Save Tucker!

Note:  We continue to follow this story because Save Tucker! was told by a follower that this particular principal was specifically selected by the same individuals who were involved in the push for a Lakeside City.  Their plans would have devastated the Tucker community by splitting it up and leaving some without any commercial tax revenue in their region to help keep their own property taxes affordable.   We want others to understand that the decisions these self appointed leaders wanted to make would have been bad for everyone, regardless of where you lived.  They made decisions based on the old-school DeKalb corrupt way of doing things.  The methods that have left their own community to clean up and fix the messes like this one... bringing in a principal based on who he knows, not what he knows.  Maybe now they will stay out of the schools AND regional politics?  We can only hope.    This article below is from the AJC: After oust...

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. ...

Ben Shakleford says he reached out to people he knew after the Lavista Hills referendum failed at the ballot box and asked, "... what do you think about maybe annexation?  And, we're next to Chamblee." If you haven't heard, a portion of the former Lavista Hills movement (which is also formerly the Lakeside City and City of Briarcliff initiatives) has not stopped pushing for a city, any city as long as it is not in any way related to Tucker, even after losing in the referendum vote this past November.   So, far, we have heard them say that they have: Trimmed up their map, calling it the "North Lavista Hills" area, basically cutting things off at Briarlake Road, but taking in all the commercial not already in Tucker, most notably the Northlake Mall which they have said they do not shop at themselves, Brought back Mary Kay Woodworth to lead the effort until she quits, again, Cut out some of the areas that they initially claimed were the ones to star...

According to the AJC and a Channel 2 Action News Report: Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp and the GBI opened an investigation Thursday into alleged voting irregularities – including a stray voting machine memory card – in the referendum that narrowly defeated the proposed city of LaVista Hills. A DeKalb election supervisor alleged that he found an unsecured memory card Wednesday that contained results from the Briarlake Elementary precinct, according to Channel 2 Action News. It’s unknown whether the votes on the memory card were counted in the precinct’s totals, where voters supported LaVista Hills 378-313. “As Secretary of State I take any allegation of elections fraud seriously,” Kemp said. “Our office has opened an official investigation of possible criminal activity during the Nov. 3 elections in DeKalb County.” Investigators take a voting machine and a desktop computer from the DeKalb County elections office on Thursday afternoon November 5, 2015. Ben...

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...

    Do you remember when Save Tucker! called your attention to a random guy  who appeared to be a "super fan" of cities in DeKalb County, GA?   He was pictured as one of the "citizens" in the "grass roots" movements for BOTH Lakeside City AND Stonecrest.    Here is our original post:   titled, "Lakeside and Stonecrest are More than Just Friends."      BUT, now we have learned something NEW.      "THIS GUY" from the Lakeside City and Stonecrest groups is ALSO the same as   "THIS GUY" from Brookhaven!   Yes, that's right... take a look for yourself....   "THIS GUY" is pictured with Mary Kay Woodworth and Co. at a big press announcement for Lakeside City. "THIS GUY" then appeared in a City of Stonecrest photo op as they exercised their rights of free speech and assembly.   AND NOW, WE HAVE LOCATED "THIS GUY" AGAIN, INVOLVED IN A THIRD CITY MOVEM...

More than two years ago,  Save Tucker! posed questions to the Lakeside City Alliance, as you will read in the post below that was originally published in the Tucker Patch.  These questions were a combination of all questions submitted to us on our Save Tucker! Facebook page as well as questions the organizers of Save Tucker! had for Oliver Porter and the Lakeside City Alliance. Now called "Lavista Hills," and slated for a referendum vote on Tuesday, November 3, this group will be meeting once again to answer questions tonight at Lakeside High School. You can read our questions below and decide if they were ever answered to your satisfaction.  If not, you might have a chance to ask them one last time if you decide to attend the meeting.  But you must submit them in advance to: ann@repscottholcomb.com . Just remember, you are under no obligation to sign in or provide any personal contact information at this meeting.  If you do, you ...

Reasonable people, like Ed Ewing from the Amberwood neighborhood, have serious questions about the methods by which city advocacy groups determined that there was an actual, real problem identified that cities will now fix. If you share this and other concerns, please show up to vote No on Nov. 3.  The city groups have a lot of people convinced that a city will help them.  There must be enough skeptics willing to show up and vote no or else we will all find out the hard way that neither Lavista Hills NOR Tucker  will be viable cities without raising our taxes.  In reviewing the public comments portions of the Tucker, Lakeside and Briarcliff meetings before the House of Representatives back in 2014, we found some speakers who made some excellent points (and others who didn't make much sense to us at all.)   We'll post some of those transcribed comments here and others we will post on our YouTube channel in case you want to catch up with all the things that...

This pretty much explain why we have not heard a peep out of the former Tucker leaders:  Michelle Penkava, Frank Auman or Anne Lerner.  They are the official names registered as "Tucker 2015," which seems to be already dissolved, or in the process of being dissolved.  According to the notice provided on the Secretary of State's website (which anyone can run a check on any business free of charge), the group had only 60 days from May 9, 2015, by which to renew their registration as a non-profit in the state of Georgia. Written into their own registration papers is a clause that states what happens if the business is dissolved.  It says the money will be distributed to a 501 (c) 3 company that serves the same or similar purpose (like Lavista Hills Yes, for example). So, first we found this: And then we see a renewal that changes the attorney's name on all the paperwork back over to Michelle Penkava's name.  And the attorney's address on Brockett Road is...

You have likely heard people in the pro-city group Tucker 2015 talking about how long it takes to get a permit in DeKalb County,  right? Or, maybe you heard Lavista Hills leaders talking about the permitting issue and the Tucker city group basically retelling the same story but with a lesser ability to sound convincing that this was truly an issue for our mass concern. Naughty or nice?   Are the Tucker leaders actually accepting a gift or trying to take something out of Santa's hand?  Either way, the results were only something to believe in if you also believe in fairies, elves and Elaine Boyer's advice. If you did try to press them for details, you would have thought that this entire idea about them taking over this services  must be a joke because if you ask them for details, they suddenly clam up.   Blank looks on their faces, they would look at each other... stumped for how to respond. Decide  for yourself.  Here's what we asked at a...

Note:  This method has been used to run a variety of public meetings in DeKalb County, not just in our schools.  It's designed to lead audiences and therefore the public at large to pre-drawn conclusions that they later believe was actually the will of the people. A meeting on cityhood was held in 2014 at S.W. DeKalb High School.  Many people later claimed that they felt "manipulated" by the group leader or that their actual statements were misrepresented.  A common characteristic of these meetings is the "write your question down and pass it to the front" method of public comment that we saw so much of during the city meetings around the county.  The leaders at these meetings are able to then pick and choose which questions to ask or which ones to ignore.  Or,  in some cases, they asked the person who wrote the comment to raise their hand for some  point of clarification.  If the person did raise his/her hand, they were subject...

originally published in the Tucker Patch. When we first started our inquiry into the proposed city of Lakeside and its impact on our community of Tucker, we were leaning toward cityhood as a possible solution.  And, Tucker Civic quickly told us that it was not in the cards financially.  Fast forward to today and they are advocating as individuals (the groups has no official position) for cityhood even though we have taken on enormous areas not considered Tucker and lost significant portions of our commercial districts. And, here we are today being painted as the anti-city force.  We've never been anti-city.  We just want what is best for everyone and we are more and more doubtful that these particular types of cities will solve any problems. Here's a look back at how we first became involved: (((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((( LETTER TO TUCKER CIVIC ABOUT POTENTIAL FOR CITYHO...