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.]
Steve’s be consistent in what he said and did. I will short hand it for you that disapprove of his ideas. If you want to be like Atlanta. Fine just don’t be surprised if Steve or I disagree with you. That the other half of free speech. I am not obligated to agree or disagree with someone else’s opinion. The duty is on the speaker to make their case not on the listener to accept it.
You don’t seem to like the current Mayor, that’s for sure. Have we had a Mayor since your term that was worthy in your humble opinion?
What would your solution be for aging properties such as the vacant K’mart? Let’s hear solutions, not just accusations.
MONEY is definitely the root of all evil. And if not for the greed of our politicians, elected officials, government workers, business owners, CEOs of big corporations, shareholders, etc., our nation would be a lot better off. I do not have any hope for America or Fayette County. Rich people like George Soros, and enemy governments like the CCP, and disloyal Americans willing to be bought off by these anti America and anti freedom evil doers have screwed up our country. The NBA does not care about child labor or slave labor in China. Neither does Nike or any other big corporation. They only care about the money they can make there. Americans from every walk of life do not care about the fact that China uses Tik Tok to spy on and influence Americans, they only care about the money and fame they get from using Tik Tok. Politicians do not care that George Soros only donates to them because he wants to bring down America and freedom, they only care about the money and power they get if elected. Hollyweird does not care about being loyal to the USA and that is why it is extremely rare to have any sort of patriotic movie come out of Hollyweird anymore. They do not want to offend the CCP because Hollyweird like the NBA wants all the money that they can make off of China with such a large population. Loyalty to America, ethics, freedom, Americanism, patriotism, and common sense have NOTHING to do with it. MONEY is all people care about and that is why the USA is dying. People only see China as a large customer base, they do not see the CCP for what it really is. The CCP does not donate to American colleges and universities or buy land in America or have spies fornicate with politicians at every level for no reason. And I bet George Soros’s political groups have donated plenty of money to the “progressive” candidates in Fayette County who want to turn Fayette into Clayton County. There is nothing progressive about progressives, they are regressing our nation. We are going in the gutter if not already there.
Money is the root of all good. Money is the reward each member of society grants one another for having provided value. Without money, no person would do any service or produce any good for the benefit of another, except with the ulterior motive to extract something from that person they weren’t otherwise prepared to give. If you want to find the true root of all evil, it is in the brokers of power and favoritism who collect debts in the form of deeds or utterances. This is the currency of corruption.
BTW, the full quote from 1 Timothy 6:10 is “For *the love of money* is the root of all kinds of evil.” Those who lust after wealth don’t consciously participate in the kind of mutually beneficial commerce that enriches society as a whole, but instead scheme on how to accumulate wealth directly.
Money is neither evil or good. It is what it leads humans to do in pursuit of it, and with it, that can go either way. Same way that a gun is neither evil or good: it all depends on what a human chooses to do with it.
Ferrante was behind the “Red, White and Blue Labor Day Spectacular” family event at Drake Field last year that was a misleading front for far-left progressive fund-raising.
It will be interesting to see if the mayor pushes more apartments for PTC, after clear rejection by most residents and abundant examples of failed communities around us.
Kathleen’s rant comes straight out of Karl Marx’ criticisms of capitalism. I can hear Vladimer Lenin giving this speech in 1917 as he railed against the moneyed aristocracy.
Truth is always stranger than fiction.
I don’t know. I see a lot of right-wing populism in there.
It’s just a mash up of “things I don’t like”.
Kathleen gives voice to concerns most in the country have about those in power, especially politicians. 71% of Americans believe Biden and the progressives have taken our country in the wrong direction, according to a recent poll by NBC News.
Stranger – What specifically does Kathleen say that you object to? I might substitute power for greed as a prime motivator of politicians et al, but no matter.
Do you have evidence that George Soros acts in America’s best interests? That the NBA or Nike cares one whit about slave labor and the abuses of China?
Kathleen writes with a sharper tone than I would, but her points are valid. Disagree if you will, but at least share something more than comparing her to Lenin (odd comparison, as Lenin is a leftist’s leftist).
HI Catman and Defen. – I agree that quality of life issues should drive county planning. I was merely amused that Kathleen used a strong anti-capitalism argument to make her case. This is exactly what the Bolsheviks did in their revolution (whether they really believed it or not). I doubt that Kathleen even knows this history.
Strange: I bet I know more history than you do. Capitalism without ethics is the same as communism. American politicians who care more about money and power than loyalty to freedom and Americanism are indeed killing our country. And you will see it soon enough if you live long enough. Fayette County will not be able to keep Fulton and Clayton out. Henry County could not, Rockdale could not, etc., When Democrats take over, communities turn into ____ holes.
True, but the Bolsheviks were intersectionalists preaching a classless, society. Kathleen is clearly making a veiled argument about the looming threat of – lets face it – the blacks moving into our community and undermining it from within. Also, a preservationist argument that we need to protect territory for the right kind of people. That kind of rhetoric had a home with another movement which was starkly critical of capitalism, engaged in strong patriotic and statist rhetoric, decried the treachery of current and past leadership, all while preaching about the ill effects of a certain minority group.
I just wonder how she can Not See it, being that she knows so much about history.
“American politicians who care more about money and power than loyalty to freedom and Americanism are indeed killing our country.”
Boy are you gonna be glad to hear who got arrested this week!
Seems like a Jewish carpenter made some observations of the ease in which one can spot a speck in another’s eye while being blind to a plank in her own. Maybe that’s why Kathleen can Not See it.
George Soros—Drink!
vain repetitions continueth
Uncle Bruce – I thought you’d approve. I gave a shout out to your guy.
Enjoy your Easter eggs!
I like mine fried with a burnt ring: but rest assured – the fella you propagandize is definitely not my guy.
I thought you liked the guy from Galilee. In any case, happy Easter.