MM: The MARTA Cops Who Caught Murder Suspect, Medlock Opposing Decatur Annexation, and Work-Life Balance
Decatur Metro | December 18, 2014 | 11:25 am
- Interview with MARTA officers who captured murder suspect, surveillance video [CBS 46]
- Medlock vows to fight Decatur annexation [AJC]
- Curbed Cup Round 1: Decatur vs. West End [Curbed]
- Braves buy Genuine Parts site near new stadium [AJC]
- WABE to expand news coverage starting Jan 12th [CL]
- New Underground owner envisions “community rather than destination” [CL]
- The 23 Best Countries for Work-Life Balance [The Atlantic]
Video screen capture courtesy of CBS 46
Rats — I was hoping to read “Braves trade BJ Upton for Genuine Parts site.”
“Medlock vows to fight Decatur annexation”. It sounds more like their real beef is NOT being annexed by Decatur. How much would we be hearing about the loss of revenue for Dekalb if they had been invited to sit at the cool kids table?
If Decatur loses to West End in the curbed cup, can we just annex them so that we win either way? Only commercial properties though, obvs.
+1.
This sounds like sour grapes
i would guess that if pretty much all the rest of unincorporated dekalb ends up in some city or another, they’d like to not be left all by their lonesome in no man’s land. if the various cities take in all the desirable commercial property all around them, they’ll be left as a revenue-negative little island that nobody will ever want. attaching themselves to the nearby commercial is a smart survival strategy. like everyone else, they’re looking out for their interests. you can call it sour grapes if you’d like, but they can just as easily call decatur taking the local commercial and leaving the residential a selfish money grab that will harm the rest of dekalb.
For sure. Nobody is doing anything here out of altruism. There is sufficient self-serving double speak coming from every party involved. Kinda sad what a divisive issue it’s become.
The saddest part of all this, and the factor that is commonly forgotten, is that our county government is so bereft of utility and thrift (and ethics) that nobody trusts it to govern. We can discuss residential to commercial ratios and the effect on our schools until we’re blue in the face, but the ONLY folks who have earned our derision and disgust are the elected officials calling the shots at the County Courthouse and at the DeKalb B of E.
Divisive = DeKalb County Government? You must be joking!
That’s a really simplistic and inaccurate way of viewing things. I can only speak for myself, but I was at one time very enamored by the idea of being annexed by Decatur. At this time it’s clear that’s never going to happen and I’ve moved on. I’m more excited by some of the other prospects on our neighborhood’s horizon.
Not the least of my relief about not becoming a part of Decatur: I have a child who is in elementary school right now and is currently receiving a quality education. I really don’t want her thrust into CSD when the sxxt is projected to hit the fan right when she would be reaching middle and high school.
To be fair to Medlock, that is not correct. Medlock opposes Decatur’s attempt to annex the commercial property – without annexing the neighborhood itself – that makes the neighborhood attractive from an annexation standpoint. Medlock (and the abutting commercial property) also has an opportunity to be annexed into Atlanta or Briarcliffe. Decatur’s annexation plan jeopardizes those opportunities. I believe that many if not most Medlock residents would prefer annexation by a city other than Decatur.
That neighborhood has a history of asserting authority over property it doesn’t control. Not long ago, they tried to strong arm the baseball league out of Medlock Park, which is part of the DeKalb County parks and rec system. Their intention was to convert it into a greenspace purposed mostly for the direct benefit of the neighborhood.
I’m sympathetic at some level. They were motivated in part by all the traffic and hub-bub of an active youth baseball league stuck in the middle of their neighborhood, and I get that. Still, if successful their efforts would have displaced hundreds of DeKalb citizens and their families from using the park regularly as part of a very successful youth sport program.
Hard not to reflect back on those days and not see the hypocrisy of their argument that they somehow serve as guardians of DeKalb citizens’ interest by standing against Decatur.
The Decatur annexation plan is unlikely to succeed. None of the local legislators seem interested in supporting it. And even if it gets to a referendum, there is strong opposition from both residential and commercial property owners within the proposed annexation areas. We should look internally to fix our financial problems. We should develop more commercial/mixed use downtown and make sure all residential property is assessed properly. No more 200k McMansions. Then raise the millage rate. Economics 101 says that if demand exceeds supply, you should raise the price. Of course not everyone wants to pay higher taxes to support our schools, but having great schools benefits everyone, not just those with children. Decatur has one of the highest per pupil spending rates in the state. That has resulted in a fantastic school system, which in turn makes people want to move to Decatur, which in turn increases everyone’s property values. So even if you don’t have school aged kids, maintaining top rate schools is critical.
Rogerio, as a resident of Decatur and someone in favor of annexation and growth for the city, I think you perfectly captured my primary frustration with this entire exercise. Which is that the annexation plan, from a purely political perspective, is unlikely to succeed.
Decatur’s government representatives and staff are pretty smart people, who have impressed me for years with their decision-making and problem solving. So for the life of me I don’t understand why they seem to be burying their heads in the sand about how annexation issues are likely to play out in the state legislature this year. The only thing I can think of is that no actively involved in the city’s management really wants this to happen. I realize that sounds conspiracy minded, but the way they’ve approached this so far is ultimately leading to that result.
Medlock has an open invitation to join Lavista Hills. They don’t want to do that so they can complain to the legislature that they will be left on an unincorporated island, which is patently false. Atlanta annexation is another possibility for them.
From the MANA website:
“We ultimately decided not to request inclusion in the joint Briarcliff/Lakeside map without also including that commercial property, but the option of being annexed into a future city to the north remains open to us, as was stated in the LaVista Hills press release.”
From the MANA website quoting a Lavista Hills press release:
http://www.medlockpark.org/search?q=lavista
“The proponents of the City of LaVista Hills greatly appreciate the support that Briarcliff and Lakeside received from residents of areas that are not included in our combined map, and are committed to LaVista Hills agreeing to any future annexation requests from those areas.”
The group leading MANA are real estate agents. Hmmmmm. This whole thing is a very cynical and intellectually dishonest ploy. Its really not about the schools and DeKalb county. It’s about getting a better deal for themselves through any available emotional argument.
Wow, one civic-minded real estate on our board and you decide that the group leading MANA are real estate “sharks”? Nice one.
Also, your remarks are several weeks behind, by my estimation. Anyone thinking that LaVista Hills is in a position to comfortably absorb another 1300+ residences hasn’t been keeping up with the Tucker/LaVista Hills/Brookhaven negotiations.
Moderate that is not correct. The viability of Lavista Hills is doubtful given the recent annexation of CHOA and Executive Park by Brookhaven and the potential loss of a portion of Northlake Mall to Tucker. As it stands now, the only way Medlock would be added to the Lavista Hills map is if it came with the commercial property that Decatur is attempting to annex. That is why Medlock is opposing Decatur’s plan – because it eliminates other options for the neighborhood, both now and in the future.
Nonsense. MANA opposed the Decatur’s annexation plan long before anything involving CHOA and Brookhaven and are arguing that rich Decatur is hurting children as a fig leaf to try to force Decatur to annex them. In so doing, MANA would gladly abandon the same poor schoolchildren and join greedy Decatur in a heartbeat.
MANA can go petition to get into Atlanta with Druid Hills or go to join Lavista Hills. This is what I believe the Mayor and Peggy Merris have been telling them all along. They are not shut out of anything and they do not “own” all the commercial property in the annexation area simply because they are adjacent to one street. Decatur is adjacent too. How does MANA own DeKalb Industrial Way and DeKalb Medical Center?
If MANA wants to stay in unincorporated DeKalb and argue that ALL annexation hurts the county, then fine. That’s a reasonable argument to have. But that is not what MANA argues. They argue that only Decatur’s annexation of this particular property is bad because in reality they want out of DeKalb and are trying to engineer an exit through really questionable tactics.
Honestly, have mixed emotions about annexation in general, but I think that MANA is wrong to try to mislead about the facts.
This is all pure conjecture.
Not all conjecture – there is some rationalization of Decatur’s commercial land grab sprinkled in there too.
It’s not nonsense. Annexations of commercial property typically include the residential areas that support the annexed commercial areas. That’s the logical way to go about it. Medlock has always been economically and geographically tied to Suburban Plaza. If Decatur annexed Medlock along with Suburban Plaza, then Medlock would not be “abandoning” Dekalb or its school children. Rather, Medlock’s children would be educated by the public entity that receives property taxes generated by the neighborhood and the commercial area supported by it. Medlock has consistently opposed Decatur’s plan for the same reason – because it includes the commercial area while excluding the neighborhood. That actually makes a lot of sense. You can’t blame Medlock for acting in the best interests of the neighborhood. I would be doing the same thing if I lived there.
I think the issue that most have is their stance seems to be “Decatur shouldn’t annex these commercial areas adjacent to MANA, unless they also annex MANA”. Their talking point for opposing the annexation is that it will financially harm the county, but are seemingly okay with that as long as they get off that raft at the same time.
Again, I understand why they are fighting. Gotta do whats best for you. It’s just a pretty easy argument to poke holes in when they’d gladly get annexed with the commercial if that option existed.
I’m not an authority, but I bet the percentage of the money from suburban plaza and the other proposed annexed areas that actually goes to fund the specific schools that the residents of Medlock use is extremely minute.
Yet, somehow, there is $5 million in tax revenues that Decatur is taking specifically from Medlock children. How convenient. If you have solid reasoning, why mislead people with the numbers?
Decatur will not annex Medlock. If Decatur does not annex the commercial property, then it would just lie fallow under the authority of the corrupt DeKalb County government. Do you really think they would develop this area better than the city of Decatur? Look around at all the abandoned car dealerships and tire and muffler stores.
Lie fallow? Wal-Mart, Tesla. Or is Decatur taking credit for those, too?
Dekalb County has had some problems, but I wish to remain with the best of the best, in terms of the police and fire departments operated by the county. The City of Decatur is also great, but it is not my home. I wish to remain in unincorporated Dekalb!
I agree with you that the City of Decatur should not annex additional property, and that the City of Decatur must pay for its own schools and services. I wish to remain in unincorporated Dekalb near Emory Commons in Area A. I have spoken with business owners at Emory Commons who also prefer not to be annexed. I like the character of this shopping center as it is; a commercial extension of the Emory/Fernbank/Druid Hills neighborhood. If Druid Hills does vote for an Atlanta annexation, which I very seriously doubt, then Dekalb will take care of us. I have followed the comments as much as I can, and one Decaturite said that people in the planned areas of annexation could move to Tucker, if they can’t afford to pay for new higher City of Decatur taxes. I have lived here almost 60 years, and I don’t plan to move to Tucker. My response to this persons comment would be, “Why doesn’t he move to Tucker and get out of Decatur if he can’t afford pay the necessary taxes to sustain living where he choose to buy property”! I don’t mean to be critical about living in Tucker. It is not desirable to me because I like living closer to midtown and Buckhead. I chose my home based on not being in the City of Decatur! If the City of Decatur needs more commercial property then they should zone and plan to develop more commercial property within their current city limits. And if the City of Decatur plans to build a new school or two in the newly annexed areas, by declaring eminent domain, as they have suggested, that is not only aggressive, but cruel. Forcing older people like myself who are on the verge of retirement, to leave their paid mortgages is really awful. I would hang my head in shame if I had steered the budgets and planning for the City of Decatur so badly, that it now needs to increase its voracious tax digest at any cost. I expect protection from this outlandish and nightmarish remedy that the City of Decatur is planning. The people who live in the planned annex areas most certainly deserve better treatment. I will rely on Dekalb County, and State of Georgia Legislators to see that this selfish and egregious, third attempt, at annexing land outside of their borders is nakedly aggressive and unwanted. The only area that wanted annexation according to the published petition information was Area B in Medlock. And now that the City of Decatur wants to take their commercial shopping area and not the neighborhood that is connected to it, they have most definitely changed their minds!
Reverse Robin Hood comes to mind…