Save Tucker!

It's  hard to believe it, but it appears that now the "Lakeside" group is trying to drive doctors away from Tucker, which will be a big blow to our retirees and senior citizens.  Many residents enjoy the convenient access to "Lavista Office  Park," because they can see all their doctors in one place without multiple car rides or having to get on busy interstates and freeways in our area.   A recent rezone request made at the March county commissioners meeting was made by a person we believe is known online as "Randy Rand."  The public hearing takes place April 28.  We believe he is the owner of the office park and reportedly gave  his tenants until May 1 to vacate the building.  Some of these doctors have been in business more than 15 years in this one location.  The short notice will not allow them to move as a group and makes it very unlikely the will all be able to remain in the Tucker area.  The rezone...

"The city of Tucker is morally wrong," according to Smoke Rise resident Robert Stamper.        

This is a letter shared with the "Dekalb Strong" group.  You can join the conversation at https://www.facebook.com/groups/DeKalbStrong . We didn't realize how easy tweaking was. “Tweak” and just like that, 2000 people are moved from one city proposal to another. (“LaVista Hills, Tucker border tweaked in Senate,” News, March 20). Our home is in Toco Hills on the southern edge of the proposed LaVista Hills and we’d like to be tweaked out of it.   North and north central DeKalb County residents have become pawns in the misguided ambitions of a few. With all the changes made by the Senate and House, it’s vital the feasibility of these proposals be revisited. The LaVista Hills boundaries have bled commercial property to the Tucker proposal and Brookhaven’s annexation of Executive Park. As reconfigured, LaVista Hills is almost entirely residential. Even including Toco Hills shopping center and Northlake mall, there appears to be insufficient commercial or ind...

NOTE:  Special called meeting of the DeKalb Delegation will take place in the Coverdell Administration Building starting at 8 a.m., on Wed. March 25. We are relieved to see that the latest version of the Tucker bill has updates to the city council voting process.  Here is the new language: (3) Two councilmembers shall be elected from each of the three council districts and shall hold Council District 1, Post 1; Council District 1, Post 2; Council District 2, Post 1; Council District 2, Post 2; Council District 3, Post 1; and Council District 3, Post 2, respectively. Each person desiring to offer as a candidate for councilmember for such posts shall designate the council post for which he or she is offering. Councilmembers shall be elected by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the respective council districts voting at the elections of the city. In the event that no candidate for a council post obtains a majority vote of the qualified electors of the council dis...

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...

Updated map to show where voting precinct fits into the school zone map. And, for the record.... Evansdale, by the way, could very easily be included in the city of Lavista Hills and STILL end up being rezoned for another school district, like nearby Tucker.  The inclusion was, from the beginning, a factor related to their magnet program, not the location of their school.  If this community really wants to stick with Lakeside, they need to work with school officials who are planning to centralize all magnet programs so they are more easily accessible from both ends of the county.  It is not a city issue at all. Now, if you are talking about passing a referendum for city school systems and someone has told you that you must be in a city in order to join a "better" system than the one we have now, that's another issue entirely.  And, if the rest of the county is not aware of that plan and you are not talking about it, either, then you are favo...

Here are just a few highlights of this investigative piece that was reported by Jeff Chirico, CBS Atlanta. Marshall Orson, a seated board member in DeKalb County, has to answer to some angry parents about his emails with supporters for "Together in Atlanta," a group pushing for annexation into the city of Atlanta. The annexation would take a DeKalb icon, the Druid Hills High School, and at least two elementary schools into the city limits of Atlanta, while still the residents would still technically reside in DeKalb County.  The Fernbank Science Center and Museum, Callenwalde Fine Arts Center and other parts of DeKalb County would also become new residents of "Atlanta in DeKalb."   State Rep. Karla Drenner (D - Avondale Estates) says she is shocked to learn that a school board member would seemingly favor something that could 'decimate' the school system. Annexation opponent Dawn Forman said Orson, as an elected board member, should be opposed t...

LaVista Hills:  Population of 65,000 located mostly inside I-285 in north-central DeKalb. Status: House Bill 520 passed House 129-37. South Fulton:  Population of 90,000, covering most of Fulton County’s land south of Atlanta that isn’t already part of a city. HB514 passed House 148-21. Tucker:  Population of 35,000 with borders from the eastern edge of I-285 and outside the perimeter. HB515 passed house 128-31. Stonecrest:  Population of 50,000 in the southeast part of DeKalb County that borders the city of Lithonia. Senate Bill 208 and HB539 are pending. Greenhaven:  Population of 294,000 covering all remaining unincorporated land in South DeKalb. SB221 and HB613 are pending. If you are signed up with the AJC, you can get:   More details here.

The legislature will be working all the way up  until midnight, so it's not too late to email them with your issues over the City of Tucker bill! Here are the Concerns from Save Tucker! 1.) The Tucker Bill for Incorporation does not list any millage cap .  It also does not give any suggestion of a process where citizens can have an active role *aka a vote to approve or deny* in the process by which city taxes can be raised or lowered. As we are only reading the charter document for the city of Tucker for the very first time this week, a few comments and concerns have been brought to our attention via our public and closed Facebook Discussion Group Pages.    2.)   The districts for City Council Seats are set up in an odd manner that is not consistent with the other recently formed cities in DeKalb County.  We cannot even find any other local city council in the U.S. that is set up in this manner where you have identical areas represented by tw...

 Maybe we have leaders in Tucker that are so unique, they don't worry about when their terms begin or end.  Or maybe we have citizens so trusting of their leaders that they don't worry about things like voting for leaders on a regular schedule, or nominating people to take on critical roles for groups that are given a lot of power ... ... like the Tucker Parent Council, which was suggested as a group that should help name our next Superintendent of Schools. ... Or, the Tucker Together group that was the supposedly "non partisan" and "non biased" overview group to present Tucker's options when faced with an invasion  from nearby Lakeside City Alliance leaders ... Or, the Tucker 2014 group that was the advocacy group for cityhood that no one ever voted on in terms of their mission or their leaders  (even though we we re told by Tucker Together that we would be able to make this decision as a group).  This is the "group" that turned out to b...

Oh No!  In reviewing the city bills submitted last week to the House Government Affairs Committee, it looks like the Lavista Hills group is going to be off to a rocky start if someone doesn't warn them!  Not only will the taxpayers find out that their new government is not able to read directions or follow them very well, they might also learn that they will have to elect their new officials AND their replacements all within a few short months!   Yes, that's right!  The FIRST city council will be elected, according to the LaVista Hills charter, in March 2016 and then their terms end in November 2016, just eight months after they get started!   INSERT DATE   Dear INSERT NAME ,  Thank You for Supporting the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)!  Your shell documents for the creation of a city of INSERT CITY NAME  are enclosed. Please note that the use of these documents does not imply that ALEC will in any way admit to hav...

March  5, 20015 ... From WABE.org , which lifted text directly from the Lavista Hills press release without even verifying the facts or using a correct map.  Well, now we know why they were the ONLY media at most of the previous meetings hosted by Lakeside City (a.k.a. Lavista Hills) ...  Legislation that would allow residents to create two new cities in DeKalb County is a step closer to a vote by the Georgia House, but border disputes remain unresolved. A House committee Wednesday approved bills that could pave the way for the new cites of LaVista Hills and Tucker in central DeKalb. Rep. Tom Taylor, R-Dunwoody, is the sponsor of the LaVista Hills bill and says residents want a more efficient and responsive government. “What you see here is a common thread: dissatisfaction with the current DeKalb County government , ” said Taylor. “This bill does not create a city. All it creates is an opportunity for folks in that area to vote in a referendum whether they want ...