Fayetteville Mayor Kenneth

Steele criticized opponents of the annexation, contending it is in the

best interests of the city.

We ask: Explain how and why

that is true.

Steele, ironically, came into

office as a reformer reacting to massive annexations to the city's west,

as did some other current council members. They pushed successfully to

have that land de-annexed. But in the intervening years, and after repeated

reelections, something has happened to the reformers.

They have become what they

once decried: Massive annexers.

A parcel to the south of town

also awaits the council's almost certain annexation. More land inside

the city, more sewer connections, more density, more, more, more.

Why is "more, more, more"

good for the residents of Fayetteville? It's not enough for Steele and

the council to simply say, We feel this is in the best interests of all

of the citizens of Fayetteville.

Why is this continuing land

grab good for the people of Fayetteville? Why should the city even consider

adding more land to its extended domain? The mayor and council should

make their case, instead of criticizing opponents who have pointed out

some real problems.

Fayetteville already has its

hands full trying to police and protect from fire the sprawling peninsulas

created by more than a decade of continuous annexation.

We contend that Fayetteville

already is overextended providing public safety in the Pavilion. How is

this overextension going to be improved by adding more land to be patrolled

and protected by a stretched-out public safety department?

Will the council's appetite

for bigger realms to govern be sated by the 50-plus acres to be annexed

to the city's south? Or will they eye ever larger domains to sewer and

pave and tax?

What is the mayor's and council's

philosophy: That Fayetteville should annex all the way to Peachtree City,

if asked by developers? All the way to the Clayton County line on Ga.

Highway 85 North, if asked by developers? All the way to the Flint River

and Clayton County, if asked by developers? All the way to Line Creek

and Coweta County, if asked by developers?

Fayetteville's mayor and council

seem to be preaching to all developers: Ask for annexation and ye shall

receive; seek our sewer line and ye shall find it extended to your annexed

property; knock for higher density and ye shall get it.

Is that good for all the citizens

of Fayetteville? Is that good for the rest of the citizens of Fayette

County, including those in Peachtree City, Tyrone and Brooks?

We wonder. As business residents

of Fayetteville, we wonder. And as Ricky Ricardo was forever saying to

his wife in "I Love Lucy," we say to Mayor Steele and the Fayetteville

City Council, "It's time to do some 'splaining."