It’s thrilling to see the positive movement and rebuttal from local citizens who oppose the urbanization of our cities in Fayette County. People in Fayetteville are demanding to know exactly what is going on and they are responding by attending city meetings and making their voices heard.
My last column on the outrage surrounding more high-density apartment and condominium complexes coming to Fayetteville is nearing 4,000 readers as I write this column (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/03/04/fayetteville-council-falls-out-of-touch-with-its-voters-residents/). People are waking up.
No longer silent
Here is a sample of what Fayetteville resident taxpayers are saying.
On the Living in Fabulous Fayetteville page on Facebook, Terri Williams said, “Hope our schools can keep up with all the building.” I mentioned in my previous column that one of the lame excuses for continued high-density development is there are no trailers behind the schools — yet.
Trich LeCroy was angry that the Fayetteville City Council was not listening, saying, “[It] usually doesn’t matter what the long-time resident, legal taxpayers want.” Joanie West shared that sentiment, saying, “Unfortunately, no matter what you say it has already been decided.”
Also doubtful, John Holladay said, “Normally if the meeting is happening, decisions have already been made one way or the other.”
Increased traffic congestion from high-density residential complexes in Fayetteville is also a major concern. On the two most recent proposals, Karin Duncan said, “Too many units on that size of area. Hundreds of additional vehicles at an already scary intersection.” Likewise, Linda Klieber stresses, “They at the very least need to fix the traffic situation on [Highway] 54 first.”
Mari Griffin pointed out the negative consequences of more high-density multi-family complexes saying, “Yes, disastrous … traffic congestion, overcrowding the schools, lowering property values, etc.”
On the Fayette County GA Community Discussion page on Facebook, Nicholas Mrvos warns, “Too many multi-family units being built. Do people not see what happened in Gwinnett?”
Yes, it’s your backyard!
There is nothing more outrageous than elected officials acting like they know better than their constituents. Some of our elected officials in Fayetteville and Peachtree City will try to embarrass you by using the acronym NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard), making you feel like you are being selfish by protecting the integrity of your community.
Look those officials in the eye and remind them that you and your neighbors with backyards were the ones who elected them. Tell them that you expect your elected officials to represent your best interests, not the apartment developers.
It’s the height of disrespect and rudeness for any government official to tell the people who have lived here and funded everything good in our community for decades that their opinions do not matter and that they need to shut up and accept the government’s vision of drastic change and urbanization.
Several of the Facebook page administrators receive pressure to censor the important discussions on urbanizing Fayetteville and Peachtree City.
Please know you can go to The Citizen page on Facebook, like the page, and select “sign up” to have the weekly local headlines on critical issues sent directly to your email inbox.
Watch for an announcement on when the horrible stacked multi-family complex proposals come before the Fayetteville City Council for a vote.
Mud-slinging PTC mayor
Peachtree City Mayor Kim Learnard is furious over the coverage she is receiving (see the latest: https://thecitizen.com/2024/02/19/mayor-wants-her-way-heres-a-list-so-far/). She is on a scorched earth campaign against The Citizen and me.
Learnard is a bit of a tyrant. You will remember when she was horribly callous towards her colleague Councilman Clint Holland, saying, “I have already verbalized this to you very clearly: We as Council members do not post Letters to the Editor in The Citizen,” (see: https://thecitizen.com/2023/10/20/mayor-kim-learnard-lays-down-the-law-to-councilman-holland/).
The irony is that Learnard writes letters to the editor in The Citizen, but it’s acceptable if she does it (you cannot make this stuff up).
There is no doubt that Learnard does not like to be exposed. Transparency is not her strong suit.
Learnard claims, “In any given week, one or two vile, disgusting liars use The Citizen as a platform to make false and outrageous accusations about me, lie shamelessly about me and our City,” referring to a series of columns, citizen letters to the editor, and editorials revealing and critiquing her misdeeds.
Like Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, Learnard always claims innocence and goes on the attack towards anyone who dares raise concern over her actions.
Learnard ally Taylor Pessin put an email from the mayor up on the internet that was an absolute mud sling fest. It gives the impression that Learnard is looking for some kind of plausible deniability by having others thrust lies publicly about The Citizen and me on the internet.
In the email, Learnard chimes about me, “I often wonder why someone who is a former Mayor and former County Commissioner doesn’t seem to have anything positive to write about his own community.” Well, thus far, Learnard has not given us a lot to smile about. However, I have given her colleagues on the council praise for attempting to protect our quality of life.
Learnard continued, “Steve Brown wrote that he is afraid I’m going to “slip something by” my fellow City Council members. In a public meeting.” Unfortunately, she did try to bamboozle them, (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/02/12/steve-brown-opinion-mayor-tries-to-slip-several-big-decisions-past-the-council-and-public/).
Regarding traffic congestion, Learnard declared, “I laugh every time I see Steve Brown griping about traffic congestion on 54/74. Brown himself succeeded in stopping the TDK connector project and then, for the next 20 years, did absolutely nothing. Hey, I don’t even disagree with stopping the TDK extension — provided there is a better solution.”
Yes, I did stop the TDK Extension project because by all accounts it would have devastated Peachtree City. The proposed mega-developments on the Coweta County side of the project would have almost doubled that traffic on Highway 74 heading into the Highways 74-54 intersection.
As for Learnard’s “for the next 20 years, did absolutely nothing” claim, my last year in City Hall was 2005 and I had $10 million set aside in the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax list for design, engineering, and right-of-way for the Highways 74-54 intersection. What Learnard is not telling you is she became a council member after I left office and they spent the appropriated funds for the intersection on other projects.
Keep an eye on the mayor. She will try to build the TDK Extension regardless of the massive opposition.
The resolution in opposition to the TDK Extension was pulled from the last city council meeting agenda.
Getting weird
I could not help but laugh at one of Learnard’s closing comments about me in her email. She said, “And his weird obsession with me has been escalating since his recent separation.”
If she calls reporting her violations of state law and the city charter, her lack of empathy, her rudeness, and her quest to urbanize our city an obsession, then so be it. I write a weekly column about government.
On my separation from my wife, I asked my wife as we were eating dinner and watching a movie in the den if we were divorced. She said, “No.”
I mean Kim has made up some whoppers about me in the past, but the divorce rumors she is spreading around are going too far. That is the lowest I have ever seen her go.
The adage used to describe the act of blaming the bearer of bad news, “don’t shoot the messenger,” applies as I have no direct responsibility for the mayor’s actions or the consequences (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/01/22/learnard-shoves-peachtree-city-politics-leftward/).
Never back down
We live in a world today where those pursuing drastic change they cannot defend have resorted to bullying and trolling on the internet to stop any opposition. Do not allow them to get away with it. Stand your ground.
Go drive through the rest of metro Atlanta. Look up the crime statistics, traffic gridlock, and school ratings in other areas.
Ask yourself why some of our elected officials are inviting large multi-family complex developers to Peachtree City and Fayetteville to plaster green sites with ultra-high-density residential, repeating the same mistakes the other counties made.
We have something very special in Fayette County. Do not allow them to take it away. Do not allow the elected officials to intimidate you.
[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.]
Since we’re kicking around the 54/74 issue a bit here, just curious – who supports the project that’s about to start or is opposed to it? I’m concerned that it won’t help nearly enough to be worth the 3-year headache, and it seems most people I talk to feel even worse about it.
Not that Brown was a brilliant mayor either. His views on the TDK extension are totally wrong. Traffic coming from Coweta County through the extension is the same traffic coming through now via Hwy 54 from Coweta County. Simply put, having the TDK extension would have helped distribute it better. In this sense, Brown did nothing to solve the 54/74 congestion.
Actually, our former mayor was in support of the extension, and it was Mayor Logsdon who ended the effort when Coweta demanded four lanes and Logsdon refused the four lanes and ultimately terminated the project. In my opinion, Brown simply could not make the decision.
Mr. King – Thank you for correcting the record. It is nice to have someone with institutional knowledge help the former mayor remember what actually happened on his watch. Mr. Brown lives in a world of revisionist history when it comes to his leadership style and decisions, but that never stops him from vilifying others who act as he did.
STF, it does seem his recollection of events seems to always place him in a favorable light.
I think that the Mayor and Council are doing a terrific job & have the objectivity to see past party affiliations. Have you ever said anything positive about anything?
oh, the irony.
From what I’m lately reading, it’s not much of a “weekly column about government.” I’m reading a column where a mayor affects someone. It is “getting weird.” I don’t think this is what we want or need.
Maybe a commentary of the last meeting or two will help to restart the column. I haven’t streamed the last workshop or Council meeting. So, a summary of them with possible implications will help me understand what’s going on that may need attention.
We need to make Mayor Learnard a 1-term mayor.
It makes me wonder how exactly she had even one term. I recall that the election went to a December runoff, and she benefited by what I presume to be low turnout, correct?
Hello , Pot , my name is Kettle?