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OPINION — Local taxpaying citizens will often question why the local government goes astray and attempts acts that disrupt the quality of life rather than protecting it. In most cases, the answer is money.
Money makes the world go round and causes governments to do reckless things. It’s present in local government, the state legislature, and Congress.
Historically, the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce used to be the instigator of bad things, often trying to apply public pressure and financial enticements to get their way.
The real estate development power structure used to run the local Chamber of Commerce and it was all about their cashing in on the local community. Fortunately, the housing/building crisis broke most of them and the board became more diverse.
Chamber President and CEO Colin Martin recently announced that he is leaving his post. I sincerely hope this is not a signal of a return to a more biased, selfish real estate development-laden form of leadership.
Sneaky Political Cash
We have seen the rise of a low-to-the-ground, almost clandestine, political action real estate front group disguised as a group of concerned moms called Plan for PTC (see: https://thecitizen.com/2021/07/28/plan-for-ptc-pac-funding-candidates-intent-on-remaking-peachtree-city/). This group wants the type of development projects that the banks are willing to fund for developers — stacked multi-family complexes.
You may not know this, but those “concerned” moms (some former politicians, some in real estate) are sneaking around in the background offering large campaign cash contributions to local Peachtree City candidates if they will vow to build a lot of stacked multi-family complexes all over the city to the benefit of those in the shadows.
Unfortunately, Mayor Kim Learnard is the Plan for PTC poster child. Learnard was very devious while campaigning, always with broad statements and almost no details. Watch for Learnard to back the multi-family complexes on Huddleston Road, yes, the most traffic-congested area in Fayette County, and want residential development on the land at the end of our local airport runway. That’s what the real estate developers want and they could care less about our well-being.
Leftist revolutionaries on the southside
We have another far-left political organization called We Push Progress. Former mayoral candidate Nick Ferrante is a key player here and the organization lists the web address for the organization as www.wepushprogress.com. Ferrante was a big backer of Kim Learnard in the runoff for mayor.
We Push Progress says its mission is to organize, build and strengthen the progressive community on the south side of Atlanta (Carroll County, Coweta County, Fayette County, Clayton County, Henry County, and Spalding County). If you like the politics of DeKalb County, Clayton County, the City of Atlanta, and Fulton County, then you will love what We Push Progress is trying to do in Peachtree City and Fayette County.
According to their website, they do everything possible to recruit volunteers and campaign contributions for their far-left candidates. Of course, the candidates never really allude to their actual agendas while campaigning. Instead, they float a lot of broad, feel-good themes, hoping you will take the bait.
So why am I telling you all of this?
We have an important election coming up this November for two seats on the city council of Peachtree City. I can assure you that Mayor Learnard will be working along with Plan for PTC and We Push Progress to secure elected officials who will side with the mayor on the over-development of Huddleston Road, building more stacked multi-family complexes and other harmful projects most citizens loathe.
I want you to make an informed vote. I want you to know the forces working in the background against your families.
It’s past time Mayor Learnard makes her real estate development agenda public. It should be the primary issue of the November election.
[Brown is a former mayor of Peachtree City and served two terms on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. You can read all his columns by clicking on his photo below.]
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