Author Archives: jimgilvin

Meeting tomorrow with Fulton County School Board Member Katie Reeves

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Below is an email I received today about an opportunity tomorrow morning to discuss the local school redistricting with our representative on the Fulton County School Board, Katie Reeves. I know this is late notice but it is an important issue and I wanted to pass it along in case anyone is interested in attending:

PLEASE CHECK YOUR CALENDAR NOW AND PLAN TO ATTEND THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED KATIE REEVES DISTRICT TWO COMMUNITY MEETING, WEARING MILTON RED; MEETING WILL BE HELD
TUESDAY, APRIL 19th @ 9:30am, CRABAPPLE CROSSING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL .

As I am sure you are aware by now, there are redistricting decisions being made
by FCSS that affect our Milton cluster. Unfortunately, we arrived rather late
“in the game” as some communities who have previously been affected
by such decisions were ready with their arguments, plans, and matching t-shirts.

Though it was unexpected, it turns out that the latest proposed map will have a
major impact on the high school beginning Fall 2012 but extending far into the
future. We need to communicate to the board and superintendent (who decide the
final map with their vote) that we have significant concerns. Katie Reeves is
our district’s representative and her regularly scheduled community meeting
happens to be this Tuesday at 9:30am at Crabapple Crossing Elementary School .

Please plan to attend so that you can hear information firsthand from Ms.
Reeves and show support for Milton . Previous experience with such meetings
leads me to caution you that respectful and informed dialogue are best heard.
You may not feel conversant enough with the complex issues to speak up, and
there may not be time for all who want to speak to do so.

YOUR PRESENCE ALONE, WEARING RED, WILL
DEMONSTRATE YOUR CONCERNS AND SUPPORT.

You have likely already seen one petition and there will be at least one other.
If you agree with the content of these documents, please sign and send along so
that the board hears our “Milton Voice.”

Last, please forward this email to those you know who share that voice.

Thank you!

Senator Saxby Chambliss, Tax and Spend Republican

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Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss continues to show why conservative voters in Georgia are constantly frustrated by his presence in the Senate. As reported on Redstate.com:

A few weeks ago, I reported that the Senate Republicans’ point man on dealing with the deficit, Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), said he’d support tax increases as a means to reduce the deficit.  Chambliss promptly denied it.

Yesterday, in the New York Times, Chambliss admitted he and the Senate Republicans will support tax increases to pay off the deficit.

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Chambliss has already attacked Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” because, in Chambliss’s words, Ryan is able to balance the budget without cutting defense spending.

I know South Carolinians keep electing Senator Lindsay Graham but at least they make up for it with Senator Jim DeMint. Floridians have finally elected a rock ribbed Republican in Marco Rubio. Alabama has Senator Jeff Sessions. Why doesn’t Georgia have a staunch conservative senator to balance the moderate tendencies of Johnny Isakson?

If Herman Cain isn’t successful in his quest for the Presidency I hope he will consider remedying our situation by making another run to be the junior Senator from Georgia.

Taxpayers pick up the tab for Windward Mill road improvements

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Back in 2008 the Alpharetta City Council approved a high density mixed use project for the intersection of Windward Parkway and Northpoint Parkway. The developer of the project is a man named Penn Hodge and he calls the proposed project Windward Mill. Many residents were upset that the Windward Mill project would add 500 condos to the site and result in 12,000 more vehicular trips at the congested intersection but the Alpharetta City Council unanimously approved the project.

One of the justifications councilmembers cited for their approval was that as a condition of the rezoning the developer would be responsible for millions of dollars in road improvements to accommodate his enormous project. You may remember that the same talking point was recently used by City Council as they tried to explain their recent approval of the MetLife high density mixed use project on Haynes Bridge Road.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that I would be paying for road improvements to accommodate a 15 story condo tower that I didn’t want built in the first place. Well not just me, every tax payer in the state of Georgia is now paying for the road improvements that are Penn Hodge’s responsibility.

As you can see in this press release the North Fulton Community Improvement District has announced that the Georgia Department of Transportation will pay more than $600,000 to, “add a right-turn lane along Windward Parkway, from the north-bound exit all the way to North Point Parkway”. Curiously the press release doesn’t mention that one of the zoning conditions for Penn Hodge’s project on that corner was that there be “an eastbound right-turn lane along Windward Parkway”.

So how did Penn Hodge, who sits on the board of the North Fulton CID, convince the state of Georgia that taxpayers should pay more than $600,000 for the road improvements he was obligated to make? I don’t know but it seems like a great question to ask the executive director of the North Fulton CID, Brandon Beach. You see Mr. Beach just happens to also be the North Fulton representative on the board for the Georgia Department of Transportation. Small world isn’t it?

Update on the transportation tax increase

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Today’s AJC includes an update on the wish list being compiled to sell voters on the sales tax increase proposed by the state of Georgia. The additional sales tax is expected to cost Atlanta metro area residents 8 Billion Dollars over ten years and the referendum will include examples of the projects that the money could be spent on.

So far municipalities around Atlanta have submitted over 29 Billion Dollars worth of projects that they want to include so there is going to be a lot of horse trading over the next few months as politicians are forced to give up on 21 Billion Dollars worth of projects. This should be fun to watch.

Below is the paragraph about North Fulton:

Notable no-show

All those north metro drivers who motor down to MARTA’s North Springs Station have spurred talk of extending the train line further up Ga. 400. But no one requested such a project for the referendum, according to the ARC. (At least not yet, as the state DOT has yet to weigh in.)

Since the President and CEO of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Brandon Beach, is also the North Fulton representative on the Georgia Department of Transportation Board it will be interesting to see what is included after the DOT “weighs in”. You can read the whole thing here.

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Last day of Georgia’s legislature and they vote to give tax breaks to mall developers. Just what we need. http://bit.ly/eRjhxy

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Update 9:49 a.m. 4/15/2011

Yesterday I relied on the article cited above when writing this post. The Augusta Chronicle article said:

The Senate Finance Committee voted  unanimously to amend House Bill 234 by adding wording that will give the  developers of resorts, amusement parks and large malls sales-tax money to cover  as much as one-fourth of their construction costs.

After reviewing the legislation as posted on the state website here I think the newspaper article mischaracterized the part about large malls. The bill actually attempts to exclude malls with the following wording:

A tourism attraction shall not include the following:

(A) Facilities that are primarily devoted to the retail sale of goods, shopping centers, restaurants, or movie theaters

Based on my review of the actual legislation I believe my characterization was also incorrect and inaccurate. I am not a fan of targeted tax incentives thrown into unrelated bills and there is still plenty of wiggle room for some malls to benefit from the bill but I do believe I erroneously called the bill a tax break for mall developers.

I apologize for the error and will be much more cautious when relying on newspaper articles from established print media sources in the future.

The National Association of Realtors… bless their heart

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I am a real estate agent but there are many times I am embarrassed to be associated with the National Association of Realtors. Reading this article about the state of today’s real estate market is one of those times:

The National Association of Realtors cites lenders’ conservatism and appraisal complications as among the top two impediments to a real estate recovery, according to  spokesman Walt Molony. The trade group argues that home sales volumes would rise 15 percent if lending standards simply returned to pre-bubble norms

So the spokesman for the National Association of Realtors is suggesting that we should go back to doing what got us into this mess in the first place? Really? As a real estate agent that is embarrassing.

h/t http://christopherfountain.com/

 

The urbanization of Milton High School

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Tonight will be the final public meeting held by the Fulton County Board of Education about the new high school redistricting in North Fulton county. As parents gather for their last opportunity to voice their concerns about the proposed plan I would like to point out something that may not be obvious to the casual observer.

The new school district proposed for Milton High School encompasses the recently approved MetLife mixed use project and most of the area being slated by the City of Alpharetta for high density urbanization. Below is the newly proposed redistricting map for Milton High School:

Now compare the new Milton School district with the map below which is what the Community Development Department of Alpharetta is proposing in their new land use plan:

The areas in color are locations that the city of Alpharetta want to build out as high density mixed use projects and it covers much of the southernmost portion of the proposed Milton High School District .

So as parents of Milton High School students attend the meeting tonight they should be aware that the city is proposing thousands of apartments or condos be built in what would be their children’s new school district. Unfortunately it appears that neither the Fulton County Board of Education nor the City of Alpharetta care about that fact.