The Taste of East Cobb raises funds for Walton band programs. (ECN file photo)
Thanks to Beth Compton for the information below:
Organizers of the Taste of East Cobb are announcing that the annual food and community event will be held on Saturday, May 4, 2019.
Known as “the most delicious Saturday of the year,” the Taste of East Cobb event will be held on May 4th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the parking lot of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, 955 Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta, Georgia 30068.
“Taste of East Cobb is our way of bringing people of all ages together to celebrate our vibrant community,” said Gregg Maynard, event chair. “Join us for a great day of family, food, and fun!”
Taste of East Cobb showcases the best of East Cobb’s local restaurant talent with chefs offering a delicious variety of tastings from their menus. All restaurant featured ‘tastes’ will be offered at only 1-5 tickets per serving, so make sure to arrive HUNGRY!
Come for the food — stay for the fun. Event goers can discover unique products from local vendors as well as participate in a silent auction with a lot of unique opportunities for great deals on valuable items.
Local high school jazz bands will provide music throughout the day — come hear some of the best emerging music talent from local neighborhoods. Our kid zone features inflatables and hands-on activities. Also, Taste of East Cobb is pleased to welcome Atlanta United 2 to the event — soccer ticket discount codes will be available on site for a game later in the evening.
Taste of East Cobb tickets are available for purchase on the day of the event for $1 each. Tickets can also be preordered online at www.TasteofEastCobb.com.
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David Birdwell said “preserving and enhancing what we’ve got in East Cobb” is behind the cityhood initiative. (ECN photos by Wendy Parker)
Before a standing-room-only crowd at the Catholic Church of St. Ann Thursday night, the new face of what had been a stealth East Cobb cityhood group faced plenty of skepticism and more than a few barbed questions as the effort to incorporate part of the community was presented to the public for the first time.
David Birdwell, a real estate entrepreneur who lives in the Atlanta Country Club area, spoke to more than 500 people crammed into a parish hall, admitting that there’s a lot he still has to learn.
But for many in the public who’ve been frustrated by a lack of information coming from the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, Commissioner Bob Ott’s town hall meeting was a chance to demand answers that are still to be determined.
Some questioned the motives, others wondered about whether their taxes would go up and some worried about the impact on public schools.
On the tax issue, Birdwell was clear: He pledged there would be no increase in taxes, and noted that of the 10 most recent areas to become cities in metro Atlanta, nine have not raised taxes since they incorporated.
“I am not for a tax increase and I wouldn’t be standing here if I thought there would be one,” Birdwell said.
State Rep. Matt Dollar is sponsoring the East Cobb cityhood bill.
Some citizens groaned at that statement, and they broke out into wild applause when East Cobb resident Ki Porter wanted to know why there was “such a rush” to file local legislation calling for a referendum.
The cityhood group wants to have a referendum in 2020, and state law requires a two-year process. State Rep. Matt Dollar, an East Cobb Republican, said at the town hall he would be filing the bill on Friday, on the second-to-last day of the Georgia General Assembly.
With citizens lining the wall of the parish hall, and some even sitting on the floor, Birdwell methodically repeated some of the cityhood group’s reasons for wanting to create a municipality.
Mostly, it’s about more local control of government. Ott serves a population of 185,000 as one of four Cobb district commissioners, and he’s repeatedly said some of his constituents have complained to him that they don’t think they’re getting their tax money’s worth in public services.
It’s a similar argument that’s being made by community leaders in Mableton, who have had a local cityhood bill introduced in the legislature.
Coming Sunday on East Cobb News: Cityhood backers face challenge convincing the public
The East Cobb map would include only a portion of the community, Ott’s District 2 that’s east of I-75 and in unincorporated Cobb, excluding the Cumberland CID area.
That’s still 97,000 people, and would make up the eighth-largest city in Georgia if it becomes a municipality.
The cityhood group commissioned a financial feasibility study that focused on three areas of services that may be provided: Police, fire and community development (which also includes zoning), and concluded that the proposed City of East Cobb can be created without a tax increase, and even start with a multi-million-dollar budget surplus.
“East Cobb is about built-out,” Birdwell told the crowd. “We want to decide what comes here, not Cobb County.
“We’ve seen great things happen in other cities. It’s about preserving and enhancing what we’ve got in East Cobb.”
Porter told East Cobb News after the meeting she’s been living in the area since 1980 and remained skeptical of the “no new taxes” pledge. She noted that a recent referendum failed on Skidaway Island because cityhood leaders there would not place a guarantee in the proposed city charter against a tax increase.
That’s what she wanted Birdwell to address, and another citizen told her “you hit the nail on the head.”
“I’m not for anything where there’s smoke and mirrors,” Porter said.
A few signs in the crowd alluded to that concern, with one saying “Our taxes are definitely going up.”
Each of the existing six Cobb municipalities have higher general fund millage rates than unincorporated Cobb.
Birdwell said that earlier on Thursday, he was encouraged after meeting with the assistant city manager in Milton, which has held the line on property taxes.
He also told the East Cobb audience the north Fulton city has improved services, including public safety, which has been the subject of new concerns in Cobb over staffing levels, salary and retention.
Birdwell said there will be several forthcoming town hall meetings with the public to continue the cityhood discussion, starting April 29 at Chestnut Ridge Christian Church.
The cityhood group is revising its website and is asking for volunteers as it continues to gauge public reaction.
“We don’t have a lot of answers right now,” Birdwell said, adding that after 22 years as a resident of East Cobb, he is certain about one thing: “This makes enough sense to explore.”
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I-75 Southbound near Terrell Mill Road after the lanes were reopened around 11:30 a.m. Friday (Ga. DOT camera)
UPDATED, 5:45 P.M.:
Marietta Police say the man they took into custody on the interstate is suspected of an armed robbery at the customer service desk of the Walmart store at 201 Cobb Parkway South, near the Big Chicken.
Police said the suspect fled the scene before they arrived, but they were able to get a description from a video surveillance camera at the store and learned he left in a gray Honda Civic.
A Marietta officer discovered a vehicle fitting the description and initiated a traffic stop on I-75, and the driver ultimately pulled over on the shoulder near Windy Hill Road, police said.
Police said that because they thought the suspect was armed, they didn’t approach the vehicle, and began negotiations with him by phone.
That’s why they decided to shut down the southbound lanes, and a standoff took place lasting more than an hour.
More from MPD:
After negotiating attempts failed, members from the Marietta SWAT Team approached the vehicle and the driver was removed and taken into custody without injury/incident.
The male, who is not being identified at this time, is currently at a local hospital receiving a full medical evaluation.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
If you’ve been stuck in a miles-long logjam on Interstate 75 southbound in Cobb County this morning, you’re free to move about.
But it may take the rest of the afternoon to clear up traffic that was tied up for more than an hour due to police activity.
All southbound lanes were shut down at I-285 for more than an hour due to what Marietta Police initially described as “a traffic stop with an armed non compliant driver.”
The motorist is believed to be a suspect in an armed robbery at a Walmart store on Cobb County in Marietta.
The driver pulled over on the shoulder on I-75 and a standoff with police ensued, and the suspect was taken into custody. Some southbound traffic was diverted onto Windy Hill Road.
Possible detours around the congestion include the managed lanes and Atlanta Road, but Cobb Parkway also figures to feel the brunt of the traffic clear-up.
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Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers held its 2018 Awards Event on March 5 at the Cobb Galleria, and 24 members of the Cobb County offices located in Marietta and Powder Springs were awarded for their stellar performance during the previous year.
Jean Brosius (above, with President and CEO Kevin Levent) was named Top Sales Associate Companywide as well as the overall Top Individual Sales Associate for the East Cobb office. Jamie Hook was awarded Top Team Sales Associate for the East Cobb office.
In addition, Brosius received the Emerald Elite Award; Hollenkamp, and Hook received the Platinum Award; Stacy Benson, Kim Pitchard, John Grimes, and Shala Hainer received the Gold Award; Larry Walker, Allyce Arnold, Derek Whitner, and Louise Keating achieved the Silver Award; and Paula Brinston, Waine Gray, Ryan McCauley, Kelli Godfrey, Brian Miller, George Esper, Andrea Paulinelli, Ryan McCauley, Jeff Przybyla, Shawn Griffin, Ola Osunneye, Shay Brunson, Corena Francis, John Reilly, Joseph Nelson, Yvonne Leon, Sharon Lydick, and Bernard Brown, Jr. were honored with the Bronze Award.
The Cobb offices include 139 sales associates at two locations – 2157 Roswell Road in Marietta, GA and 5087 Dallas Highway, Suite 500 in Powder Springs, GA.
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Traton Homes has reduced the number of townhomes it wants to build on a corner of Lower Roswell Road and the South Marietta Parkway, but some living in the adjoining Sewell Manor neighborhood are still opposed to the project.
The home builder delayed a rezoning and annexation request with the city of Marietta last month (see previous ECN coverage here), and has submitted the new plans ahead of Tuesday’s Marietta Planning Commission meeting.
Traton’s request is for the Planned Residential Development Single Family (PRD-SF) zoning category, and the land is adjacent to smaller, older single-family homes in unincorporated Cobb.
The original plans called for 63 townhomes and a single-family home on 7.48 acres. The number of townhomes now is 52, but William Watkins, who lives in Sewell Manor, said that other issues with the project remain along with density, including traffic access, short driveway lengths and a lack of preserving natural surroundings.
Watkins lives on Indian Trail, in one of two homes that’s directly fronting the land area. It includes three parcels of former commercial property in the city of Marietta, and six parcels in Cobb that were part of Sewell Manor, which dates back to the 1950s and 1960s.
The proposed density of the revised townhome project would be nearly seven units an acre, down from 8.56.
“There is no reason to annex residential lots into the City of Marietta to force high-density housing into a low density neighborhood,” Watkins said.
The three city parcels were annexed by Marietta in 1998. They formerly housed automotive businesses but were torn down.
The planning board meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday with a work session, followed by its business meeting, where it will make recommendations. The Marietta City Council will make a final decision on April 10.
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The Georgia Native Plant Society is holding its 2019 Spring Native Plant Sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 6 at the McFarlane Nature Park (280 Farm Road, off Paper Mill Road).
It’s one of two sales the GNPS holds each year to provide the public and its members with an an opportunity to purchase plants native to Georgia.
The Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County is having two fundraisers this spring for upkeep of demonstration, community, and school gardens.
The 20th Annual Garden Fair and Plant Sale at Jim Miller Park is April 19-20 (Easter Weekend) from 10-4 each day.
There will be roughly 70 vendors with products ranging from handmade dog dishes to pottery, jewelry to jams and jellies, furniture to yard art, and obviously, plants. The event is free and we will be there, rain or shine.
The 17th Annual Garden Tour will be in West Cobb and Smyrna in May, with four private homes on display, a working daylily farm, and a Master Gardener project, the Center for Children and Young Adults (CCYA).
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Larry Joel Epstein, charged in the March 6 shootings of two electrical contractors working at his East Cobb home, remains in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond after a probable cause hearing on Tuesday.
Epstein, 69, was arrested after a heavy police presence stemming from the shootings on Wellington Lane, off Johnson Ferry Road.
The other worker, Gordon Montcalm, 37, of Buchanan, Ga., was taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital after being shot five times and is facing a long recovery, according to family members.
Epstein was charged with one count of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault and two counts of aggravated battery. He has been held at the jail without bond since his arrest, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
Cobb Police have not indicated a motive for the shootings.
According to Cobb Magistrate Court records, Epstein’s court-appointed attorneys did not pursue a bond request.
Kim Isaza, public information officer for the Cobb District Attorney’s Office, said the next step is to present the case to a grand jury, ideally within a 90-day period.
The quiet neighborhood street in the Kensington subdivision was blocked off by police, including SWAT units and the Cobb Police mobile command unit, after a resident called 911 to report an active shooter.
Other neighbors were asked to stay inside after the shootings, which took place around 2:30 p.m., and as the contractors were wrapping up their work day at Epstein’s home. Police said Epstein was peacefully taken into custody shortly after 3 p.m.
East Cobb News does not publish photographs of crime suspects before their cases have gone through the legal system, and then only if they are convicted or plead guilty and are sentenced.
On Monday, Bonnie Irlyn Epstein, Epstein’s wife since 1971, filed for divorce in Cobb Superior Court, saying the marriage “is irretrievably broken.”
Court documents indicate that Bonnie Epstein separated from her husband on March 7, the day after the shootings, and that her divorce complaint was to be served to him at the jail.
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The following East Cobb restaurant scores from March 18-30 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
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As the organizer of annual dinners to honor Cobb public safety personnel, Susan Hampton is now taking an active role to appreciate them far beyond giving them one special evening out of the year.
Susan Hampton speaking at a town hall meeting at the Sewell Mill Library on March 4. (ECN file)
Over the last month or so, the East Cobb resident has shown up at all but one of Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s 14 budget town hall meetings to speak about what she and others have said is a “crisis” in staffing, pay, benefits and retention for county police, firefighters, EMS personnel and sheriff’s deputies.
She worked up a flyer to hand out to citizens at the town hall meetings, fraught with warnings about how Cobb is struggling to fill many openings, and is losing experienced personnel to other jurisdictions.
On Tuesday, she and more than a dozen citizens and Cobb public safety employees demanded that the Cobb Board of Commissioners act quickly not just to improve pay and benefits, but to get more aggressive in filling those vacancies, especially in a competitive market for experienced public safety workers in metro Atlanta.
“Each of you says public safety is number one and you are committed to solving the problem,” she told commissioners at their packed meeting in downtown Marietta.
“Then you say you’re only one vote . . . The problem is 10 years old, and it’s getting worse.”
She noted that already in 2019, 25 police officers have resigned or will be leaving soon, and “at this rate, we will lose over 100 officers this year. . . . There is a public safety crisis in Cobb County.”
Hampton, a vice president at the Fidelity Bank branch on Johnson Ferry Road, is co-chair of the East Cobb Business Association’s annual dinner for officers in East Cobb’s Precinct 4, as well as for the entire Cobb Fire and Emergency Services Department.
Hampton’s flyer spelling out public safety staffing, salary and retention concerns. Click here for larger view.
Most of her community activism is with ECBA, as well as the East Cobb Lions Club, and other organizations. She’s also a former East Cobb Citizen of the Year for her long-time civic leadership.
“I’m just a concerned citizen that loves Cobb County,” she said.
On Tuesday, she urged commissioners to use some of the $10 million she estimated in pay and benefits that’s available from 211 current openings “immediately” for pay increases, retirement and retention bonuses, and other initiatives to address staffing issues.
She also advocated the creation of a special taxing district for police that’s similar to how Cobb Fire is funded.
“If the city of Atlanta” can address some its public safety staffing concerns, Hampton said, to a rousing chorus of laughter in the room from many of those in uniform, “then why can’t Cobb County?”
Af the end of the meeting, Commissioner Bob Ott of District 2 in East Cobb acknowledged Hampton, telling the public safety employees on hand that “she has been out there advocating for you.”
In recent weeks, those concerned about public safety staffing have spoken out to the commissioners, but Tuesday’s turnout was the strongest yet, as a formal budget proposal for fiscal year 2020 is pending.
Some expressed frustration that the while the budget reflected public cries to enhance library hours and expand greenspace, public safety issues have been overshadowed.
Steven Gaynor, head of the Cobb chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police, said every area of the police department is understaffed, but Precinct 4 in East Cobb “is the least-staffed,” with eight officers for 10 beats.
He said Cobb Police can’t wait for the upcoming fiscal year 2020 budget process to address the shortages, and called for “emergency action now.”
Matt Babcock, who lives in District 3 in Northeast Cobb, had been a Cobb firefighter for 10 years until he resigned last month, because he needs “a better paycheck and retirement.” He said “chronic short staffing,” including 80 current open positions, “is a danger to the county.”
He said many engines are staffed with three and not the recommended four firefighters. Many of his former colleagues, Babcock said, “are not sticking around because they don’t see there’s a future in Cobb.”
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s fiscal year 2019 budget calls for the hiring of additional police officers, but more are leaving than can be replaced. (ECN file)
East Cobb attorney Lance LoRusso, who represents many law enforcement officers, told commissioners that in spite of numerous calls in recent years to address public safety staffing issues, “your responses have been weak and demonstrate a lack of leadership.”
Ott and other commissioners addressed the dozen or so speakers and said they’re working to address the staffing concerns but don’t have a specific solution for the moment.
“We hear you, we hear your concerns,” said commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in Northeast Cobb. “We have made improvements over the years, but it’s not enough. We’re working on options to come forward in the near future.”
Boyce took exception to LoRusso’s comments, and said voting to improve parks and library services doesn’t mean commissioners don’t care about public safety.
“To say that this board doesn’t care is offensive,” Boyce said. “We do care. . . You are a voice. You are here tonight because deep down you know we are going to fix the problem.”
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We’re still waiting for the East Cobb cityhood bill to be introduced in the legislature (it wasn’t in the hopper as of lunchtime Tuesday and it’s not on today’s local calendar).
The vote on Skidaway is the latest cityhood initiative that has been rejected in recent years, after the success of efforts in Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Johns Creek, Milton, Peachtree Corners, Brookhaven, Tucker and other parts of the Atlanta suburbs.
Last November, a referendum to create a city of Eagle’s Landing in Henry County went down to defeat. So did the proposed city of Sharon Springs in Forsyth County.
Efforts in DeKalb County to create two other cities, including one area where voters rejected incorporation in 2015, are being fought.
As the Skidaway saga unfolded, local opposition mounted to the cityhood drive, and it was powerful. In the end, voters there elected to stay part of combined Savannah-Chatham County government, with 62 percent voting “no.”
Community leaders in Mableton have had a cityhood bill introduced in the legislature for many of the same reasons cited by those leading the effort in East Cobb: More local control.
Charlie Harper, who publishes the GeorgiaPol.com state political website and runs a Republican-focused policy consulting firm based on Powers Ferry Road, offered some perspective on the Skidaway vote on Monday that he thinks could have wider statewide implications:
“For a while, the battle of Republican bumper sticker slogans had “local control” winning out over ‘less government.’ During this successful run, success bred success for many, as the same lobbyists, consultants, and vendors seemed to form a niche that has moved from one cityhood effort to another.
“While casting no aspersions on those who are good at what they do for a living, it’s also time in the wake of this defeat to assess. Is the current list of areas exploring the option of incorporation really the result of a groundswell of public support, or have we now created an industry with the right connections and capital that is planting seeds of cityhood in the hopes that public support will then sprout?”
Those are some of the points that have been made by East Cobb News readers since we began posting about the East Cobb cityhood effort in December.
To be sure, there are supporters of cityhood who also have spoken out, and there are those who are open to listening to what those behind a proposed City of East Cobb have to say.
(Here’s the revised website for the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb, Inc.)
But there are many questions readers have been posing to us that reflect much of what drove the opposition in Skidaway.
As Harper noted about the failed effort there as well as Eagle’s Landing:
“At the core of each battle was a commercial tax base. Both were deemed necessary for long term viability with low/stable tax rates. Skidaway Island, dominated by the mega gated community The Landings, is almost exclusively residential.
“This difference, combined with the political savvy of a few key residents, led to Skidaway’s defeat.”
The financial feasibility study conducted for the Committee for Cityhood for East Cobb noted that the tax base split for the proposed city limits would be 85 percent residential and only 15 percent commercial.
That’s another major question East Cobb cityhood leaders will have to address in the coming months, starting Thursday at Bob Ott’s town hall meeting at the Catholic Church of St. Ann.
The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in Nolan Hall. The church is at 4905 Roswell Road, at the corner of Bishop Lake Road.
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The Cobb County School District is hiring, and educators are invited to attend the district’s two upcoming job fairs on March 26 and March 28. The hiring events are open to anyone interested in certified teaching positions. Thousands are expected to attend.
The job fairs put teachers face-to-face with school administrators in a relaxed and personal setting and give candidates the opportunity to talk directly about teaching and learning in a diverse and dynamic school district.
“Our job fairs help us hire the very best so we can strengthen our team of talented educators who continue to make Cobb the best place to teach, lead, and learn,” said Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale. “This year, we were once again the first metro district to issue teaching contracts, which has allowed us to identify areas of need and begin looking for tomorrow’s top teachers to support our vision of One Team, One Goal: Student Success.”
Middle and High Schools Job Fair:
Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Time:
5-6 p.m. (Current CCSD Employees Only with ID)
6-9 p.m. (Open to All)
Location: Kennesaw Mountain High School: 1898 Kennesaw Due West Rd NW, Kennesaw, GA 30152
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The National Art Education Association (NAEA) recently named Dodgen Middle School art teacher Joan Weatherford the 2019 Outstanding National Junior Art Honor Society Sponsor.
This prestigious award, determined through a peer review of nominations, recognizes dedication from an NAEA member who sponsors an outstanding National Junior Art Honor Society Chapter.
The award was presented at the NAEA National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts, March 14-16, 2019.
“This award is being given to recognize excellence in professional accomplishment and service by a dedicated art educator. Joan Weatherford exemplifies the highly qualified art educators active in education today: leaders, teachers, students, scholars, and advocates who give their best to their students and the profession,“ stated NAEA President Kim Huyler Defibaugh.
The Cobb County School District’s supervisor of learning design and visual arts echoes the praise of Weatherford by NAEA’s president.
“Joan Weatherford personifies teacher dedication and advocacy of Visual Arts Education in Cobb County. Her commitment allows students to see the importance of the arts in their school and their local community. I applaud Joan and commend her efforts as she receives this national award and is named the 2019 Outstanding National Junior Art Honor Society Sponsor,” said Laura LaQuaglia, Cobb Schools Supervisor of Learning Design and Visual Arts Division of Teaching and Learning Instruction and Innovative Practice.
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Karen Handel said Monday she’s running for the Georgia 6th Congressional District seat she lost last November.
The Roswell Republican and former Georgia Secretary of State held the seat for a little more than a year following a 2017 special election, then was defeated by Democrat Lucy McBath.
In a brief message on her website, Handel said she’s running because the 6th District—which includes East Cobb—”deserve[s] better than a Pelosi pawn as our representative in Washington. We need someone who works for our best interests, not just for the Pelosi agenda or to gain national celebrity.”
Those were references to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who regained that position when Democrats took the House in the November elections, and to McBath, who’s gained national attention for her gun-control efforts.
McBath, who lives in Marietta, became the first Democrat elected to the seat once held by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 40 years after she narrowly defeated Handel.
McBath used Handel’s announcement to make a fundraising pitch on her campaign Facebook page, saying “we know we’re in for a tough re-election fight… but when the going gets tough, #TeamLucy hasn’t failed me yet.”
No other candidates have announced to run for the 6th District seat, which includes North Fulton, Sandy Springs, and north and central DeKalb.
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Last week the Cobb Board of Education approved the creation of the Cobb Career Academy, a magnet program that will provide a career tech pathway for students.
The $14.5 million academy will be built on the campus of Osborne High School, which is undergoing a rebuild, and is slated to be completed by May 2020.
The academy is projected to accommodate 500 students as an extension of Cobb’s current Career, Technology, and Agriculture Educational programs.
More than 36,000 students participated in CTAE classes last year, according to the Cobb County School District.
“Our CTAE programs are not only preparing students for choice-filled lives through career opportunities, but clearly, they already having a positive impact on our county’s economic development, and they have yet to graduate from high school,” said Jennifer Lawson, Cobb Schools Chief Academic Officer, who briefed board members on the academy plans before their vote.
Cobb Career Academy students will be considered Osborne students—much like those attending the STEM magnet at Wheeler are Wheeler students—and they will be able to participate in work-based learning, dual enrollment, and advanced placement, among other benefits.
The academy will be built by Carroll Daniel Construction Co., with the funding coming from sales tax revenues in the Cobb Education SPLOST IV collection period.
In addition to the Wheeler STEM program, the other magnets in Cobb schools are at Campbell (International Baccalaureate), Kennesaw Mountain (math, science and technology), North Cobb (international studies), Pebblebrook (performing arts) and South Cobb (research and medical sciences).
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Several months after forming an organization to explore incorporating a portion of East Cobb, representatives of the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb are formally taking their case to the public.
They are scheduled to speak Thursday at a town hall meeting of Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott at the Catholic Church of St. Ann.
At the same time, legislation calling for a local referendum on cityhood is expected to be filed in the final days of the Georgia General Assembly session.
Ron Eble and David Birdwell are among those who will be speaking at the town hall meeting. They’re part of the cityhood committee whose membership is being revealed only now.
Eble is a management consultant with Slalom Consulting, a business and technology firm. David Birdwell is a real estate entrepreneur who lives in the Atlanta Country Club area.
Ever since the cityhood group was formed last fall, only Joe Gavalis, a resident of the Atlanta Country Club, and Owen Brown, the founder of Retail Planning Corp., have been publicly identified with the group.
The committee has commissioned a City of East Cobb feasibility study and has hired a public relations representative and a lobbyist in the legislature.
That study concluded that the city, with boundaries proposed by the committee, is financially feasible and that additional tax rates wouldn’t be needed. In fact, the study, conducted by the Georgia State University Center for State and Local Finance, suggested that a City of East Cobb would start out with a surplus of a few million dollars.
The boundaries include only unincorporated east Cobb that is in Ott’s District 2, and cover a population of 97,000. The committee has not explained why it’s not including what is generally regarded as most or all of East Cobb in its proposed city map.
Among the reasons cited for pursuing cityhood are enhancing local control of services, especially public safety, roads and zoning. The group is calling for a city government that would have an elected mayor and council and an appointed city manager, with city hall possibly being located at an expanded East Cobb Government Service Center on Lower Roswell Road.
State Rep. Matt Dollar
A citizens group in Mableton, which also is pursuing cityhood and has had legislation filed for a referendum in 2020, is citing similar reasons for its cityhood drive.
State Rep. Matt Dollar, a Republican who represents part of the proposed City of East Cobb, told East Cobb News last week that he will be sponsoring a bill shortly calling for a referendum in 2020; as of Friday, that bill has not been introduced.
Cityhood is a two-year process in Georgia. Local legislation must at least be introduced a year before any referendum can be scheduled.
Cityhood legislation also must be sponsored by at least one state senator whose district includes a proposed new city. Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, the only lawmaker in the upper chamber who could do that, told East Cobb News last week that she doesn’t have a position on cityhood for now, “but the bill will get the conversation started.”
By contrast, those in Mableton leading the cityhood effort there have held a series of public meetings over the last couple years before having legislation filed. The group still must have a feasibility study conducted.
Who else is involved?
Rob Eble
Joining Birdwell and Eble on the committee, along with Gavalis and Brown, are Dee Gay, Karen Hallacy, Sharon McGehee, Chip Patterson, Carolyn Roddy, Jerry Quan, Kevin Taitz and John Woods, according to the group’s revamped website, which is now subtitled “Good neighbors make for good government.”
Gavalis is an appointee of Ott’s, serving on the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission. He’s also served on the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force.
The group also is being advised by Riley Lowery, a political consultant who has long advised Ott, and who has been sparring with some citizens in recent days on social media about the cityhood effort and his role in it.
East Cobb News asked Phil Kent, the cityhood group’s P.R. representative, to provide basic biographical information about the rest of the committee. He replied that he doesn’t know “most of the East Cobbers” with the expanded group and “suggest you perform old-fashioned journalism research” by attending the town hall meeting.
When East Cobb News followed up that reply with a request to get the information before the town hall, and to explain how these individuals were selected and what their roles will be, Kent did not respond. Here’s a bit more about them:
Dee Gay: A commercial real estate broker who is active with the Cobb County Republican Women’s Club, and who lives in the Atlanta Country Club area;
Karen Hallacy: Longtime East Cobb civic activist, president of Georgia PTA and Ott’s appointee to the Development Authority of Cobb County;
Sharon McGehee: Associate director of advancement at Mt. Bethel Christian Academy;
Chip Patterson: Atlanta Country Club area resident and a partner in Three P Partners, an Atlanta real estate development firm, as well as a former head of the Walton Touchdown Club;
Jerry Quan: The former commander of the Cobb Police Precinct 4 station in East Cobb, now serving with the Cobb County School District police department. He’s a former East Cobb Citizen of the Year;
Carolyn Roddy: An administrative law attorney in Marietta;
Kevin Taitz: Technology consultant at Slalom Consulting;
John Woods: CEO of Southport Capital, based in the Cobb Galleria, and a chairman of the Walton Touchdown Club. Three sons played football at Walton, most recently Dominick Blaylock, an all-state wide receiver and University of Georgia signee. Woods also is the owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts minor league baseball team.
The town hall meeting starts at 7 p.m. Thursday in Nolan Hall at the Catholic Church of St. Ann, 4905 Roswell Road (at Bishop Lake Road).
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Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said Thursday his priorities for the fiscal year 2020 budget are for across-the-board employee pay raises and increases in the teacher allotment pool to reduce class size.
He and Brad Johnson, the chief financial officer for the Cobb County School District, briefed board members at their monthly work session.
There’s not a formal budget proposal now—that’s expected in April—so the size of the raises and the number of new allotments haven’t been determined.
The district is waiting on estimates for the Cobb tax digest for 2019 and monitoring the final days of the legislative session.
“The numbers are still changing,” said Ragsdale, who said he will not be recommending employee bonuses for FY 2020 and called the upcoming process “definite creative budgeting.”
Ragsdale said he’s emphasizing raises this year over bonuses because the raises can be figured into Georgia Teachers Retirement System calculations.
“It’s best for the employee to maximize that raise,” said Ragsdale, adding that he sought feedback from teachers. This decision, he said, “wasn’t made in a vacuum.”
Last year marked the end of education austerity cuts in Georgia that lasted more than a decade. That freed up $10.2 million in restored funds for Cobb, and Ragsdale immediately applied most of it to employee raises.
Johnson estimated that Cobb lost an estimated $586 million in revenues due to the austerity cuts since 2003.
“I’m not sure how we did balance the budget during some of those years,” he told board members.
The reference was part of a larger financial picture district officials painted as the board prepares for the budget process.
Cobb allows for a senior property tax exemption for homeowners aged 62 and older. Johnson said all exemptions totaled $146 million in FY 2019, with $111.9 million of that due to the senior exemption.
At the board’s Thursday night business meeting, the two newest board members asked about the senior exemptions. Jaha Howard, who represents the Campbell and Osborne clusters, asked if budget information presented to the public will clearly include the funding Cobb is not getting due to that exemption.
Ragsdale said he does explicitly mention that when he speaks in public “as a point of education.” He said while the senior exemption is “is a benefit to our constituents in Cobb,” the larger issue for the district is addressing state “fair share” funding issues.
The Cobb schools millage rate is 18.9 (there’s a state cap of 20 mills), and 5 mills goes right back to the state for what’s called “fair share” funding.
But with the senior exemption, Ragsdale said, Cobb actually can’t touch 6.4 of that 18.9 mills. Last year, Cobb’s fair share contribution rose by $10.7 million, to $155.3 million.
“If we could get a cap on that . . . that would go a long way” in easing local budget pressures, he said.
Charisse Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, noted that voters in Forsyth County last November voted to eliminate a senior tax exemption for homeowners who still have students living with them but who are not legal guardians. That change will net Forsyth schools an additional $500,000 in revenue a year.
Cobb is Georgia’s second-largest school district, with nearly 112,000 students.
After the formal budget proposal is presented to the school board, it will hold public hearings before adoption, which is slated for May.
The Cobb schools fiscal year is from July 1-June 30.
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A Cartersville man who was convicted of abducting a woman from her workplace on Roswell Road in Marietta last year was given a 20-year prison sentence by a Cobb judge on Thursday.
Antoine Latroy Williams, 40, must serve at least 18 years behind bars, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s office, with the remainder on probation.
The sentence was handed down by Cobb Superior Court Judge Stephen Schuster after Williams was convicted of kidnapping, sexual battery, and three counts of simple battery on Wednesday.
According to prosecutors, Williams met the woman, who is in her early 20s, on Feb. 25, 2018 and offered her a job. The following day he went to her place of business on Roswell Road in the city of Marietta five times and waited for her in the parking lot.
She drove away and he followed her, and a short time later she pulled over to the side of the road, according to prosecutors, who said Williams then forced the woman into his car.
The DA’s office said Williams drove her around Cobb County in his car before traveling to Cartersville and threatened to hurt her if she tried to escape. He also put his hand on her thigh, grabbed her hair, and slapped her hand, prosecutors said.
They also said Willliams threatened to hurt her if she tried to escape, and he groped her on the thigh, pulled her hair and struck her hand.
After Williams stopped at a QuickTrip in Cartersville, prosecutors said the woman managed to escape.
At the trial, prosecutors alleged that Williams has a history of violence toward women. A woman testified that he sexually assaulted her in Los Angeles in 2011.
“Every shiny object you dangled in front of this girl: a Mercedes, cash, a phone and a job was just to lure her into your control. I don’t see these as tokens of your affection, you were grooming her, pure and simple,” Schuster said at the sentencing. “I see you as nothing more than a predator.”
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A Wheeler High School student who was critically injured when he was hit by a car in the crosswalk in front of the school on March 9 is still in the hospital, and will be in rehabilitation after that.
His family is asking for the public’s help to help pay for medical and other expenses as his parents take time off from work to care for him.
Malik Spellman, a varsity basketball player for the Wildcats, was one of two Wheeler students hit around 7 p.m. on March 9 as they were transporting weight room equipment across Holt Road.
The boys were struck by a black Mercedes driven by Nancy Valentine, 73, of Marietta, according to Cobb Police, who have not yet pressed any charges.
UPDATED, March 21, 3 P.M.:
Cobb Police spokesman Neil Penirelli said traffic citations have been issued to Valentine for failure to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk and failure to use due regard to avoid pedestrians.
ORIGINAL REPORT CONTINUES:
According to an online fundraising note posted by Marquis Wright, Spellman’s stepfather, more than $7,500 of a requested $25,000 has been raised thus far. Spellman is still at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital, Wright said, and he will need physical as well as psychological therapy.
Police said initially that the student later identified as Spellman was facing life-threatening injuries and that the other boy, who has not been identified, was facing serious injuries. They were both taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital from the accident scene, police said.
Wright said he was making the fundraising appeal after being “instructed by our lawyer just in case the person who hit my son’s insurance doesn’t cover his medical expenses.”
East Cobb Middle School officials said they’ve heard that “some of our families are interested in how they can help” Spellman’s family, and on a social media posting included the GoFundMe link.
“He is progressing well, but still expected to be in a rehab facility for the next 3-4 weeks,” the school message said, referring to Spellman.
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Isakson said he was prompted to speak out not only because of his friendship with McCain, but because of what he thinks is the negative impact of Trump’s remarks, especially by those serving in the military.
McCain, a former Vietnam POW who preceded Isakson as the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee chairman, was a strong critic of Trump, and the enmity was mutual.
Over the weekend, Trump renewed accusations he’s made before that McCain forwarded to the FBI a dossier regarding possible compromising information about Trump before he was elected president in 2016.
“Spreading the fake and totally discredited Dossier ‘is unfortunately a very dark stain against John McCain,’ ” went one Tweet from Trump.
Another Tweet continued the criticism: “So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) ‘last in his class’ (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election.”
“It’s deplorable what he said,” Isakson said, referring to Trump, during the interview conducted at the GPB studios in Atlanta. “It will be deplorable in seven months if he says it again, and I will continue to speak out. We should never reduce the service that people give to this country.”
The Bulwark, a new conservative political website, reported early Wednesday that Isakson, Georgia’s senior senator, was making good on a pledge he made from the Senate floor after McCain’s death that anyone who “tarnishes the reputation of John McCain deserves a whipping.”
On Tuesday, he said this in an interview with The Bulwark, which is highly critical of Trump:
“I just want to lay it on the line, that the country deserves better, the McCain family deserves better, I don’t care if he’s president of United States, owns all the real estate in New York, or is building the greatest immigration system in the world. Nothing is more important than the integrity of the country and those who fought and risked their lives for all of us.”
More recent information unsealed by a judge last week includes testimony that McCain passed along the dossier to the FBI in December 2016, after the election.
The dossier contents are part of an investigation by former FBI director Robert Mueller into alleged Russian political interference in U.S. elections. Trump’s former campaign manager and personal lawyer have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the probe.
When asked to clarify his comments on Tuesday, Trump said that “I was never a fan of John McCain’s and I never will be.”
Isakson is one of the few Republican senators who’s spoken publicly about Trump’s McCain comments. Thus far he is the only one who is directly challenging what his spokeswoman said is “the president’s continued disparagement” of McCain, who died last summer from brain cancer.
“I want to elevate John. John was better than I am, and I know it,” Isakson told The Bulwark. “John was the best of my generation. John McCain was and is a great human being.”
During the GPB interview, Isakson was asked if he was concerned about his legislative priorities being affected by his criticisms of Trump, and not for the first time.
“I never worry about what I’m doing politically or practically in the Senate as long as I think I’m doing what’s right,” Isakson said.
The Bulwark was launched in December and is co-founded by William Kristol, a former White House aide and conservative writer who has been highly critical of Trump, especially on social media.
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A proposed indoor recreation and entertainment center at Sandy Plains Village in East Cobb was passed by the Cobb Board of Commissioners at their Tuesday zoning hearing.
By a 5-0 vote on the consent agenda, the commissioners followed the Cobb Planning Commission’s recommendation to keep the existing neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) category, with use-specific conditions for the 67,000-square-foot space that will become Ignite Adventure Park.
DDR Sandy Plains LLC had sought community retail commercial zoning (CRC) for the entire shopping center it owns because the entertainment center uses didn’t fit the NRC category.
Ignite Adventure Park will include a variety of indoor activities, including go-karts, bumper cars, trampolines, mini-golf and rock-climbing, as well as a restaurant and cafe.
It’s slated to go in the former space of the Walmart Neighborhood Grocery, which closed in 2017.
Planning commissioner Andy Smith of East Cobb—who represents the area of the shopping center on Woodstock Road between Sandy Plains Road and Mabry Road—incorporated several special-use conditions to keep the shopping center NRC.
The commissioners also agreed to planning commission recommendations to mandate that the go-karts and bumper cars be operated on either battery power or electricity (no gasoline-driven engines).
Construction will be limited from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and Saturday construction is indoors only (no nights, Sundays or holidays).
Commissioner Bob Ott noted that the case “started as a contentious zoning” and was moved to the consent agenda by the collaborative efforts of the applicant, Smith (his appointment to the planning commission) and nearby residents who initially were opposed.
Also approved on the consent agenda was a residential rezoning for eight farms-style homes on seven acres on Shaw Road (case file here).
As reported late last week, Mt. Bethel Christian Academy withdrew its request to amend a special land use plan for an athletic field at its Upper Campus on Post Oak Tritt Road.
The case was to have been heard Tuesday, but generated strong opposition from some nearby residents.
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Several months after forming an organization to explore incorporating a portion of East Cobb, representatives of the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb are formally taking their case to the public.
