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COMMUNITY
‘T
GOOGLE MAPS
The area on this map outlined by dots highlights the proposed city of
Briarcliff. The area with a solid outline represents the proposed city of
Lakeside. For a larger version of this map, go to ReporterNewspapers.net.
“Sen. [Fran] Millar dropped the
Lakeside bill and all of a the sudden the
maps started surfacing. And people in
Tucker were very, very unhappy,” Hen
son said. “We dropped a bill so the peo
ple of Tucker, if they want to be part of
that discussion, can be part of that dis
cussion.”
Sen. Jason Carter, D-Decatur, said
although he introduced a bill to cre
ate a city called Lavista Hills, he’s not
convinced new cities are the way to fix
the discontent people feel with DeKalb
County.
He pointed to the slim majority of
votes that allowed for the creation of
Brookhaven as evidence. About 55 per
cent of the voters casting ballots in the
Brookhaven election were in favor of the
city.
“The divisiveness of that vote, which
was almost 50/50, is troubling,” Carter
said. “I’m not sold on a new city. In fact,
I’m very hesitant.”
But Millar, a vocal critic of DeKalb
County who has been involved in the
creation of many of metro Atlanta’s new
est cities, said forming a new city doesn’t
equate to leaving the county.
“Dunwoody has been very successful.
I believe Brookhaven will be very suc
cessful. At the end of the day I believe
87 percent of my taxes still go to DeKalb
County. Nobody is seceding here,” Mil
lar said.
The leaders of several community
groups also appeared at the May 6 gath
ering to express opinions about what
creating a city could mean for their area.
Michelle Penkava of Tucker said res
idents are cautious. “One of the reasons
we are taking this so slowly is we under
stand it will be divisive, regardless,” she
said.
Bruce McGregor, past president of
the Druid Hills Civic Association said
land use is the main concern for his or
ganization.
“We have an extremely flawed pro
cess of creating new cities. It’s extremely
unfair,” McGregor said.
But he added it may make sense to
explore the option.
“If everyone to the north of us be
comes a city, that orphans us and we lose
the ability to command our own desti
ny,” McGregor said.
Elmer Veith of the Dresden East Civ
ic Association said his neighbors have
been fighting new city efforts, like Lake
side and Brookhaven, which have tried
to include their homes and commercial
areas. They now are working to be an
nexed into the city of Chamblee, he said.
“We don’t want to be a new city.
We want to join on that already exists,”
Veith said.
Nearly all the speakers agreed that
there should be inclusive community
discussions to figure out the best option.
“The process is just as important as
the outcome. You won’t have a vibrant,
successful city if the process is not inclu
sive and fact-based,” Carter said.
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