A Year of Burrell Ellis
Decatur Metro | December 29, 2009
The AJC gives DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis high marks for his first year on the job, noting a long list of housekeeping-ish accomplishments, such as consolidating public safety, naming permanent heads of departments, cutting costs, and firing the county’s telecommuting police chief.
And while Ellis certainly seems more the pragmatist and less the politician than his maddening predecessor, there must be some more valid critiques than the ones dug up by the AJC driving around DeKalb and polling people on the street. (Seriously, that’s what the article says. I can’t help but imagine the exchange going something like this… “Hey! Excuse me! What do you think of your CEO Burrell Ellis?! Forget it, the light is changing! Thanks anyway!”)
Now that Ellis has proven himself a capable and less divisive leader than Vernon Jones, what County issues would you like to see addressed by his administration in 2010?
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The ‘new’ AJC mentioned DeKalb County? I thought their maps had the area east of the city marked as unknown territory with pictures of dragons and sea monsters.
Ellis gets the benefit of looking good in simple contrast to his predecessor-much like the unindicted Shirley Franklin. He has not fired the masses of employees with make work jobs. Morale at the PD is still poor and crime runs rampant in south DeKalb. The computer systems and radio communications are apparently a horrible joke.
Finally, after a year, there has been no investigation of the widespread corruption that was alleged under the Vernon Jones regime.
“Finally, after a year, there has been no investigation of the widespread corruption that was alleged under the Vernon Jones regime.”
Sounds again like the pragmatist in action.
It seems the problem with charging new regimes with investigating corruption in earlier administrations is that often times there isn’t enough political motivation to justify opening a lot of closed doors that could potentially cost you lots o’ time and energy.
Five issues I would like to see addressed:
1. Change existing traffic lights to LED to save electricity. Also consider using motion detectors for light changes on roads used by bicyclist.
2. Address the 100’s of acres that have been graded and cleared but not developed due to the the downturn in the economy. This properties are eyesores and bad on water quality due to rampant erosion.
3. Address brownfields (lots already developed but not in use, e.g. auto dealerships on Church/Lawerencville). This is similar to item 2, how can the county encourage development of these areas before greenfields (land that is undeveloped) are developed.
4. Better planning, DeKalb is infamous for developing whatever is “hot” without regard to transportation and natural resources.
5. A new Tree Ordinance, one that gives more credit to existing trees on new developments and encourages healthier street trees.