Fresh Loaf

Here at CL we LOVE receiving letters. (So tangible!) But sometimes they make us sad. And Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts wins most depressing mailer of the day.

This morning, CL’s A&E assistant Wyatt Williams handed me a letter from the pro-gambling politico. Then he handed me a stack of about 20 more. I was delighted to discover a folded piece of paper that read “Casino Gaming Can Help!” accompanied by a bunch of headlines about foreclosures, unemployment and the current tidal wave of economic pain.

I don’t know which is more depressing — the collection of headlines or imagining Pitts’ staffers cutting every one of them out. Either way, thanks, sir! We received the memo!

More photos of Pitts’ letter after the jump.

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Last Monday, state Rep. Jan Jones, R-Alpharetta, fired the first shot in the battle between North Fulton residents and the Fulton County Commission. The aim of these highly educated, high-income, and mostly Republican residents: Split from the terrible fiend named Fulton and revive Milton County, which fell on hard times after a boll weevil infestation and the Great Depression. In 1932, it merged with Fulton County.

Jones filed a bill that would allow former counties to “re-create” themselves. There’s no dancing around the fact that it’s meant for Roswell, Alpharetta, Mountain Park and the newly created cities of Johns Creek and Milton to revive Milton County. The House Communications office even announced it as such.

It would also mean Fulton County loses one of its wealthiest areas.

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The Spanish-born philosopher Santayana is best known for coining the aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” It’s a maxim unlikely to go out of style because there’s always an example to give it currency. Which brings us to DeKalb.

At tomorrow morning’s county board meeting, Commissioner Lee May will introduce a resolution calling for DeKalb to initiate legal action to block the formation of a city of Dunwoody.

Now, to anyone who’s been paying attention over the last three years, this action will spur a sense of deja vu. The Fulton County Commission did the exact same thing in May 2005, a little more than a month before a scheduled referendum for the city of Sandy Springs. It took less than 10 days for the U.S Department of Justice to summarily reject the county’s argument as so much sour-grapes whining.

In DeKalb’s case, there’s only a week left before the July 15 referendum. Not only does May seem ignorant of recent legal precedent regarding local incorporation votes, but he also appears to lack a calendar. Here’s the official description of his measure:

The Governing Authority supports a legal challenge to the Incorporation of the City of Dunwoody by the County Attorney given Senate Bill 82 inclusion of the Perimeter Community Improvement District (CID). Senate Bill 82 (Incorporating the City of Dunwoody) would not be in the best interest of the citizens of the County, including those of the area of Dunwoody. Furthermore, the legislation would exclude from the referendum many citizens of unincorporated DeKalb County.

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Last month, CL’s Scott Henry reported on Fulton County at-large Commissioner Robb Pitts’ ambition to replace downtown’s central library with a new facility near Centennial Park. Today Pitts sent out a mass e-mail titled “Atlanta’s Opportunity To Have A World Class Central Library.”

The e-mail includes photos of architecturally pleasing central libraries in other American cities, but does not mention anything about the cost of replacing the current library with a new one.

According to Scott’s report on this last month, a county bond referendum on the November ballot would provide $150 million for the Atlanta-Fulton library system, $40 million of which would be set-aside to renovate the current library.

But an architecturally significant library, like the ones Pitts shared photos of, would cost a lot more than $40 million.

The central library in Denver, included in Pitts’ slide show, was paid for with a $92 million dollar bond issue approved in 1990. Seattle’s public library, also on the Pitts’ list, was paid for with a $196 million bond issue approved by Seattle voters in 1998 (plus $20 million in spare change from Bill Gates).

Call me Gloomy Gus, but there’s too much intra-county ill-feeling in Fulton for me to imagine suburban Fulton voters saying yes to an eight-or-nine-digit bond issue to pay for a trophy library in the middle of Atlanta.

The full text of Pitts’ e-mail follows . . . (more…)

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The Buckhead Library will not be demolished.

The Fulton County Board of Commissioners voted today to reject developer Ben Carter’s $24 million offer to buy the library, according to Stacy Wyman, an architect at Perkins + Will who was at the commission meeting.

Carter’s offer to buy the modern architectural mini-gem, demolish it, and use the land as part of a luxury mixed-used development sparked a public outcry in the form of the SaveTheLibrary.blogspot.com.

As far as I know, no similarly prominent pro-demolition movement has emerged. We’re keeping an eye on www.moreluxurycondosinbuckheadnowplease.com and will keep you up-to-date on any developments.

Speaking of stupid domain names, can you believe no one had www.turbanlegend.com until I bought it last night?

I have no idea what I’m going to do with it, but I’m still happy to have it.

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