Category Archives: Alpharetta

The federal gravy train is pulling into the station

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Drudgereport.com had this headline: “USA has record $61.6 TRILLION in unfunded obligations; $534,000 per household…” The link leads to this report in USA Today. It is a powerful reminder that the United States is in a terrible financial situation and the current levels of government spending are unsustainable.

Read the whole thing but below are a few highlights:

The federal government’s financial condition deteriorated rapidly last year, far beyond the $1.5 trillion in new debt taken on to finance the budget deficit, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

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The government added $5.3 trillion in new financial obligations in 2010, largely for retirement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. That brings to a record $61.6 trillion the total of financial promises not paid for.

This gap between spending commitments and revenue last year equals more than one-third of the nation’s gross domestic product.

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The $61.6 trillion in unfunded obligations amounts to $534,000 per household. That’s more than five times what Americans have borrowed for everything else — mortgages, car loans and other debt. It reflects the challenge as the number of retirees soars over the next 20 years and seniors try to collect on those spending promises.

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The government has promised pension and health benefits worth more than $700,000 per retired civil servant. The pension fund’s key asset: federal IOUs.

The numbers in USA Today are astounding but it isn’t an isolated report. Back in May, Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming released this statement which says:

The numbers don’t lie. Every day, this government borrows another $4.1 billion. We are borrowing at a rate of more than $2 million per minute. Forty cents of every dollar Washington spends is borrowed money, much of it from China. Every American child born today and tomorrow and the next day owes more than $45,000.

The federal government cannot continue to operate this way. It is more clear than ever before that one day soon our nation has to make difficult choices or foreign investors will make those decisions for us as they are doing for Greece.

So what will local governments do when the federal funds dry up? The Wall Street Journal article Threats to Town Halls Stir Voter Backlash shows that budget woes are already forcing some local governments to consider consolidation against the wishes of many constituents. Here in North Fulton we need only look back to the consolidation of Milton County with Fulton County that occurred during the last Great Depression to see what happens when a municipal government is not sufficiently prepared for the fiscal issues it can face.

The current fiscal policies of the United States federal government are unsustainable. The gravy train of federal deficit spending is nearing the end of the line.  Will Georgia and its municipalities be prepared when it does? I hope so.

Fulton County tax dollars at work

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Last night the Alpharetta Planning Commission took up the issue of taxpayer subsidized apartments for seniors. The commission voted to deny the petition but the Alpharetta City Council will eventually have the final say.

The subsidized senior housing will be an important decision for Alpharetta because it would once again ignore our land use plan in favor of adding more high density residential housing. It would also lower the city’s ratio of owner occupied properties to rental properties even further below the 85% as required by law.

But even more than the fact that the proposal is bad for Alpharetta, what bothers me most is that my tax dollars are being used to lobby my elected representatives against my own interests. As I mentioned in this previous blog post, employees of the City of Alpharetta used public resources to circulate emails in favor of the proposal and offered to give bus rides on to seniors that were willing to attend zoning meetings in support of the proposal. I found that use of public funds inexcusable and to their credit it seems that the City of Alpharetta put a stop to the activity.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Fulton County. Someone emailed me the picture below that shows a Fulton County bus from the Dorothy C. Benson Multipurpose Complex which brought seniors from Sandy Springs to the Alpharetta zoning meeting last night. In case you didn’t make the connection the Sandy Springs senior center is named after the leading proponent of the subsidized housing project, Ms. Dorothy (Dot) Benson.

So who paid to bring people from Sandy Springs to lobby a planning commission meeting in Alpharetta? Was it the developer? Was it Ms. Benson? Or was it the taxpayers of Fulton County footing the bill to support this advocacy?

I respect Ms. Benson and all of the private citizens that support the developer’s zoning proposal. They have every right to come from anywhere they wish and lobby my representatives. But I should not be forced to pay the bill for them to do so. If Fulton County has money to spend on this kind of activism I am sure there are seniors in Alpharetta that would love an air conditioned ride to the next Tea Party rally.

Douglas Road in Alpharetta is closing

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The next few months are going to be a traffic nightmare in my neck of the woods. The city of Alpharetta is going to be installing a new bridge and a traffic circle at one of the most dangerous intersections in Northeast Alpharetta and the resulting construction is going to cut off a vital roadway for thousands of area residents.

Prepare to take a circuitous detour if you usually drive the length of Douglas Road and I urge people to allow extra time for any travel through the Douglas Road area. Below is a diagram of the work to be done:

I am curious to see how the traffic circle works in this area because I have never seen one in a location quite like this. I’m also skeptical of how well it will work but the intersection is a dangerous one and the city really didn’t have any other valid options so I hope to be pleasantly surprised once the work is completed. If nothing else the traffic circle may encourage some of the cut through traffic in the area to avoid Douglas Road altogether.

Ta- Dahhhh! The new and improved Alpharetta city center is unveiled.

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Unfortunately there isn’t much information available on Alpharetta’s website. All the city has posted so far is a few “Conceptual renderings” and a sales pitch.

That isn’t enough information to make an informed decision on the merits of the proposal but if you want to see them they are here: http://www.alpharetta.ga.us/index.php?p=501

Since the devil is in the details and the details aren’t online… I hope the city will be making more information available soon.

Senior housing shenanigans

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In case you hadn’t noticed there is a developer trying to get land zoned for low income, federally subsidized senior apartments at the corner of Morris Road and Webb Bridge Road in Alpharetta. The proposal is being championed by local senior activist, Dot Benson, and you can read more background in this article from the Alpharetta Revue.

Despite Ms. Benson’s campaign to support this rezoning there is a great deal of opposition to the project from Alpharetta residents and I have received a number of emails from people explaining why it is a bad idea. Curiously the majority of the emails have come from people I would consider to be seniors themselves. At some point I will address this zoning issue in more detail but right now I would like to point out something about the senior housing proposal that I find unconscionable. City employees are actively lobbying on behalf of the senior center and using my money to do it.

Below is an email apparently sent from a Parks and Rec employee which outlines the use of public resources to champion the developer’s proposal:

For those of you who missed the wonderful AGAC luncheon, we want to thank the AGAC BOD for supplying the food and the speakers for today, we had a wild day!!

We wanted to inform you of a topic we discussed today and invite you to a town hall meeting regarding plans for a Preston Ridge Senior Community. Fulton County Strategies for Healthier Community, chaired by Ms. Dorothy Benson, has enlisted the assistance of Atlas Development Group and Carlisle Development Group to undertake the development of the much needed AFFORDABLE HOUSING, age-restricted “senior” RENTAL housing in Alpharetta. The development will be located at the intersection of Webb Bridge and Morris Rd.  They have applied to the City of Alpharetta for a rezoning of the property which will enable us to move forward with the contemplated development.

This development will provide 90 senior apartments at affordable rents as well as a wide array of amenities and social/recreational activities. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT in petitioning for rezoning of this property. To show support, please meet in the lobby of the AAC either on Thurs. June 2nd for the Alpharetta Planning Commission Meeting, leaving here at 6:45pm or Monday, June 20th at the City Council meeting, leaving here at 6:45pm as we will be providing transportation.

If you are in favor of this and cannot make any of these town hall meetings, please come to our office and sign a petition. Thanks!

***** ***** ******

Administrative Assistant 1

Alpharetta Adult Activity Center at North Park

13450 Cogburn Rd.

Alpharetta, GA  30004

678-297-****

www.alpharetta.ga.us/recreation

I have removed the sender’s name and phone number from the above email because I have not yet been able to verify the validity of the letter from an independent source. But the people who forwarded the note to me have been impeccable sources in the past and I have no doubt about the accuracy of the email.

People can disagree about zoning issues. It happens all the time. But the thought of tax dollars being used to finance a political agenda infuriates me. My money being used to provide free transportation to seniors so they can lobby on behalf of housing subsidized by more of my money? Are you kidding me?

The Alpharetta Parks and Recreation Department is generally a fine group of people and they have done a great job building an organization that we can be proud of here. But there is absolutely no excuse for city employees being allowed to use public resources to fund lobbying activities on behalf of a developer, especially when the project in question will require even more tax dollars.

I hope the Parks and Rec department will get to the bottom of these shenanigans soon.

Is Alpharetta a good place for a black family?

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In looking over the GA Jim traffic yesterday I noticed that someone was directed to this blog after asking a search engine “is alpharetta a good place for black family”. The searcher was directed to my earlier post Racial diversity in Alpharetta? Duh! and I hope they found the answer they were looking for.

And if anyone else ever finds GA Jim looking for an answer to that same question let me give them a clear and unambiguous answer: YES.

Alpharetta has great schools, low crime and a fantastic quality of life. Any family that values those qualities will find Alpharetta is an outstanding place to call home… regardless of race. Welcome to Alpharetta!

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Is the arbitrary application of justice just?

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Last week I wrote this post about the federal Department of Justice investigating the City of Alpharetta over a zoning case which involved a local mosque. I understand that some people believe the mosque decision was a case of religious discrimination but I followed the case closely and there has never been one shred of evidence produced to support that claim. The Justice Department may find some evidence of discrimination and if so I expect the city would immediately reverse their decision. But why did the feds choose to investigate that particular case without any evidence of discrimination?

I bring this up again because the Roswell Neighbor contains this article by Joan Durbin about a zoning case that the City of Roswell decided against a Christian school. As far as I am concerned that case and the case involving the mosque are both zoning issues that just happen to involve religious organizations and when the Roswell case was originally decided against the school it also sued the city. In the case of the Christian school the article says:

The court stated it was “within the purview and discretion of mayor and council to determine the factors of the preservation of the residential neighborhoods.”

Funny though… the article doesn’t mention a federal investigation over that case. Surely the Justice Department wouldn’t single out zoning cases involving mosques for special scrutiny would they?

It just so happens that my son plays baseball on a field with no lights because the neighborhood stopped a Christian school from installing them… but the justice department never investigated that case. So how is the Justice Department deciding which zoning cases to investigate when there is no evidence of discrimination?

If they are going to investigate cases involving mosques or temples shouldn’t they be investigating ones which involve churches too? I am not seriously suggesting that every zoning case involving a religious institution should be investigated by the federal government but it does seem blatantly discriminatory to bully local governments about cases which involve an Islamic mosque while ignoring similar cases which involve Christian churches. If all religions are protected equally then every religious organization should get the same level of protection afforded to mosques, right?

Otherwise people might get the idea that some religions are more equal than others and that wouldn’t be right because the arbitrary application of justice is no justice at all.

North Fulton Redistricting update

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Well it looks like the North Fulton High School Redistricting is a fait accompli. While not yet official there doesn’t seem to be much doubt that the final redistricting map will be the one presented to the school board today. You can click on the picture below to enlarge the map and you can find more information here.

Teenage consultants advise Alpharetta on vacant property

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The other day Channel 2 in Atlanta had a news report about a vacant car dealership in Alpharetta and mentioned that the city was asking the Atlanta Regional Commission for help in finding a use for the property. You can read the report by clicking the picture below:

Then today I saw this article about kids that had found a use for vacant car dealerships in Alpharetta:

According to Alpharetta police, the five, whose names have not been released, broke into a vacant building in the 1400 block of Alpharetta Highway that was formerly an automobile dealership and set up a skate park.

So a few of Alpharetta’s enterprising youths have already solved the city’s dilemma: The city needs an indoor skateboard facility on the site! The market has spoken.

Feds investigating Alpharetta mosque decision

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AJC has this article about the federal government’s intrusion into the local expansion of a mosque that was denied by the Alpharetta City Council.

The underlying issue is complicated and I don’t feel strongly about the outcome one way or the other. When it comes to zoning issues that don’t directly impact my wallet or family I prefer to let the people who do feel strongly about it work it out.

But I do think some people may misinterpret what is going on here. The problem is that when mosque supporters originally asked to zone the property for that use the neighbors welcomed them into their community based on promises that the mosque would not be expand into something more intrusive. Now the mosque supporters want to expand into something that will dramatically increase the size and impact. I don’t blame the neighbors for being mad about that so for me it just comes down to the fact that the mosque backers made promises to their neighbors and the city decided to make them live up to those promises.

I am not naive enough to think that the building being a mosque doesn’t matter to any of the opponents but I do remember when the Jewish Temple on Kimball Bridge Road wanted to expand dramatically  and their nearby community fought it too. Trying to make this a religious discrimination issue is an oversimplification. I also wish the federal government would spend more time trying to balance their checkbook instead of imposing their will on local zoning issues.

But regardless of the outcome I do savor this opportunity to watch some of the same people that have staunchly defended the private property rights of politically connected developers as they now staunchly defend the right to trample those rights. Schadenfreude anyone?