Rumor: Tucker & Lakeside to Combine?

Rumor has it there’s a potential combined city in the works that merges the Lakeside and Tucker proposed cities. I’ve heard it been referred to as “Northlake,” but that could just be a descriptor.  Lakeside is on the record for regretting the name Lakeside (as a marketer I can say it has a lot of negative brand equity, dangerous for a general election). Tucker has always held tight to the name Tucker as a nod to history and a rally for community pride (high brand equity if they can get the logistics of the city plan right since so many are surprised to learn Tucker isn’t already a city).

Did Governor Nathan Deal just step in?
Part of this rumor includes the feedback that the Governor stated that Lakeside and Tucker needed to come together as an all or nothing thing. Normally I’d brush rumors aside until I have more evidence, but I’m hearing this from several people and you cannot discount Senator Millar has a perfect record when it comes to winning cityhood creation.

As a disclosure, I’m writing this at 10pm on Tuesday night two hours getting back into town from a business trip.

Fran Millar Blvd?
I dusted off an old visual from a few months ago and reworked it. It’s made to cast some humor on the very serious topic of cityhood. History is always being created and it is the victors that put in the recent entries into the history books. This should be a concern to those that enjoy seeing “Tucker” on I-285. I personally believe there’s a potential for a “Fran Millar Blvd” somewhere in the area and Sen Millar would not turn down the honor. I also believe the “Tucker” signage on Exit 37 on I-285 goes bye-bye if Tucker doesn’t find a way to formally exist as an official city.

Those following the cityhood discussion likely know that Lakeside, Tucker and Briarcliff all overlap to various degrees in the Northlake area.

Outcome of Two Cities Combining as a Solution:
With a short timeline in the legislative session that contains so many potential outcomes, two cities combining has always been on the radar though a lower probability on the list of likely outcomes. For example, a giant ITP/OTP city (in this case potentially pulling from Lakeside and Tucker) has been suggested by many, including legislators. Keep in mind ITP Lakeside at this point strongly mirrors the latest versions of Briarcliff (Briarcliff recently deferred some of its southern border to existing cities, Decatur, Avondale Estates, and Clarkston with published annexation plans). Most notable ITP Lakeside does not go nearly as far as Briarcliff in the Emory / Druid Hills area. Also notable is that OTP Lakeside has extreme overlap with Tucker’s proposed plan, more lately when Lakeside updated its map recently.

I suspect we’ll hear more details in the next 24-48 hours (before everyone goes to bed Thursday 2/27).

What does “Northlake” (aka Lakeside / Tucker hybrid) look like?
I don’t have map or a stronger overview to offer for what a “Northlake” (aka a Lakeside / Tucker hybrid) could look like. Also don’t have crucial details on what the city services would consist of, or the framework of the city charters, which is the recipe and guidance for first generation city council members to build on. For example, Lakeside was looking at a stronger list of services, similar to Briarcliff, where Tucker was looking at an extremely light city starting point. Borders might overlap, but those are two very different cultural views on how cities should function. Most notably, Tucker was not creating its own police force initially, but stated it would be on the radar in the future potentially.

Hoping some additional insight might bubble up in the Patch.com comments (this will be posted on both North Druid Hills / Briarcliff Patch and Tucker Patch).


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Disclosure: Keith Hanks is a member of the COBI Executive Board. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of COBI. Keith is a resident of Decatur zip 30033 within incorporated DeKalb. His professional background is marketing and he has worked on over 200 marketing campaigns ranging from Fortune 100 companies to local small business within metro Atlanta.