Give Us the Right to Vote and Decide Our Destiny!

Photo credit: Ken Lund

GIVE US OUR RIGHT TO VOTE!

We want to make one thing clear to the Georgia State Assembly: All the citizens of the proposed city of Greenhaven are asking for is to GIVE US THE RIGHT TO VOTE AND DECIDE OUR DESTINY!

The role of the State legislature is to determine whether a city can be viable before they pass it to the people for a vote.  Has a group formed to take responsibility for its formation? Can the city support its expenses? Are they offering sufficient services? Have they developed a legal framework (Charter) by which they can govern themselves? Is there a legislator willing to sponsor them?  Whether they like the idea of the city or not, if these questions are answered in the affirmative, as they have been, then the legislature should pass the bill and offer the people a public referendum for them to decide whether they want to form a city.

 In order for a public referendum to get passed through the Legislature and be included on the ballot for people to vote on, two important hurdles must be cleared.  The appropriate committees and legislators in the House and Senate must approve the proposed bill and the governor must sign it into law.  As a matter of information, the governor has signed ALL of the cityhood referenda that have passed the Legislature. 

In the 2015 legislative session, 10 DeKalb Representatives and 2 DeKalb Senators co-sponsored a bill to allow the people a vote on the new city of Greenhaven.  They are:

House of Representatives:                                 

Pam Stephenson                                      Rahn Mayo

Karen Bennett                                           Dee Dawkins Haigler

Dar’shun Kendrick                                    Billy Mitchell

Tanya Anderson                                       Mike Jacobs

Coach Williams                                         Howard Mosby

State Senators:

Ron Ramsey                                                           

Gail Davenport

We applaud these elected officials because in supporting the introduction of the Greenhaven bill, they demonstrated that they fully understand the importance of the right of the people to vote.  They led the charge in giving the people the right to determine their destiny. They were willing to grant the different sides of the Greenhaven initiative the opportunity to make their best case and let the strength of the strongest argument prevail.

For those legislators in our delegation who have so far not joined their colleagues in demonstrating active support for the Greenhaven bill, we want to make sure you have the information you need.  We have contacted your office to set up an appointment.  We believe you care about your constituents and want to ensure that they have the right to vote on their future.

Concerned Citizens for Cityhood of South Dekalb (CCCSD) strongly believes in the fundamental right to a vote!  We understand, as citizens of DeKalb County, that it is incumbent upon us to make sure that our legislators and their colleagues understand how serious this opportunity to vote is for us.  And so, this campaign going forward will focus on the legislative involvement that is vital to this campaign and Greenhaven’s citizens’ right to decide their own destiny.

The time for action is now! We ask our full DeKalb delegation to IMMEDIATELY, PUBLICLY, ENTHUSIASTICALLY and UNCONDITIONALLY announce their intention to support the right of Greenhaven residents to simply VOTE on a cityhood referendum.  

BE IN CONTROL OF YOUR DESTINY!!

For more information go to www.GreenhavenGA.blogspot.com.

We’d love your support.  Donate at  bit.ly/GreenhavenGA