About Sandy Springs reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2013)
COMMUNITY New mayor, new members prepare to join City Council PHOTO BY PHIL MOSIER Mayor-elect Rusty Paul, left, celebrates his victory Election Night with Councilman Tibby DeJulio, who won re-election. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 said on Nov. 13 she had decided not to seek a recount of the results of the elec tion. She considered a challenge because at least a half-dozen voters in one precinct were given the wrong ballot, she said. “I made a decision this morning not to pur sue a recount,” she said. “I don’t think it’s in the best interest of the voters.” Sandy Springs’ voters cleared a wide path for businessman Rusty Paul to lead the city for the next four years. Paul, a former City Council member, collected 81 percent of the votes on Nov. 5 to be come the city’s second mayor. He takes over from iconic founding Mayor Eva Galambos, who endorsed Paul. Paul was swept to the post with an overwhelming majority, outpolling local businessman Bob Brown four to one. The first order of business, Paul said, will be to get reacquainted with the new City Council and with city staff. In District 2, Ken Dishman defeated incumbent Dianne Fries, 639 to 381. Dishman said he plans to work closely with the new mayor to contin ue building Sandy Springs into a shin ing example of self-governance. Dish man thanked Fries for her leadership and service on the council. Fries said she was disappointed that barely 1,000 votes were cast in the race, adding that she planned to stay in volved in city issues. In District 3, Graham McDon ald won the seat vacated by Chip Collins. Gabriel Sterling easily held off a challenge from Tochie Blad, win ning two-thirds of the votes cast. Tibby DeJu lio, who will be the only City Coun cil member remain ing from the city’s first council elected in 2005 other than Paul, won re-elec tion to his District 5 seat, capturing 75 percent of the vote. DeJulio said he’s looking forward to working closely with the new may or. “Rusty worked with Eva and I for several years before the city was born, so he’s got a great work ing knowledge of the city,” DeJulio said. About 100 Paul supporters who gathered at J. Christopher’s Tuesday night were equally enthusiastic. Trisha Thompson, who serves on the board of the Sandy Springs Coun cil of Neighborhoods, said Paul will be a perfect successor to Galambos. “This is a jumping-off point from what Eva has built, an organization of financial stability,” she said. “It will bring a new look for the city, a new vibrancy.” Survey finds metro Atlantans want better roads and transit BY DAN WHISHT danwhisenhunt@reporternewspapers.net On Nov. 1, the Atlanta Region al Commission released results of the “Metro Atlanta Speaks” survey, de scribed as “one of the most extensive” in the region’s history. It revealed some interesting things about the 10-county Atlanta region. The A.L. Burruss Institute of Public Service and Research at Kennesaw State Uni versity surveyed over 2,100 voting age adults. Here are some of the survey’s conclusions: 1) Metro residents want better roads and public transit. The survey re ports that 56.8 percent of residents say traffic has gotten worse. The survey asked several questions about the state of the metro region’s roads and public transportation. Even though voters in this same 10-county region in 2012 overwhelm ingly rejected a penny sales tax to im prove roads and transit, the survey found 21.4 percent of residents think traffic is the region’s No. 2 problem, ranking slightly lower than the economy. An overwhelming 71.3 percent re sponded that public transportation is “very important” for the region’s future. They also think building better roads and public transit is the best long term solution, with 40.9 percent supporting better public transit and 30 percent sup porting better roads. Only 2.7 percent of people who re sponded suggested doing nothing. In 2012, 63 percent of voters in the 10-county region rejected the Trans portation Special Purpose Local Op tion Sales Tax to pay for road and public transit improvements. 2) Metro residents are OK with their schools, even though public edu cation in the metro area has taken some serious hits over the last couple of years. Even though the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal and the per sistent dysfunction of DeKalb Coun ty Schools have dominated local news headlines, most people who responded to the survey were satisfied with public education as a whole. The survey says 35.4 percent of peo ple who responded think the quality of education in the metro area is “fair” and 29.7 percent think it’s “good.” The sur vey found 3.8 percent think the quality of schools is “excellent.” At the local level, residents were even more satisfied with their public schools. The survey says that 19.5 percent of re spondents think their local schools are “excellent,” and 35 percent think their local schools are “good.” The survey respondents ranked edu cation as the fourth biggest problem fac ing the region, behind crime, traffic and the economy. 3) The Internet and television are the region’s top news sources. The decline of newspapers has been going on for several years, and the sur vey gives that trend some additional per spective in metro Atlanta. According to the survey, 38.7 percent of people get their news from televi sion and 34 percent get their news from the Internet. The survey found 8.7 per cent of respondents get their informa tion from newspapers, which is slightly ahead of the 5.3 percent of people who get their news through word of mouth. ss www.ReporterNewspapers.netl NOV. 15—NOV. 28, 2013 | 27
