About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 2021)
4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com Wednesday, October 13,2021 Jacob Smith Dawson County News The three City Council election candidates who were in attendance for the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce political forum: from left to right-William lllg, Mark Wade French and Jamie McCracken. Biggest takeaways for the Dawsonville Municipal Election Candidate Forum Jacob Smith jsmith@dawsonnews.com The Dawson County Chamber of Commerce hosted three of the four Dawsonville City Council candidates in a one-hour political forum at Dawson County Middle School on Tuesday, Oct. 5. Chamber of Commerce president Mandy Power hosted Post 2 incumbent William lllg, Post 4 incumbent Mark Wade French and his opponent for the Post 4 seat, Jamie McCracken. Mike Sosebee was not in atten dance. Topics discussed at the event were ones such as government consolida tion, maintaining Main Street Park, the economic development of the city and improving the infra structure and traffic. lllg and McCracken said they would not vote to approve the consolida tion of the county and city government, but French said he would wait and hear more details on the process before committing to one side or the other. “Until you hire an out side, independent party to explain what the benefits are to you, the detriments are to you and you become more familiar with the things we proba bly never even thought of...depending on a study, if we were able to do one, I may not be in favor of it,” French said. “But until we spend the money, we really don’t know the pros and cons of doing so.” Something lllg said he prided himself on during his time with the city council was the hiring of two additional police offi cers and the installation of security cameras at Main Street Park. French was also on the council during those two votes, and said he knew the city would need to “be cre ative” in figuring out how to continue the safety and cleanliness of the park. McCracken said his family and he had trav eled to other cities to go to areas such as Main Street Park before it’s conception and saw great value in having an area such as for the communi ty. “One of the interesting things about the park is that it was part of the last master plan,” McCracken said. “Along with the farmer’s market, those are the crowning jewels of the city. Three things are needed for the park: it needs to be safe, it needs to be clean and it needs to be relevant. Keeping it relevant is just going to have to be a focus of the city. The money has to be allocated yearly to main tain it constantly.” French said he believes the best way for down town Dawsonville to see economic improvement would be to work with the Georgia Department of Transportation to make a bypass to “enable the city to get heavy traffic.” McCracken said he believes small improve ments, like landscaping, can be made now while conversations between different government entities occur. lllg, a small business owner himself, spoke with great enthusiasm on the economic develop ment of the city. “It takes a lot of money to build a bypass,” lllg said. “We need to figure out how to get the money to do it. If we can’t build a bypass, then we have to figure out how in the world do we relocate downtown? How do we make the land acquisi tions that we need to make in order to get our businesses in a position where they can market sufficiently to the citi zens?” The end of the forum consisted of each candi date detailing their top three biggest priorities during their time with the city council: Post 2 incumbent William lllg • Hiring someone in charge of Economic Development in the city: Understands how to rebuild cit ies financially • Marketing down town Dawsonville at the North Georgia Premium Outlets: Get people the six miles down the road to down town • Installing an amphi theater at Main Street Park: Live music, plays and shows Post 4 incumbent Mark Wade French • Mending fences with the Dawson County Board of Commissioners: had financial argu ments in the past • Adding a clear ser vice delivery area for the sewer authority: City growth will cause issues • Working with GDOT to get a bypass to direct traffic to downtown Dawsonville: brings people to down town Post 4 candidate Jamie McCracken • Revisiting ‘perpet ual challenges’: Negotiating with landowners in the city • Renewing a Master Plan for the city: Current one was written in 2013 • Building on the current successes of Main Street Park: executing on different entertain ment ideas • Early and absentee voting starts Tuesday, Oct. 12 with the in-person election being held on Tuesday, Nov. 2. Lawmakers to renew debate over legalized gambling Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service ATLANTA - While the General Assembly gears up for next month’s once-a-decade redrawing of Georgia’s legisla tive and congressional district maps, lawmakers also will soon renew a much more frequent debate over legalized gambling. Bills that could lead to casi nos, pari-mutuel betting on horse racing and/or sports bet ting in the Peach State will be on the table when the 2022 leg islative session convenes in January for the second year of a two-year term. Proposals to legalize gam bling in Georgia in some form have come up virtually every year for the last decade, with most of the bills dedicating part of the proceeds to the hugely popular HOPE Scholarships and pre-kindergarten programs. But after years of failing to gain traction, the effort gained momentum during the 2021 session. The state Senate passed a constitutional amendment last March calling for a statewide referendum to legalize sports betting. While Senate Resolution 135 failed to reach the floor of the Georgia House of Representatives, it marked the first time a gambling bill had made it through either leg islative chamber. “It looks more encouraging than ever,” said state Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Savannah, a long time supporter of legalizing gambling in Georgia. Sports betting is a relatively recent player in the debate over legalizing gambling. States other than Nevada weren’t allowed to legalize sports bet ting until a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a New Jersey case. Since that decision opened up the country, 26 states have launched sports betting, accord ing to the American Gaming Association. Another five states have passed sports betting leg islation that has yet to take effect. Georgia’s sports betting leg islation is modeled after a law in Tennessee, which permits online betting only. A coalition of Atlanta’s pro sports teams - including the Braves, Falcons, Hawks and Atlanta United - is backing the idea. They want to use sports betting to gin up fan engage ment, said Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, another supporter of legalized gambling. “They want folks sitting in stadiums betting on their phones,” he said. But Powell is not a fan of legalizing sports betting in iso lation. App-based betting on sports wouldn’t raise nearly the revenue the state could bring in from bricks-and-mortar casi nos, he said. “There are no jobs created,” Powell said. “There’s a right way and a wrong way to do this.” Stephens agrees. While he introduced a standalone sports betting bill during this year’s legislative session, he now favors combining sports bet ting, casinos and horse racing into a single constitutional amendment to put before Georgia voters. “Let the people decide: Do we want to gamble or do we not?” Stephens said. “That’s the cleanest way to do it.” Indeed, the casino industry is betting on Georgia in a big way. At least 32 paid lobbyists are working for passage of legalized gambling in Georgia, according to reports filed with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission. Those lobbyists were hired by 10 mostly high-profile gam ing companies, including Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock, Wynn Resorts and Bally’s. They and other supporters of casinos are pitching Georgia’s lack of legalized gambling as millions of dollars in tax reve nue and billions of dollars in economic impact lost to neigh boring states. Rick Lackey, an Atlanta- based real estate developer behind several proposed casino resorts scattered across Georgia, points to the growth of casino projects across the Southeast. Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort in Cherokee, N.C., just opened a $330 million expan sion that includes a new 725- room hotel and convention cen ter. A new casino off Interstate 85 in Kings Mountain, N.C., that just opened in July is already planning to double its gaming machines to 1,000. Alabama boasts three Indian gaming casinos. And the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa is pulling in more revenue than all of the casinos in Mississippi com bined, Lackey said. “If you go in any of those casinos, you’ll see a lot of Georgia license plates,” he said. Supporters of legalizing gam bling in Georgia also point to numerous polls showing the idea is popular with voters. But obstacles to gambling legislation remain, including the difficult-to-surmount two- thirds majorities of the state House and Senate necessary to pass a constitutional amend ment. Faith-based groups oppose legalized gambling as a threat to families and a magnet for crime. Religious organizations traditionally have held great sway under the Gold Dome, particularly with lawmakers representing districts in rural Georgia. Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone Mountain, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said he heard the same argu ments during the 1990s before Georgia created a state lottery and dedicated part of the pro ceeds to the new HOPE pro gram. “I don’t think today anyone can say the Georgia Lottery has been bad for the state,” he said. Stephens said legalizing gambling today offers the same opportunity to boost funding for education that con vinced lawmakers to support the lottery nearly 30 years ago. “Some of the folks who vote ‘no’ on this are going to be voting against $100 million [a year] for HOPE and pre-K,” he said. “It don’t think they want to do that.” This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
