Proposed City of Lakeside Takes the Next Step

If the county is not a part of the new plan

to create various cities, then doesn't that mean

that a lot of money is being wasted for

a new direction and new zoning plan for

Dekalb that will not take the city idea

into consideration??  Or, are they potentially

working together to bring about the same

changes and simply distract the voters

across the county, to stop them from working together?

Here's the breaking news about the proposed city of Lakeside, roughly based on the Lakeside High School attendance zone and backed by many of the same players in the cell tower game, those who pushed to get the tower in their own community and then somehow forgot to get their own contract signed when the deal came through.

The good news is that there appears to be very little support for the city from the perspective of the general public. The downside to that is it never stopped this particular group from pushing forward their agendas in the past, so why would it stop them now. Truly, this city of Lakeside is like your worst PTA nightmare come true.  (No disrespect for anyone in the PTA, but even you likely understand what we mean by that statement.)

 There is a board of people who are so far removed from the actual community they believe they represent that they utter offensive remarks at every meeting and keep straight faces because they do not understand how the "citizens" would not be begging them to rule over them, control their money and then recycle the same ideas over and over again with little change other than the venue of their next big retreat. They really believe that they will be applauded for their commitment to their community, even as they plot to make their area viable financially by literally taking commercial areas from neighboring communities WITHOUT TAKING THE RESIDENTS who actually shop there and live nearby!

http://northdruidhills.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/uga-study-proposed-city-of-lakeside-financially-sound

The scary part is that there are people who will vote without understanding how their own home might be affected as a result because they trust their politicians blindly. There are others who will not vote because they will not even find out until it is too late that they are affected at all. And there are those, like us at Get the Cell Out, who will be attacked if we try to speak up and warn anyone about what is actually taking place.

We know this effort is about money, power and control.  We know that the cell tower companies play a role after we learned that several of them in the effort at a city of Tucker are connected to the telecommunications industry and, specifically, T-mobile.  We have found it an odd coincidence that the schools proposed for the towers literally dot the borders of the proposed Lakeside city.  We also find it baffling that after all our time and effort on bringing this cause in front of the public, there are still questions about the contracts and permits that have not been answered.

Lately, the subject of cell towers has seemingly disappeared, but don't think for a moment that it will not pop back up when we least expect it.  The city movement in central DeKalb is focused around zoning, yet we are a fully built-out, urban county by most people's standards.  If you have been at any of the city meetings, you have likely heard the question, "Why do you want to control zoning?" or some variation of it.  But, you didn't hear an answer, did you?  Zoning is probably the one issue that has prevented cell towers from going next to homes.  And, so far, the county has sided with the residents.  Why tempt fate and give a new group a shot at zoning now that we finally have most of the county's residents on our side as well as many elected officials in writing stating they agreed as well?

The best we can hope for is that the communities and neighborhoods in DeKalb are waking up, as evidenced by many of the changes we have collectively brought about recently. They are voting carefully and showing up in greater numbers to meetings and to the polls. We are holding out hope that the legislators will hear the facts from their constituents and will make the right decision about whether or not to bring this city map, or any city map, to the voters in the near future.

A city that is not based on the will of the people will surely fail. If it is a top-down decision, the citizens will know and will not support it. If the community is not on board, the city will have trouble collecting taxes for services that only they had in mind all along.

Our county government is oddly silent. Either they are responding to the complaints and hoping that will suffice, or they are somehow going to benefit from the continued separation of our various areas into smaller pockets of taxpayers who might be easier to control.  Whatever the reason, we hope our communities will remain calm and carry on.  And, when the time comes that we are asked to vote, we will remember the strength that has come from sticking together.

Now just doesn't seem to be the right time for more upheaval, just when the voice of the people was finally starting to be heard.