Annexation Decision Pushed Back to January
Decatur Metro | December 11, 2008 | 9:21 amLinda Harris sends along this note from Peggy Merriss…
In order to continue to analyze options, refine data analysis and provide the best possible recommendation to the City Commission, consideration of annexation options that was a scheduled agenda item for Dec. 15, 2008 City Commission meeting will be deferred until the City Commission meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.
Thank goodness. Glad to know I wasn’t the only one uncomfortable with making this decision (for or against) without all the “refined data.”
Whatever the final decision is, hopefully for annexing Forrest Hills, at least the City Commission will take a closer look at the population in our area. For this, I am very grateful.
“Ghetto Flight”
What is “Ghetto Flight” is like “white flight” except the reverse?. White flight is a term for the demographic trend in which working and middle-class white people move away from suburbs or urban neighborhoods that are becoming racially desegregated to white suburbs and exurbs. Ghetto Flight is where people who less than middle/up class people are moving away from suburbs or urban neighborhoods that are becoming middle/up class neighborhoods. These people moved to neighborhoods they could afford to live in but are being forced to move away. To replace the “Ghetto Flight” are people who have desires to make a neighborhood better and would pay extra to do so.
With “City of Decatur”. Annexation this will cause “Ghetto Flight”. Those who can afford to stay will but those who can not afford to stay will leave. I would like to see “City of Decatur” do a study of what will happen if people who can not afford to stay leave.
For example:
Along the top 3 annexation areas (Clairmont/N Decatur, Suburban Plaza, Dekalb Industrial/N. Decatur) is apartment complexes if people leave and people move in with 1 to 3 kids how will that effect the school systems (Of course this will be over 1 to 2 years from annexation occurring). This would give the School Systems an extra 1000 to 2000 new kids.
What about Midway Woods and Forest Hill annexation areas?
Someone already said that Civil Service people live in Forest Hill area. I would like to point out to everyone that Civil Service people are not getting much of a raise in 2009 or beyond so that might be a reason why some people will be leaving the area.
Midway Woods is only looking at people on Midway Road and not the people living on Woodfern Road, Thomas Road, and Conway Road that lead to Memorial Drive which are in the Annex Area. I know that they have never delivered the “MidwayWoods News” letter to them. In Midway Woods area they took a poll and out of 135 people Midway Woods found that 60 people are interested in being annexed versus 75 who said “NO”. Midway Woods Annexation Area is composed of 750 plus people. So if Midway Woods gets annex, will 675 people sale or rent to families who have 1 to 3 kids. That would compose of 1000 to 2000 kids more for the schools.
“City of Decatur” has a lot of numbers to crunch before January 20, 2009 meeting.
Gosh, George, if only your post weren’t so poorly written, maybe I could understand what you’re trying to say.
George, Midway and FH are far, far from ghetto my friend. You must be the dude who made the ghetto comments on the City of Decatur survey. What in the world is your point? Folks of all races/levels of wealth have kids. Just b/c someone is opposed to annexation doesn’t mean that they will leave. How in the world did you end up in Decatur with a mouth like that?
I live in Decatur (Oakhurst) and find your post insulting. If FH and MW are ghetto then we are too. I have friends in FH and MW and really would like to figure out a way to include them in Decatur. If the City was willing to buy FH Elementary it might work, but I know that Dekalb wants way too much for it and wants to put a girls’ middle school there. Plus the City isn’t willing to put up money to support annexation b/c they know that it would mean a tax increase for Decatur. They want to burden CSD with the bill so they can march around championing that they “saved taxes.” Never mind that CSD would have to dramatically raise the millage rate to cover expenses if they could survive at all… they could blame it on CSD!
I went to the CSD work session meeting Monday, and I think the Board and consultants are right. The finances just don’t work without a massive tax increase. I think the projected loss was 11 million few years out! I really would like to see FH and MW here, but I think we can’t afford it. It’s kind of like all the other things I want but can’t afford… ugh.. I’m getting depressed now!
I also think many more kids would move to FH and MW but I don’t call that “ghetto flight” – what a horrid term!!! I just think as folks age or have a change in circs, they move and the ones who replace them are usually young families. We have seen that happen in Oakhurst over the past few years as we watched Oakhurst’s reputation change. I think that the size of the kindergarten class has nearly doubled in the past couple of years. It’s a good thing but it would cause a big problem for CSD.
You know, I wonder why the MW and FH people aren’t pursuing the Avondale Charter initiative. One of my good friends is a leader in that movement and it seems like a very exciting thing.
I’m stunned. They’ve been trying to do this for years. Now they can figure it out in 1 month.
What expert are they going to drag out now?
Lord help us.
They blinked.
They must need more time to read that detailed and thorough nine-page report from Rosser. Nine pages, that’s a lot of material for such an important issue.
Tips for Fighting Involuntary Annexation
< Protest loudly and involve
local media.
Involve your local county and
state officials. Lobby your representative and senator to
support annexation laws that require a vote of the people
being annexed and people living in the city annexing.
This will also benefit city residents and hold the city
accountable for good management. Use the Members’ Area to
email legislators across the State and tell your
neighbors to do the same.
Partner with your local
emergency services people to become familiar with
response times and compare to city’s ability to respond
comparably.
Consult an attorney to follow
the process.
Develop a quick communication
system via e-mail, etc. to notify people at a moment’s
notice.
Argue with facts and figures,
not hostile emotions.
Involve the residents of the
city in lobbying the council to stop this course of
action.
Meet with different council
members in small groups to share your concerns.
Stay in touch with other
residents across the state through this website, it’s
Forum and it’s Members’ Area so we can lobby as a
statewide citizens group in legislature, demanding
protection from unfair annexation laws.
Do not stop fighting! Stay in
the fight until the end.
I assume that if there are material changes to the map as a result of this further analysis of options, the new map will go back to the school board.
And I assume that if there are changes to the financial projections, we will get a new Report to the public in time to absorb and assess it before the commission meeting on 1/20.
This whole deal stinks on ice.
CSD Dad, Rosser didn’t prepare the report for the city. Rosser’s report was more like 30 pages and was only for the school system. That oh so comprehensive city report was the product of none other than Peggy Merriss’s office. What floors me is that CSD produces a 52 page report on rearranging 500 students for their reconfiguration and involves stakeholders heavily in the decision making. It took them a few months to put it together. All the City can come up with in EIGHT YEARS is an 8 or 9 page analysis to increase the city area by 25% and the population by a third (7800). The City Manager didn’t even know what the revenue numbers were for each separate annexation area.
There is a dramatic difference in approach between the school system and the City Commission.
Clearly, there is a reason why this whole thing is such a bloody mess.
Good point Stephen. I’m still not sure how I feel about this whole issue, but it does seem that the city isn’t looking too good at this point.
Of course, playing Devil’s advocate here, what does it say about our school system that they can spend the time & effort to create a 52 page report? Shouldn’t their focus be elsewhere? If they are committing resources to this kind of work then no wonder we hear the continual drumbeat for more funding.
What I still can’t understand is that we are being told that without annexation, we will have higher taxes. It is my understanding that many people in the MW/FH areas do not want Decatur taxes to begin with. The school system now says they can’t handle the annexation if it happens, that they will be overtaxed (as in physical plant). Now we have an impasse. I think we need to go back to the drawing board, and it’s going to take longer than a month. We need to demand that this takes as LONG AS IT TAKES to make sure everyone is satisfied (notice I didn’t say happy, since that’s a relative term anyway, especially when you’re working on compromises).
Thanks again for everyone’s insight.
Well, they are redistricting kids to save money and because everyone with kids seems to be showing up in Decatur lately b/c the schools have such a good rep.
And… I gotta be fair…. the CSD report is mostly graphics (while the city’s is mostly text – I guess they haven’t learned to do graphics yet) and was prepared by the GA State Mapping Project. … CSD didn’t do the work.
Like I said… CSD has their issues… they probably do over think a lot of things and they certainly are more fond of being on the “cutting edge” than I am. However, the city seems to be just the opposite. They really, really need some new blood over there… badly. Maybe we could shift a couple of school board members to the Commission and a couple of Commissioners to the school board and it would all balance out.
This annexation is completely ill-advised and has served to expose weaknesses in our city management and political leadership.
Good on the school board for approaching the issue professionally and then taking a stand on the basis of realistic data and projections.
There are many good reasons beyond the impact on CSD for current city residents to oppose the absorption of those neighborhoods, which won’t cove the costs for their share of city services, much less relieve the tax burden of current residents.
You may be right about the value of annexation, me, but given that the matter hasn’t even come up for a vote yet, how has it exposed weaknesses in our political leadership? Are you suggesting that exploring the issue and initiating the public dialog was a bad thing?
Personally, I’d prefer our leadership explore all possible solutions, then let us judge them based on the decisions they make. I’ll be reserving my assessment until Jan. 20.
me, if you think our City government needs fixing, run for office or go for an appointment to one of the many volunteer City Boards and Commissions.
Me, I have a better idea. Put up a fence around the city and don’t let any “undesirables” in. Most of these “undesirables” keep the businesses in the city making profits, though. Then you can get on the city council to rule the eutopia since you know city management so well.
Wanting… it’s not about undesirables at all. No one I know thinks any of the neighborhoods in question are undesirable. As a matter of fact it appears to be the other way around. The northern neighborhoods seem to think that City of Decatur is undesirable.
It’s a math thing. NO residential brings in enough taxes to cover it’s usage of services, particularly school services… unless it’s a bunch of million dollar mansions on 1/4 acre with no kids, no fires, no need for garbage pickup and not crime. You are taking the comment of one person who was probably trolling and applying it to 20,000 people.
I certainly understand the issue with the schools, and empathize. I have friends that are teachers in Decatur City Schools. There will be a layoffof staff in January, There are several other options to to deal with the 2,000,00 shortfall for 2009-2010. My sympathy is with them. My neighborhood has so few kids that the impact would be minimal, just five streets, not all of Annexation Area 5. But, I love Decatur and wouldn’t want to be the cause of its downfall, which I don’t think we would in any way be, if it is decided that our tiny residential area would be annexed The City Council said that annexation of residential would have a positive effect on income for the city over the long haul, but it would strain the schools with the economy as it is. My reaction was to ME not all of the others posting. I think people have genuine concerns on both sides of the issue. Whatever happens we will all be fine in Decatur and the annexation areas. I love my neighborhood and will live here for a long time.