|
Chamber launches national "Success
Lives Here" campaign
By
Lisa Sherman
Special to GwinnettForum.com
DULUTH, Ga., Feb. 26, 2008 -- A national launch of a new look and
purpose for the Gwinnett Chamber's economic development department
was unveiled last week. The decade-old Success Lives Here campaign
launched a more modern, high-tech image to appeal to specific economic
development audiences.
The new, national Success Lives Here campaign is the first time
an initiative of this scope has been launched to bring national
and global recognition to Gwinnett. The campaign will promote Gwinnett's
"successes" in a variety of areas: strength in job creation
and specific clusters, an affordable and prosperous quality of life,
a highly educated workforce and acclaimed educational institutions,
competitive incentive program, and business-friendly environment.
It will target site consultants and decision makers for Gwinnett's
five targeted industries: Information Technology; Advanced Communications;
Life Science and Healthcare; Logistics; and Regional and Corporate
Headquarters for Professional Services.
Nick Masino, vice president of Economic Development for the Gwinnett
Chamber, says that "Success Lives Here" already had a
strong foundation and great brand equity in Gwinnett and the metro
Atlanta region. We wanted to use that strength to fuel momentum
for national and global recognition in the years to come with strategic
economic development messages for our targeted industries."
The new Success Lives Here brand and graphic identity was created
to accomplish the following goals:
- Provide a more "high-tech", modern look that will
serve as the foundation for economic development marketing to
a national and global audience;
- Build upon the strength of the existing brand equity already
in the region to accelerate the global marketing strategy;
- Present Gwinnett County as a strong, viable community within
Georgia;
- Include the Chamber's and Partnership Gwinnett's existing color
palettes, graphic identity, and scheme;
- Complement the Georgia Department of Economic Development's
brand, graphic identity and marketing materials, and;
- Emphasize the name, Gwinnett County, in the logo itself
Demming Bass, vice president of Marketing and Public Policy for
the Chamber, says: "Our ultimate goal with the new campaign
is to position Gwinnett to decision makers as the best place for
business location, retention, and expansion in the metro Atlanta
region. The new brand and high quality collateral will help us accomplish
this in three ways. First, it allows us to present a professional
image of the Gwinnett Chamber as one of the nation's top economic
development programs and in harmony with the State's brand. Second,
it sells Gwinnett as the best place for our targeted industries
to locate their business. Finally, it communicates the right messages
to our targeted audiences."
The advertising is only one tactic of a comprehensive marketing
campaign that will also maximize the number of times Gwinnett Chamber
staff, corporate leaders, and community leaders get in front of
corporate site location decision-makers. Additional strategies to
be rolled out over the next few years will include customized web
sites for its five targeted industries, online and direct mail campaigns,
and trade show and site visits to prospects across the globe.
New advertising featuring the new brand will begin running in March
in Site Selection and Georgia Trend magazines. Additional
placements will follow in regional and national publications with
the intent to enter the global market in the next couple of years.
Looking at tax allocation districts in another
direction
By
Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
FEB. 26, 2008 -- There's usually more than one way to look at anything.
Brack |
We at first were in agreement with a recent ruling by the Georgia
Supreme court over redevelopment projects not using school taxes.
But then, there's another viewpoint.
Take a property being considered for redevelopment in Gwinnett,
the now -called "OFS" property at Jimmy Carter Boulevard
and Interstate 85. This former Western Electric-AT&T-Lucent
property consists of 169.98 acres and has been a prize property
for Gwinnett since 1973, when the property owner paid in taxes more
than $1 million for that year. The highest tax the property brought
came in 2002, when the taxes on this plot were $1.398 million.
Because manufacturing no longer is big on the property, and because
of falling values of the property, it now brings in (for 2007) $88,518.66
in taxes to the county. That's a big blow to the county tax collections,
giving up more than $1.2 million because the property itself has
dropped in value. Many of its high-priced machines that once turned
out copper cable, then fiber optics, are no longer in operation,
and have been taken out..
Now let's turn to redevelopment.
When a project is included in a Tax Allocation District, the county
and school continue to collect the same tax each year that the property
was assessed before it went into the TAD district. In other words,
if the OFS property were in a tax allocation district in 2008 that
proposed to sell bonds over 20 years for financing the redevelopment,
both the county and the schools would continue to get the same $88,518.66
tax from that property that was collected in 2007.
The schools nor the county would "lose anything" on that
property compared to what they had been getting before. Not only
that, but the taxes on that property would be frozen for the length
of the TAD, usually 20 years. Even if the property value went down
in value during this time, the county would continue to get the
same amount for the length of the bonds.
Meanwhile, if the redevelopment project were successful, the additional
tax value of the property would be paid by the developer and used
to pay off the bonds to finance the property. At the conclusion
of this time period, once the bonds were paid off, whatever the
then-redeveloped property was worth, a much higher assessment, would
go to the county and the schools. In essence, it would be a much
higher assessment of the property, since it had more development
on it.
The schools and the county would reap this higher figure---a windfall---compared
to the $88,518.66 they got for the 20-30 year life of the bond.
In short, the schools and county would forego any higher tax for
a set period, in order to gain a much higher tax collection down
the road. They would benefit in the long run, while continuing in
the immediate future to get the previous assessed tax on the property.
Meanwhile, the project would have been re-developed, partially
funded by a lower-than-normal interest rate bond that the TAD district
would issue. This lower interest rate would essentially drive whether
the project is feasible.
Right now, of course, with the Georgia Supreme Court ruling, TAD
districts are virtually dead in the water. It's anticipated that
the Georgia Legislature, looking at the long range picture, will
patch the TAD law to allow their projects to continue, as happens
in nearly every state in the nation.
That's another way to look at TAD districts.
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 18 locations in Georgia 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.
Again,
idea that county DOTs don't employ proofreader
Editor, the Forum:
The misspelled sign where the pavement was broken ("Broken
Payment Ahead") in the February 22 edition of GwinnettForum
reminds me a sign I saw in Athens. As you get off Georgia Highway
316 at the U.S. Highway 78 exit, there is a small county equipment
area with old highway signs, equipment, etc. in the median on Highway
78.
One sign in a small fenced yard reads "Clark County"
without the "e." Months later I saw it still there. At
least it wasn't in use. I wonder how much they wasted on that one.
You'd think the people in the county could spell it correctly. Maybe
Clark County, Nevada could use it.
-- Marshall Miller, Lilburn
Unity
Group, schools present parenting workshops soon
The Gwinnett Unity Group and Gwinnett County Public Schools will
provide three two hour engagement workshops for parents. The workshops
are planned to increase the awareness of student issues, to encourage
better school participation of parents and students, and to empower
parents to communicate better with their child.
These workshops are free and open to the parents/guardian of school
aged children in Gwinnett County. The presentations are intended
to provide general information and address questions over all grade
levels. Presenters include GCPS staff as well as community facilitators.
Topics to be presented include:
- Parenting and Student Engagement (Presented by GCPS Safe and
Drug Free Schools);
- Gang Awareness and Student Safety Issues (Presented by GCPS
Student Discipline Department).
The workshops will be held at GCPS community schools representative
at three locations. All workshops will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
and audience participation is encouraged. The workshops are:
- February 28 at Norcross High School for school clusters Collins
Hill, Duluth, North Gwinnett, Peachtree Ridge and Norcross.
- March 5 at Central Gwinnett High school for school clusters
Berkmar, Dacula, Grayson, Mill Creek and Central Gwinnett.
- March 13 at Meadowcreek High school for school clusters South
Gwinnett, Brookwood, Parkview, Shiloh, and Meadowcreek.
Peachtree Corners
to Crossing 10K run scheduled for April 19
The Corners to Crossing 10K Run on April 19 will attract both the
serious competitive racer and enthusiastic weekend runners and walkers.
The course is from Peachtree Corners to historic downtown Norcross.
Norcross Neighbors and the United Peachtree Corners Civic Association
are spearheading this run that kicks off a day of musical fun for
the whole family, and concludes with a street dance featuring Banks
and Shane. This provides an opportunity for participants of all
ages in the community to have fun while supporting the Robert D.
Fowler Family YMCA and local charities. For more information or
to register as a participant, visit www.cornerstocrossing.com.
On the day before the race, Friday, April 18, there will be a pre-race
pasta dinner at the community center in downtown Norcross. The race
begins at 8 a.m. on Saturday at the Peachtree Corners Baptist Church,
and finished in Thrasher Park in Norcross.
GMC exceeds goal of
1,000 letters on open heart surgery
Gwinnett Medical Center has surpassed its goal of 1,000 letters
supporting the Certificate of Need (CON) application for open heart
services. These letters demonstrate strong community support for
advanced cardiac care at GMC.
Phil Wolfe, president and CEO of the hospital, says: "I want
to personally thank everyone who has helped us reach our goal of
1,000 letters. Community members, business leaders, elected officials
and municipalities have all stepped forward in this effort, and
we are grateful for their support."
GMC's open heart CON application was submitted in January 2008
to the Department of Community Health for review. The review process
is underway. The application was deemed complete on February 6.
GMC will continue to accept letters throughout the CON process.
Crank out logo and
you could win Suwanee design contest
Community members wanting to support the cause can submit a letter
at www.OpenHeartGwinnett.org,
or can call the GMC Foundation at 678-312-4634
Get a creative cap on and help the annual Suwanee Day festival
celebrate its 25th year. The winning designer of the 2008 official
festival logo not only will receive $500 cash, they also will see
their design worn this fall by hundreds of Suwanee Day volunteers
and festival-goers.
The deadline for submitting entries in the 2008 Suwanee Day design
competition is June 6. The winning design will be used on 2008 Suwanee
Day t-shirts, posters, and other promotional materials. Original
artwork including paintings, drawings, and photographs will be accepted
as will digitally created designs. Designs should be versatile and
reproduce well on t-shirts and as posters. Guidelines and an application
are available at www.suwaneeday.com.
Suwanee's annual "celebration of community" will take
place Saturday, September 20, at Town Center Park. Last year, the
Suwanee Day committee received 57 design entries from 44 individuals.
Amanda Savage, a 2007 graduate of Oconee County High School, was
last year's winner. Approximately 40,000 attended the 2007 festival.
Holmes, Kynge books
"I used to read non-fiction exclusively (except when I was
on vacation), but decided that I'm going to revisit more of the
classics and plan on alternating between fiction and non-fiction.
"I just finished reading the Collected Works of Sherlock
Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. My father gave me the collected
works (nine books in all) about 35 years ago. (He had been given
the book by my mother's family as a 1940 Christmas present.) I read
a couple of the books when I was a kid, but decided recently to
start at the beginning and read them all in sequence. Doyle is among
the most imaginative authors and I enjoyed every novel and short
story. I'm sorry there are no more to read.
"Currently reading China Shakes the World: A Titan's Rise
and Troubled
Future -- and the Challenge for America by James Kynge. This
book was given to me by Emory Morsberger."
-- J.K. Murphy, Gwinnett Daily Post
- An invitation: What
Web sites, books or restaurants have you enjoyed? Send us your
best recent visit to a restaurant or most recent book you have
read along with a short paragraph as to why you liked it, plus
what book you plan to read next. --eeb
Calvinist
minister opposes independence for colony of Georgia
John
Joachim Zubly, a Calvinist minister, was the first pastor of
the Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah. A religious leader
known throughout the colonies, the Rev. John Zubly was a revolutionary
pamphleteer whose broadsides supporting the colonies in their disputes
with Britain were widely distributed on both sides of the Atlantic.
He was a representative from Georgia to the Second Continental Congress.
Notwithstanding his fame and importance during the years of 1750
through 1775, he has been all but forgotten because he became a
Loyalist when he found himself unable to support the war for independence
from Britain.
.
Zubly was known as a man of "lively cheerfulness" whose
sermons were described as being "full, clear, concise, searching,
and comfortable," lighting the hearers' souls, warming their
hearts, and raising their affections. Zubly was known to preach
in the morning in English, in the afternoon in French, and in the
evening in German. Zubly was the author of several theological works
that were written in German, English, and Latin.
Zubly was quick to take up the pen to defend the colonies in their
conflicts with Britain or to expose the attempts of the official
Anglican Church to tyrannize those who held different religious
views. From the first day of his term in the Continental Congress,
Zubly opposed independence.
On November 10, 1775, Zubly left Philadelphia and returned to Georgia.
He was branded a traitor because of his opposition to independence.
On July 1, 1776, the Council of Safety of Georgia ordered his arrest.
He was banished from Georgia, and half of his property was confiscated.
He took refuge with Loyalists in South Carolina, but returned to
Savannah when the British retook the town in 1778.
Zubly's pen, however, was not silenced. In 1780 and 1781 Zubly
wrote a series of nine essays under the pseudonym of Helvetius.
These essays were published in The Royal Georgia Gazette and in
John Tobler's The South-Carolina and Georgia Almanack for the Year
of Our Lord 1781. In these essays Zubly used international law and
the Bible to show that Americans were not fighting a legal revolution
but were engaged in an illegal and unjust rebellion of which God
disapproved.
Zubly's last Helvetius essay, printed in The Royal Georgia Gazette
of May 24, 1781, compared the rebelling colonies' prospects and
conditions in 1776 with those of 1781. In May 1781 the Americans'
prospects and conditions were not good, as Zubly was quick to point
out. The war for independence was at the time not favoring the Americans.
However, Zubly would never witness the dramatic turn in the fortunes
of the Americans and their eventual victory at Yorktown, Va., in
October 1781. On July 23, 1781, he died, peacefully, surrounded
by family and friends and confident that history had proved he
was justified in the rightness of his opposition to the war for
independence.
Discrimination possible
through taxation, and also destructive
"Explicit manipulation of the tax system to control personal
choices violates the long-standing principle that taxes should be
general," Nobel Economics laureate James M. Buchanan
comments, adding: "Discrimination through taxation is as destructive
to democracy and liberty as discrimination in any other form."
-- via Rogers Wade, Georgia Public Policy Foundation.
Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves
or comments on any issue to Gwinnett
Forum for future publication.
===========================================
MORE: Contact Gwinnett Forum at: elliott@gwinnettforum.com
© 2008, Gwinnett Forum.com. Gwinnett Forum
is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible
social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett
County, Ga. USA.
|
