DeKalb County and the community that comprises LaVista Hills have changed tremendously in the almost 50 years we have called this area home.
What was once farmland and a bedroom community in DeKalb is now an urban add-on to the city of Atlanta. With that growth are challenges, including an escalation in crime and deteriorating roads, sidewalks and parks. An inattentive county government has proven more inclined to please late-night club operators than the taxpayers it is supposed to serve.
Compounding the problem are the myriad corruption issues plaguing the county on all levels, most recently interim county CEO Lee May, who had been appointed to take the place of imprisoned CEO Burrell Ellis. Many others are facing trial or are also incarcerated, including former DeKalb Commissioner Elaine Boyer.
As we approach the Nov. 3 vote on incorporating LaVista Hills, the DeKalb establishment is circling the wagons to protect the status quo. Several elected officials — past and present — feel threatened by the yielding of power to citizens who want to control their own destiny. Individuals and groups with great influence over county government are campaigning against incorporation. Some seem ready to defend the status quo at all costs, either because they do business with the county or want to continue to exploit their connections to county politicians.
With one scandal after another and civic leaders ignoring the needs of citizens, it is no wonder LaVista Hills residents are crying out for local control.
They want to follow in the footsteps of other small, successful local governments like Dunwoody and Sandy Springs that allow voters to keep an eye on their tax dollars and elected officials. In these cities, city council members are required to live in the districts they represent. They are more accountable and more in touch with the needs of the community because it’s home for them, too.
Currently, not a single county commissioner representing our area lives within the boundaries of the proposed city of LaVista Hills.
DeKalb’s population is now larger than Wyoming’s and about the size of Alaska’s, with each commissioner representing more constituents than the populations of most Georgia counties. The model just doesn’t work. Much like the federal government, DeKalb has become too big and unwieldly. And when that happens — just as we’ve seen in our nation’s capital — there is too much room for mischief.
By incorporating a city of 67,000, we will bring accountability and improved services back to our community. We will have a dedicated police force with faster response times and community policing. We will control our own land use so that it meets the needs of our neighborhoods. We will create and finally be able to maintain our own parks, and finally get those potholes filled — all without an increase in tax rates.
The well-respected Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia — widely recognized as experts in evaluating city feasibility — determined our new city would be financially viable. Attempts by the anti-city folks to attack the real data with invented numbers have fallen flat. CVI’s feasibility and annual surplus predictions hold up even under the false scrutiny of the naysayers.
Unlike DeKalb, new cities in our region have a management model that doesn’t tolerate waste and corruption. Every new city created in the last decade has adopted the public-private partnership model, retaining partners in the community to pave roads, run parks and ensure efficient operations at a lower cost than the county. When someone isn’t getting the job done, that partner is replaced with another operator.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Instead, LaVista Hills’ voters can bring change to DeKalb when they choose to keep a portion of their tax dollars, and control over them, closer to home.
Mary Kay Woodworth is president of the LaVista Hills Alliance, and Kevin Levitas is a former state representative from the LaVista Hills area.
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