Save Tucker!

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...

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...

Two photos for two new proposed cities, but both featuring at least one supporter who believes he belongs in BOTH groups.   What OTHER similarities are there between these two "rivals" that their supporters may not know about?   How exactly did all of these proposals supposedly come "from the people" but ended up wanting the exact same things, with the exact same slogans and now, we learn, the exact same people.   In fact, Lakeside City was started by a group of people who stated that one of their main motivators was that they did not want to be included in a proposed City of DeKalb.  Later, Stonecrest was started, the story goes, because of the efforts to start a city of Lakeside in North DeKalb.   Before all of this, there was "Brookhaven YES."  Now, we have "Lakeside YES" and "Stonecrest City YES."   How stupid do they think we all are that we cannot see they are all part of the same plan? Either write ...

Residents of North DeKalb just did the exact thing that they constantly accuse the residents of South DeKalb of doing... they returned yet another person to office despite knowing that there have been serious doubts or concerns with that person's governance abilities and despite knowing that the candidate has been linked to the failure in the county school system.   According to the AJC... Republican Nancy Jester will become DeKalb County’s next commissioner after defeating independent Holmes Pyles in a runoff election Tuesday. Jester replaces Elaine Boyer, who pleaded guilty to defrauding taxpayers of $93,000 and resigned in August. She will represent more than 140,000 people in Brookhaven, Chamblee, Doraville, Dunwoody, Tucker and surrounding areas. Turnout was very low Tuesday, with only 7 percent of registered voters casting ballots. What more can we say? If you don't show up to vote, then your vote cannot be counted. If you are gerrymandered out of  your...