Is It A People Park?

Or is it a car park? Seems the current plan for the park on Roberts, previously the site of Austin Elementary, calls for over one hundred parking spaces. When called out on social media regarding why the hell you need 100+ parking spaces the retort suggested this was just a preliminary plan and could be changed based on "community input." Guess who curates "community input." That's right, the very same folks who came up the the 100+ figure in the first place. So, yeah, it might change. Maybe when someone yells "switch" the decision maker will come up with a need for paving the entire park. 

Happy Trails To You...

Or, maybe not so happy. According to a recent edition of the Blue Bag Rag, it seems there a few unhappy residents out there. Seems the city so proud of their former glory as Tree City USA, is now in the business of clear cutting vast swaths. Right in front of the restless natives' front doors. You see, this city has, since inception, been hell-bent on paving paradise by putting in these concrete highway lanes and call them "multi-purpose trails." 

The ones they're fixin' to git ready to start puttin' in real soon now are exactly well known, well designed or well planned. But one thing is for certain: they have their Friends and Family construction companies lined up to get their hands on some lucrative government money. And, they cannot even tell the folks directly affected by this arbor-geddon exactly what lies in store. Why? Because it isn't important. Neither are the families impacted. All that counts is shoveling money to their faves. 

You might think this would have council pulling back on the reins, maybe even ditching the plan to take the city into debt for even more freeway lanes that just piss voters off. Nope. You'd be wrong-thinking. They're still planning on plunging the city into debt, scheduling a bond referendum (and associated millage rate hike) for 2023. Look for that to happen during vacation season so as to marginalize as many voters as possible. 

That's the way this city rolls.

Parks And Recreation

Dunwoody's famous linear park is still going strong.

Chamblee Dunwoody Linear Park

The City of Dunwoody is taking an uber-green approach to converting the section of Chamblee Dunwoody between Dunwoody Road and Spalding into a linear park. They are doing this in slow motion by simply letting nature take it's course. God, whoever she may be, has stepped up by creating one of the first trees for what will become a thriving forest.

As nature takes her course we can see this two lane waste of asphalt self-reduce to one lane followed by a slow restoration to a country lane and finally regaining its former glory as an Indian trail. No concrete required.

It has become clear that there was no grant money available to support a more timely creation of a park nor is there any available to remove road saplings and the City arbor-toire is more concerned about trees that might belong to individual citizens. Some were concerned that had grant money been available this stretch of asphalt would have become another concrete interstate to nowhere. Another observer was overheard commenting that were this tree growing in the gutter at his house the City code enforcers would be all over them like white on rice. But when it is in the City's gutter...

Brook Run Parkway

After the City's courtroom triumph over the "save the trees" TRO many a reporter observed the Smart City's Good Mayor ejaculating:

"We're going ahead and constructing the trail as planned"

bringing us to a rather fine point: just which plan would that be? Amongst all the khazeray this silly drama of Ents vs Trolls has rained upon us what seems to have been lost is exactly how did we, the mere citizens of Dunwoody, get bamboozled?

The process itself seems quite simple and is a tribute to the fact that City bureaucrats have honed their skills and learned quite a lesson from the spankings they got over the "Power Line Parks" and "Bond for a Parks Pogrom". This time they published and took public comment on a plan they had no intention of implementing but in so doing acquired the political cover of "public buy-in". Once that was in place they followed the real plan, the concrete plan. Not the much more appropriate, full length and less costly (and yes, still ADA compliant) asphalt plan. Not when some city bureaucrat has a "Friend in the Concrete Business".

The "why" is a bit more clever but no less easily understood. Politicians and their dirty-sanchez-ing bureaucrats gain power by maximizing the amount of money that is spent under their say so. In this case, our tax dollars. And power has a way of currying favor, whether it be a high paying job for that cucumber your sister's daughter was dumb enough to marry, a few rounds of golf at Augusta, or a less than arms-length real estate deal on that nice place down on the coast. What goes around comes around and if you control how taxpayer money gets around, good things are sure to come your way.

Just imagine how much power and glory is to be had from a Perimeter Center City Sports Complex.

Parks and Recreation

By now you've heard that the City was pondering the formation of a Parks and Recreation Board. It is all but certain this will not happen but we do know one thing: if this board is formed citizens need not apply.

There appears to be a general consensus amongst our elected Lords and Ladies regarding the rabble that elected them. Apparently we are little more than high maintenance whiners with narrow interests worthy of any navel gazer and they only need "public input" that aligns with their own agenda. Consequently when they want your opinion, they'll make it up.

They Paved Paradise...

...and they put in a velodrome!

Or it least that's what it seems like in Dunwoody these days.

It was one thing to stripe off bike lanes during the re-paving process, especially on high traffic routes, but the plan to put an interstate-lane-wide impermeable concrete bike road through wooded parkland is odious. It would be like putting an interstate through a national forest so drivers can zip by and "see the scenery".

And just what has happened in the cycling world anyway? Doesn't anyone own a mountain bike? Wouldn't that be an appropriate ride through a nature park? It seems like the vocal wing of our cycling community are all Armstrong wannabes that will ride no less than the best road bike, they'll ride it wherever the hell they want, and if there isn't a road there they will cry like colicky babies until it gets built.

This fascist wing of cycledom not only holds drivers in contempt but they also have little regard for those they consider lesser riders on lesser rides. Mountain bikes might only warrant a condescending snort, but the sight of a beach-bike with pedal brakes and a flip-flop shod rider would have them in a hissy-pissy fit. These spandex-clad blivets sitting atop their Fuji Finests act as if the smallest bump would have that razor thin "saddle" performing an impromptu prostate exam. As painful as that might sound, the greater risk is it would put an eye out.

Dunwoody Talking Out of School

On a recent Friday the Dunwoody Mayor and Council held, on short notice, a meeting for the purpose of going into executive session. As we all learned from the Dekalk County School Superintendent search these executive sessions are not held in public and discussions are not made public. In the vernacular, what happens in executive session stays in executive session.

Those are the rules. And as we also learned from DCSS, some folks hold themselves above the rules, to wit, someone is alleged to have leaked information regarding the topics of discussion in the Dunwoody executive session. Naughty boy(s) or girl(s).

Condemnation has already rained down from others in the blogosphere and that is not the purpose of this rant. It will be left to others to ensure guilty staffers are fired and guilty politicians will be pilloried.

There are items of equal if not greater concern. At first blush there is the matter rumored to have been discussed: the sale of all or almost all of the "PVC Pipe Farm" to a developer who will build housing though probably not as high density as the original developer intended. To make up for this reduction in traffic on our roads the rumored proposal includes "mixed use", generally thought to include retail and restaurants. Perhaps a Chick-fil-a?

Some really important questions are raised here. How enduring is a "master plan"? Is the master plan so riddled with loop holes and vague language and therefore so open to manipulation and interpretation that the city can buy property under the guise of "much needed green space" and hardly a year later do a one eighty and propose to sell the property back to developers? Can this city create a plan that will endure one election cycle or is every election to become yet another set of mandates for sweeping change?

And the original financing for the purchase seems so sketch it would make Bernie Madoff blush. Did we really buy the property, as reports indicate we are simply leasing it from the Georgia Municipal Association? And since when did this lobbying organization get into the business of second hand financing? Just who approached whom in setting up this house of cards? How much of this fragile setup was based on the now dispelled confidence that the sheep of Dunwoody would approve the City's "parks bonds"? We were told this property was bought for "parks" and now it is just a speculative real estate deal relying on shaky financing. How many other pre-emptive spending programs were executed based  on "Parks Bonds Anticipation"? The property for the Peachford  Road to Nowhere? And how did this influence the negotiations? Clearly we paid too much for the Peachford property. That or no citizen should ever have complained about County property tax as it appears property in the area is undervalued by half. Was the overpayment because the negotiator was sure the City would soon be flush with cash? Did they "go shopping" too soon?

And who are these people? We need names. If there be consequences, firings and recalls, then let it be for the staffers, the managers and the elected officials behind these speculative land deals and public deceptions. And let it be NOW.

Fussbudget

The first vote is in and the runoffs are a week away. We've had two Sundays to become intimately familiar with the distinct boundary between Dunwoody and Sandy Springs even as a new purveyor of adult libations plies his trade in our little village. As the tryptophans fade and the toddy warms, let us all pause to take stock of recent wounds and those who lick them.

The most obvious are the fans of "America's Sport", baseball, and there seems to be quite the disagreement on just how popular baseball is in Dunwoody. On the one hand, the Dunwoody Fan Rag claims without any supporting citation that "there is ample public demand for ball fields". Really?!? Sadly for these ample demanders, this did not bear up under public scrutiny nor did it survive a public vote. Frankly it is superficially incorrect: where "ample demand" exists, pay-to-play works because "ample demand" begets "ample support" with no need to tax non-players. Clearly Dunwoody falls far short of "ample" with regard to boys, their beloved balls and the sticks to beat them with.

Then there were the parks bonds themselves, invested with more than ample  histrionics and ego and whose rejection appears to have ripple effects far beyond mere boy's games. The City's immediate response was a little "tit for tat", putting on hold the purchase of property slated for the "Peachford Extension" as if to say "if we don't get what we want, we'll just take our bat and ball and go home", knowing they'll just have to call a special session to approve the purchase or lose $50K. But publicly we're treated to a Councilman saying " the voters of Dunwoody spoke loud about us buying land particularly if we’re going to buy land and pay too much for it".  Yeah. Right. Like the voters were wrapped around the axle about the price tag of those apartments and didn't care a whit about the pogrom it forces. These folks never had their fingers on the pulse of the public, and it is unlikely there was an election day epiphany at a Tuesday night pity party. It is more believable that this was a pissy fit of pique resulting in a childish tantrum.

Or perhaps the voters simply put them on notice with regards to whimsical boondoggles. This extension is to facilitate east-west travel in the area, which is located only one block from the apparently inadequate east-west conveyances of I-285, Cotillion and Savoy. Or perhaps not.

But it could be that one plan, the parks, was tied to another, the extension, by way of the general budget. Had the bonds carried the day, this infusion of cash would take parks out of the general budget freeing up funds needed for less playful commitments. Like pavement. Complete with white and yellow markings. Now that the City does not have that easy $66 million to go on a "shopping spree" and all projects must come out of general funds, perhaps  they don't have enough money to run this City in the manner they promised.

Just Say NO!

Shortly we, the citizens of  Dunwoody, will be presented with three opportunities to raise our taxes. Two take effect immediately and the third kicks in at the whim of the city, whenever they want, and whoever they may be at the time the mood strikes them.

Referendum: "Shall land be acquired and remediated for parks and greenspace by the City of Dunwoody in the amount of $33,000,000?"

• VOTE NO: This represents almost THREE TIMES THE CURRENT BUDGET in debt load.
• VOTE NO: We are now told the City intends to use the money to force undesirables from their homes--this plan is now as official as anything the city has ever said.

Referendum: "Shall the park system of the City of Dunwoody be improved by the issuance of general obligation bonds in the amount of $33,000,000?"

• VOTE NO: Again, this represents almost THREE TIMES THE CURRENT BUDGET in debt load.
• VOTE NO: This was split out of a single, $66,000,000 bond because even the City knows this is an outrageous idea.

Redevelopment Referendum: "Shall the Act be approved which authorizes the City of Dunwoody to exercise redevelopment powers under the 'Redevelopment Powers Law' as it may be amended from time to time?"

• VOTE NO: You, the citizens and voters of Dunwoody will be giving the city unbridled power to alter tax structure and wield power of eminent domain.
• VOTE NO: What you give up, you will never be able to take back, and you will have relinquished all opportunity to control the power delegated to the city, as defined by whoever may be in office at the time.

Dunwoody is not yet five years old, but consistent with the personal fiscal policy of many of Dunwoody's Smartest, the City remains free of long term debt. Much has been done, and much more can still be done without incurring debt for ourselves and our children--and let's be frank, this is a debt that once adopted will be renewed and we will be locked in a fiscal model based on long term debt. This debt load can only be satisfied by growing the tax digest, and with the intent to remove more properties, especially commercial properties from the tax rolls, residents will take on a greater burden.

The rebuttal, used during the drive to form the city, is "Trust Us". However, the way these referenda were intentionally written, the way information has been intentionally withheld then leaked, and the intentional timing of any releases is indistinguishable from deceitful manipulation. Earning Trust? Hardly!

Should any of these referenda pass, our standing as a well-managed, fiscally conservative community will be shattered and there will be no looking back. Dunwoody will be well on its way to becoming just another city run just like any other city--by the same kind of politicians we thought we left behind in DeKalb.

Just Say NO!

The Five Percent Solution

There is an old bromide along the lines of "the first solution to pollution is dilution", but when the matter at hand is socio-economic there is no acceptable solution but to separate the effluent from the affluent. Fortunately, commonly accepted practices, particularly zoning, create a physical and economic moat around the affluent and also serve tof encapsulate the effluent thereby reducing the cost of extraction and elimination.

Such is the case with Dunwoody, which proposes to eliminate a particularly odious demographic from the fringes of the relatively recently christened city. As it turns out, a majority of Dunwoody's poor, its Hispanic population, lives in a very small area. This just happens to be exactly the same location where Dunwoody leaders intend to build the city's premier recreational facility, thereby clearing up that demographic blemish.

While the demographics are well supported by our most recent census, this is not news. The maps below, based on Y2K data show 'twas always thus. Consequently this is not a recent infestation to be eradicated, nor is it likely that the City Founders, the smartest of the smart, did not know this prior to these recent plans or even before formulating plans for cityhood.

The above map shows where the white folk live. Not surprisingly, the darker green coincides with a higher percentage of whites in the population from its lowest in the area under discussion to above 95% in the area furthest from the Hispanic fringe.

The above map shows only the Hispanics and more clearly demonstrates how the city plans to eviscerate the existing community to prevent any northward spread and slow if not reverse the westward spread.

Below the bull's eye on both maps sits an apartment complex housing 2500 residents, of which approximately 580 are students in the Dunwoody cluster of DeKalb County Schools. These residents represent approximately five percent of the City's population.

Of course it isn't just about race or ethnicity, it is every bit as much about relative income and poverty. As one moves east or south from the border with Sandy Springs one sees a drop-off in home values and household income identical to the map of "white folk" distribution. A similar map of poverty is identical to the map of Hispanic demographics. The correlations between poverty and crime, or poverty and poor educational outcomes will neither be questioned nor belabored here, but simply accepted as a fact underpinning the motives of many including the most outspoken supporters of destroying these homes.

The plan includes razing the homes of some of the poorest in Dunwoody. Without the availability of the targeted apartment homes, these people will remain poor, but they will not remain in Dunwoody. Nor will their children, poor and less equipped to keep up with their whiter and brighter neighbors to the west and north, remain a burden to the Dunwoody cluster.

Supporters claim this is about parks and recreation as Dunwoody is currently one city-owned diamond short of their desired minimum of three. And while it is not the purpose of this post to question motive or intent, there is a point worth pondering. "If you wanted to eliminate the poor, especially poor Hispanics, in Dunwoody, what would you do differently?"

Get With The Pogrom!

Help Keep Dunwoody PURE*

by making your patriotic donation today!

Just text

"dunwoody"

to

1-666-4POGROM

That's 1-666-4764766

Text "dunwoody" NOW!

  * Dunwoody PURE (Purging Undesirable Residents Expediently) is a non-existent and consequently non-profit organization. All donations will go exactly where you want them to. Trust Us! We're your neighbors.

More Dunwoody Than You

A recent dissin' contest on an other Dunwoody blog (not to be confused with The Other Dunwoody blog), poses a few good points to ponder.

First, is it really a good idea to allow comments on blog posts? That trail of not-so-witty repartee certainly seems to support the "No Comment" decision for this blog. These comments devolved, as they so often do, into ad hominem attacks, the most interesting being the "I've been here longer than you" machismo oneupmanship. It's like our own quaint little derivative of Godwin's Law--sooner or later in any discussion about Dunwoody, someone will be accused of "not being here long enough to have an opinion that matters". At least not as much as the accuser. It is as if there is some great manhood demonstrated by how long it has been since that last April morn you wrote your name in the snow in your own backyard.

And this happens frequently here in our little burg. You often read on blog comments or even letters to the Fan Rag about "I've been in Dunwoody for twenty years" or "We moved here in 1985 when Deerfield East was still a horse farm." You know, shit like that.

But what makes this more interesting than an otherwise childish "Oh Yeah? Yeah!" schoolyard belly-buckin' is the topic. Namely parks, and our impending, looming, over one hundred million dollar commitment to long term debt. As usual, this boils down to "You Are For Parks" or "You Are Against Parks" as you cannot be "for parks, but against monstrous debt". Ya gotta pick.

And it is just this black and white nature, particularly on the part of the "I Am For Parks" loudmouth, who also played the "Dunwoody Resident Seniority" card, that generates the belly-laughs. OK, fine. So...you've been here since before the Lester Maddox clan(sic) sold their gas station at the corner of Chamblee Dunwoody and Mount Vernon. Good for you. DID YOU MOVE HERE FOR THE PARKS? D'oh?!? If parks were and are so gosh-darn important to you, why didn't you move to a PLACE THAT HAD THEM way back when?

Ain't really about parks is it?

Not that it matters, but blog comments would be of much greater value if you guys would whip 'em out, agree on which is longer, and move on. After all, it's not the length, it's what you do with it.