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Monday, November 10, 2008
Change is coming, even in Gwinnett
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the entire presidential election cycle leading up to the final night, the overriding theme was “change”. Obama staked his entire presidency on it, and McCain did his best to try to convince us that he would not be a “Bush Lite”.
For the last few years, change and progress is something I have spoken a lot about. I talked about believing that change is possible. I talked about how even the little things can make the biggest difference. I’ve pointed fingers at those who I believe partially responsible and even went so far as to tell some of you to quit whining about how bad things are and do something about it.
I have to admit the last several months I actually started to second guess whether or not it was all a pipe dream. The news of the economy, the extraordinary amount of foreclosures and rising apathetic attitudes all fed into my somewhat change of heart. To make matters worse, I wasn’t convinced any of you really wanted change.
Last Tuesday, most of you both proved me wrong and gave me the hope that had started to fade.
Gwinnettians and Georgians alike voted in favor of Amendment 2 (Community Redevelopment) which basically means that Tax Allocation Districts (TADs) can now legally be a reality in Georgia and more specifically in Gwinnett County.
In fact, Gwinnett Village has already received a unanimous (5-0) vote by the Gwinnett County Redevelopment Agency in a recent public hearing for the Gwinnett Village Gateway Redevelopment Plan and Tax Allocation District.
Their next step, of course, is to present their case to the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners followed by the Gwinnett County School Board for approval, who I believe will all vote unanimously in favor of the TAD.
They had better.
The fact that work is already in place to approve and officially create the Tax Allocation District is just the spark that was needed to really see change I have been harping about all this time. TADs are probably more important now than ever before.
However, I hate to put a dampener on such good news, but I would like to offer a word of caution. Because of the present economic climate, we are probably facing much more of an uphill battle than we anticipated and it is very likely that there will be many bumps in the road along the way.
Make no mistake about it though the catalyst is about to be put in place and the change we all wanted and hoped for is coming.
Oh, and here’s an update change: Commenter Dave is right (at least about) Amendment 3 did not pass, that was my bad. No more finishing blogs late at nite anymore. However, to insinuate that I am pro “big govenment” and especially a “socialist”… would be a grave mistake.
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