Newspaper Page Text
The Champion, Thursday, June 25 - July 1, 2015
LOCAL
Page 15A
Workforce
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People crowded the Doraville Civic Center to gather information about the former GM plant and the proposed tax allocation district.
worked in DeKalb County’s pur
chasing and contracts office and
the county’s mail room
Last summer, Stephens worked
in landscaping on the East Lake
Golf Course.
“I enjoyed that as well,” he said.
“I got a chance to meet Steve Har
vey when I was out there.”
Stephens said DeKalb Work
force has helped him “tremen
dously.”
“It has helped me grow into
the young man that you see before
you today,” said Stephens, who
plans to study computer technol
ogy. “When I was younger,.. .1 was
hanging with the wrong crowd. I
didn’t picture my life being what it
has become today.”
Stone Mountain resident
Blaine Allen, a recent graduate of
DeKalb Early College Academy,
has been in the youth program for
a year and working in the DeKalb
Workforce office for three weeks.
“It’s kind of difficult to get your
foot in the door,” Allen said about
his job search prior to enrolling
the DeKalb Workforce program.
“Usually you find that people who
are working.. .help the people that
they know get a job. It’s difficult
when you don’t have those connec
tions with those kinds of people.
“That’s why I’m grateful for
this program,” said Allen, who
is the “point-man” for all the file
requests and needs related to an
upcoming audit.
“I really believe it’s a great
program,” said Allen, who plans
to become a corporate attorney. “I
feel like it helps kids to give them
structure. If you don’t have struc
ture when you’re young, it leads to
not having structure later on life.
“It’s a worthwhile experience,”
said Allen, who has been accepted
to Georgia State University where
he plans to major in criminal
justice with an emphasis on legal
studies. “You get to meet like-
minded young people who want to
work and who want to succeed.”
Latanya Lowery, employ
ment training supervisor for the
youth unit of DeKalb Workforce
Development, said, “We try to
give [youth] different opportuni
ties to explore a variety of careers.
As they are transitioning, some of
them know what they want to do,
some of them don’t know.”
For more information about
the program, contact DeKalb
Workforce Development at (404)
687-2718.
Doraville
Continued From Page 1A
officials afterwards.
Bleakly Advisory Group consul
tant Jonathan Gelber said of all the
TADs he’s had the opportunity to
work on, he has not seen one that
has more potential than Doraville’s.
A redevelopment plan serves
as a feasibility study for a potential
TAD and is required by state law.
According to Gelber, the rede
velopment is a business plan for the
state and residents to say the city
wants to do a TAD and has done
modeling and estimates to get an
idea of what will be involved.
The TAD plan deals specifically
with the finance, economics and
the implementation of the tax allo
cation district.
Gelber said, the Doraville plan
is unique because “Nowhere, not
just in this region, do you have a
situation where you have a large
contiguous site vacant or under
developed land or both that is ad
jacent to an existing heavy transit
line, that is adjacent to an airport,
that is adjacent to a freeway, adja
cent to heavy rail, adjacent to inter
state highways. You’ve got 10 years
of planning and zoning and vision
ing already in place.”
TADs have been used for major
projects such as Atlantic Station,
the Atlanta Beltline and Camp
Creek Marketplace.
To date, more than 70 cities and
counties in Georgia have approved
local referendums to use TADs.
In 2014 Doraville received
$351,000 in property taxes from the
area in the proposed TAD.
According to Gelber’s informa
tion on the property tax impact
and revenue potential, if the TAD
is approved it could bring $2 billion
in new development, increase city
tax revenue from $351,000 to $6.4
million a year and increase total tax
revenue to $30 million year.
Anticipated tax revenue in the
TAD could support up to $247 mil
lion in bonds or loans to fund in
frastructure and other eligible cost.
Doraville officials will vote on
the TAD amendment at its first July
council meeting.
City Manager Shawn Gillen
said there will be a public hearing
with an action to follow.
He said, “Once the council ap
proves this, they’re not issuing debt,
they’re just creating the boundar
ies. At that point it then goes to the
county and the school board to ask
for resolutions in support of the
TAD, which would then make the
TAD fully functioning.”
About the former General Mo
tors plant, Assembly, Pinckney
said, “The most important progress
that’s at the site is that the building
is down. People are starting to see
now and get a picture of what can
happen.”
The Integral Group Eric Pinckney explains the
boundaries of the project.
Doraville Mayor Donna Pittman welcomes attendees to the town hall meeting
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