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HONORING EVA
Mayor Eva Galambos - Thank you for your commitment and
dedication to your community, your efforts behind localized
governance, and for enhancing the quality of life for citizens
throughout the metro area.
Dunwoody
Dunwoodyga.gov
We celebrate
Mayor
Eva Galambos
and her steadfast commitment to making
the city of Sandy Springs a great place to live
and work. We thank you for your outstanding
years of service to our community.
Ackerman & Co.
Mayor Eva Galambos enjoys
herself at a party thrown
in her honor at Heritage
Sandy Springs on Dec. 8.
It’s been said that “when
you work with Eva, there is
no compromise with quality.
Everything has to be done
right... There’s a wrong
way, there’s a right way,
and there’s Eva’s way.”
Galambos has remarked that
the politician she most admired
was former U.K. Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher, known
as “The Iron Lady.” “She
had determination and she
fought for what she believed,”
Galambos said. “She was a
wonderful role model.”
PHIL MOSIER
Eva’s way: Sandy Springs mayor
never took ‘no’ for an answer
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7
side of the home. With her intellect, and
ambition, she could’ve been almost any
thing she’d wanted. She moved to Sandy
Springs in I960 with her young family.
“We wanted a large lot, and we want
ed to be where there was plenty of room
around us,” Galambos said. “When we
moved on Trimble Road, there was a 14-
acre site next to us with cows. It was the
edge of development.”
Galambos grew frustrated as develop
ment started cropping up in the com
munity around her.
“I realized how mistreated we were
by Fulton County, and realized that was
not what I expected from local govern
ment,” Galambos said. “That made me
passionate about protecting our neigh
borhoods. We were being inundated
with gas stations and commercial devel
opment at every corner.”
That was the beginning of what
would become a decades-long fight.
Galambos became president of the
Committee for Sandy Springs in 1975.
The effort to incorporate was also a po
litical struggle, pitting black Democrats
in the state Legislature against white Re
publican lawmakers from the suburbs.
Galambos said when she was young
er she identified as a Democrat, but now
identifies as a Republican. She and her
husband John, who worked as a physi
cian, resented how government spent
taxpayer money.
“The thing that really brought about
the change was when we started paying
huge income taxes and we realized how
much of our income was being redis
tributed,” Galambos said. “That’s what
turns liberals into conservatives. When
they see how the money is wasted, you
get a different philosophy.”
Galambos had a knack for recruit
ing talented allies in her fight against big
government. She reached out to Kar
en Meinzen McEnerny around 2001
for help when the state Transportation
Department was considering a contro
versial plan to realign Roswell Road.
McEnerny was elected to the city’s first
council in 2005, along with Galambos.
Over the years, their relationship
showed signs of strain as McEnerny
pushed for policies that Galambos didn’t
support. The councilwoman frequently
found herself in the voting minority on
city council.
“Eva is somebody to never underes
timate,” McEnerny said. “She is one of
the most focused, hardworking women I
have ever had the opportunity to meet.”
Trisha Thompson-Fox, a member of
the Sandy Springs Council of Neighbor
hoods, first met Galambos in the 1990s.
Galambos enlisted her to fight zoning in
Fulton County to protect Sandy Springs
from overdevelopment.
The more time Galambos spent as
mayor, the more frequently she found
herself at odds with the Council of
Neighborhoods. She was criticized for
votes in support of commercial and resi
dential developments that some council
members opposed.
Galambos said her view on protect
ing neighborhoods has not changed over
the years.
“I still absolutely cherish the neigh
borhoods and want to maintain them as
they are, but when you’ve got commer
cial development that isn’t impinging
on a neighborhood, you have to under
stand a developer’s viewpoints,” Galam
bos said. “I don’t think the Council of
Neighborhoods often listens to the de
velopers.”
Fox said that the friction between
Galambos and the Council of Neigh
borhoods hasn’t gotten in the way of her
relationship with the mayor.
“We have not always seen eye to eye,
but I respect her opinions and her abil-
10 | DEC. 27,2013 — JAN. 9, 2014 | www.ReporterNewspapers.net
