Bad direction for Sandy Springs
Remember why Sandy Springs residents voted to become a city? Everyone I heard talk about it answered basically the same way: to enhance our fire, police and EMS services, safeguard our relatively quiet area, and have control over expenditures to avoid unnecessary taxpayer obligations. We felt Fulton County wasn’t doing these things adequately or providing service commensurate with the tax dollars we contributed. We wanted our tax dollars spent for our basic needs: safety services, parks, stormwater protection, bridge/road maintenance, traffic control, bike/pedestrian accessibility.
Nowhere in the discussion did I hear: Bring more traffic to the area, compete with neighboring communities, buy up long-established small businesses and build a city center, complete with a performing arts center, at a cost in excess of $196 million. Yet the latter is what is happening. Unless there is a groundswell of citizens saying, “Whoa, we didn’t sign on for this. This wasn’t our vision, and it isn’t what we want,” we will get a big change to the landscape of the city we had hoped to protect.
SUSAN JOSEPH, SANDY SPRINGS
A silver lining to leaked Nunn memo
I’m not quite sure what the brouhaha is over the leaking of Michelle Nunn’s campaign strategy memos. It sounds like an outline that any candidate must make to focus their efforts. What was refreshingly absent was any reference as to how to attack her Republican opponent. That omission speaks louder than the printed words.
KELLY SPETALNICK, ATLANTA
Clean energy is worth extra cost
In the AJC’s front page article, “Scrutiny on ‘clean power’” (News, July 28), Georgia’s leading air quality regulator Keith Bentley is quoted as saying, “Our overarching concern is, is this going to cause electrical rates to rise dramatically?” This was in response to the U.S. EPA’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions nationwide by cutting emissions 44 percent by 2030.
Mr. Bentley has Georgian’s priorities wrong. He should first be concerned with ensuring high-quality air, food and water for both the near and long-term, not nickel and diming the monthly electric bill. Let’s face it, without clean air, water and food, saving a few bucks on the electric bill isn’t going to matter if you are sick or dying. I would prefer to pay more for the use of renewable clean energy, which will improve our environment, stabilize the food chain and reduce the cost of health care.
JAN PHILLIPS, DUNWOODY
