Where is Tucker?

I hear all kinds of statements about Tucker and its history, and what it should look like as a city. Some of the statements make a lot of sense. Some are understandable to anyone.  Most people wouldn't argue with the point that Tucker should be a city. But some of the statements are rather gross logical leaps, and maybe hurt the real argument.

1.      People talk all the time about Tucker having its own zip code – 30084. They point out that a lot of the businesses have a mailing address Tucker GA 30084. But the existence of a zip code doesn’t mean it’s relevant.  And the claim seems to be that because there is a zip code, it’s acceptable to claim any part of it, and anything else; and to exclude any part not wanted.What?  You can look up 30084 on google maps; a few problems with the use of 30084 are:

·         It contains a lot of area in Gwinnett County – well past Jimmy Carter

·         The ITP area takes in most of the parking lot of Briarcliff Village, but only the Panera end of the shopping center (not Publix, Office Depot)

·         It includes nothing north of La Vista except the Blue Ribbon triangle and the Briarcliff Village parking lot area, and lots of residential (which is excluded from the Tucker city map)

·         It excludes the Wells Fargo and BP area south of La Vista

·         It includes a large area of residential property south of La Vista, which the Tucker map excludes

·         It doesn’t include Smoke Rise in the south

·         It doesn’t include Evansdale or Pleasantdale in the north.

Can anyone say "cherry-picking"?

2.      Another argument for the existence of the Tucker community is all the “community events”, like Tucker Days, the Christmas party, Tucker HS.  Clearly there’s a community. In presentations, show lots of photos of kids enjoying themselves. But none of those events have been anywhere near Northlake Mall or ITP. They are all in the historic Tucker area – near Main Street. The fact that there is community involvement somewhere doesn’t create the right to claim something else.

3.      There is also talk about Tucker being a recognized Census Designated Place (CDP). However, the CDP does not go inside the perimeter, and has no relation to the proposed Tucker map. Yes there’s a CDP, but the proposed map of the City of Tucker isn’t it.

4.      Tucker has a long history because of the RR stop. But that’s a specific limited area on the map. None of that history goes much beyond a mile from Local 7.

5.      Some merchants in the Northlake area want to join the Tucker Community Improvement District (CID), and change the name to Tucker/Northlake – or is it Northlake/Tucker. (Two names is a hint.)  But the real issue is that the CID has no relationship to a city; it has no relationship to the proposed map of Tucker; and the existing Tucker CID only goes to the perimeter. The fact that a CID can extend into another area means absolutely nothing.

6.      There has been a “scientific survey” of people inside the proposed Tucker map, asking people if they think Northlake Mall should be part of their city. Well duh!  If you do a survey in the Oak Grove area and asked if Target and the Northlake Parkway OTP area and the Emory Orthopedic Hospital should be part of our city, they’d say yes. The fact that the affected people would like to have something isn’t a basis for saying it should happen. If they had asked in the survey if Graves Park, Heritage Park and Lucky Shoals Park should be part of the city, people would have said yes. Throw in Gwinnett Crossing shopping center. Do I hear a yes?

I forget from my college logic course, but there’s a whole bunch of logical fallacies there. Yes Tucker is a community. No, it’s not west of I-285.