Rick Badie's Gwinnett: The risks of being merely average

By Rick Badie

A few years ago, Gwinnett County could look askance at some of its neighbors.

Generally, there was a feeling that this county’s schools, parks network, library system, general infrastructure and operations stood front and center to many. The good life. We had it all, and that, so we thought, invoked the envy of many metro Atlanta counties.

In 1997, I moved to Norcross from Orlando. Then, like now, there were issues: Gangs terrorized the streets. Graffiti seemed omnipresent. “Sprawl” was on everybody’s mind. Back then, though, the problems seemed to be addressed head on, unwaveringly, with the greater good of the community in mind.

In 1999, the authorities acknowledged gangs had become a menace to society. They reformed a gang task force to arrest the problem. Graffiti was tackled via education and Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful’s communitywide “paint overs.”

And in 2004, voters thought they had trumped sprawl with smart growth when they booted Commission Chairman Wayne Hill, a 12-year incumbent. Charles Bannister won the post.

Fast-forward five years later. Gwinnett still has much to crow about. Its schools, parks and libraries continue to garner accolades, some national.

But in a county that’s maturing, where growth that fed the coffers has tapered off, one must ask: How long will the good times last?

Better yet, what happened to the governance to ensure the county doesn’t hit rock bottom or become, well, average? By good governance, I mean the kind of decision-making, implementation and follow-up that residents have come to expect for decades. That some may have taken for granted, but that many expect and demand.

In the past two years, we’ve been in a leadership rut. Consider: Some county parkland deals are so suspect District Attorney Danny Porter has requested that a special grand jury have a look-see. A plan for a countywide, uniform garbage collection system has landed in court. Budget-cut proposals boiled down to whether to open a fire station or close a library.

Inept governance, as it relates to these critical matters, appears to have prevailed every step of the way. Bad governance plus bad leadership equals an inevitability: A less livable community.

Because of that, enraged residents have taken Gwinnett County Commissioners to task. The criticism has been justified. At times, though, it has also been harsh, accusatory and rumor-filled.

Against this backdrop, another question lingers: What’s next for a county that’s been above average, in some cases extraordinary, the past two decades? If there’s a fix, what is it?

“I bet that there will be at least four Republican candidates for each commission spot, two or three Democrats for District 2 and a token Democrat for District 4,” wrote Bob Griggs, a community rabble-rouser.

“People are fired up. ... No politician is safe.”

Change. Perhaps the most viable, definitive answer. A change of the elected might change the trajectory the county appears to be traveling, one that could leave Gwinnett in worse societal, economic and political shape than some of its most troubled neighbors. Nobody wants that.

Rick Badie, an Opinion columnist, is based in Gwinnett. Reach him at rbadie@ajc.com or 770-263-3875.