Haddix: Peachtree City Council should be replaced

I have been quiet regarding what’s going on in Peachtree City, but enough is enough.

Council wants to take away our homeowner rights and entertains controlling what color we can paint our homes.

I live in an HOA of brick and stucco homes. We have trim that has to be painted, for which we have set our own standards.

We have no interest in complying with our Mayor’s desire to stage our homes for her benefit.

For those who are unaware, when she was a council member she sold property for a real estate company. Now as mayor she owns her own real estate company. Just saying.

Council now spends a lot more money than it used to for landscaping. Having lived here 32 years it looks no better than it did before. Just more expensive for upkeep.

This at the same time a lot of people are complaining about city road conditions.

We live off of Flat Creek. It was paved less than a year ago but already has had major patching and the edge of the road is crumbling. Note the orange cones.

Council spent a fortune on lawyers and studies for the lake, roads, development and creating a city center. A fancy word for a downtown in my backyard.

I am so glad that the Aberdeen Shopping Center withdrew from their scheme. That is my HOA’s neighbor.

Yet even with the tax increases and SPLOST they never have enough money to satisfy their cravings to spend more.

We moved here because of the village concept and desire to not be urban. But council wants to do away with the village concepts and urbanize. They want high density, apartments and everything the city has always opposed.

We need economic development, meaning jobs. More homes and retail are not jobs, except for real estate agents and developers.

But who is determining what retail and housing we need? The Council and developers.

Do we need more hotels? What are the occupancy rates of the current hotels?

Council didn’t want to extend sewer outside the city, so they took over WASA and then extended sewer to Tyrone. But now that deal is falling apart and they have been sued for violation of open meetings law, and they want taxpayers to pay their legal bill.

Just like I said before, they know nothing about sewer but they are running the show. They have failed to demonstrate their superiority by the consequences of their actions.

Then too their disastrous traffic planning. Simple reality is that once traffic is outside the 54/74 intersection the traffic volume does not go down one car per their plan.

Closing turn lanes and intersections only makes it harder for people to reach their destination. They have to stay on the road longer and maneuver more to their destination.

As for single provider trash, they did not review history. It was attempted before and failed because of many reasons, including it does not preserve pavement.

Before this and the prior council Peachtree City ranked in the top 10 cities. Now it ranks in the 600s.

This mayor and council needs replaced starting this year. We need to get two conservatives on to oppose this nonsense and then three more in two years to be able to make serious changes and fixes.

Don Haddix
donhaddix.com
Peachtree City, Ga.

[Haddix is a former mayor of Peachtree City.]