Save Tucker!

DeKalb CEO Lee May: New cities strain DeKalb budget Posted: 5:08 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015 By Mark Niesse - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution  As money and power shifts to newly created cities, DeKalb County’s government is feeling the pinch. Interim DeKalb CEO Lee May warned Wednesday that the county will soon have to reduce services or raise taxes because incorporations and annexations have strained budgets.                                        Interim DeKalb County CEO Lee May and DeKalb Budget Director Jay Vinicki discuss the county’s proposed 2016 budget on Wednesday. MARK ... read more Credit:...

The state House of Representatives Committee on Cities and Annexations was formed at the end of the last legislative session.  They are actually working on that "better process" that DeKalb County residents have been asking for.  The only problem - it won't come in time to help you if your property is in Central DeKalb because you get to vote on the last two cities that were okayed by the legislature to move forward without a clear process that protects taxpayers from the problems that we have already encountered. That committee also brought up something new that was not discussed during the legislative hearings.  The concept of a 'city lite' (a limited city government that can only add services if approved by voters in a referendum) is something that Tucker has indicated that it will be, may actually be unconstitutional in the state of Georgia.   Therefore, Tucker's charter may actually be unconstitutional in the state of Georgia....

This letter was posted on the Decaturish site, under the title " Just Say No to New Cities ."  It is true for both the city of Lavista Hills as well as the city of Tucker.  Dear Decaturish, It is my understanding that the LaVista Hills movement is upset with the AJC article that the proposed revenue will be less than anticipated . I am more concerned about other misrepresentations to the community by the pro-city movement. The pro-LaVista Hi lls group in public meetings contends that court functions will remain in DeKalb County despite the fact that they are going to duplicate services. Regardless of what you call it, leaders  in the city effort have been less than  transparent about the cost of  services and where they plan  to get the funds. LaVista Hills residents will have to support the County Court system whether there is a new city or not. However, LaVista Hills will also unnecessarily duplicate services for mun...

You may have heard recently about the accusation that DeKalb County government is "rotten to the core." It's an interesting choice of imagery, isn't it?  Since apples are commonly thought of in the context of the school system, this particular statement is a reminder to many DeKalb residents about the close call we had with the school board that was reprimanded by SACS and then removed by the Governor. Why, though, are we not reminded about the particularly bad job our own school board member did at the time all of these SACS violations were taking place?  Perhaps because that particular board member was a very well known PRO-LAKESIDE leader who even threw his own neighborhood under the bus because of something that was going to be good for "Lakeside."  In fact, the one school that was NOT complaining about the school board members, probably because they were fairing pretty well compared to everyone else, was LAKESIDE. Our  best example of what LAKESIDE...

Before you vote on Nov. 3, make sure you know exactly what you are being asked to consider.  Tucker, by the new boundaries, will include a lot more people than what you might realize. Just take a look at a search that was run on the state's website for "Section 8" housing.  Here is a look at the available housing in Tucker, as defined by our single zip code, 30084:  Tucker as it exists today.  Easy to identify and the zip code and postal designation WILL NOT CHANGE, regardless of whether or not any new cities are approved in our area.  Tucker will still be called Tucker. Tucker's zip code has a few areas with Section 8 housing readily available, according to the state, but look what happens when the new city boundaries are included in the search (see below). Here is the new version of "big city" Tucker, as divided by its suggested city council areas.  Note:  the largest area in terms of voters and sheer land mass belongs to the real, ...

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...

According to an article in the Brookhaven Post, Republicans who participated in the city fiasco taking place in DeKalb County have decided that their work here is done and they can now start the process of forming cities in their own, Republican-controlled counties.  And, guess what?  They are now saying the process is flawed.  And they are going to fix it... for themselves, not for us.    New cities will focus more on the benefit they can bring to the residents and, get this ... they will be formed WITHOUT property taxes at all.  Franchise fees and fines alone will be enough to provide border protection in a low profile township or "city lite" type of municipality that can ease residents into city living over time, if that's what they want.   It will protect the community from over building or the expansion of nearby areas by annexation.  If you were already upset that Lakeside City abused the process by submitting multiple bills and claiming...

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

 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...

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 ...

Common sense tells us that when you add more government to anything, you will end up with something that costs more, takes longer and could quite possibly be ineffective at solving the problem it set out to fix in the first place.  Agreed? Yet... advocates for new cities in DeKalb have claimed NOT ONLY that they would offer businesses a much needed improvement to their current permitting and zoning process, but also that this would be a primary driver of ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT for their little slice of the county.    FURTHERMORE, right after the last legislative session ended,  City of Tucker advocates were even claiming that THIS was a reason all by itself for us to be behind the efforts to incorporate. Are the residents of Tucker getting enough of a warning about what could happen if they get a city that can't support itself and fail?   Save Tucker! tried to  point out the simple fact that this desire to speed up the process might not be so great...