Bring Back The Magic*

Nothing can tear you apart

If you keep living straight from the heart

Though you know that you're gonna hurt some

The magic will come

If you keep living straight from the heart

You will know when to stop and to start

Once you see that no one really wins

Then the magic begins

Bring back the magic

Don't make life so tragic

Bring back the magic

Don't make life so tragic

This magic doesn't work. Not even in Margeritaville, and certainly not at Dunwoody City Hall. It seems that one former councilman did not get the memo. Neither did the Blue Bag Rag as they have been spending ink letting him vent his disappointment and frustration. 

This is quite baffling. This councilman was a vocal supporter of forming a city, certainly had access to the proposed city charter (everyone did), and also must have known that the neighbors we could elect to council or to be mayor would be powerless. It is there in black and white. Given this, how in the world can "local control" exist? Is he, or anyone else for that matter, at all surprised at this bloated, self-serving bureaucracy, with its insatiable greed for outside money? If he wants the city to "do the right thing" he surely understands that for them the "right thing" comes with lots of money. All he needs to do is scrounge up a grant. 

But this is getting a bit tiresome, like watching and listening to Ernest Angley: entertaining at first; amusing at its best; but mostly unbelievable as all faith healings are. There is no pentecostal politician, certainly not a former politician, who is going to lay hands on these bureaucrats, yell "Heal!" and suddenly they become righteous, faithful or even honest servants of the citizens of Dunwoody. 

He made a deal with the devil and took the road paved with mere intentions. Welcome to hell.

* Apologies to ParrotHeads everywhere.

Always Late To The Party

Do you ever feel like Dunwoody is run by folks who can never catch a trend in time? Like they don't do what the cool kids are doing until they've built up enough envy and jealousy, and by then the cool kids have moved on? It's not just interstate lanes in your front yard or Dunwoody Dildos at the outskirts of town, it now is apartments.

That's right, apartments. Seems the boom is over, which is a kind way of saying "developers can no longer get filthy rich building apartments." That's not to say these gulag-like atrocities are not still being built, but if developers cannot get some kind of lucrative sweetheart deal, well, then, they just cannot engorge their purses. Rental demand is being depressed because the fact is these apartments really are not "affordable" unless it involves subsidies, which are getting scarce, so developers profit the most building luxury apartments. Does anyone think that the developer's and Dunwoody bureaucrats' damp dreams about that high rise on Ashford Dunwoody was going to have apartments that meet the average person's idea of affordable?

So, you have to wonder... What was the motivation for all those bureaucrats to unanimously recommend this high rise apartment complex? Do we need to follow the money, or can we just ask? Are they just trying to play 'keep up with the Joneses?" And then they get a public spanking by a unanimous vote from council rejecting their plan. After all, they only had to convince four folks to go along with the plan. Maybe they should have had an ice cream social, as the rumor mill suggests a vote might be had for a pint of Ben & Jerry's. 

At this point, who, outside of these bureaucrats themselves, can justify what is going on at city hall? As some have pointed out, we have elections coming up and it might be a good time to ask some questions. 

Who Died?

This is an interesting nugget from the 2024 budget used as groundwork to justify never ending spending and associated taxation:

Today’s City needs police services but at a staffing level appropriate to the community, instead of the levels suggest by the incorporation study, along with compensation appropriate to retain officers. Repaving is being handled by SPLOST, but the transportation needs in a dense area such as Dunwoody are a never-ending battle. The current SPLOST has limits which have to be handled by tax dollars. The parks system, and now trails, are amenities that today’s residents expect. No longer is the desire modeled for this to be minimal efforts. Over half of the people living in the City today did not know the City before incorporation. They moved here from places with parks and trails and expect the same – along with programming befitting those features.

Now let's try to keep true to one thing: we (used to) have a democratic form of government. The unelected bureaucrats at city hall really, really hate that and will do anything to undermine democratic rule by the people. Especially if that means they might have tighten a few belts. But here's something all fans of democracy should rally behind: the referendum forming Dunwoody was ratified by the electorate to be the city that was put before them and changing that should come from a similar vote, not by some army of self-serving unelected bureaucrats.  After all, who died and made them god?

You might argue that the recent Trail Referendum (be honest, a vast majority of that money was going to PATH, which is why they weren't transparent) is just such an update to the original referendum. If you make that argument, or if you were involved in both votes, you may begin to wonder just where this train went off the rails. You see, the cumulative inflation since this city was founded to today is 43% yet the 2024 budget is over double the inflation adjusted budget we voted for at incorporation. Again, who died?

Maybe it is time to right-size this city. We can start by eliminating the assistant city manager position and hire a city manager that will be committed to and deliver on what the electorate, and the city charter they approved, demand. 

Everything's Better With...

...BOOZE!

Or so say the bureaucrats down at city hall. Apparently they are teeing up booze changes to let more "personal service and entertainment providers" get a special license so their patrons can be serviced and/or entertained and get a buzz on. To quote the Blue Bag Rag this would cover businesses that offer "an activity or experience while allowing patrons to drink, such as with 'Paint and Sip' and axe-throwing establishments."

Here's some thought exercises.

Does this mean that 7 Massage could offer some "happy time" in the middle? Would they source their alcohol from Moondog, just a short schlep away?

Suppose someone opened a gun club and shooting range. Would they be able to offer shots of whiskey with shots at targets? Why not? Probably as safe as axe throwing. And they could call it "Shooters" with employees that look too good to work at Hooters. Who doesn't want a smart woman holding a real warm gun?

And what about that most au naturel entertainment: dancing. With poles. Wouldn't this fit right in with city bureaucrats' vision for Dunwoody? Or will they inject some thoughtless (and probably unconstitutional) irony into the situation by making this the only type of entertainment business that cannot obtain a license? No "Dance and Drink" in daVille.

Once again city hall has proven that this is NOT a "Smart City."

Truck About

There's talk amongst the city bureaucrats (who mostly do NOT live here) about converting the intersection of Roberts and Chamblee Dunwoody into a round-a-bout. Ostensibly this is to alleviate traffic backups but since much of the cause of these backups are downstream of this intersection that is bullshit. So who knows? 

There is another problem, very important to city bureaucrats, with the simple, one lane round-a-bout. It doesn't work for trucks. Yes, given the no-truck zone status of C-D and Roberts (both school zones) this should be a non-issue but since the city all but encourages open violations the actual fact is these (illegal) trucks must be provided free access. And the city has a plan. They're going to make it a double lane round-a-bout. Not because there are so many residents needing to do a 270, but because the extra width makes it that much easier for (illegal) truck traffic to easily clear the intersection. 

Seriously, is there any bureaucrat at city hall that gives a shit about the folks who actually live here?

Concrete Issues

What is with all the concrete trucks racing through the no-truck zones on Roberts and Chamblee Dunwoody? They aren't accessing a work site within that area, they are just passing through.  Quite a few of them so where ever they are headed is a pretty large worksite. The kind of a development might be getting special zoning changes and tax handouts but most certainly one requiring permits from the city. Bureaucrats at city hall might feign ignorance but they are the folks handing out these permits to their developer friends and family so this would be disingenuous to say the least. Applying the "reasonable man" test suggests incompetence or something far worse. No matter, this is just another example of city bureaucrats serving outside interests no matter the harm to residents. 

Is this what you thought you were getting when you voted "Yes Dunwoody!"???

If You Can't Say Anything Good...

That seems to have afflicted the AJC yesterday in their weekly page on Sandy Springs and Dunwoody. Given what has been exposed, by other outlets, regarding some pretty odious goings-on in Dunwoody, the AJC was in bind. They could discuss these issues, which don't look good, or they could continue with their pollyannish PR pieces or they could just keep quiet. They chose the latter. 

What is even more interesting is the coverage by the local rags of the outrageous legal costs we've incurred due to bureaucrats at city hall. The Reporter and the Blue Bag Rag (originally the city's official legal organ, but the city doesn't seem to be printing notices much of late) have been sussing out the legal costs of the hijinks in the Dunwoody Police Department. Best as they can tell, from $115 worth of heavily redacted documents, is the tab, so far, amounts to about $407,000. It is particularly interesting that this appears on the front page of the Blue Bag Rag, since if they still are the official legal organ it would not be surprising to find out that some bureaucrats down at city hall are drawing up the dismissal paperwork for council to rubber-stamp. This is either a courageous act by the BBR, or since we're well past the Dick Williams era, it may just be loss of the rose-colored glasses. Or...could it be...journalism?

As for the legal costs, it is time for the mayor and council to stiffen their collective spines and make some changes. Since they are somewhat hamstrung by the city charter and are left with only the nuclear option, they need to fire the city manager and replace him with someone who will clean out the upper ranks of bureaucrats. The chief of police must be the first to go. Certainly some foot dragging can be attributed to letting him skate into retirement, but this is really beyond the pale. Clearly the rot has spread and many of the top level bureaucrats are past their sell-by date and need to be binned. There are some areas where entire groups need to go. Will the mayor and council do anything? Hard to say, but increasing numbers of folks are ready for them to go all Major Kong on this fiasco.

Look Closely Now

What Are YOU Looking At?

If you're a long time resident, like those who pre-date even a draft city charter, then you may remember when Dunwoody had a chamber of commerce and you just might think they're back. That's because this 4-color glossy ($$$) that showed up in your mailbox is exactly the kind of pricey pamphlet a CoC would put out. But it isn't. It is actually YOUR tax dollars being re-distributed to successful businesses. And why is that? Back in the day when DeKalb bashing was the local sport it was called "Friends and Family." 

It was bad then. It is even worse now.

Protecting The Neighborhood

A developer has been told no. Hard to believe, right? It gets even more unbelievable. They were told they could not add apartments to a shopping center. 

What's the problem with that?

It did not, and probably will never, happen in Dunwoody. It happened in Johns Creek.

Here's what inquiring minds want to know: how many of the Dunwoody bureaucrats who have no problem selling us down the river actually live in Johns Creek where their quality of life is protected?

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Workin' hard for profiteering businesses. Yep, we have a seemingly unlimited number of tax-payer funded bureaucrats knocking down insider-awards for doing the business of CoC for businesses. Aren't you happy to be paying your taxes?

Dunwoody Chamber Of Commerce

Dunwoody doesn't have one. Perimeter does, because Perimeter has footprints in three cities and developers and profiteers need an umbrella organization to coordinate efforts across all three. Dunwoody doesn't have a Chamber of Commerce because our tax dollars (residents, because developers don't pay taxes) are covering the paychecks of city bureaucrats who do everything a chamber would do. Everything a chamber should do. And more.

Don't believe it?

Look here. That's right, a city bureaucrat picked up an award for resident-funded CoC activities. And city bureaucrats are so proud they've issued a press release on receiving an award for going above and beyond doing CoC PR. A press release on how well they do press releases.

This is an outstanding example of a city bureaucracy that should be shut down and anyone surplus to needs should be made available to the greater PR community. Perhaps even a re-constituted Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce. Think the dwarfs can or would make that happen?