Newspaper Page Text
The Champion, Thursday, December 17 - 23,2015 LOCAL
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HILL
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have ever met that thinks it’s anything
short of unacceptable and deplorable,”
said DeKalb County press secretary
Burke Brennan.
Located off of Memorial Drive and
a few hundred feet from the campus of
Georgia Perimeter College, Brannon
Hill is plagued by burned buildings, il
legally dumped used tires, and mounds
of trash and debris.
DeKalb County leaders say it is dif
ficult to address the problems at the pri
vately owned condominium complex.
“My code officers have been going
out there and issuing.. .warning notices
for them to come into compliance or
issuing the citations and taking them to
court,” Baker said.
But the legal process has not been
much help for residents and county of
ficials.
“This is a huge multifaceted legal
issue that we have been trying to over
come for a long time which is exac
erbated by the fact that there are 309
units and [160-plus] owners and most
of those owners don’t want to be found,”
he said. “What exacerbates us is that we
can’t get them into court anymore un
less we find them.”
Previously when DeKalb County
had a Recorder’s Court, the county
could serve court notices by posting
them on the door of residences.
“Now we have to go to Magistrate’s
Court. In Magistrate’s Court we have
to personally serve the owners,” Baker
said.
“That has made Brannon Hill espe
cially very challenging,” Brennan said.
For apartment buildings, “there’s
one single owner of that apartment
complex and you’re able to serve them
and take them to court,” Baker said.
Baker said the county does not have
the option, or right, to simply “go in
there and clean up the illegal dumping
and remove all the rubbish.”
“Is it appropriate for us to take the
taxpayers’ dollars and reallocate our
resources and send people on this site,
when you as a homeowner might have a
house next to you and would want us to
come and apply the same standard for
[the] lot that’s next to you,” Baker said.
“We’re just trying to go through the
legal process and say ‘what can we legal
ly do in terms of going on these proper
ties and is it right to use taxpayer money
to [address Brannon Hill]?” he said.
Brennan said the problem the coun
ty has in addressing Brannon Hill is that
it is “a condominium complex and it’s
private property,” Brennan said. “We’re
very limited on how we spend public
funds on private property as it pertains
to making improvements, especially
when we don’t have consent.”
“Although Brannon Hill is an
extreme example, it is a microcosm
of what can go wrong with the legal
structure involving real estate law in
condominium complexes,” Brennan
said. Multiple owners, common prop
erty, dysfunctional management or
condominium association—“These are
the things that can happen and govern
ments—not just DeKalb, all of them—
are hamstrung on what they can do to a
private property under state law.”
The county continues to work to ad
dress the concerns at Brannon Hill.
Baker said county workers have
been trying to determine the latest own
ership of the units, including the burned
ones. Officials also have considered
condemnation and the use of eminent
domain law.
The county’s law department is
“looking at every option that we’ve got
and hopefully there will be a break
through,” Brennan said.
Additionally, DeKalb County Com
missioner Sharon Barnes Sutton, in
whose district Brannon Hill is located,
has formed a task force to address the
problem. Included in the task force are
the solicitor general’s office, code en
forcement, police department, planning
department, health department, law de
partment, and district attorney’s office.
“We’ve had the greatest minds in
this county working on this for a long
time,” Sutton said during a December
meeting of the Board of Commission
ers’ public works committee.
“We’ve been working on that for
over a year,” Sutton said about the task
force. “And we’ve gotten to a point
where we’re just about at a place where
we can pick [the trash and debris] up,
but there is no easy way where you can
just go there and pick it up.
“We’re looking through each and
every scenario trying to find a resolu
tion,” she said. “Were working hard on
this. If there were an easy fix, we would
have done it.”
“Everybody there deserves better,”
Sutton said.
Viviane Ernstes, deputy county at
torney, said county attorneys are look
ing at “Legally creative” ways to address
the concerns at Brannon Hill.
“What we’re looking at right now is
to see if there is some sort of legal action
that could be filed in court that would
allow us to go onto private property and
use taxpayer funds to clean it up,” Ern
stes said.
“I feel confident that we are going
to get some sort of resolution on this
sooner or later,” Brennan said. “We have
a lot of people working on this but it’s
got to be done in a way that passes legal
muster.”
To address Brannon Hill, “it prob
ably will take some involvement of the
community... [and] everybody stepping
up to the plate,” Brennan said.
Baker said the county’s community
development department is trying to
identify nonprofit organizations that
are willing to assist Brannon Hill con
dominium owners who want “to move
out and they’re looking for some kind of
assistance or first month’s rent or some
kind of way to move from that particu
lar area to a better neighborhood.”
“We are all very cognizant of the is
sues in this community,” Brennan said.
“We all share the vision that this is go
ing to get cleaned up. We are optimis-
tic.
Somalian refugee Safia Jama stands on sidewalk with dozens of other protestors
with a sign that reads, “solidarity with refugees and immigrants. Welcome to Geor
gia!” Photo by Travis Hudgons
RALLY
Continued From Page 1A
Dianne Mathiowetz coordina
tor of the nonprofit Georgia Peace
and Justice Coalition, said to the
crowd, “Politicians don’t speak for
us.
“Many of the refugees and im
migrants under attack live close to
here. We want to make sure they
know we have their backs,” she
said. Mathiowetz first began orga
nizing events for GPJC in 2002, a
time of war in Afghanistan.
She said of the Saturday rally,
“What really prompted us to do
this [were] the appalling and out
rageous statements being made
by the governor of this state and
many other elected officials. The
information that we are getting
from people in the community
about the level of hate speech
that has been directed to them in
the grocery stores, in banks, on
buses—we just really felt that we
needed to make an opportunity for
people who disagree.”
She added, “This rising right-
wing atmosphere impacts every
group that is fighting for justice....
It’s very difficult for people to
make progress.”
The purpose of the demonstra
tion was to combat actions of some
politicians, including Georgia Gov.
Nathan Deal and GOP presiden
tial candidate Donald Trump that
made immigrants feel unwelcome.
Mathiowetz said, “We stand
with communities who are under
attack.
“This event is a rebuke to
politicians who are scapegoating
people because of their origins
or religion. We reject all attempts
to demonize people because of
who they are or where they come
from. We especially denounce the
scapegoating of Syrian refugees by
politicians and even presidential
candidates,” Mathiowetz added.
Following several speeches,
attendees stood in solidarity along
Memorial Drive with signs pro
claiming “Humanity has no bor
ders,” “Refugees are welcomed,”
“No one is illegal” and similar
sentiments.
Safia Jama resettled in Geor
gia from Somalia more than 15
years ago.
“I am an American citizen and
I just don’t understand why people
like Trump and Deal are putting
out all this hate, creating problems
and victimizing us,” she said.
Jama said because of recent
events and threats on Muslims and
refugees she is considering going
back to her homeland.
Jama added, “I would rather
die among my people. Here with
all of this hate I’m afraid for my
children. I’m afraid for my grand
children. I don’t feel safe.”
Jama said events similar to
International Human Rights Day
which was held on Dec. 10, and
the rally are important for refugees
who have recently resettled.
“I came as a refugee and since
being here I’ve never experienced
anything like what’s happening
to the Syrian and Muslim com
munity now. People are saying
that Muslims are not welcome in
America. America was not created
to discriminate against people. If
they are running from people like
ISIS and they have been victimized
and the governor of Georgia does
the same thing and says ‘If you are
from Syria I would not give you
food stamps,’ that’s not right.”
GPJC is a volunteer network of
community, faith, student organi
zations and individuals who pro
moting global justice and peace.
For additional information, visit
georgiapeace.org.