AJC > Sandy Springs > Blog > Archives > 2008 > August > 25
Monday, August 25, 2008
Broken promises on Sandy Springs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Good morning boys and girls! Today Sesame Street is taking a road trip to the city of Sandy Springs. This isn’t like the road trips daddy used to take in college when he went to spring break, drank too much foamy soda and lost his pants. Funny daddy!
No this trip will be about learning how government operates, and letter today will be “I.” Now if you play Little League or peewee soccer your coach has probably told you there is no “I” in team. But there are two of them in politics.
Now three years ago, when some of you were just little babies, your mommy and daddy and a lot of other grownups voted for Sandy Springs to become its own city. Then they voted for people to represent them on the city council. Those people, who are called politicians, promised to protect the integrity of the neighborhoods around the city.
Now when mommy and daddy promise something, you know they really mean it. But when a politician promises something, it’s like when grownups say “we’ll see” and you know that can mean anything.
Last week the Sandy Springs City Council had to decide if Holy Spirit Preparatory School could build an athletic complex right next to neighborhood. The grownups in the neighborhood let the city council know they did not want this, and they expected the council to look out for their interests.
The city’s own planning staff - some very smart grownups who went to big-kid school to learn how to evaluate the impact of things like dropping a sports complex into a neighborhood — told the council they should vote it down.
So what did the council, who promised to look out for the neighborhoods, do? They voted 4-2 to allow the school to build its field. If this does not make sense to you, boys and girls, don’t feel bad. There are a lot of grownups who don’t understand and they are using their outside voices to complain and saying words that would get you a full month of time out.
It looks like some promises got broken. And you know how serious that can be. If you don’t understand this, it would be like if mommy and daddy let kitty guard the parakeet, if kitty promised not to have the parakeet for lunch. Then an hour later they came back and kitty had a full stomach and there was no more parakeet. Kitty would have broken his promise, but it would be too late. Bad kitty!
One of the politicians that ignored the city’s planning staff and all the people who live near the property in question, and voted to let the school build their field, said this was a “win for our city.” This is called spin, boys and girls. They call it spin because if you listen to the words and try to find the logic you get all dizzy and feel like you’re going to throw up.
Well, that’s all the time we have for today boys and girls. But next month the city council will get another chance to look out for the integrity of a neighborhood. The Epstein School wants to expand its campus but the people living around it don’t want them to. And they have sent letters and e-mails and petitions to the city council members asking them to vote against letting the school get bigger.
I’m sure mommy and daddy do not want you to gamble since you’re so young, but I wouldn’t bet my allowance that integrity of the neighborhood is going to win.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Jim Osterman
