Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid’s 2022 State of Cobb County address last week was entitled “All In,” with messages of an expansive community laced throughout the presentation.
Public and civic leaders delivered those messages, and during a nearly two-hour-long event at Jim Miller Park on Thursday, greetings and entertainment included the Atlanta Braves Heavy Hitters drum corps.
After being sponsored for many years by the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, Cupid opted for a county-funded event. She couldn’t get her colleagues on the Cobb Board of Commissioners to approve the spending, however, and other entities, including Wellstar Health System, provided sponsorship.
Speakers came from the Atlanta Regional Commission and Cobb Chamber of Commerce.
During her remarks (which begin around the 58-minute mark below) Cupid, noted the increasing demographic diversity of the county.
She also said political changes in Cobb—with the Cobb Board of Commissioners going from Republican to Democratic control in the 2020 elections—being most notable.
Cupid is the first Democrat to head county government since the 1980s, and leads a 3-2 Democratic majority that’s made up of black females.
But Cobb Republicans in the Georgia legislature steered through reapportionment maps aimed at limiting Democratic representation on the Cobb commission, school board, legislature and Congress.
In addition, four cityhood referendums will be taking place in Cobb, including one in East Cobb in May.
“It has become very clear to me that the increased sensitivity to this board making similar decisions as boards in the past, and historic redistricting and cityhood efforts are signs of these shifts.
“They have been overwhelming at times, but I would not be standing before you if I did not see a silver lining in the challenges facing our county.”
She discussed the county’s desired response to inclusiveness, transportation, COVID-19 and public health, the county budget, public safety, affordable housing, innovations through technology, the proposed Unified Development Code.
“Our diversity is just not racially or geographically,” she said. “It’s economically. We are one of the state of Georgia’s most affluent counties, yet 70,000 of our residents live in poverty.”
She also asked how Cobb can “retain our strength as an affluent suburban county” without leaving other types of communities behind.
Cupid alluded to a total of nearly 700 new county employees that have been requested by government department heads to meet service demands for a county of more than 700,000 people.
“This is hard work that the board is going through,” she said, “but it is necessary work to get where we want to be.”
Related posts:
- Cobb tax digest projected to grow by 10.49 percent in 2022
- Road resurfacing projects approved with 2022 SPLOST funds
- Cobb approves projects for $31.8M with excess SPLOST funds
- Richardson ‘will not step down’ as Cobb commissioner
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