Ewing: Development threatens PTC way of life

Ewing:

Development threatens PTC way of life

As your candidate for Post 1 of the

Peachtree City Council, I want to urge you to please get

out and vote. For those of you that have recently moved

to Peachtree City in the last several years, we are at a

pivotal point in our city's development. Peachtree City

has long been a family-oriented locale that has offered

many different recreational opportunities. Our crime rate

is very low and the pace is not as hectic as the rest of

metro Atlanta.

However, we are currently

in the midst of a developmental fury that threatens to

water down those things that we hold so dear.

The troubles we currently

face are but the tip of the iceberg. Instead of

practicing prevention, the city has allowed the wound to

remain open until we are now facing a crisis. First, we

need to carefully review our land use planning process

and insure that we do not repeat any of our past

mistakes. Even with the widening of Ga. highways 54 and

74, the traffic draw of large commercial mega-stores now

entering our city will overwhelm us. Remember that the

areas surrounding Peachtree City are growing incredibly

fast and those people will be coming to our city to eat

and shop.

Annexation could make

things worse. Declaring a moratorium on annexation is

nothing but a temporary bandage. We need some serious

planning, and my civil engineering experience would be a

plus. If we wanted our lives to be

"commercialized," we would have moved to

Riverdale or Gwinnett County.

Second, we could find

ourselves in budget crisis down the road and we need to

work on streamlining the budget now and not wait until we

run into a brick wall. Again, annexation is not the

answer to our fiscal concerns.

Annexation is a delay of

the inevitable with a large price tag attached.

When a city our size has

nearly 900,000 unappropriated dollars (council

contingency) in the budget we have a problem. we need

accountability. The city actually had an opportunity to

reduce taxes this year and decided not to do so. The

overage will be used for non-budgeted

"special" purposes, leaving the taxpayer out in

the cold without a voice on those expenditures.

Third, when I moved to

Peachtree City in 1985, there was a lot of trees. In

fact, there was a commitment to leaving tree save areas

in all types of zoning. The development I have seen

within the last several years closely resembles

clear-cutting. The city needs to be running the show and

not the other way around. There is also construction

going on in the encroachment areas near our lakes and

streams. This is totally unacceptable. The majority of

our city council members has done little to rectify these

problems. I have the necessary experience, having worked

as an environmental engineer with the Georgia

Environmental Protection Division for more than 12 years.

If elected, I will begin acting immediately while we

still have something to protect.

Last, there is speculation

that my incumbent opponent, if elected, will leave her

council post after serving only two years to run for

mayor. Her city council term limitation would run out

after this next term. You must take this into

consideration because if she does abandon her post to run

for mayor, her replacement would be appointed. Do you

really want an "appointed" city councilman in a

period when we are facing traffic, development,

annexation, environmental and budgetary concerns? A lot

can happen in two years. You know where I stand and I

hope that I can count on your vote on Nov. 2, 1999.

James Melvin Ewing

Peachtree City

Council Post 1 candidate

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