We polled 100 Tucker residents before the Governmental Hearing last session. We have not released the results yet as we are waiting to hold additional polls if/when the issue comes up again so we can compare the two results and monitor any evidence of a significant change that might indicate a trend in public sentiment. Now that more people are aware that they were almost forced into a city they didn't ask for, we wondered if they were also buying into the reasons that were being given out as the reasons.
I can tell you one thing that was very clear, though, regardless of whether or not people indicated they wanted or did not want a city, the issues being raised by the city advocates were not correlated to driving a person's opinion, positive or negative. That, to me, is a big problem. People who were in favor of a city in our area (30084 was only zip code in the study for summary purposes, but we did gather information from the entire Tucker feeder pattern attendance zone), wanted a city for entirely different reasons than what the city advocacy groups were representing as the reasons. Or they may not have even known why they wanted to become a city. They were just reporting that they did, but they didn't report having any significant concerns about how they were currently being serviced by the county.
Residents may have had opinions about the topics of zoning, economic development, etc. but those topics were not showing a strong correlation to overall satisfaction with where they lived and satisfaction with where they lived currently was actually a driver for pro-city when the advocates were asserting that residents who wanted their own cities were generally unhappy with where they lived currently and how they were being treated.
As we have been observing all along, Tucker residents were very clear at the first meeting held by Lakeside, courtesy of Boyer and Lundsten and their Starbuck gift cards for Tucker Middle, that they wanted a city in an effort to protect their borders from the neighboring community. That means you guys here who are in favor of Lakeside or Briarcliff and don't think Tucker deserves any second thought in terms of its historical preservation or its clearly marked territory that includes just one measly little zip code.
That's a pretty sad thing to have to say when we have soldiers still stationed in other countries and we have to protect ourselves from our own neighbors. I am of the personal opinion that you should not be forced to incorporate and pay higher taxes as a result just because there are politicians and lobbyists and low integrity think tanks who are willing to use their contacts to create fear and uncertainty and pit neighbors against one another.
We know it often falls on deaf ears, but we just want to remind you that Lakeside announced its city plans while our public schools were still at risk of losing accreditation. The leaders chose to divert countywide, and even national, attention that our children and teachers were finally getting after a "decade of demise" according to SACS. They wanted to capitalize on our worst fears instead of doing what we should have been doing all along - working together to address the most serious of issues first.
Our school system is one of the major factors driving the downfall of our county. Does anyone here know when the runoff election will be held and who you will be voting for on the school board runoff? If not, please consider your priorities and stop trying to divide and conquer .... there is much more strength to weed out corruption when people are willing to work together.
JULY 22 - RUNOFF ELECTIONS IN DEKALB COUNTY!
I can tell you one thing that was very clear, though, regardless of whether or not people indicated they wanted or did not want a city, the issues being raised by the city advocates were not correlated to driving a person's opinion, positive or negative. That, to me, is a big problem. People who were in favor of a city in our area (30084 was only zip code in the study for summary purposes, but we did gather information from the entire Tucker feeder pattern attendance zone), wanted a city for entirely different reasons than what the city advocacy groups were representing as the reasons. Or they may not have even known why they wanted to become a city. They were just reporting that they did, but they didn't report having any significant concerns about how they were currently being serviced by the county.
Residents may have had opinions about the topics of zoning, economic development, etc. but those topics were not showing a strong correlation to overall satisfaction with where they lived and satisfaction with where they lived currently was actually a driver for pro-city when the advocates were asserting that residents who wanted their own cities were generally unhappy with where they lived currently and how they were being treated.
As we have been observing all along, Tucker residents were very clear at the first meeting held by Lakeside, courtesy of Boyer and Lundsten and their Starbuck gift cards for Tucker Middle, that they wanted a city in an effort to protect their borders from the neighboring community. That means you guys here who are in favor of Lakeside or Briarcliff and don't think Tucker deserves any second thought in terms of its historical preservation or its clearly marked territory that includes just one measly little zip code.
That's a pretty sad thing to have to say when we have soldiers still stationed in other countries and we have to protect ourselves from our own neighbors. I am of the personal opinion that you should not be forced to incorporate and pay higher taxes as a result just because there are politicians and lobbyists and low integrity think tanks who are willing to use their contacts to create fear and uncertainty and pit neighbors against one another.
We know it often falls on deaf ears, but we just want to remind you that Lakeside announced its city plans while our public schools were still at risk of losing accreditation. The leaders chose to divert countywide, and even national, attention that our children and teachers were finally getting after a "decade of demise" according to SACS. They wanted to capitalize on our worst fears instead of doing what we should have been doing all along - working together to address the most serious of issues first.
Our school system is one of the major factors driving the downfall of our county. Does anyone here know when the runoff election will be held and who you will be voting for on the school board runoff? If not, please consider your priorities and stop trying to divide and conquer .... there is much more strength to weed out corruption when people are willing to work together.
JULY 22 - RUNOFF ELECTIONS IN DEKALB COUNTY!