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April 7 - 13, 2016 » Page 8A
Photo by Travis Hudgons
Avondale Estates focusing on business growth
by Carla Parker
carla@dekalbchamp.com
In 2015, 22 new
businesses opened in
Avondale Estates and
the city hopes the trend
continues.
During his state of the
city address on March
28, Avondale Estates
Mayor Jonathan Elmore
expressed his excitement
for the new businesses and
laid out the plan for bringing
in more businesses, which
will be tasked by the city’s
Downtown Development
Authority (DDA).
“This year we’ve really
been working on innovating,
energizing and enabling
the DDA to better do their
job,” Elmore said. “We’re
in talks with them right now
to start funding them much
more substantially than
Elmore
we have in the past and
hopefully we’ll be reaching
an intergovernmental
agreement with them pretty
soon.”
Elmore said city officials
are looking for the DDA
to do more to promote
the city, promote the
existing businesses, help
the existing businesses,
and also bring in new
businesses, new events,
and more visitors to the city.
“As such, they have
decided to divide and
conquer and they have now
started these committees—
events, marketing, a
department of juvenile
justice representative,
business recruitment and
organization and land use
redevelopment,” Elmore
said. “These are incredibly
important things and we
look forward to working with
the DDA more closely and
pushing the goals of our
city.”
Elmore also stated in
his address that the city
has formed two new ad
hoc committees that will
focus on education and
greenspace.
“These are two things
that are important to all
of us,” Elmore said. “We
don’t have our own school
system here in Avondale
but [education] is something
that is very important to all
of us, so we’ve decided
to form an education
committee so they can help
us put information on the
website for people who are
moving here, for people
who live here about our
education resources.”
Elmore said the
committee includes
education professionals
who will keep an eye on the
“education politics” in the
county, “so that we know
what’s going on and we’re
better prepared for anything
that’s coming down the
road.”
Elmore said the
greenspace committee is
currently putting together a
draft for the residential tree
ordinance.
“They recently asked
us to commission a tree
canopy study, which is
under way, so we can take
a look at our tree canopy
to see if it’s increasing, is
it decreasing and where
we’re going,” he said. “It’ll
also better inform the tree
ordinance that they’re
drafting. They’re also
going to be looking at the
greenspace resources that
the city owns...to see how
we can possibly better
utilize the greenspace for all
of us.
“We’re really excited
to have both of these
[committees],” Elmore
added. “They’re ad hoc
committees, which means
they’ll be in place for a year.
At the end of that year we’ll
take a look at what they’ve
done and if we’re happy
with that we’ll reappoint
them. I’m looking forward to
seeing the results.”
Robbins, Monferdini win Tucker council seats
by Carla Parker
carla@dekalbchamp.com
The final two seats of the
Tucker City Council are filled.
Matt Robbins won the District
2, Post 1 council seat, and Noelle
Monferdini won the District 2, Post
2 council seat in the March 29 runoff
elections. Monferdini thanked her
supporters on her Facebook page.
“Thank you all for your support,
your willingness to open up and
speak with me about the things
that are important to you, attending
our forums and meet and greets
and your vote,” Monferdini said.
“Without all of you I would not be
here today. Thank you so very
much and I am very excited to build
this city with all of you. I am proud
to serve you all.”
Monferdini won the seat
with 68.85 percent of votes. Her
opponent, Susan Wood, received
31.15 percent. Robbins edged out a
Robbins
Monferdini
51.56 percent to 48.44 percent over
opponent Katherine Atteberry.
The election had a voter turnout
of 13.30 percent.
The newly elected council
members joined the city council
after their swearing in ceremony
on April 1. The mayor and council
have been meeting since March 15
without representation for District 2.
The candidates acknowledged
residents’ concerns about the
council holding meetings with a
District 2 representative but did not
disagree with the council meetings.
“I want to make it very clear
that the four of us who are running
for District 2 will make a pledge
and partnership and participation
with the existing council,” Robbins
had said prior to the lection. “The
bottom line is we’re going to
serve the whole city. Yes, we are
segmented into [three districts]
with two going to be completed in
a couple of weeks. But the bottom
line is we want to work together for
the city and for the needs of the
city.”
Monferdini suggested at the
first council meeting that the council
consider changing the city charter
to address the issue of a district not
being represented due to a runoff
election.
“Remember that not everyone
agreed with a city to begin with,”
Monferdini said. “We’re trying to get
them on board. We want everyone
to move forward together.”