Answer: NO!(click headline for full story)
Please remember to get out and vote today. Polls close at 7 p.m., but results will start being tallied at 5 p.m. so the sooner you can get your vote cast, the better!
In Georgia, voters do not have to declare a party when they register, so you can request ANY party ballot when you go in to vote. If you want to be able to help select the DeKalb County CEO, you must ask for the Democratic ballot!
The last item on the ballot is the cell tower nonbinding advisotry referendum. No one wants a cell tower in their backyard or at their school, so voting no will help protect your own neigbhorhood from this intrusion by big business.
Cell towers are currently not allowed to be placed so close to buildings that can reasonably be expected to be inhabited by humans, like schools and homes, so this ballot issue is asking if you want to give the school board the power to go around our local zoning laws, avoid the review of the county commissioners and deny the homeowners in an area from the opportunity to be informed or have their input considered in the decision to build and operate a structure that does not comply with the zoning laws or building codes that would normally be required.
If it isn't something you would want near you, then don't give your okay for it to be built somewhere else. The cell tower companies have other ways of providing their services that do not involve using such large, imposing structures and do not require us to give up land that we pay for specifically for the education of children.
And, the money does nothing to help education. Cell towers fund corruption, pure and simple. The funds are private and therefore are not allowed to be used for teacher salaries, textbooks or anythinig that must be provided by taxpayers through the General Fund. And, capitol improvements to buildings and other educational structures are paid for by our E-SPLOST dollars, so cell tower funds cannot be used in that way, either.
In other parts of the U.S. where they have allowed cell towers onto their school grounds, the money has simply gone into a slush fund used by top administrators and principals for their own personal meals, gas or hotels. The money has been used for special bonsues to employees for performance standards that are not publicized or known even to the employees themselves. The money is a reward for bad behavior that helps those who are corrupt remain in power.
We do not need cell towers on our school grounds. We do need quality representatives on our school board and a replacement to our current CEO who will not entertain offers that involve selling out our schools and avoiding the input of taxpayers, placing their safety and their property values in jepardy.
Above all else, remember to vote today because contrary to what you may have heard, the biggest problem facing DeKalb right now is not government corruption or a lack of cash flow. The biggest problem is voter apathy. Low voter turnout is what allows the corruption to continue. Not knowing the issues or how you will vote does not help dig us out of any of our financial difficulties.
It will take work, but today is a step in the right direction if you make time to do your civic duty - get out and VOTE DEKALB!
