Public Flocks to Cityhood Events

If anyone had any doubts about the interest in the DeKalb cityhood issue, a venture out Monday night would have changed their mind.

The Lakeside City Alliance and City of Briarcliff Initiative held gatherings at almost the same time, and both events featured large crowds filling their respective spaces.

The LCA event started at 6 p.m. at Napoleon's while COBI met at 6:30 p.m. at Athens Pizza.

LCA's event was advertised as a party and fundraiser as the group has already received favorable results from a feasibility study by the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute for Government.

COBI had scheduled their event in advance, anticipating that their UGA study would be available for release. COBI President Allen Venet said the institute told the group that the study will now not likely be ready until late this week. CVI is still doing the final proofing on the study.

However, Venet told the audience Monday night that he was "authorized" to report that the study will find a city of Briarcliff "economically feasible," but, officially, further details will need to wait until the study is out.

The immediate question, some observers were asking, is how will the Lakeside and Briarcliff studies stack up against each other.

So what's next this week on the cityhood front?

• LCA will hold a community meeting from 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Lakeside High School Auditorium.
• Tucker 2014, which is holding a meeting Tuesday night for residents in the Smoke Rise area, is awaiting the results of its study from Georgia State University.
• COBI is still working out how it will roll out the results of their study once it is official. Venet said Monday night that a press conference would be scheduled in the neighborhood and further announcements may take place at locations in the community.

• COBI board members, during a Q&A session with the audience, said that discussions have taken place with Tucker cityhood leaders about areas that appear in both maps. (The Northlake Mall area is included in the Tucker, Lakeside and Briarcliff maps.)
• COBI intends to set up at least one public meeting before the Legislature convenes in which representatives from LCA and Tucker will be invited to join them for a "comparative" look at the three plans.