Don Broussard
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On the article Another Legislator: Only GOP-Backed Cityhood Bills Will Be Considered
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On the article Lakeside Cityhood Discussed at DeKalb Cityhood Meeting
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On the article Lakeside Cityhood Discussed at DeKalb Cityhood Meeting
Don Broussard
9:05 am on Wednesday, May 8, 2013
ReplyWhat amazingly biased headlines. This was not a Lakeside meeting. In fact Lakeside cityhood was discussed no more than 10 minutes out of a two hour meeting. If the reporter, Tim Darnell, wants to be taken seriously — he needs to cover who spoke and what was said more accurately. The city of Briarcliff proposal got just as much attention — and by all accounts, was more informative and well-received. Also omitted by Darnell is why Mary Kay Woodward and Kevin Levitas of Lakeside did not bother to attend the meeting. Is this the kind of biased / incomplete reporting we can expect to see from the Patch? Very disappointing.
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On the article UPDATE: Proposed City of Lavista Hills Map Surfaces
Don Broussard
2:32 pm on Monday, April 22, 2013
ReplyThanks for the update Jonathan. Just to clarify: this map was not intended for publication and was not supported by the North Druid Hills Study Group because it had too much detail (council districts), it was too hard to read, and it contained controversial tax proposals that were not supportable. What map Senator Carter saw or used for his bill (SB275), I have no idea.
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On the article Oliver to File 'Placeholder' Cityhood Bill for Druid Hills Residents
Don Broussard
8:41 am on Monday, March 25, 2013
ReplyJonathan, for the record, the North Druid Hills Study Group is expecting Rep. Oliver's placeholder bill will incorporate or reflect our map of the proposed City of Briarcliff. There is no other placeholder bill that we are filing or asking to be filed. We are counting on Rep. Oliver drafting a bill that will not put a study of the City of Briarcliff at a disadvantage relative to any other potential city maps or otherwise handicap evaluation of a new city. We are guardedly optimistic and hopeful at this point...thanks for your coverage of these issues on the Patch.
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On the article Selig: Lawsuit Will Delay Walmart Construction
Don Broussard
8:26 am on Wednesday, March 20, 2013
ReplyWhether one is for or against WalMart, we should all agree that citizens have a right to appeal a permit if they believe laws and codes have not been followed in the design or approval process. Good Growth DeKalb deserves much credit for exposing, once again, the incompetence and arrogance of DeKalb County government and CEO Burrell Ellis. The county code is clear in creating a Technical Review Board — well, where is it Mr. Ellis? If that board was in place, the WalMart and redevelopment of Suburban Plaza could proceed — since it would no doubt, rubber stamp the permit as did the Zoning Board of Appeals last year when it waived a requirement for 500 parking spaces for Walmart — and imposed no conditions in return. South DeKalb and East DeKalb appointees are now running land use decisions in central DeKalb. Time for a new city?
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On the article Holcomb: Current Cityhood Process Not the Best Approach
Don Broussard
9:19 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
ReplyRep. Scott Holcomb said he will follow the wishes of his constituents and that is a pretty clear and hopeful sign that he will take an active part in creating a city. So take a deep breath. The ad hoc approach (i.e. Brookhaven) is not the best approach. On the other hand, taking a couple of years to study dividing DeKalb into multiple small cities is not a good idea either because it would inevitably be dominated by the "status quo" forces in DeKalb County Government like new Chairman Lee May, CEO Burrell Ellis and whoever is running the Planning Department this month. BTW: DeKalb has had 7 planning directors in 10 years —and all but one have been political puppets. That is reason number one why we need a new city — and it's a clearer reason than ANYTHING said thus far by the Lakeside City Alliance PR machine.
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On the article New Lakeside Cityhood Map Includes Sagamore Hills, Leafmore
Don Broussard
9:01 am on Tuesday, February 26, 2013
ReplyThe second map by the Lakeside City "Alliance" is an improvement because it tries (though fails) to copy the North Druid Hills Study Group map. Despite their effective website and press releases, the Alliance has thus far been a closed group drawing up maps in private without talking to people who actually live in the affected neighborhoods. LCA dropped Century Center because people were torching them on the web for their blatant tax/land grab. The North Druid Hills Study Group has been meeting since January and continues to talk with civic association leaders in the Civic Association Network, which has a long and trusted history in our area.
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On the article Feb. 13 Zoning Hearing Scheduled on Clifton Ridge Subdivision
Don Broussard
12:54 pm on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
ReplyThis article mischaracterizes several key points about this issue: First, the appeal is by the Druid Hills Civic Association not by "a group of Druid Hills residents"; second, it's really not a zoning hearing but an appeal to the Board of Appeals over the, allegedly, illegal permits issued by DeKalb County — permits that do not comply with DeKalb subdivision regulations and or the historic preservation regulations — not the zoning. The issue is that the proposed 7 lot cul de sac does not comply with the law -- not that it is "not in character" with Druid Hills — though it surely would not be. It will be interesting to see if the Board of Appeals votes according to the law — or whether the members who live below I-20 and beyond I-285 over rule our area's own representatives on this issue — as has been the pattern for the last couple of years. If so, this is yet more evidence that we need a new city that will control its own land use administration and be accountable to voters in THIS community. A county government of 7 commissioners representing 700,000 people CAN NOT provide that accountability.
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On the article Ellis: Cityhood, Annexations Harm County Government
Don Broussard
1:07 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
ReplyAllowing DeKalb government to approve new cities is like asking King George III to approve independence for the American colonies. I would argue that a single county government run by people who are indifferent and often incompetent — and who are under criminal investigation — will not lift us out of our problems. By the way, we are not in a recession and have not been for quite a while. The CEO confuse DeKalb's declining property tax revenues and foreclosure problems with a recession. The creation of new cities does not erode county funds for the court system as no new city has created independent courts. All continue to use and fund the state and superior courts. Ellis' statement here is an outright distortion. Ellis, who is a real estate lawyer by profession, sees this part of the county as an ATM machine for county government -- which might explain why so many illegal permits are issued and code requirements go unenforced on new development. This has been a 20 year pattern under the CEO form of government. Development administration needs to be removed from CEO control. A county manager is no solution either. Only a new city with locally elected accountable officials will immediately remedy the situation.
Don Broussard
11:35 am on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Those of us in the Briarcliff city initiative fully acknowledge that no city bill will proceed without broad support from the Republican majority in the General Assembly. But personally speaking, I hope that Rep. Taylor and Sen. Millar are not making these statements in order to discourage other DeKalb citizens in the Briarcliff and Tucker communities from exercising their rights to examine other options for city hood through the remainder of this year. I assure you that a feasibility study for Lakeside will NOT be the only one presented to the legislature for consideration next session.