In the rhetoric of election

year politics, a certain theme of misinformation disinformation? seems

to be endlessly repeated, apparently on the supposition that if something

is said often enough, it will be believed as true.

The theme is that somehow those

in high places have breached trust with the citizenry and are trying to

cram more people into Peachtree City than Peachtree City was designed

to contain. It took only a half hour or so in the library's aptly-named

Joel Cowan Room to dispel this notion, and with a minimum of editorializing,

I'd like to share with you what I found.

In the history room there are

file cabinets freely available to peruse. They are not well-organized,

and they are jammed with old clippings and reports. Nonetheless, projections

of the city's growth appear in dozens of publications, widely disseminated.

The earliest article I came across was dated Aug. 8, 1959, an Atlanta

Journal/Constitution feature on the western Fayette city that had incorporated

earlier that year.

Its roughly 15,000 acres, said

the AJC, would be designed for a population of 75,000 to 100,000 people.

In October 1965, 300 folks were calling Peachtree City home. The projected

population was still expected to reach 75,000, according to another AJC

feature. By Oct. 4, 1967, the planned city had reached 750.

Atlanta Magazine described

Peachtree City in July 1969. Estimated population at build-out: 75,000.

When we moved here July 1,

1971 there were still fewer than 900 Peachtree citians. A publicity pamphlet

put out by Bessemer Corp., the main developer then, estimated that at

build-out, the city would have 75,000 residents.

In 1972, the city itself commissioned

Arthur Little Inc. to develop the its famous master plan, and the report

published in April included the following: By 1979 there would be approximately

14,000 residents; by 1982, 34,000; by 1987, 58,000; and by 1992, generally

regarded as the build-out date, 84,000.

John King of the Washington

Post published a piece on Georgia's New Town Jan. 25, 1975 that predicted

the population would peak at 85,000. By 1977, city documents indicated

the build-out projection had dropped to 50,000, and in 1983, that figure

was revised downward yet again, to 45,000, expected in 2000.

Approximate population, in

November 2001: about 33,500. Projected number at build-out: 37,000, depending

on density trends. The land use plan still says 40,000 plus.

Two thoughts I share with you:

If you are resident number 40,000, you may have a valid argument that

the drawbridge should be closed behind you. And if we, as residents number

846 through 851, had felt the way you do about more people moving in,

where do you suppose you'd be living now?

(Sallie Satterthwaite has

served as a City Council member and for many years as a volunteer with

the fire department and emergency medical services. She has a Peachtree

City fire station named for her.)