the old bromide of local control: "the desire to improve our community and control our own destiny, thus enhancing the quality of life for all our citizens." [emphasis added] They actually just laid that stinker right out there. They, who have turned this city over to any and every business that wants to exploit "their" citizens. They, who rose to power on promises of stopping apartment development built a city promoting expansion of rental properties throughout Dunwoody. Their city is notorious for police malfeasance and incompetence ranging from bungled investigations to DWB enforcement to citizen shootings to enforcement neglect to civil rights violations to odious sexual hijinks. It is a city well known for ethics violations and being on the losing end of numerous court cases. It is a city that has deliberately acted against its own ordinances and now has passed an ordinance violating the rule of law. Is this where they were driving? Were they driving drunk? Not unheard of.

If these drivers were so obvious, were indeed an existential threat, were the truths they hold to be so self-evident why did they schedule the referendum vote for the middle of July? Was this not to ensure minimal voter turnout so their small, but fervent group of supporters could dominate the outcome? Could it be that a November vote, in a presidential election year with a Black candidate on the ballot would all but ensure failure? Do they have a credible way to spin those facts? Do they have a credible way...

Not content with those insults they drag out the whole racial smoke screen saying that "Dunwoody had long since ceased to be a Whites-only enclave." True dat. The Whites-only enclave is called "city government." All White, predominantly male council. Only white mayors. Exclusively White male city managers. White male chief of police. Do they really expect anyone to believe that reflects the demographics of this city? That it ever did? That they ever cared that it would? Or perhaps they wanted to ensure that it didn't? Which is more plausible?

And one of the first efforts of this White Enclave was the plan to destroy the homes of people, people of color, in order to build expensive housing and ball parks effectively using housing economics to engineer, to their liking, the racial makeup of their new city. They started a promotional campaign and when that gained insufficient traction began a PR campaign based on crime in that area and the cost to "the rest of the community" in addressing that crime. This only came to a crashing halt when one otherwise loyal minion blurted out the critical role of this redevelopment in keeping those people out of our schools.

And they just cannot put down the shovel, continuing with "Racial and ethnic diversity was and is a driving force of Dunwoody’s success." Yet they would engineer a system that is exclusively White and mostly male at the topmost levels of its power structure, that is so paternalistic it is all but a modern re-creation of a plantation society. Yet we're supposed to believe there was nothing racial going on, by accident or by design.

So why has council and mayor been lily-White? Well that actually is by design. The city map was sliced up into voting regions and there were many ways to do this. The most obvious is just to divide the city into three parts, each region running east to west. This would all but guarantee a minority seat on council. Instead our founding fathers chose to slice and dice into regions running north to south. Why? As mentioned, no documents are available, but this layout all but ensures that the minority areas are divided allowing them to be conquered by White areas. Three at-large council seats ensures representation for the dominant, White voting pool. Would they have you believe this is merely coincidence? Can they still assert they actually designed this city if so much were left to chance? That anything, including diversity was a consideration?

It is worth noting these founders chose not to involve their necessary co-conspirators, Dan Weber and Fran Millar, in their retort. We have heard from Rusty Paul, mayor of the city we most want to emulate and former state Senator fighting alongside Dan and Fran, who has acknowledged "that there were issues on both sides that had racial overtones." Perhaps, no longer in the fray, Dan and Fran have had time to reflect, perhaps to regret. We will never know.

They may take umbrage at how history has judged their motivations and intentions, but we, the citizens OF Dunwoody continue to suffer from what they actually did.

DunAnon

Whenever three or more are gathered to complain you would think you had inadvertently walked in on a twelve-step meeting. You're probably in a church. Folks are milling about, chatting and sipping coffee from a styrofoam cup until the meeting is called to order. Attendees speak in a fashion reminiscent of a testimonial. It is a church after all. More than not speakers begin with something like: "My name is Bob. I've lived in Dunwoody since before God invented rocks and I'm here to say..." and then roll into a less-than-complementary observation or a why-question.

Such was the case at a recent townhall meeting sponsored by the newly elected Dunwoody Councilman. The event was video taped and YouTubed by (no surprises here) Councilman Heneghan. Fran Millar was in attendance as was the outgoing Councilwoman. The format was open mike with the audience encouraged to voice their concerns. No surprises here either.

The WOW! factor comes from the blogosphere with one local opinion outlet characterizing the crowd as haters--an opinion seconded on another site. There was indeed an audience comment berating bloggers who strike thru snide comments as engaging in grade school humour. OK. To be fair they actually will give pretty much anyone a blog* which most bloggers use as a modern day megaphone for their opinion. But hate is a pretty strong word to level against folks who are also voicing their opinion albeit in a different forum that others may see as outdated.

There was also some dead horse beating and some critical comments regarding City sins of omission and commission. Testimonial from no less than Fran Millar supported one corpse flogging and called out the City on one act of gross negligence. One would therefore think it might be difficult to lambast those hosting and attending this meeting by pointing out that listening is insufficient while at the same time neglecting to point out that is nonetheless necessary. Or perhaps not?

It appears that Dunwoody suffers a greater chasm between internal factions than one would conclude from a fairy ring of yard signs, red tees or red letters. After the constant pleas for citizens to become engaged come the protestations when those who do and have engaged are not properly aligned in their thinking. Or maybe these folks are not as savvy as those of us equipped with a keyboard, an opinion and just a bit too much time on our hands**.

While it is two hours of your life you will never get back it may be worth your while to watch the videos and decide for yourself if these folks rise to the level of haters. It is also up to you to determine if listening is necessary but not sufficient or if engaging your neighbors and constituents is just another unnecessary distraction undermining good governance.

* Making it hard to determine exactly how many bloggers were in attendance. 
** You mean like those of us here at TOD?

Re-Refer Madness

In the event you're new to Dunwoody, or simply consider politics as much fun as changing any other soiled diaper then you may not know the back story to the Republican contest to fill Dan Weber's State Senate seat. It was the legislative Dynamic Duo of Dan Weber and Fran Millar (Senate and House respectively) who through any means necessary brought about the referendum for, and advocated the creation of, the City of Dunwoody. Now Dan is done, ready to scurry off to St. Simons, or Emelia Island or where ever else politicians past their use-by date are warehoused.

Fran is viewed by many, especially Fran, as the heir-apparent to fill Dan's seat. Unfortunately, word did not make it to James Sibold, who opposes Brother Fran in the Republican Primary. The Dunwoody Fan magazine has spared no ink in defense of sometimes columnist, who's overbearing zeal to balkanize our little part of DeKalb receives unending praise. Meanwhile Sibold is depicted as either not supporting the cityhood movement, or as one to be counted amongst those advising consideration and caution. Mentioning his name alongside that of "Shrill Jill" Chambers is clearly intended to rouse the rabble, though truth be told, Shrill Jill proved once again that it isn't what you say, but how you say it.

So the local media have painted a scene wherein a vote for Fran is a vote for Dunwoody, and a vote for James is a vote against. This characterization is nothing short of re-referendum on cityhood. But this time around there are some differences.

Unlike the first time, citizens have access to information and the city has a track record, whilst in the first go round the Citizens for Dunwoody conveniently neglected to publish task force reports before the vote. And though this is not an election year with the kind of voter draw one gets from personalities like Obama, Hillary and Palin, at least it will not be scheduled solely to manipulate the outcome.

Dunwoody fans like to point out that over eighty percent of those who voted (on July 15th in a presidential election year) favored cityhood. They neglect to point out that even with intense prosthelytizing they could barely entice forty percent of registered voters to the polls, so they only garnered a third of the registered voters' approval. Of course a high turnout wasn't the goal, else the referendum would have been coincident with the primary or better still the general election. The goal was to motivate most if not all of those in favor of cityhood with emotional pleas and frenzied hype to vote early and often. While a very high percentage of these voters did visit the polls, it is unlikely their numbers have swelled since the city was formed. As it turns out, there is an increasing level of buyer's remorse in Dunwoody.

Nonetheless, barring nightmare scenarios (like a candidate coming out in favor of late term abortion) we should enjoy a Republican primary synonymous with re-approving Dunwoody. And regardless of whether we get the single issue zealot or the thoughtful moderate we will likely be represented in the State Senate by a Republican that sits comfortably to the right of center.

Millar Distances Himself

Oh, yesterday's over my shoulder
So I can't look back for too long
There's just too much to see waiting in front of me
And I know that I just can't go wrong

That's right Fran, you just can't go wrong, so it must be us. Or that's his story and he's stickin' to it.

In the latest release of the Dunwoody Fan Magazine, Fran opines that we, the voters, (OK, 35% of the registered voters) were simply brilliant in voting for cityhood based on his advice and the advice of shills for CH2M Hill and the wannabe politicos running the Citizens for Dunwoody, but not so smart when it came to electing a mayor and council. Turns out it turned out the way these things generally turn out: it didn't pass the smell test then and now by golly, as the sweet perfume of his salesmanship dissipates, it is really raising a stink. Seems folks, not just The Other Dunwoody, have begun pointing out to their fine Rep that this cityhood thing is not at all what he said it would be. In fact, it is beginning to look like this is a scam of Madoff proportions.

So what's a successful politician to do? That's right. Duck and cover. "Please remember that the City Council chose to go in a different direction of governance than anticipated by most people." Not exactly a mea culpa, but Fran does acknowledge things aren't going well: "I see attempts for no-bid contracts and possibly hiring employees and vendors primarily because someone worked with them before." Sounds like Fran is seeing what we in The Other Dunwoody have seen all along--more of the same old cronyism in politics, except this time it's the frat boys and not the good old boys.

And after all, just what was "anticipated by most people"? Well that would be what they were sold/told by the leaders who brought this upon us. After shenanigans to get SB82 through the house and a manipulative referendum in mid-July scheduled well before publishing Task Force reports and in a presidential election year no less, Millar lays the blame at the feet of other politicians and the voters that supported them. How quickly he went from "we did it the right way" to they went another way.

Well, "Please don't blame me when you go to the polls" may not cut it this time. When a building advertised as glorious, innovative and safe collapses on top of folks the architect and engineer should expect to be held responsible. And that's just what...wait...what's that sound? Is it? Can it be? Yes! It is! It's Fran! Fran jammin' to Boofay...

With these changes in platitudes, changes in attitudes
Nothing remains quite the same
With all of my running and all of my cunning
If I couldn't laugh I just would go insane
[everybody!]
If we couldn't laugh we just would go insane
If they weren't all crazy they would go insane

TOD

Moses Runs Dunwoody

"Set my people free!"

After gaining freedom from the evil, dark pharaoh, Moses led his people for forty years. Forty years of wandering. Thirst, starvation and abandonment (remember the first trip up the mountain?). Forty years of hearing about how bad the pharaoh was and how the Israelites were headed to a land of milk and honey, to their promised land. How this exodus would yield something better.

Now that Dunwoody is freed from the evils of southern oppression what have our prophets offered? What is the vision of Dunwoody's promised land? If you believed one of the lesser prophets, Porter on the Hill, it was a budget that is "fiscally conservative, [with] proposed service levels as a 25 to 30% improvement over what DeKalb currently provides". Or perhaps you're a fan of the Great Prophet Millar who preaches that the extra year he provided was "to try to get the best data for people to make a decision."

But what have these prophets really offered our tribe, outside of unrealistic promises? They brought down from their mountain new, puritanical laws ostensibly intended to preserve the purity of their nation. They found sanctuary in secrecy, using available technology to promote their agenda and foster cronyism, but somehow avoiding the opportunity to provide transparent, open governance. They moved rather quickly to increase the financial burdens on businesses and residents. They held glad-hand events for pollyannish sycophantic toadies and of course, their glamor shots adorn their new taxpayer funded (but not taxpayer supporting) website.

And Dunwoody's head prophet declares his city "Fully Operational". And what does that mean? Are Dunwoody Police patrolling our streets? NO. Instead there is the same police protection Dunwoody already had---terrible, to have heard our prophets talk about it before the referendum. But that's OK, because now we pay more for it. Well at least we have our parks in place, right? NO. What we do have is an ever increasing payroll and a pothole patrol. That's Fully Operational in someone's twisted world, but not in The Other Dunwoody.

If history serves as a guide we should all remember that Moses never saw the promised land and for good reason. After forty years of tortuous wandering someone else finally stepped up, helped those of weak character and failed integrity, and led the worthy to the promised land.

Where is our Joshua?

TOD

Billboard Tops Dunwoody

In a poignant display of oneupmanship Action Outdoor Advertising waited until the last day of DeKalb dominion over Dunwoody to erect a large and largely unwanted billboard just within the about-to-be city limits. Were they excited? You betcha! But no less than those of us in The Other Dunwoody.

There is the undeniable irony of it all. Were it not for last minute wrangling with a late vote change and the violation of home rule--a blatant show of disrespect for the DeKalb delegation, there would be no Dunwoody, no Mayor and no Council. Yet, the manner in which SB82 was pushed through the house was perfectly legal. And apparently all the paperwork was in order with our new billboard as well, and the company, prudently and legally, made sure it was in place before the city was. Just hours before, but before. And legally regardless.

Now City officials and many citizens have their shorts in a knot. See they don't like billboards. At least not in their back yard. And by golly, they're gonna do something about it. Call out the lawyers! Who cares if it is legal, we'll sue them anyway! Hypocrisy you say? How dare you! Can't you see that we are Dunwoody and Dunwoody is W^Hright. Always right and right in all ways. Get with the program folks.

Let's hope our nascent leaders come to their senses and see the irony if not the humor in this and move on to more important things than wasting our tax dollars on frivolous legal posturing. Maybe something like, oh, gosh, let's see, how about getting this city on its feet!

TOD

It's Official: Dunwoody's For Sale

Well, maybe not or maybe it's just our integrity on the block, but it is increasingly clear that it is all about money:

1. While our likker laws do keep out undesirables, more than anything else they generate revenue. Lot's of revenue. And by golly, that's what governance is all about--spending other people's money.
2. And these likker laws are just a part of the business ordinances (IE: taxation) that the City, shall we say, derived from the existing county ordinances. Now remind us--those of us in The Other Dunwoody--wasn't this new city supposed to be better than DeKalb. Increasingly it looks more like a governmental mini-me.
3. Now that we have a City Hall on the cheap, some questions have been raised regarding its location in Sandy Springs, to which members of the council have responded: you can't beat the price. Well, actually if Quixote and his faithful side-kick, Pancho, hadn't gone jousting at windmills, we'd still be in unincorporated DeKalb and as events are about to prove, that would be cheaper. So, do we really want cheaper? No. We want what we want, we just don't want to pay for it.
4. And, the ever-popular Franchise Fee Tax has been officially revealed as just another tax increase. It's not clear how those outside The Other Dunwoody view it, except that the Chair of the Dunwoody Fan Club, Dick Williams, says: "Franchise fees, like 'em or not, have been part of the Dunwoody budget from Day One. Can't do it without them." Well thanks for the clarification Dick--this end justifies any means.

You might be surprised at all this late-in-the-day grubbing for money, shocked at feigned surprise regarding the delay of Franchise Fee/Tax receipts and the allegedly unexpectedly large police requirements. Yet, you know they squandered the extra year donated by Fran Millar, failing to put in place a startup plan, a one and five year plan, a comprehensive land use plan, and the financial models and budgets that demonstrate feasibility.

You might even be getting the idea this is more like a bunch of overgrown children trying to spell "god" with all the wrong blocks than a well-planned civic endeavor.

You might be catching on.

TOD

The Time Has Come

"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach..."

John Heneghan posted a most disturbing Blog entry wherein he states:

"This evening seven fairly intelligent people sat around a table for six and a half hours going over the expected City of Dunwoody revenues and expenses. Come this evening at 7 p.m. when five of us are sworn in, we will then be subject to open meetings and everything from that point on will be discussed in the open."

And just who are these magnificent seven? A Mayor and 5 elected Councilmen, and who else? A consultant? Fran or Dan? A representative from CH2M? Were there any dim-bulbs there or just bright lights?

Furthermore it is clear that right up to the very legal limit the Citizens for Dunwoody have been operating outside the spirit of the open meetings law. Yes, we all know they were not compelled to operate under that law until sworn in, but this leads to an even more disturbing part of the entry:

"money is very tight no matter how the city decides to go forward, there are many unknowns in this initial process"

Many unknowns? In communication with Fran Millar, wherein he was asked about his statement that this was done "the right way" he responded with:

"by delaying this one year to try to get the best data for people to make a decision (unlike Milton, Johns Creek) I do think it was the right way."

So now there is this amazing transition from "financially viable" and "same or better services with no increase in taxes" to "money is very tight" and "there are many unknowns". What happened and what good, other than marketing, was the Carl Vinson study? Did they squander the whole year? Are these "fairly intelligent people" capable of doing anything right?

And what caused this transformation of reality? We all know the answer to that one: the referendum passed.

So now...

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

"Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."

Anyone else feeling a bit like an oyster?

TOD

How DID They Do That?

During the victory celebrations Fran Millar was quoted by the Dunwoody Crier, the fan magazine of the cityhood movement, saying that the referendum and vote was "done the right way". As events unfold and unpleasant truths are revealed it becomes increasingly difficult to argue that anything done in support of cityhood was correct, proper and above board.

But there may be a logical explanation, other than victory-induced exuberance. Perhaps we are victims of homophonic confusion and Millar actually said "done the Wright way.

Could this be? Well, before becoming mayor-without-election, Mr. Wright was past-president of the Dunwoody Homeowners Association, and more recently president of Citizens for Dunwoody, Inc.

As we all know the latter organization formed Task Forces that sadly enough could not complete their tasks prior to the referendum. Worse yet, they conducted their affairs as if hermetically sealed. Truth be told, Citizens for Dunwoody is a private organization and any work they do, source material they use or reports they create belong solely to CfD. Until now. Presenting these reports to the Governor's Dunwoody Task Force made them public records, and we are finding out why they were kept secret.

For one, the Police Task Force report is an embarrassment to the Carl Vinson Institute as it recommends a budget more than 50% greater than the CVI estimate. And now we learn this will only provide a level of protection that experts consider minimally adequate. So who is really competent, a task force comprising lay-people with an agenda or the heretofore highly regarded Carl Vinson Institute of Government? Maybe neither.

Then we have the not so small issue of privatization. Mr. Wright's organization took it upon itself to issue an RFP, accept bids and select the winning bidder. There are a couple of problems with this.

First, while done on behalf of the potential city it was done without any public oversight. We should not be surprised when we find our new city does not set a new, higher standard for open government. In fact, we should expect to see only those things that the law requires probably after an open records request.

Then there is the matter of the winning company having potential ties to a high ranking official of Citizens for Dunwoody. Turns out the wife of a CfD corporate officer is a past employee of CH2M and promotes herself as a member of the CH2M Alumni Association. The selection of CH2M and the process behind it doesn't pass the smell test.

So. Was Millar misquoted? Was he being punny? We will never know. But if the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior, we had best fasten our seat belts--it's going to be a bumpy ride.

TOD

A Foundation of Lies

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

Joseph Goebbels.

It appears Dunwoody's Powers-That-Be are losing their ability to shield The Other Dunwoody from their lies. And make no mistake, we have been lied to and it is becoming inescapable that it was done with malice and forethought.

The reports from the Citizens for Dunwoody's clandestine Task Forces have been presented to the political elites: the candidates for city council. Not only were they not created with public review or provided to the citizens before the referendum, they are still withheld from Dunwoody's citizens. Apparently they are available on a need to know basis and mere citizen-taxpayers simply don't need to know.

We can gather some interesting insights from Sunday's AJC Metro article, "Dunwoody candidates see preview of operations proposals":

• As the title clearly states, this information was presented exclusively to candidates. Given that it is already too late to negatively impact the referendum, how bad can it really be? Apparently pretty bad.


• "The reports are only recommendations and are not binding. But they likely will carry significant weight with new council members, who will have little time to prepare for cityhood after Sept. 16..." Obviously these reports were intentionally delayed, forcing the newly formed council to accept these recommendations without serious debate or plausible alternatives. Someone has a vested interest in this outcome. Who is it and what do they get?


• This is all clearly intentional. When a constituent questioned Fran Millar, a prime mover behind the Dunwoody movement, about cityhood being sought "the right way", he responded:
  
  

  "[...]by delaying this one year to try to get the best data for people to make a decision (unlike Milton, Johns Creek) I do think it was the right way. Are there assumptions that might be wrong-probably. However it will be better than DeKalb in the long run if we elect responsible people and you can throw them out if they do not do a good job-unlike DeKalb."
  

  
  Well, it seems these folks had an extra year and still could not pull together their reports in a timely fashion, even for presentation to decision makers. It is a sad state of affairs when incompetence is the most palatable explanation.


• Then there is Chem2Hill and an apparently cozy relationship with some members of these clandestine task forces: "The company was selected over another bidder by a panel appointed by Citizens for Dunwoody Inc., the group that headed the task force effort." So there was an RFP issued, bids were taken and a winner selected. All on our behalf, but without our knowledge or permission.

• The company seems quite sure of it's future business with Dunwoody, Inc.: "the company already has selected the staff that will work for Dunwoody if the council selects the firm. The company also has a building that initially would be used as a City Hall." Initiative or a done deal--which do you think it is?

• Finally, one of our fine candidates for City Council, a past task force commandant, is recommending a police budget that is 20% over that in the Vinson study--the only detailed information provided before the referendum. Of course, we, The Other Dunwoody, are not allowed to know why and for what purpose the budget ballooned.

This is the kind of "behind closed doors" good old boy politics, deception and fiscal irresponsibility we've come to expect from the county. Dunwoody was supposed to do better.

TOD