City of Brookhaven a step closer
- 3/30/12
- Categorized in: DeKalb News, Government
The city of Brookhaven is a step closer to reality after a state senate vote March 26.
State senators voted 36-14 to allow voters a chance to decide whether they want the new city. The bill calls for a July 31 referendum on Brookhaven’s cityhood.
Sen. Fran Millar (R-40), who introduced the bill to the state Senate, told his fellow senators that the bill would be “giving people the right to vote on how they choose to be governed.”
“We’ve done it in Sandy Springs,” Millar said. “We’ve done it Johns Creek. We’ve done it in Milton. We’ve done it in Dunwoody. We’ve done it in Peachtree Corners. And now we’re talking about doing it in Brookhaven.”
Sen. Emmanuel Jones, (D-10), objected to Millar only speaking five minutes on the bill and not taking questions from other senators.
“How will this particular city impact all of the voters of DeKalb County?” Jones asked. “What is the racial makeup of this particular city? I wish I had some answers to some of these basic questions.”
Jones said the bill “circumvents the local delegation and really disenfranchises…the 700,000 [voters] in all of DeKalb.”
“Here we go again,” Jones said about the incorporation movement and the Brookhaven bill, which he called “racially gerrymandered.”
“Where is the state headed with these designer cities?” Jones asked. “Perhaps those in this area want to separate themselves from a majority Black county [government] to their own White city not much unlike what’s happened in some of the other cities.”
Sen. Steve Henson (D-41) said “a city can be a vital tool for a community and it can help build and improve a community.”
But Henson also complained that the local delegation was “skirted.”
“This measure has only been in the legislature for one year,” Henson said. “Dunwoody took several years. “This is …a rush to pass a piece of bad legislation,” Henson said.
Sen. Donzella James (D-35) said she had received 3,500 petitions from residents who are against the city of Brookhaven.
“We have all received numerous e-mails from not only people in that affected area but throughout DeKalb County saying, ‘Please say “no” to Brookhaven,’” James said.
At The Champion’s press time, the bill was headed back to the House of Representatives for a vote on amendments of the bill. If it passes the house, the bill will go to Gov. Nathan Deal for his signature.
Apparently Sen. Jones is unaware of a nationwide survey that was conducted in 2010 in which information about peoples' races and ethnicities were collected. It's called the Census. Sen. Jones I recommend that you look at this miracle of wonders called the census and maybe you can figure out for yourself what the racial makeup of Brookhaven will be. (Here's a hint: It's more diverse than the state senate district you represent.)
There's nothing wrong with people wanting to live around people of a similar race, ethnicity, nationality or religion. Look at south DeKalb and its areas that are 95% or more black. There's nothing illegal with majority white areas incorporating to become cities. Sen. Jones, who is the head of the Legislative Black Caucus (a group founded to cater to and promote the interests of one racial group), should know this by now since a federal district court judge just dismissed the lawsuit Jones and others filed to challenge the formation of several cities in metro Atlanta during the past few years.
Why is Sen. Donzella James, who lives in College Park, receiving petitions from residents who are opposed to Brookhaven becoming a city. First of all, Sen. James does not live in DeKalb County nor does she represent any part of DeKalb County. Are these petitions even from people who would live within the new city? Or is this just one more case of outside agitators who will do and say anything (including getting a news writer to include a potentially baseless and worthless claim) to stop Brookhaven from incorporating?
It's comical how the elected officials who are challenging Brookhaven can say that the local delegation has been circumvented, yet they turn around and trot out petitions and emails from people who most likely don't live in Brookhaven (or even DeKalb) for that matter, and act as if they are relevant.
Want to know what else is funny? That Sens. Jones and James both voted to allow residents in unincorporated DeKalb southeast of Chamblee to vote in November to become part of Chamblee. This would effectively double Chamblee's population. Yet not only are there no protests and little to no media coverage, the elected officials so opposed to the formation of Brookhaven actually support Chamblee's right to annex more unincorported land in DeKalb. Does this annexation meet Sen. Jones racial standard?
From Zoning to MY GOD the School Board, in the long run Mike Jacobs and Fran Millar are no better than Burrell Ellis and Larry Johnson.
Fran Millar and this RedNeck Republican Legislature of Georgia are a joke to the nation, Yeh Haw Boys !
Don't forget they are the same "gun nuts" with their "Red Neck" gun laws that have left Trayvon Martin dead in Florida and his killer walking free ?