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Monday, July 23, 2007
Help Wanted: District 2 County Commissioner
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It is ironic that southwest Gwinnett’s county commission seat is District 2, since it is split in two halves: The represented and the neglected.
A quick drive down the area’s main artery, Jimmy Carter Boulevard, reveals a stark contrast in conditions once you cross Peachtree Industrial Boulevard and into the Peachtree Corners community - where Bert Nasuti calls home.
Before becoming the District 2 Commissioner in 2001, Nasuti has held a number of positions in Gwinnett County government, including the Planning Commission (1992) Vice-Chairman (1995) Chairman (2001) and the Revitalization Task Force (2001).
Fifteen years of influence to affect change and improve conditions… throughout District 2… and look where the eastern half of his district is today.
If the eastern half of District 2 were as appropriately represented as its western half, would we even be discussing Gwinnett Village today?
Nasuti wasn’t even an original founder of the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District and hasn’t attended one CID board meeting or event since the initial kick off meeting back in June 2005.
June 27, while on vacation, he missed both the Quality of Life Department ribbon cutting ceremony, a county event, and the public unveiling of the Gwinnett Village re-development plans, yet, both Ga. State Representative Pete Marin (D - Duluth) and Norcross Mayor Lillian Webb were in attendance.
From January 25, 2005 to present, Nasuti has been absent from official commission meetings seven times (three in 2007), including the June 26 vote for the ordinance to require county contractors to provide verification of their employees legal status. The other four county commissioners have missed eight meetings combined in the same time frame.
What are Nasuti’s priorities?
He wants to bring a minor league baseball team to Gwinnett. The eastern half of his district is in serious need of his undivided attention and he’s more concerned about baseball in Gwinnett.
Nasuti (another local politician who ran unopposed) had time to serve as a panel member in a forum with the United Peachtree Corners Civic Association to discuss Peachtree Corner’s incorporation as a city.
It is no wonder that he encouraged Peachtree Corners residents to vote against incorporation as a city … they already have their “Mayor” - Nasuti himself. No love for Gwinnett Village though.
For his part, Nasuti says that 70 percent of his commission-related work is spent on the east side of Buford Highway, which includes the area I think is neglected.
He said he has attended “countless” community meetings and has been “extremely active” in zoning and code enforcement issues in the Gwinnett Village area - filing about 100 zoning and code complaints himself over the years - and has increased funding to Gwinnett County Police in the southern precincts of the county.
He said missed commission meetings due to hip replacement surgeries in 2005 and 2007, which were followed by weeks of physical therapy. The last time he missed a commission meeting it was due to a family vacation, which he said are difficult to schedule with four kids and a wife who works. “I’m not going to apologize for that,” he said.
As for bringing baseball in Gwinnett, Nasuti says 98 percent of the feedback from the public has been positive and “I imagine people in southern Gwinnett will be anxious to go to an affordable baseball game,” he said.
He said he didn’t encourage Peachtree Corners to become a city because people there were satisfied with the delivery of services there and incorporation would create “another layer of taxes.”
“I’m not a rah-rah guy, but I’m out there every day, making calls, doing county work,” he said.
Lastly, Nasuti said people don’t run against him “because they like what I do.”
But I say the commissioner needs to wake up and start taking an active interest in ALL of District 2 that he was elected to serve or, if I have anything to say about it, his days as Gwinnett County Commissioner are over.
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