Roswell’s Debate Continues
Editor’s Note: this letter is in response to last week’s written by Mayor Wood.

Ah, Mayor Wood has taken off the kid gloves and with his scathing attack on his arch rival, he once again has expressed a litany of misstatements in his letter to the Editor of the Beacon that he needs to respond to.

Mayor Wood please explain how the millage rate has declined by 17%, yet my city tax bill increased by 20% in 2004 and has remained near that level ever since. To be honest, and I do realize that is a stretch, but you know full well that the assessed value set by Fulton County has been the city’s primary source of revenue. Anybody could coach a team with those advantages. And to take personal credit for the investment in our parks – that’s bogus too.  As I remember the taxpayers voted favorably for a Bond Referendum.

Now, I do have to compliment you on your willingness to admit tapping  reserves again to the tune of a million dollars to replace worn out police vehicles. But please, the truth of the matter is that your administration failed to properly allocate funds within your vehicle replacement program over the past several years! And now you are playing catch up. Ah, but what’s another $1.1 million amongst friends when your administration has spent $17 million in reserves in the last two budget years.

But what concerns me the most is your meaning of “conservative estimates of anticipated revenues” when your 2010 budget is based on a sales tax revenue increase of 1% and state wide sales tax revenues are down by 11%. I am afraid that this city will have to face that distortion soon after the next election.

Next, and please remember sir I was there when the City Council, the governing body that sets policy for this city, instructed your administration to take a minimum of $2.5 million out of the proposed 2010 budget. And at that time the council further emphasized to your administrator to maintain the capital maintenance budget to preserve city assets. Did your administrator follow that directive of City Council?   Absolutely NOT! To the contrary, the bulk of the reductions that followed were taken from physical plant capital maintenance!  The truth of the matter is, and the public needs to know, that Councilwoman Lori Henry & the rest of City Council did unanimously and prudently add $2.2 million back into the budget to preserve city assets because your administration failed to follow the council’s instructions! And I am convinced that your administration responded solely to your directive.

And last but not least, I love how you claim to have “set aside” reserves. Remember I was there too when the final figures for fiscal year 2008 were announced at a city council meeting. I was there when you were ecstatic that somehow the city coffers miraculously contained an additional $16 million of taxpayer’s money. Candidly, from my vantage point, it appeared that was the end result of “dumb luck” and not prudent fiscal planning.

But alas, I will reserve final judgment until the signatures of the auditors are dry on the 2009 actual budget figures!

Lee Fleck
Roswell

Johns Creek Parks Still A Touchy Subject

On Monday July 27 over 150 people attended the City of Johns Creek City Council Meeting.  According to city officials, this represented the largest attendance ever for a Mayor and Council meeting. More than 90% of the attendees were present to hear what would become of an application for a Use Permit for Recreational Fields by CRW Taylor Partners, LLC for 44 acres on Rogers Bridge Road located on the Johns Creek Greenway at the Chattahoochee River.  CRW had purchased the land in January 2007 for the purpose of using it as recreational land for the new city.

The supporters of this development were readily identifiable as they were outfitted in green and white tee shirts which read “I want to play on Cherokee Fields, PLEASE!” It was quite apparent that the overwhelming majority of the people in attendance were supporters of the applicant’s proposal.

Over the past three years I have coached the Junior Titan Lacrosse and Football teams.  This experience has proven to me that that there is a pressing need for field space for youth recreational activities.  The Junior Titan football program shares space with the high school football team and uses the field after the high school team is done.  Of course, if the weather does not allow the varsity to practice early in the day - heat and humidity can often require that they delay their practice to later in the evening which, in turn, bumps the middle school teams off the field.

As difficult as it is for the middle school football teams to get field space – (also note that  the 3rd-5th grade football teams also struggle to find practice space)- the demand for space in the spring is even more pressing.  In the spring you have 8 high school programs competing for space at Northview.   Boys and girls, varsity and sub varsity, lacrosse and soccer all use the stadium facility for practice and games.  In order to schedule all games and practices it is routine for high school teams to have practices at 6:00 am prior to the school day.

This of course rules out using the Northview fields for anything other than weekend games.  Last year we were able to use the recreation field at the Medlock Bridge subdivision for our 8th grade team and the two other lacrosse teams. The previous year we had practiced 2 teams simultaneously at the Windward Elementary school.  There were approximately 50 kids who co-existed on the very small field at Windward two nights a week.

This spring our 8th grade Junior Titans lacrosse team was politely but firmly asked to vacate the Medlock Bridge subdivision field (which we had used for practice all season) before the end of the season.  The stated reason for asking us not to practice there was that the facility was just not suitable for lacrosse practice at the same time as the other recreational uses commonly associated with a subdivision field.  So this past season we had two weeks of our season where we had to struggle to find a place to practice.

Also it should be noted that the scheduling of lacrosse games proved difficult this past year.  Last year we had 7 home games scheduled.  For these dates we paid Fulton County approximately $2,000 to use the fields. This money did not stay with the school, rather it was sent directly to the school board.  On one of these dates that we paid for the high school field but we were bumped off the field one hour before we were to play our game!  In that instance we had to reschedule our game on the fly and our team had to pack up on short notice and drive to Cobb County where we played the game on our opponent’s field at Lassiter.

Now as we look forward to the spring season in 2010 we are told that Northview will not be available to us at all - practices of course were never an option for us at the high school.  So we have a successful program with approximately 70-80 kids annually who desire to play and we have no place for them to do so.

The facility proposed by Mr. Cheeley is superb and is strategically located so that none of the problems we have experienced in the past would present themselves at this location.  Parking is more than adequate and the location is superb in terms of being centrally located for people who live within the Northview school district. The site is approximately 2-3 miles from the high school.

This development was a great opportunity for the City to provide a much needed recreational facility.  It would have provided a facility that would have serviced the recreational needs of many children and their families.  It would have provided a nature walkway to everyone in the community.  It had dedicated space for the Boy Scouts. 

The decision of the City Council to summarily reject this incredible opportunity strikes me as absurd.  That they rejected the measure without offering up solutions to address the pressing need for field space strikes me as government in its worse form. 

July 27, 2009 will remain in my memory as the day Johns Creek City Council turned its back on the needs of the community to protect the special interests of 6 residents in the Olde Taylor Farm Subdivision.  Next year when our youth teams are practicing and playing games in an adjacent county I will still be perplexed by the actions of our City Government.  I wonder if we were still governed by Fulton County would our needs have been ignored to the same degree?

James Westbrook
Johns Creek

Handel Not Out Yet
I look forward to your paper every Sunday because I know it will always have some interesting news.

This past Sunday was no exception. The article covering the current polls, funding and so forth on the governor’s race raised some issues in my mind.

I happen to be a friend of Karen Handel and can tell you that there is not the remotest possibility of her dropping out of the race. We are a year away from the primary . . . a year. Remember Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson and where they were in the presidential polls. A poll a year ahead is meaningless. To criticize Karen for spending time explaining her qualifications and experience misses the mark. She has plenty of time to spell out her positions on the issues well ahead of the primary next year. I especially take issue with your criticism of her grass roots small donor fund raising. One of the problems with politics today is the big donors literally owning candidates and they are the only ones with a seat at the table. We need far more grass roots political activity in this country on a national level.

This is not the first time you have been critical of Karen. Makes me wonder if you have your own agenda or a candidate you are supporting stealthily. Perhaps you do not like that a woman – of all things - would challenge the “system”?

Respectfully submitted,
Richard G. Freeman