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Issue
9.81 | Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2010 |
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FEEDBACK UPCOMING NOTABLE ALSO INSIDE _::
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Meet a sponsor
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ABOUT US GwinnettForum.com is a twice-weekly online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett County, Ga. USA. Contact us today. SEARCH GWINNETT FORUM |
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TODAY'S
FOCUS LILBURN,
Ga., Jan. 19, 2010 -- The Lilburn
Community Partnership is closer to reaching the goal of forming the
fourth Community Improvement District (CID) in Gwinnett County. Even though
December was a slow month, we have seen increased interest in the first
two weeks of 2010. So far the Partnership has signed up $133 million of
the $150 million needed in tax digest terms, and 97 of the 160 owners
of plots within the district. The Partnership expects to achieve $150
million (75 percent of the $200 million in the district) by the end of
January.
It has been a grass-roots effort from all of our staff, the City of Lilburn, the Lilburn Downtown Development Authority, Gwinnett County and the Board of Directors, to get the message that positive change is coming to the Greater Lilburn community. We have
used every piece of media that we can to get our message out to the property
owners, and it has paid off. We have a Facebook page; we are using Twitter,
postcards, newsletter and brochures. Over the past two weeks 450 parcels
have received two sets of mailings along with follow-up calls. We are
seeing the fruits of the efforts of educating people. Once people understand
the positive impact, it becomes a wise investment. EEB
PERSPECTIVE JAN. 19, 2010 -- In these tough economic times, what does our lame duck governor propose as the key element for the Legislature this year?
Why a new tax! And from a Republican, mind you. Yet it's not a tax that will overwhelm bigwigs, developers, tree farmers and industrial complexes. Oh no, the Republican governor, in the wake of similar proposals from the right, advocates a regional sales tax to help fight the problems of transportation. In other words, let the little man, not the bigwig, pay the price. (That's because sales taxes are regressive, funding items that property owners don't have to fund. That's why they are popular with landowners, and Republicans.) The governor proposes a weak plan to fund transportation on a regional basis, dividing the state into 12 regional districts, instead of a statewide plan. A majority vote in each district would be required before the plan could start. And voters would not vote on this proposal until November, 2012.) Well, there's no sense into going into the details of the plan, simply because such an additional tax would not be approved, we feel, by a single district in Georgia. Here's why:
For the past seven years, Republicans have given the state a governor who is a hands-off governor, offering little direction to the Legislature, or leadership to the state. He merely occupies the chair of office, instead of leading, yet enjoys venturing to foreign countries offering tax breaks for firms to locate in Georgia. There has been little effort by the governor to recognize the plight of people losing jobs, or finding ways to help them, and proposing solutions that are workable. His long-awaited plan to help transportation now comes in his last year of office. Yet the plan cannot be implemented for a full three years after passing the General Assembly. Sonny Perdue has been a disappointment to many as governor. Thankfully, Georgia law requires him to leave office after eight years. His efforts at governor should cause Georgians to consider switching this fall to another party to provide effective leadership in the state. ABOUT
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The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. Today's featured sponsor is Mingledorff's, an air conditioning distributor of the Carrier Air Conditioning Company. Mingledorff's corporate office is located at 6675 Jones Mill Court in Norcross Ga. and is proud to be a sponsor of the Gwinnett Forum. With 32 locations in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina, Mingledorff's is the convenient local source with a complete line for the quality heating, ventilating, air conditioning, and refrigeration parts and supplies you need to service and install HVAC/R equipment. Product lines include Carrier, Bryant, Payne, Totaline and Aeroseal. For all of your HVAC needs, and information on the products Mingledorff's sells, visit www.mingledorffs.com and www.carrier.com.
FEEDBACK Editor, the Forum: What? Give politicians a pat on the back? Absolutely. In these times of economic trials, it's simple to go "victim" and bemoan one's condition and situation. After a while it becomes a "you know what" contest, to see who's got it worse.
Well, since there's a lot of that going around these days, has anyone considered how bad politicians have it? Wait. Stop. No, really. Look at it this way... in this age of Internet exposure, everybody's "story" is fair fodder for the media. Other than famous celebrities, who are harder hit by this dilemma than politicians, on the local, state, and national level? What do you think it would be like for JFK and Marilyn Monroe today, in the age of TMZ, YouTube, Facebook, and Entertainment Tonight? Someone recently remarked to me that we have a bunch of "doozies" running for office. It got me thinking. Don't we have a lot of "doozies" at our jobs, in our neighborhoods, heck, even in our families? Such people are apt to be given a free pass. Meanwhile, politicians are pilloried and tied to the whipping post. How many people have actually made the effort, truly, to meet their local politicians? I have met a number of them in the last few years, and while I agree one or two of them are real "doozies," the vast majority are well-intended people trying to do good by themselves, their communities, their state, and their country. Yes, there are flaws in the process. Yes, at times graft runs amuck. But part of the everlasting and enduring spirit of this great nation is the individual and collective ability to rise above it. It's time we start doing that again. People talk about "all their agendas?" Don't we have agendas at work, in our families, in our neighborhoods? Maybe politics could be better understood when compared side by side with parenting. Those of us who are parents know, truly, that we do not always do the best job possible. We suffer from conflicting positions; we often cut corners. Parenting is hard work. So is being a politician. The easy work is standing on the sidelines, as we are becoming more inclined to do all the time, and taking pot shots at these people. Local government, especially, often finds itself in an uncomfortable position of being the "parent," trying to keep peace among the warring factions, or children (homeowners and developers, for example). Meanwhile, the homeowners and the developers, just like children, think the parent (government) is out to get them. I guarantee you, whether at the local, state, or national level, most of the time you will find quality, competent people serving us. Support those people. They need it and they deserve it. When politics becomes so much of a thankless job, when a person loses all semblances of privacy and a personal life, when they can't win for losing, what we'll end up with as a citizenry is a bunch of "doozies." It doesn't have to be that way.
UPCOMING Construction work at U.S. Highway 29 and Pleasant Hill Road is underway to provide new turning lanes and sidewalks in that area. Crews will be working in the northbound outside lane of the intersection until Thursday, January 21, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., weather permitting. DOT District Construction Engineer Randall Davis explains: "The contractor will be removing the old curb and gutter in order to widen the footprint of the roadway to include the new turning lanes and sidewalks that are a part of this project. Please slow down as you drive through the area and know that traffic will be impeded during work hours." The contractor for this $8.8 million intersection improvement project is E.R. Snell Contracting. The project completion date is June 30, 2011. Norcross site of civic meeting on healthy region
The Civic League for Regional Atlanta will be hosting a forum next week at the Norcross Cultural Arts and Community Center on how the Atlanta Region can become the healthiest region in the country. The Civic League for Regional Atlanta is looking to answer that question in a forum on January 19, 201 at the Norcross Community Center (10 Britt Rd, Downtown Norcross), starting at 6:45 p.m. The forum is in support of a regional visioning initiative of the Atlanta Regional Commission, called "Fifty Forward." For more information, please email Joe Winter at jwinter@civic-strategies.com. To learn more about the ARC's Fifty Forward, please go to http://www.atlantafiftyforward.com/. To learn more about the Civic League for Regional Atlanta, please go to http://civicleagueatlanta.org/. Gwinnett Medical Center plans breakfast on heart truths Gwinnett
Medical Center and Partnership Gwinnett, the community and economic development
initiative led by the Gwinnett Chamber, will host The Heart Truth: An
In-depth Investigation, Thursday, February 11, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at
Georgia Gwinnett College. This breakfast event is open to the public and
will focus on heart health, including ways to avoid heart disease, and
a discussion of common myths surrounding cardiac concerns. The event is
the first of four quarterly health council events for 2010. NOTABLE Gwinnett County residents are conserving water even after the drought ended last year. Average daily total water usage was 71.3 million gallons in 2009 compared with 71.9 million in 2008 and almost 18 percent lower than the 86.8 million gallons used daily in 2007. Acting Director of Water Resources Lynn Smarr says that the 11 billion gallons saved over the past two years is the equivalent of one surface foot in Lake Lanier. "We've had a wet year but normally when a drought ends people tend to slip back to their old habits. We're very pleased that our customers are not doing that." Officials attributed part of the savings to the ongoing and successful rebate program that pays between $50 and $100 for replacing old, inefficient toilets. Details are available at toiletrebate@northgeorgiawater.org or by calling (404) 463-8645. Marin wins award, named VP of national group
Recently,
at the annual meeting for the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators
(NHCSL), Norcross State Rep. Pedro Marin was elected vice president of
membership on the executive committee. The NHCSL was founded in 1989 and
represents over 300 elected Hispanic State legislators throughout the
United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Its primary mission
is to organize Hispanic state legislators who advocate on behalf of Hispanic
communities across the United States.
GEORGIA
ENCYCLOPEDIA Julia Flisch was an advocate for young women's rights, education, and independence. She strove to advance the cause of women's higher education in Georgia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Julia Anna Flisch was born in Augusta on January 31, 1861, the second child of Swiss-German immigrants. In 1877 Flisch graduated with honors from the Lucy Cobb Institute, but it was UGA, the all-male state university, that she longed to attend. She applied but was denied admission. This rejection inspired her to work for women's rights and higher education, first as a journalist and author, then as an educator and scholar. She became a regular contributor for the Augusta Chronicle, even while a student at Cooper Union in New York City, where she studied business, and her articles were printed in newspapers in Georgia. She also wrote fiction, and her first novel, Ashes of Hopes, which told the story of three young women's search for independence, was well received upon its publication in 1886. Flisch's efforts to improve the state of higher education for women were successful, and in 1890 she was the only woman asked to participate in the dedication ceremony for Georgia Normal and Industrial College (later Georgia College and State University), a women's institution in Milledgeville. Influential in the development of the new college's curriculum, she first taught stenography and typing there in 1891 and later served as professor of history, from 1891 to 1905. While at Georgia Normal, she enrolled in summer classes at Harvard University, and at the University of Chicago. In 1899, more than two decades after it had denied her admission, UGA awarded her an honorary degree. She left her Milledgeville post in 1905 to enroll as a student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she studied under Frederick Jackson Turner and Ulrich Bonnell Phillips. There she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in history. Upon returning to Georgia in 1908, Flisch resumed teaching history at the Tubman High School for Girls in Augusta. She was a devoted teacher and role model, actively lobbying for woman suffrage and state grants for women's higher education. Flisch served as dean of women and professor of history at the Junior College of Augusta (later Augusta State University) after its founding in 1925 until failing eyesight forced her into retirement in 1936. She remained in Augusta until her death on March 17, 1941, and was buried in the Magnolia Cemetery. Obituaries hailed Flisch as "having done more than any other person to advance the cause of women's [higher] education in the state of Georgia." In 1994 Flisch was inducted into Georgia Women of Achievement. CREDITS GwinnettForum is provided to you at no charge every Tuesday and Friday. If you would like to serve as an underwriter, click here to learn more. Send
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TODAY'S
QUOTE "It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about."
Those interested in the history of Gwinnett need to know that the recently published book: Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta, has sold fast, with the first editions about sold out. Get yours before they're gone. Go to www.elliottbrack.com to order, or buy the book at a local bookstore shown on the site. The books are available at:
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