Save Tucker!

You may have heard about the security breach recently with the Secretary of State's office and your voter information file, but ... did you know there is a more direct link between the new city plans and that data breech ? It seems that Tucker 2015 , all about local control, couldn't find the right "local" person to run their political campaign, so what did they do?  Well, they hired a political consultant firm that just so happens to be located in ... Lavista Hills .  More work to be done in DeKalb by the FBI. And, it wasn't just any ol' political consultant, this particular consultant, which residents were never told that their feasibility donations might be used to fund, just so happens to be the same, small firm, Apache Political , that received one of the very confidential data disks from the state Elections Office.  It's not clear if they received it via their work as a consultant, via another affiliation with a blog site on pol...

by Brent Barron Neighbor Newspapers December 31, 2015     You might not want to be involved, but if you live in Tucker... you already are.   Better start paying attention now rather than regret the choices other voters might make for you!    A senate committee released the findings from their study last month and found that “city-lite” models, such as with the newly formed city of Tucker, contain unconstitutional provisions. The Senate Annexation, Deannexation and Incorporation Study Committee was called for by Senator Elena Parent of District 42 last summer with appointments to the committee made by Lt. Governor Casey Cagle. “I thought it was time to take a look at the formal process or lack-thereof of the formation of these cities to see if there were ways to make the process more uniform, transparent and fair,” Parent said. “I served as ch...

Posted by Dan Whisenhunt on Decaturish.com .   December 16, 2015 The new city of Tucker, which was overwhelmingly approved by voters on Nov. 3, has an unconstitutional provision in its charter, a new report says. Additionally the report finds that while charters for new cities may provide a cap on tax rates, there’s nothing that requires cities to seek voter approval before raising taxes. At a Tucker 2015 meeting held in October, just before the Nov. 3 city referendum was held, organizers were still telling residents about the benefits of a "limited government," as Anne Lerner is seen here doing, while Michele Penkava (front row, far right) looks on.  Both women are now running for city council seats in District 3, though not against one another.  Each of the three districts will have two city council members.  Elections take place the first week of March 2016.  The Senate Annexation, Deannexation and Incorporation Study Committee me...

The new cities of Lavista Hills and Tucker will be voted on this November 3, 2015.  Residents who say they hope to escape from county problems will be disappointed to learn that the same people who have been accused of corruption in the county are behind these new cities and have pitted the two areas against each other intentionally.  Otherwise, the residents would have no reason to incorporate unless they feared "takeover" from the other side or surrounding cities.  Those fear tactics should not be tolerated and are, in fact, illegal under federal law.  Don't vote for a city if you are not sure who will be leading it and what they intend to do.  We can continue to get along with our neighbors and stop the fighting and destructive competition that keeps most people's focus on each other rather than the true thieves funneling money to their own friends and family networks.  DON'T JOIN THEM by approving the ridiculous boundaries and poor ser...

In a post dated March 20, 2015, Tucker city advocates (unsigned) state the following: "Areas removed from the Tucker map include the entire Livsey voting precinct, Shadow Walk Lane, Pittsburg Plaza (QT shopping center), Tucker Square Shopping Center at Britt Road and Chamblee-Tucker, Briarglen Court, houses on Thornbriar Road in the Midvale Elementary voting precinct, and Scyler Way and Scyler Place." We're indicating those changes on the map below:  The map on the Tucker website is identified as the "Committee" drawn map and does not reflect the changes that were reportedly made by a last minute amendment by Sen. Fran Millar.  So, no one knows for sure what he asked to change and whether those changes were approved and written into both of the city bills which had already been through committees in the House and Senate. However, if you look at the map on the Lavista Hills website, it appears to NOT take in some of the areas that Tucker 2015 ment...

by Olga Pierce, Jeff Larson and Lois Beckett, ProPublica, Sept. 23 (Updated) by Olga Pierce, Jeff Larson and Lois Beckett ProPublica, Nov. 2, 2011, 9:08 a.m. From the Series on:   Redistricting How Powerful Interests Are Drawing You Out of a Vote Redistricting  should be  a way of ensuring your vote counts.  If all districts have roughly the same number of people in them and are drawn to respect  natural communities   -- neighborhoods where people share a heritage, work in the same industry, or just generally feel tied to their neighbors --  voters have a chance to be represented by politicians who represent their areas' collective interests. To that end, states are required to redraw lines for districts, all the way from Congress to county boards of supervisors, every 10 years to reflect demographic changes. But that's where theory meets the harsh reality. Instead of voters choosing politicians, redistricting at its worst lets polit...

Ever since we heard Tucker 2015 leader Frank Auman say that Tucker was willing to give up its rights to Northlake if the Lakeside City folks would concede everything outside the perimeter, we were curious about what he might know that the rest of us didn't. We know that Tucker's claim to the Evansdale area, which really started with its inclusion in the 2010 Census designation for Tucker, is what fueled their outcry to join Lakeside City (now being called "Lavista Hills).  But, we also heard some rumblings that their true reasons for wanting the association with Lakeside was purely related to their school cluster  pattern than anything else. Now, looking at the  map that Lavista Hills ended up with, the school system could be more likely than ever to redistrict some of the Druid Hills cluster schools to Lakeside.  That would mean pushing Evansdale into the Tucker cluster, regardless of what city they eventually end up in.   When you consider the fact t...

"We just got together at a dining room table and decided we needed to start a city!"   That's all it took.  Plus, a few years, dozens of maps, multiple name changes, tens of thousands of dollars and land grabbing from our neighbors to satisfy our own political agendas, and wa la!  Look at us now! It's official.   We're LaVista (The View).  Hills, That is.  And, if you don't like us; we don't care! For details, see today's AJC:   HERE or Decaturish story:   HERE

Sen. Millar Sen. Millar should know better.  When he claimed that 80% of the Livsey precinct wants to be in the City of Lavista Hills (aka Lakeside City), he already knew that there are people claiming the petition takers lied and even harassed them in order to get them to sign.  Some said they were made promises having to do with attendance zones and Lakeside High School.  Some even said they were told the only referendum would be the Lakeside one so it would be the only way to have a vote at all. In short, they were sold a bill of goods by some people whom they can never actually hold accountable and might not ever even see again.  Some of the petition signers spoke limited English and later said they signed just to stop the person from returning to their home every day to ask if they had changed their minds and were ready to sign. High pressure, low morals.  Great combination for disaster.   And, this "Neighbors for Lakeside" group that was tak...