LAST WEEK: HOW SHOULD FAYETTE COUNTY PAY FOR INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES?
Fayette County continues to have urgent repair needs related to roads, culverts, bridges and dams. Stormwater management was the subject of a 2013 SPLOST proposal that was defeated by voters, but local officials are reconsidering a two-year, one-cent sales tax to fund nearly 200 projects, especially since flooding over the holidays resulted in some serious damage.
Here’s what some of our readers had to say about whether a SPLOST might be more acceptable now:
In 2013 they did a horrible job of explaining the SPLOST. I'm an example of one that voted against it. Now that I understand what the purpose was/is and have seen the problems that happened around Christmas, I get it. I'm ready to vote for whatever it takes to fix our culverts, bridges and roads, as it's an investment in our county. — Tim Kalafut
As interest rates are still extremely low, especially for municipal bonds, it would be smart to consider funding infrastructure projects through bonds with a duration equal to the projects' life expectancy. It would keep the annual cost much lower than an additional short-term sales tax, and would equitably assess the cost among the taxpayers who benefit. — Claude Y. Paquin
As a Peachtree City resident now paying [fees of] $137.11 per year, I would now re-consider a SPLOST to fund the Stormwater Utility. The impact of the SPLOST would likely overall be less cost, since citizens outside the county would assist in the SPLOST as well. — Buddy Holliday
— Jill Howard Church for the AJC
Naming any public facility after a person can be fraught with problems. Even if that person was considered a hero at the time, history has a way of erasing accolades.
The editorial board of Grady High School’s student newspaper says Henry Grady’s name should be removed from their school.
In an editorial published in The Southerner earlier this month, the board wrote:
“As a community of individuals from various backgrounds, races and ethnicities, we should not have a name that fails to represent that heterogeneity. More than that, we should not have a name that is counter to the goals of any productive and welcoming school — one that fails to celebrate many cultures and embrace the uniqueness of Atlanta.”
As alternatives to Grady, the board suggests Ida B. Wells, John Lewis, Andrew Young or Jimmy Carter.
But APS school board policy states that individuals will only be considered after they’ve been deceased for five years. That rules out Lewis, Young and Carter.
Grady, an editor of and part owner of the Atlanta Constitution, was known for his work to promote his vision of the New South, a vision that depended on maintaining white supremacy.
Earlier this year, officials in Houston, Texas voted to remove Grady’s name from a school there as well.
Proponents of keeping the Grady name argue that history is what it was, not what you’d like it to have been. And at the time just about every white person in power was a racist of some sort.
So does that mean almost everything should be renamed, including the state itself? History doesn’t cast King George II in a favorable light in most aspects.
Share your thoughts at communitynews@ajc.com.
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