Our
Concerns
We,
the Concerned Citizens for Cityhood in South DeKalb (CCCSD), believe that we
can create a healthy, vibrant city that will generate economic growth and
enrich the quality of life for residents within our boundaries. This proposed
city is officially named Greenhaven. We are concerned that remaining as an
unincorporated territory within DeKalb County,
will leave our commercial assets unprotected for others to seize, leave us vulnerable to bearing the burden of the pension fund, and inhibit our ability to focus on economic development in southern DeKalb. This statement expresses the people’s support for cityhood.
will leave our commercial assets unprotected for others to seize, leave us vulnerable to bearing the burden of the pension fund, and inhibit our ability to focus on economic development in southern DeKalb. This statement expresses the people’s support for cityhood.
What We've Done Regarding Our Concerns
We've had 142 meetings since June 2014 relating to cityhood. We have traversed the
length and breadth of south DeKalb (covering an area with a population of
approximately 295,000). We have collected data, made presentations, and spoken
to or met with residents, businesses, churches, elected officials, legislators,
mayors, HOAs, lawyers, students, representatives from other cities,
representatives from other proposed cities, the Atlanta Regional Commission
(ARC), and corporations who provide services for startup cities.
At
most of our public meetings, we have asked residents for their opinions about
what they want to see happen. Almost unanimously, they have told us that they
do not want to remain as unincorporated DeKalb. CCCSD’s leadership consists of
residents who have spent one thousand plus hours volunteering their time and
energy (this doesn’t include time spent by other volunteers). Given all of
this, we believe that we have the right to say WE REPRESENT THE PEOPLE AND WE
ARE THE PEOPLE!
Some
of our current planning work consists of the following:
· We have a lawyer working to
draft a charter
·
We are working with the ARC
on finalizing the internal boundaries of our Community Area Planning Units
(CAPUs).
·
We have and continue to meet
with corporations who have contracted with other cities for startup services to
compare who best fit our needs.
The
Solution We Propose
Forming
Greenhaven will address all the concerns listed above. It will permanently
protect our commercial assets, protect us from being the only ones funding the
pension plan (which we agree needs to be funded), and allow us to focus on
economic development within southern DeKalb. Once Greenhaven is formed, as 41%
of DeKalb’s population, it can provide strong support to the county by
advocating for an equitable payment from all cities toward the pension plan. No
other solution offers this level of protection for south DeKalb residents or
this opportunity to protect the health of the county.
The
following summarizes the advantages and benefits of forming Greenhaven:
Benefit
|
Unincorporated Area
|
Greenhaven
|
Low Taxes
|
X
|
X
|
Protection from annexation of commercial assets
|
X
|
|
Protection from South DeKalb
being the only area paying for
the pension plan
|
X
|
|
Focus
on improvement of services in South DeKalb
|
X
|
|
Focus
on economic development and jobs in South DeKalb
|
X
|
|
Ability to leverage large amounts of revenue
|
X
|
X
|
Ability to have consensus in planning for a large area
|
X
|
X
|
Ability to compete regionally
|
X
|
X
|
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