Our City Council and mayor made a misguided and terrible decision when they voted to endorse our neophyte city manager’s recommendation to decimate our Leisure Services Department and the associated citizen commission.
Even setting aside the personnel involved – yes, I’m a card-carrying member of the Randy Gaddo fan club and I think no one on current council or the mayor or the city manager are even worthy to breathe the same air as him – I firmly believe this decision is not only wrong but it’s extremely short-sighted. It is moving Peachtree City backwards instead of forward. That becomes painfully apparent every time the city manager or anyone else tries to defend their actions.
Peachtree City takes great pride in its accolades – they are all prominently listed on the city’s website. But I truly doubt the city will be winning any more awards in the future because of this irresponsible choice.
Just take a look at other award-winning cities across the country that are similar to Peachtree City. Sammamish, Wash., was #12 to Peachtree City’s #8 ranking on the 2009 Top 10 Best Places to Live in the U.S. survey published by CNN/Money Magazine. Their population is roughly 1,000 more than ours but they have a vibrant Parks & Recreation Department as well as an active Recreation Commission.
Westerville, Ohio, was #15 in 2009; their population is also about 1,000 more than ours. They too have an active Parks & Recreation Department and an involved Recreation Advisory Committee.
None of the 2010 cities in the CNN/Money magazine list had populations under 50,000, so I decided to check other U.S. cities that are approximately our size.
Annapolis, Md.’s population is roughly 2,000 more than Peachtree City’s – they have an active and effective Recreation and Parks Department as well as a dynamic Recreation Advisory Commission. The same is true for cities such as Dover, Del. (34,120), Helena, Mont. (27,037), Juneau, Alaska (30,711), and Jefferson City, Mo. (37,615). And there are many more examples I could cite.
What the heck were our elected and appointed officials thinking? What model was used to justify the soundness of this decision? I won’t even address how conniving and detestable I think it was for the public to get only 26 hours notice of this vote. To me and many, many other voters in Peachtree City, this is just another huge red flag pointing to a foolish decision made by myopic politicians.
Cele Eifert, Lt. Col., USAF (ret.)
Peachtree City, Ga.
