Sunday, April 06, 2008
News

Dunwoody’s war for independence

"White people have not been able to get what they want from black elected officials..."

By Mark Woolsey

Following moves by Sandy Springs, Milton and Johns Creek in North Fulton to incorporate in the wake of state-approved referenda, state lawmakers from Dunwoody have spent three years maneuvering through the legislature a bill that would allow a popular vote on their cityhood. They succeeded this year, and Governor Sonny Perdue has signed the measure, setting up a July 15 election.  If voters give the thumbs-up, a new city of just under 40,000 souls would begin operations Dec. 1, in an area bordered by Interstate 285, Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, and the Sandy Springs and Gwinnett County boundaries.
   
The history of discontent goes back a ways. Some observers trace it to development votes by county officials. Despite opposition from homeowner groups in Dunwoody, say cityhood backers, both DeKalb County and Fulton County officials have okayed dense development—think sprawling apartment complexes and looming business towers—overloading Dunwoody’s streets and putting pressure on schools and utilities. Others claim Dunwoody home and business owners have forked over big property taxes and received a lower level of services than other parts of the county that don’t generate nearly the same tax revenue—an argument echoing Sandy Springs’ 30-year battle.
     
“The central thing we’ve heard at our meetings is that people want their neighbors running their government,” says Mallard Holliday, a spokesman for Citizens for Dunwoody, a nonprofit group that, despite the name, claims to take no official position, styling itself as an informational resource on the issue. (A separate political action committee was created to lobby the bill.)  “People want more control over zoning, roads, parks and recreation,” he says. “These are things traditionally provided by a city, and DeKalb County provides them now.”
     
Officials with the group say they have been, in effect, up against their own tax money as the county has lobbied against the proposal during its legislative journey.
     

APARTHEID IN THE GEORGIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Asked for comment, DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones instead put The Sunday Paper in touch with James Washington, a self-described realtor and businessman.

The Dunwoody proposal is “another sign of the apartheid that has swept the Georgia General Assembly,” says Washington, who goes on to explain: “In those instances where white people have not been able to get what they want from black elected officials, they have chosen to secede. This is no different than when they wanted to secede from the United States.”
      
Washington maintains that unlike Sandy Springs, “Which got the screws put to it for 25 years … the Dunwoody area has not suffered under DeKalb stewardship.”
      
Nonsense, says State Representative Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, who shepherded the referendum bill through the House, claiming Dunwoody limps along with a small school arts center rented from the county, while a multimillion dollar arts facility is built in South DeKalb. Others say county-maintained ball fields and roads in Dunwoody are in “atrocious” shape when stacked up with other places.
      
“You tell me where the equity is in that,” Millar challenges.
     
Robert Wittgenstein, Citizens for Dunwoody treasurer, says studies done by the Carl Vinson Institute at the University of Georgia show the proposed city would be economically viable, providing slightly better services at a similar rate of taxes and fees.
     
State Representative  Jill Chambers, R-Atlanta, who represents a small portion of Dunwoody, disagrees, calling the revenue estimates fudged and the study  a “cut-and-paste job” from similar analyses done for the Fulton cities. For example, she claims the revenue guesstimate includes $1.4 million dollars in county HOST (Homestead Option Sales Tax) money currently flowing to the Perimeter Center Improvement District to aid in transportation upgrades. A bill gaining legislative approval would funnel that money to the City of Atlanta upon incorporation, she says, but such a move would prompt a lawsuit by DeKalb County, tying up the money for an extended period of time and perhaps jeopardizing it permanently.
    
Wittgenstein acknowledges the possibility of a lawsuit, but says the money, stacked up against estimated annual city revenues of $18 million, would not affect the services a city would provide.
   
Voters will have the final say on whether the Dunwoody rebels break away from the county empire this summer. SP