Skip to main content

Tucker Township? A Vision or a Pipe Dream?

This was the vision for a "Tucker Township" as visioned by a beta version of a new school review website. 
The website is:  https://k12.niche.com/t/tucker-township-dekalb-ga/
Who drew this map?  We are not really sure.  We stumbled upon it recently while looking for Tucker election results. We do, however, think this map, called "Tucker Township" actually shows a good compromise between Tucker and Lavista Hills that could have worked well for everyone.   It offers a great way to share the Northlake area commercial tax revenue.  So, why didn't anyone suggest something like this  prior to putting forth competing bills in the 2013 and 2014 legislative sessions?  And, why is Tucker's city still being allowed to move forward when it has been called "unconstitutional" by even the legislators who supported it?

Limited services government in the form of a new city is something that the Georgia constitution does not allow, apparently.  But, unless citizens decide to fight the creation of Tucker or Peachtree Corners, two of such limited cities are going to continue operating until someone tells them that they cannot.  

Save Tucker!  (This group) asked legislators to please consider township legislation because we did not believe that a new city was going to be something Tucker residents wanted or could afford.  We emailed and called legislators and met with many of them at the Gold Dome, but our efforts were largely overlooked as the bills  brought before the House and the Senate were moved along in unison with the bill for a Lakeside City, City of Briarcliff and others.  

The Brookhaven Post has reported that many of the problems that were identified in the battle over Northlake between the community of Tucker and the would-be city of Lakside (or Lavista Hills) have now been "fixed" in new legislation this session.  From the Post:

"The Post Reports – Senate Bill 375, a bi-partisan Bill designed to clarify and codify the process of creating new cities in Georgia, has passed the State Senate. The Bill provides for a two-year legislative process, meaning, legislation to create a new city can be introduced in either the first or second year of a legislator’s term, but it can only be voted on the year after it is introduced.

A financial viability, fiscal impact and service delivery study must be prepared by a public academic research institution, such as the Carl Vinson Institute, based on the proposed boundaries. This study must be prepared between the first and the second legislative session."

And, in case you want to see a better picture of how the various areas voted to form cities in Lavista Hills and Tucker, here is a map we made based on the elections data.  We approximated the area that was proposed for annexation into Chamblee with the  black line down Briarlake Road.  But, we have now read that the annexation is off the table for now.  Good decisions by Chamblee officials to wait for more data.  

Let's just hope that Tucker's new government isn't in the business of helping Lavista Hills TOO much. If city taxes on top of CID taxes create an environment  prohibitive to new business development, we could very easily be forcing a lot of business over to the Oak Grove and surrounding Toco Hills commercial areas, while we watch Tucker's great commercial areas lose even more business than we have already since all this in-fighting first started. 



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to Smoke Rise, Soon to be Tucker, GA

This could be the change that residents will see if Tucker 2015 is successful in getting its referendum nto a ballot and voters approve it.  The driving force behind the city of Tucker has been the leadership within the community known as "Smoke Rise, GA."  Smoke Rise residents currently have addresses that say "Stone Mountain, GA" and many of them worked hard in order to create a separate identity for themselves, petitioning the U.S. Post Office to change their official name to "Smoke Rise."  While the Post Office did not agree to change the official name, they did agree to allow "Smoke Rise" as a recognized alternative to "Stone Mountain" that could be used interchangeably as long as it accompanied their 30087 zip code. It is important to note that these residents did not ask the Post Office to recognize their use of "Tucker" as an acceptable alternative.  They asked to be called "Smoke Rise." It appears t...
Post a Comment
Read more

UPDATED: Szubski Lands Project Manager Position with JE Dunn Construction

It seems that congratulations are in order for two of Tucker's most "upwardly mobile" residents:  Ben and Sonja Szubski, active promoters of the city of Tucker effort since it started.  We wanted to make sure our readers were aware of how there is a real and very serious connection between the leadership driving this city effort, and the development groups seeking to tear down and destroy (so they can then buy cheap and rebuild) what we know and love about Tucker. First, here is the announcement from JE Dunn Construction: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Ben Szubski Joins JE Dunn Construction as Project Manager Press release from the issuing company Monday, June 30th, 2014 Ben Szubski is extending his 18-year career in construction by joining JE Dunn Construction Company as a project manager, the company announced. Szubski’s responsibilities at JE Dunn include cost control, issuing and maintaining subcontractor contra...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Media Gets It Wrong, Again!

  HQ For DeKalb's Police, Fire Rescue, Emergency Management, Public Safety, 911 and more!  This is Tucker! But a report coming from this location does NOT mean the crime was committed in T ucker. The news media falsely reported that a crime was committed in Tucker, simply because they were getting information from the police HQ, which is located in Tucker. This is not the first time this has happened. Save Tucker! posted the correct locations based on the addresses given by police from the beginning.  (see above.)  We asked for a retraction.  We have also asked local media to  please be more careful in their rush to get a story on the air.  Many Tucker residents were on edge as they were being told the carjacking happened in their community. Because this subject did come up again, it gives us another opportunity to point out to the residents of the proposed Lavista Hills that they should seriously be worried about the plan to form a dep...
Post a Comment
Read more