The drive toward local control, representation closer to the people, fiscal responsibility and enhanced service delivery in unincorporated DeKalb County continues. The cityhood efforts of LakesideYES and the City of Briarcliff Initiative joined forces this fall as LaVista Hills YES, a one-city solution for our area of north-central DeKalb.
LaVista Hills would be DeKalb’s largest city with approximately 72,000 residents. It would span neighborhoods and commercial areas inside and outside I-285. While the borders are still being finalized, residents and business owners within the proposed boundaries have expressed an overwhelming desire for a greater police presence, increased investment in roads and sidewalks, control of land use and zoning, and improved parks and recreation, among other services.
Since the merger of our two organizations, LaVista Hills YES and neighborhood and civic associations have met with residents to discuss the potential benefits of cityhood. We have worked diligently to include neighborhoods that want to be part of LaVista Hills.
LaVista Park resident Michael Lappin recently shared his support: “The City of LaVista Hills offers the greatest opportunity for our community to shape its future rather than being tied to legacy operations of existing local governments. Being part of a new city allows us as founding residents to have a say in how the city is organized, who is elected to represent us, and what the guiding principles of our city will be. It also allows us to have a fiscally responsible city that is built on the foundation of sound financial management and efficient government.
“This is not about paying less or doing away with government. This is about having effective government.”
While there is valid concern about the DeKalb County school system and its future, the creation of a new city does not change school attendance zones; cityhood and the DeKalb schools are not connected. However, the annexation proposal offered by Together in Atlanta, to become part of the city of Atlanta, would have an immediate effect on students, educators, school employees, attendance patterns and facilities.
LaVista Hills’ leadership promises to actively engage DeKalb schools to find solutions for all affected by school-related changes in our community.
LaVista Hills’ goal for 2015 is to create a new city that:
• Recognizes its citizens are more innovative, engaged and productive when they are safe.
• Is large enough to operate efficiently, yet small enough to maintain healthy relationships with and the engagement of its citizens, and avoid yet another bureaucratic layer of government.
• Is grounded on principles of disciplined stewardship. It will reflect the conservative fiscal values established by its citizens over the last half-century, driven by a progressive stewardship and compassion to ensure citizens’ basic needs are met.
• Celebrates its rich tradition of diversity. We value our history of being home to an early enclave of African-American freed slaves in Oak Grove. We are a suburban community that has welcomed citizens from across the country and throughout the world. We embrace our continued growing diversity of cultural, ethnic, faith and lifestyle traditions, and we pledge to value and respect these differences to create a stronger community fabric.
• Fosters a love of lifelong learning. With its proximity to world-class universities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vibrant faith-centered institutions, and strong public and private k-12 schools, our city will promote lifelong learning as a core value.
DeKalb’s elected officials are determined to slow the drive toward cityhood and annexations. The last two years, we have heard time and again that citizens are tired of DeKalb’s current leadership asking for more time to turn things around and study this further.
While interim CEO Lee May’s DeKalb Operational Task Force and Commissioner Kathie Gannon’s Blueprint for DeKalb — along with citizen efforts to reform DeKalb government — are steps in the right direction, we propose that the best solution for all of DeKalb is to create strong viable cities and a new structure for county government. Working together, we can achieve this goal.
Mary Kay Woodworth and Allen Venet are co-chairpersons of LaVista Hills YES.
