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LOCAL
MMMMMa March 10 -16, 2016 » Page 8A
From left, DeKalb Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton hosted a forum with District Attorney Robert James, Solicitor General Sherry Boston, Police Chief James Conroy
and county CEO candidate Michael Thurmond. Photos by Andrew Cauthen
DeKalb leaders discuss county's positives, negatives
by Andrew Cauthen
Andrew@dekalbchamp.com
DeKalb County Com
missioner Sharon Barnes
Sutton held a community
meeting Feb. 29 in Tucker
so residents could ask ques
tions and learn about some
of the county’s positives and
negatives.
Sutton said attendees
had the opportunity to “hear
about the good things in
DeKalb County—what we’re
doing with your tax money,
how we’re protecting you,
how we’re taking care of our
infrastructure, how we’re
educating our children, how
we’re making this place an
even better place to live.”
DeKalb County District
Attorney Robert James
talked about how his office
is attacking gangs and hu
man trafficking.
“We have gotten to a
place now where we have
national gangs. They have
members of their leader
ship that live here in DeKalb
County and they operate out
of DeKalb County,” James
said.
“We have had several
gang-related murders in
the course of the last two
years,” he said. “I hate to be
the bearer of bad news but
this has become more com
monplace. We’re starting to
see more and more of this.”
James said it is impor
tant to continue funding his
gang unit, made up of two
prosecutors, two investiga
tors and a victims advocate.
Funding also is needed
in the police department be
cause “myself and the chief
just can’t be reactive to stuff
all the time,” he said.
“I’m pleased with the
budget that was passed; we
can start addressing some
of these things on the front
end,” James said. “I feel
like we’re finally getting to
a place where we’re getting
the resources where we
don’t have to be reactive.”
In addition to gangs, the
county has a human traffick
ing problem, James said.
“The average age that a
young girl enters prostitution
or the sex trade or traffick
ing trade is 13 and 14 years
old,” James said. “We’re not
talking about grown women
that are standing on the
corner like you may see on
Memorial Drive. Even some
of those women started out
as young girls.
“We are talking about
13- and 14-year-old girls
that are sold into trafficking,”
James said. “It’s serious. It’s
modern-day slavery. They
are losing their lives. These
young girls are branded,
these young girls are beat
en, some of them are mur
dered and we have to do
something about it.”
A positive that DeKalb
County Solicitor General
Sherry Boston said she is
proud of is her community
prosecutor program.
“We have [two] prosecu
tors embedded in the com
munity,” Boston said. “They
each have a precinct within
the county and they have
direct relationships with the
police in that community,
with the homeowners as
sociations, with the com
missioners whose area that
covers, with the churches,
See Leaders on Page 9A
Stone Mountain downtown group reveals plans for revitalization
by Carla Parker
carla@dekalbchamp.com
Stone Mountain Downtown
Development Authority (DDA)
is looking at different ways to
revitalize the city’s downtown area.
The DDA presented its 2016
DDA/Main Street Work Plan on
Feb. 18. The plan outlined the
2016 task forces that will help
bring in new business and grow
current business, according to
DDA Executive Director Mechel
McKinley.
“Instead of having four point
committees like we had in the
past, we’ve identified six different
task forces that we’re going to be
working on,” McKinley said. “We’re
trying to help our existing and new
businesses thrive and succeed.
The six task forces will focus on
communication, cycling, real estate,
the historic train depot, business
develop and the look of the city.
With the communications task
force, McKinley said the DDA will
try to reach all subdivisions inside
the city limits as well as those
outside and adjacent to the city
limits to see if residents identify with
Stone Mountain as their downtown.
“We want to make sure that
they are aware of what’s going
on in Stone Mountain and we’re
encouraging them to participate in
the things that we have going on,”
she said. “We’re also going to reach
out to the campgrounds at Stone
Mountain Park five different times
a year to give information about
the village, the businesses and the
different city events to park goers.”
Stone Mountain is a city that
cyclers usually ride through.
McKinley said the cycling task force
will be used to share information to
cyclists about cycling in the city and
DeKalb County.
“We want to take advantage of
that opportunity by partnering with
the DeKalb Convention and Visitors
Bureau, Clarkston, Decatur and
Lithonia on an interactive web page
that provides information about
cycling in DeKalb County,” she
said. “We’re a featured destination
on that site, and we’re also looking
at other ways we can help our
businesses be more cycling-
friendly.”
McKinley said the real estate
task force would stay “in touch
with property owners and connect
potential businesses with the right
properties for their businesses.
“Making sure that if somebody
wants to open an office they’re not
looking at a retail space,” she said.
“We’re also working with potential
investors, bringing them to town,
showing them what we got going
on and getting them excited about
Stone Mountain as well.”
In 2015, the city had $352,000
worth of renovations done to the
historic train depot. McKinley
said the city in on the community
development block grant budget for
2016 for a $149, grant that would
help the city comply with ADA
regulations, including adding an
ADA compliant bathroom.
“We’re hoping to get that grant,”
she said.
McKinley also said the DDA is
trying to get more things done to
the train depot so it can be used
regularly.
“We will be looking at [having]
exhibits for this summer that would
allow people to come into the
depot,” she said.
The business development
task force will continue providing
more grants for business owners to
continue to grow their businesses.
“We have access to other
programs like the downtown
development revolving loan fund
tax credits available to help people
with their business plan,” McKinley
said. “The big thing is we’re going
to be starting a Stone Mountain
downtown revolving loan fund this
summer. They will be small loans to
assists business property owners
who needs upgrades and those
kinds of things. They will be low
interest loans with a short payback
period so that we can constantly
loan out money.”
The sixth task force will focus
on improving the look of the city by
adding more welcome signs at the
various entrances of the city.
“We’ve been working with the
design studio out of Athens and
we’re working on five different
gateway areas,” McKinley said.
McKinley said the gate entrance
project is $75,000.
“We’re looking for sponsors
and partners, and we’re looking for
grant opportunities,” she said.