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Old 04-10-2014, 10:12 PM
 
Location: Georgia
4,209 posts, read 4,705,070 times
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With Atlanta's cityhood movement, most unincorporated areas will be scooped up in a few years. Fulton's almost done(the city of South Fulton would've been the tipping point), and Dekalb is up next. I wouldn't be surprised if Cobb and Clayton cities start forming. What do you think about this cityhood movement? Will less County influence be better? What needs to be done about the school issues?
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Old 04-10-2014, 10:24 PM
bu2
 
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Counties aren't designed to be cities. That's part of the reason Georgia government is such a mess.
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Old 04-10-2014, 11:04 PM
 
Location: West Cobb (formerly Vinings)
3,615 posts, read 7,745,145 times
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Sounds like a pipe dream.

Cobb has too many differences throughout the county to be one city. Some of the areas want the "small town feel" and others want a more urban feel.

Also, why would someone from Smyrna want to downgrade their services? Smyrna offers better services than Cobb County. Marietta does as well.

However, some people in Cobb like the lower taxes, especially in the more spread out areas where services are less important. Those people don't want to be annexed. East and West Cobb for instance.

Then there's the whole name thing. Vinings people want to be Vinings. East Cobb wants to be East Cobb. They don't want to be annexed by Smyrna or Marietta. Not yet, anyway.

But you're not going to have a city of Vinings or a city of East Cobb. Forming a city is extremely expensive. Mableton is the only likely contender I see that is likely to succeed in forming a city (it did try and fail though in the early 1900s, but I think it has a better chance this time)

The cities in Cobb County will keep gobbling up adjoining areas in little nibbles. That's about it. I don't see them every gobbling up the entire county. At least not for a very long time.

Fulton is a bit different. Fulton county has pretty shoddy services. I can see why North Fulton all incorporated away from county government.
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Old 04-11-2014, 03:39 AM
 
2,530 posts, read 4,748,345 times
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Before that would happen, Georgia would likely pass the Georgia Township Act.

Georgia Township Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It would give unincorporated areas of at least 500 acres (approximately two square kilometers or 0.8 square miles) the power to regulate zoning and other land use, and to levy a maximum annual property tax of a half-mill (0.5‰), managed by a board of supervisors selected in nonpartisan elections in odd-numbered years. All other services and laws would remain the responsibility of the county.
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Old 04-11-2014, 09:29 AM
 
7,112 posts, read 10,086,463 times
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There will probably still be stuff that're in the purview of the county.
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Old 04-11-2014, 10:50 AM
 
119 posts, read 301,121 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by netdragon View Post
Sounds like a pipe dream.
I don't think so. It may not happen as fast as just in the next few years, but look at what's happened in the past nine years. There have been seven new cities formed that include about 350,000 people. That's equivalent to half the population of Cobb or DeKalb incorporating.

Quote:
Cobb has too many differences throughout the county to be one city. Some of the areas want the "small town feel" and others want a more urban feel.
I don't think demonta4 implied that all of unincorporated Cobb was going to become one city. He said that both existing cities will annex and new cities will form. So your statement about the differences in what people in different areas of Cobb want is exactly why future cityhood is likely.

Quote:
Also, why would someone from Smyrna want to downgrade their services? Smyrna offers better services than Cobb County. Marietta does as well.
I think you're confused about what demonta4 said. Smyrna and Marietta are not going to dissolve and become part of a City of Cobb. The likely scenario is that Smyrna and Marietta may annex unincorporated parts of Cobb.

Quote:
However, some people in Cobb like the lower taxes, especially in the more spread out areas where services are less important. Those people don't want to be annexed. East and West Cobb for instance.
That's all fine and dandy until the first new city in Cobb forms and it takes a big chunk of property taxes with it. Or maybe Marietta or Kennesaw greatly expand their boundaries. Then it becomes like a land rush and those people who enjoyed paying low taxes while being able to take advantage of services provided by the County will realize they have to make a choice as to their destiny. South Fulton is currently in that boat because they are socked with higher tax rates than before yet have limited local control. Parts of South DeKalb will probably be in the same situation in a year or two.

Quote:
Then there's the whole name thing. Vinings people want to be Vinings. East Cobb wants to be East Cobb. They don't want to be annexed by Smyrna or Marietta. Not yet, anyway.
I can easily see Vinings becoming a city. Cobb and Gwinnett County governments are still controlled by Republicans. Once that changes then residents in Republican-leaning areas are going to be far more willing to embrace cityhood.

Quote:
Forming a city is extremely expensive.
No, it's not. The revenues collected from residents and businesses in those areas simply shift from going from the County to the new City. New cities can choose what services to provide. Some may start out big like Sandy Springs, while others may start out small like Peachtree Corners. None of the new cities in metro Atlanta has faced a financial catastrophe like some people predicted and even hoped for.

I think the cityhood trend will continue in metro Atlanta, whether through new ones forming or existing ones enlarging. Look at most other major metro areas and you'll see that they are surrounded by cities or towns. Atlanta is very unique in that most of our suburban areas were unincorporated. But as population has increased and county governments become more unwieldy, unmanagable and unresponsive to the needs of their citizens, the idea of more local control and a desire for a community of interest will prevail.

As to demonta4's original questions, I think cities will be as good as the residents want them to be. With newfound freedom comes responsibility and the requirement that people actually have to work to make things better. A smaller area is in a much better shape to control its own destiny, granted that the people who live there participate in the process.

Decentralization of County school systems is a good thing for the communities that want it. Most public education around metro Atlanta is still stuck in the 20th century, especially the administrative side of things. Competition is the only way to force change in a system with plenty of incompetence, waste and corruption. Private schools are a good option for those who can afford it. Home schooling is the most "alternative" or "punk rock" thing a parent can do these days.
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Old 04-11-2014, 11:45 AM
 
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City control > county control.

People benefit with more direct control and more gets done more efficiently when a city has the power instead of county bureaucracies.
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Old 04-11-2014, 11:47 AM
 
Location: midtown mile area, Atlanta GA
1,228 posts, read 2,381,337 times
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I am surprised that rural counties have not combined to share resources, since they tend to be more lacking in funds.
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Old 04-11-2014, 12:04 PM
 
10,974 posts, read 10,806,488 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by midtown mile girl View Post
I am surprised that rural counties have not combined to share resources, since they tend to be more lacking in funds.
I think the only thing the county governments should be doing is providing sheriffs and courts to unincorporated areas. If you want more government than that then the area should incorporate into a city.
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Old 04-11-2014, 12:15 PM
 
Location: Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte, and Raleigh
2,580 posts, read 2,465,438 times
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This topic again...

South Carolina does county government in unincorporated urbanized areas of Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Richland, Lexington, Berkeley, and Horry counties. Most South Carolinians aren't begging for more government there.

In Alabama, Jefferson , Shelby, and Madison Counties provides governmental services to all of unincorporated urbanized areas in their counties. In Jefferson County, it even provides for some municipalities as well. Nope, they don't want to be totally municipalized there either. Oh yeah as a native Alabamian, I can say most aren't for any additional layers of government. They hate government in general in that state with a passion.

In North Carolina, Wake, Durham, Guilford, Forsyth, and Mecklenburg counties provide governmental services at a municipal level in their unincorporated urbanized areas as well. No begging to create new municipalities there either.

I can name off areas in Tennessee and Florida, that are the same way so what makes Georgia stand out from the rest exactly when it comes to counties providing municipal level governmental services?

This whole municipalization movement sounds like more subtle racial/psuedo-classist mess because a couple white upper middle Republicans are whining that too many people of color has been elected to the county commission. I'm not here for partisan nor covert racially bias BS causing more government spending and havoc via more bureaucracy. If have such an issue with your current governmental representation then vote against current elected officials in every election rather than creating more chiefs in the teepee.

Last edited by jero23; 04-11-2014 at 12:45 PM..
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