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Thursday, October 26, 2006
Gwinnettians who want out speak up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Vino Wong/AJC
Rick Badie, middle, AJC Gwinnett News columnist visits with folks at Dunkin Donuts along the 5300 block of Jimmy Carter Blvd. Wednesday, Oct. 25. • Photos
The chocolate-covered doughnut and the steaming cup of joe didn’t jolt my senses. Neither did the dozen or so day laborers sitting in booths or milling around outside the Dunkin’ Donuts in the 5000 block of Jimmy Carter Boulevard.
What got me were the AJC Gwinnett News readers I met, the sad, sad stories they told, and the emotions they exuded while talking about the demise of the county, their neighborhoods, their homes.
Everybody who dropped in on the second stop of the Badie Tour wanted to talk about decaying neighborhoods. Theirs. They came to vent — about single-family homes that serve as boarding houses; garages that have been turned into bedrooms; cars parked on front lawns; Christmas lights in April, and loud ranchero music at bedtime.
“It’s a mess,� said Emaline Nowell , a retired Bell South employee who lives off Rockbridge Road.
“I want out,� said Dorothea Bradley , a former homemaker, who lives “behind Hooters� in the Springdale subdivision.
Bradley and others are at wit’s end as their property values plummet and house investments turn to Confederate dollars. And it’s not just those who live in and around Jimmy Carter Boulevard. You should see the e-mails I get from readers in Duluth, Lawrenceville and beyond. It’s the same angst-ridden song.
They are ticked off with what they say are mostly immigrant neighbors who couldn’t care less about maintenance, who disrespect property. They are enraged with a government that’s let, or is letting, sections of the county go to pot. Like Southwest Gwinnett.
The Brookville subdivision off Williams Road was stable when Sylvenia Doby moved there from Washington, D.C., 12 years ago. Since then, she’s spent $30,000 for a sun room, laid sod and dug a fish pond.
She serves as the vice president of her homeowners’ association. For that, she believes someone threw a rock through her car window.
“This was my retirement home,� Doby said.
“What can we do?�
Chuck Warbington met me at the Dunkin’ Donuts to talk about Gwinnett Village, a community investment district that takes in Jimmy Carter Boulevard and other major roads.
He’s the district’s executive director, and he had positive news. The district, created earlier this year and supported by 425 property owners (including 125 off Jimmy Carter Boulevard), expects to generate $1.5 million in 2006.
Another $600,000 in grants has been secured to study what the district needs. Those results will be made public in January. Ideas for combating crime will be publicized next month. And of 229 code violations that have been reported this year, 155 have been corrected.
As Warbington spoke, he pointed to road crews on JCB. They were replacing traffic lights, which will be timed to work in sync to improve traffic flow.
The Gwinnett Village board, Warbington acknowledged, has been concerned with commercial property, not residential plight. He tried to cheer up the despondent residents, who unloaded their woeful tales on him, too.
“Just hold on,� he said. “Don’t give up, yet.�
In some cases, though, it’s too late.
Bradley, the widow who lives behind Hooters, asked me to recommend a reputable handyman. She’s ready to sell.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875. Or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
Where’s Rick? Next week , Rick Badie, your AJC Gwinnett News columnist, will be in the Collins Hill area of Lawrenceville. He’s been invited to sit and chat with residents of the unincorporated community and elsewhere starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, at the Edgewater Clubhouse,Ashbourn Drive. Ashbourn Drive is off Collins Hill Road, between Ga. 316 and Old Peachtree Road. The Badie Tour takes place each Wednesday. For directions or more information about next week’s event, contact Butch Poss at 770-513-7799 .
