Baskett vs. McNeely – What's the Diff?

Decatur Metro | October 29, 2007 | 5:20 pm

Go DeKalb has some new statements from Decatur commissioner Jim Baskett and his opponent Alvin McNeely in the upcoming Nov 6th election.

After reading it, I’m left wondering if there is any difference between these two candidates other than their professions.

Controlling Infill: Both are for it, but not in the form of the city’s newest political swearword “Oakhurst Historic District”. (On what specific points do they disagree? They haven’t said!)

Relieving the Tax Burden: Both want to do it. (Well yeah…except well wishes aren’t going to pay for those new sidewalks). Baskett emphisizes the municipal option sales tax issue with DeKalb, while McNeely appeals to seniors with a proposed special homestead exemption.

As the challenger, McNeely should be the agitator. Let’s see what he’s got.

“The city did not communicate well about what was supposed to happen to the [bond] money. There is just a room for improvement between the city and its residents.”

Hmm…not very specific and doesn’t offer any solutions…let’s check his website for more.

“But in the post of at-large City Commissioner, it is clearly time for change. This post is the only one that represents the entire city. Our city needs an at-large Commissioner who is not only engaged in the entire city – but who has a clear way of listening to, and communicating with people.”

I hope there’s more to this election than just a communication issue. What do ya got readers?

Someone please fill me in.

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No Responses to “Baskett vs. McNeely – What's the Diff?”

  1. Matt Lewis says:
    November 4, 2007 at 2:11 pm

    I feel like the city is doing well, and I’m happy with recent changes Decatur’s mayor and commission have made. So I’m not overwhelmed with an urge to make a change at this point.

    Baskett has opposed high-rise developments in Decatur, and he was an active participant in (and advocate for) the Decatur Round Tables Project – http://www.commonfocus.org/circles/sc_decatur.shtml – which aims to make the city government more participatory. (And I feel like the city’s political process is pretty open now.)

    What’s the political affiliation of these guys? Are they both Democrats? Republicans? Something else? Not that that necessarily makes a difference, but it could factor into the evaluation.

    There’s a profile of the two candidates at http://godekalb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6251 .

  2. rustytanton says:
    November 6, 2007 at 4:45 pm

    I wish I’d been paying attention to this earlier, but yeah, I’m hard-pressed to see what improvement McNeely would offer over Baskett. Like Decaturguy says, this isn’t Doraville.