East Cobb cityhood legislation to be filed next week (Kennesaw: HOA, high schools)

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by Gulch

East Cobb cityhood met with skepticism at town hall

Well kuddos for people going to this event to make sure their voices are heard. You'd think that the East Cobb city idea is a very popular. It's good that they are asking why and where's the proof.

[Born 2 Roll]

Supporters give up on City of East Cobb in 2020 (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Cobb lawmakers weigh in on east Cobb cityhood (Marietta Daily Journal)

"Supporters delay City of East Cobb legislation to 2021... The committee will use the time to gain support in the community" (11Alive News)

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by DreamerD

Well kuddos for people going to this event to make sure their voices are heard. You'd think that the East Cobb city idea is a very popular. It's good that they are asking why and where's the proof.

I lived in East Cobb for 18 years (grew up there) and most of my family is still there...the idea of incorporation has never been particularly popular.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Gulch

I lived in East Cobb for 18 years (grew up there) and most of my family is still there...the idea of incorporation has never been particularly popular.

Nuthatch Court...

[CoogHawk]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

But the land area of the proposed City of East Cobb is significantly less compact and more populous than those two Houston-area municipalities.

The neighboring Houston-area municipalities of West University Place and Southside Place only encompass about 2.2 square miles and contain roughly about 17,000 residents combined.

The proposed City of East Cobb would encompass a land area of 40 square miles and contains about 97,000 residents.

So the increased land area (40 square miles) and population (97,000) of a City of East Cobb would affect the delivery of government services in comparison to two significantly smaller and less-populous municipalities like West University Place and Southside Place in the Houston area.

Yeah I would be careful comparing Atlanta to Houston, mainly because Texas has a strong annexation rule that allows a city the size of Houston to annex surrounding unincorporated areas at will with very little ability to push back without spending a lot of money. As a kid growing up in Houston, it annexed all of Clear Lake City (I.e. where NASA is located), most of Alief, a small but significant portion of Fort Bend County, and the coup de grace, Kingwood, which is located northeast of the city. Consider it Houston’s version of Roswell/Peachtree Corners. That one scared the bejesus out of the residents of The Woodlands, a nice suburban Master Planned Community west of Kingwood, who then started to incorporate as a city in order to prevent its annexation.

The problem for The Woodlands, as mentioned by some posters here, is that once they discovered how expensive it is to actually run a city (fire department, police, amublance, public works, etc.) it slowed down. This is particularly true when you don’t have an adequate non-residential tax base, especially in Texas which does not have a state income tax and where property and sales taxes are already sky high. This is one reason why if you look at a map of the city of Houston and line it up over Harris County, it’s pretty much the same size.

Atlanta is more like Dallas or Minneapolis where you have a relatively mid sized prime central city with dozens of small to midsized suburbs, each with their own business districts, particularly large corporations, that can fund the services. Example: Best Buy is headquartered in Richfield, Toro is based in Bloomington, and United Health Group is based in Minnetonka. Dallas has similar business setup (think Plano with Frito Lay, Toyota NA, and HP).

I used to live in East Cobb and I can’t think of a single large corporation with the wherewithal to provide adequate funding for the services needed to actually run a city of that size.

Also, and maybe I m confused, but how would creating a new city in anyway stop Democrats from taking over Cobb County? Heck, the current US house rep in the district that includes East Cobb is a Dem. I think these guys are living in a fantasy world.

BTW, regarding Houston - West University, The Villages and River Oaks, three very wealthy areas of Houston, are represented by Democrats. Soon First Colony in Sugar Land, which is in Fort Bend county, will be as well. See my last paragraph.

Point being if not already obvious: there is no where to run people so just stop! We are all going to have to learn to live together. All this stuff is just a waste of time and money.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by CoogHawk

Yeah I would be careful comparing Atlanta to Houston, mainly because Texas has a strong annexation rule that allows a city the size of Houston to annex surrounding unincorporated areas at will with very little ability to push back without spending a lot of money. As a kid growing up in Houston, it annexed all of Clear Lake City (I.e. where NASA is located), most of Alief, a small but significant portion of Fort Bend County, and the coup de grace, Kingwood, which is located northeast of the city. Consider it Houston’s version of Roswell/Peachtree Corners. That one scared the bejesus out of the residents of The Woodlands, a nice suburban Master Planned Community west of Kingwood, who then started to incorporate as a city in order to prevent its annexation.

The problem for The Woodlands, as mentioned by some posters here, is that once they discovered how expensive it is to actually run a city (fire department, police, amublance, public works, etc.) it slowed down. This is particularly true when you don’t have an adequate non-residential tax base, especially in Texas which does not have a state income tax and where property and sales taxes are already sky high. This is one reason why if you look at a map of the city of Houston and line it up over Harris County, it’s pretty much the same size.

Atlanta is more like Dallas or Minneapolis where you have a relatively mid sized prime central city with dozens of small to midsized suburbs, each with their own business districts, particularly large corporations, that can fund the services. Example: Best Buy is headquartered in Richfield, Toro is based in Bloomington, and United Health Group is based in Minnetonka. Dallas has similar business setup (think Plano with Frito Lay, Toyota NA, and HP).

I used to live in East Cobb and I can’t think of a single large corporation with the wherewithal to provide adequate funding for the services needed to actually run a city of that size.

Also, and maybe I m confused, but how would creating a new city in anyway stop Democrats from taking over Cobb County? Heck, the current US house rep in the district that includes East Cobb is a Dem. I think these guys are living in a fantasy world.

BTW, regarding Houston - West University, The Villages and River Oaks, three very wealthy areas of Houston, are represented by Democrats. Soon First Colony in Sugar Land, which is in Fort Bend county, will be as well. See my last paragraph.

Point being if not already obvious: there is no where to run people so just stop! We are all going to have to learn to live together. All this stuff is just a waste of time and money.

I wish the City of Atlanta had the expansive city limits as the City of Dallas...

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by CoogHawk

I used to live in East Cobb and I can’t think of a single large corporation with the wherewithal to provide adequate funding for the services needed to actually run a city of that size.

Also, and maybe I m confused, but how would creating a new city in anyway stop Democrats from taking over Cobb County? Heck, the current US house rep in the district that includes East Cobb is a Dem. I think these guys are living in a fantasy world.

Yep... The agenda of the backers of the creation of a City of East Cobb seems to be to preserve a Republican-controlled enclave that will somehow be inoculated from Democratic Party control in the not-too-distant future when Cobb County's changing demographics are likely to give Democrats majority control of both the Cobb County Board of Commissioners and of Cobb County's state legislative delegation.

The biggest challenge to that desired outcome of a GOP-controlled municipal enclave in a future majority-Democratic Cobb County appears to be a glaring lack of revenue-generating commercial property for the size (over 40 square miles) and population (nearly 100k people) of the city that they are trying to create.

From the standpoint of an outside observer, at the end of day, this seems much more like a temper-tantrum over Cobb County's changing demographics than it does a way to fulfill actual governing needs.

This thing appears to be driven by a group of people who seem to be completely freaking out at the thought of a notable/legendary/famous/infamous longtime GOP stronghold like Cobb County being governed by a majority-Democratic county government.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by aries4118

Nuthatch Court...

Lived about two miles east from that location.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by Gulch

Lived about two miles east from that location.

We almost moved to Nuthatch Court. Instead moved 5-7 minutes north...

[DreamerD]

Originally Posted by Gulch

I lived in East Cobb for 18 years (grew up there) and most of my family is still there...the idea of incorporation has never been particularly popular.

Well it's good that the opinions of a few did not speak for the majority. This is not always the case...