Boy, oh boy, the municipal elections are just a month away and it looks like the line-up in Peachtree City can best be described as the “Empire Strikes Back.”
The developers wanting to profiteer off government decisions that do not benefit the citizenry have been heavily exposed, and two of their key troopers, Councilmen Mike King and Phil Prebor, are being jettisoned into space by term limits.
Because local voters in Peachtree City were paying attention, Councilmen Frank Destadio and Clint Holland were elected, serving as a vocal minority vote on the council as our rebel alliance against the dark side.
Our local Darth Vader, Mayor Kim Learnard, is not standing idly by and has been searching the galaxy for more allies in her misdeeds to keep the tainted style of government intact with a three-person majority.
We know one of those allies includes a candidate from the developer wrecking ball “Plan for PTC,” and there is little doubt the socialist “We Push Progress” gang will get involved as well in an attempt to keep disrupting our Bubble universe (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/08/14/opinion-municipal-elections-watch-whos-backing-candidates/).
Show them the exit
The surest way to protect your quality of life is to not elect candidates with conflicts of interest or promote destructive policies. Know where the candidates stand on the critical issues. If they can’t give a specific, sufficient answer, don’t vote for them.
Since 2019, it’s been a constant battle to fend off two city councils attempting to upend our traditional land planning, ignore traffic issues, and build apartment complexes across the city. Take it seriously because if Learnard and the developers get their two candidates in the seats, it’s going to get really bad (see: https://thecitizen.com/2020/11/01/lci-meeting-insult-to-peachtree-city-residents/).
Local citizens have held their own by having to rebel every time the city council tries to turn the tables. They tried to intimidate citizens who complained (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/02/27/silencing-constituents-is-not-a-best-practice-to-pursue/).
The citizens complained when the city council lied and took all the authority away from the citizen volunteer planning commission. We forced the city council to restore the planning commission (see: https://thecitizen.com/2021/02/25/demoted-planning-commission-can-no-longer-protect-residents-from-bait-and-switch-apartment-rezonings/).
The city council has consistently raised your annual property taxes with little to show for it (see: https://thecitizen.com/2022/08/22/elected-inflation-promoters-effortlessly-local-governments-raise-your-taxes/).
We have had to endure the tit-for-tat decisions in favor of campaign contributors (see: https://thecitizen.com/2022/09/12/mayor-was-deciding-vote-to-ok-rezoning-for-unreported-campaign-contributor/).
We have caught the city council violating state law (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/07/24/councilman-calls-out-council-for-open-meetings-violations-gets-slammed-for-doing-it-in-public/). They showed absolutely no remorse.
15 minutes of your time makes a huge difference
It’s time for all our concerned taxpaying voters to awaken the force and Jedi-up, heading to the voting machines for early voting from October 16 to November 3 or on Election Day on November 7, 2023.
Look in the mirror and ask yourself precisely why Peachtree City is worth fighting for. Take those reasons to the voting booth on behalf of you and your family.
Stay tuned to The Citizen website for more information on the candidates each week.
[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.]
I wonder if like 7 days have gone by in the last 20 years without an extremist rant about the sky falling. It’s old. It’s tired. Time needs to march on.
I keep asking, where are all the apartments that have been approved/built under the last two Councils?
Crickets…
They are very quiet these days, the crickets that is.
Steve just plays on the fears, the buzzwords, and the polarizing topics. It’s an opinion editorial so he doesn’t have to include facts.
I miss when The Citizen had standards.
Agreed, still looking to an answer to my simple query…crickets abound.
Woah! If these articles linked don’t get it through heads, I don’t know what will!
Thank you for being our “eyes” for the city.
This is unbelievable.
Please listen to Steve because he understands and explain how in this article and many more why we need to vote for those people that want to keep Peachtree City according to our original plan. We need to protect the plan which means no more apartments, no more mix use, and less high density housing which is bringing in more traffic. Read this and it will explain a lot to you. https://thecitizen.com/2020/11/01/lci-meeting-insult-to-peachtree-city-residents/
Some of the council member keep rezoning applicable land to high density residential uses which is NOT how the original plan was designed. Holland and Destadio want to follow the original plan. Suzanne Brown is a strong advocate of the original plan, too. PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS TO ALL THAT ARE RUNNING FOR OUR CITY COUNCIL SEATS.
Stay on target!
It’s a trap!