For the record…there were about fifty property owners active against the proposed legislation last year. My property was included in last years proposal. The property is supposedly not in the proposed legislation this year, but one can’t be sure until the final law is written or not. I have invested my life savings in attempting to build a cool community where people can come and learn, and create, and connect with other people and get away from their worries. I can’t help but be concerned about the future of that and speak out.

My opposition to the annexation of commercial property is purely based on the fact that commercial property owners do not have a say in the matter, unlike residential property owners. It strikes me as undemocratic and un-American that you have the freedom to choose what county or city you want to buy land in, and that later someone can come along and undo that choice after you have chosen to invest your life savings. And you have no say in it. No vote. Nobody asks you if you want it, nobody tries to woo you to consider it. Nobody offers you anything. It is all about taking from you and control.

It simply strikes me as unfair.

I’m a pretty reasonable person, and I enjoy civic debate and exchanging viewpoints with people who might not agree with me. I don’t think there is anything wrong with having a different opinion and expressing it. Please remember, I’m not the one trying to force my plans on anyone else to their disadvantage. I have been on the receiving end and am simply speaking out against what I feel is an unjust imposition.

If anyone is miffed at me for expressing my view, then I would invite them to sit down over a cup of coffee and discuss it with me. I’d like to understand their viewpoint better and hopefully they can understand mine better. We might not agree at the end of the conversation, but we’ll both have more information and we’ll have made a personal connection that is meaningful.

I still patronize businesses in Avondale that are supporting the annexations. I am friends with Avondale residents that are supporting the annexation. I also have friends in Avondale that think the annexations are totally unfair and undemocratic…not everyone in Avondale agrees with the party line.

I think we can all be civil and be friends and do business and socialize and coooperate on some things yet have different opinions on other things. That’s the beauty of America!

Erik Haagensen

Therefore, it has to go before the state legislature for approval.

What the tax break does is to encourage activities society finds beneficial by paying you to give money to the activity. Sonny paid you a dollar to support the Decatur Beer Festival. And you still have to buy a ticket! Tax breaks like this do not have an end result of helping your pocket, they help your prestige, your feelings of doing something worthwhile, and they help targeted activities.

Likewise, I doubt the annexation would initially help the two cities financially, especially if there is a current property owner not paying taxes. If the goal here is that Avondale and Decatur band together to create something that has more visual appeal than the current strip of Collage Avenue with and appropriate code enforcement authority then I’m all for it. I’d pay more for a main street that looks better and supports pedestrian activity because all evidence shows that will increase the value of the property I own. If my small tax investment pooled with those of other property owners accomplishes that goal it is worth it to me.

FWIW, I do not live in Decatur, although I can see Decatur from my house. The Decatur annexation plan would pull me into the city which is OK with me.

DeKalb doesn’t care to make an effort into small corridors like this, whereas the Cities have an interest in this key link between them. The county is too busy wasting money with streetscape and sidewalks on lost causes like Memorial Drive or Candler Road. They chickened out and wouldn’t even condemn rusting signs falling down in order to clean up the roadside for the Memorial streetscape, because property owners protested—a project that took years to get approved by GDOT.

We’d love to be “official” members of Decautr and would gladly pay more in taxes to get City Of Decatur services…