You will also notice that there

are no huge piles of merchandise outside our big box stores like you might

see in other cities. I led the way for an ordinance to prohibit such situations,

and now we have nice, clean stores that are more pleasing to the eye and

blend better with the community. The quality of the trees on the site

is exceptional. Had an effort not been made to protect our interests,

we would have ended up with unsightly and unsafe stores like is found

in other areas.

Mr. Michael Hofrichter is an

attorney and chairman of the county Chamber of Commerce. I appreciate

the Chamber's position in the county scene. The Chamber has supported

quite a few positions that the voters have voted down in various referendums

in the past. We have to remember that the Chamber represents a certain

niche in our county and that is why their particular views may not coincide

with the voting public at-large. Mr. Hofrichter's letter came as no surprise

and his opinions carry his own unique slant, to which we are all entitled.

I do not understand why Mr.

Hofrichter is against any type of tax improvement district. The fact of

the matter is that the businesses and landowners themselves actually vote

on whether to enact the district. These districts known as CIDs, TADs

and TIFs are common in metro Atlanta.

The CID in Midtown Atlanta

pays for the ambassador force that provides security, pedestrian assistance

and keeps the streets and sidewalks clean. The Midtown businesses voted

to enact the CID and tax themselves, with great results.

The Cumberland, Town Center

and Perimeter Center areas are using their business-approved districts

to improve traffic flow.

We were planning on using our

district proactively to incorporate badly needed enhancements to the Ga.

Highway 54 West corridor. Why is this a bad idea? Peachtree City has assessed

impact fees for years on businesses to make infrastructure improvements.

PTC citizens should ask, Does Mr. Hofrichter oppose impact fees that allow

new development to pay for their impact on our community?

I am somewhat surprised that

Mr. Hofrichter is fuming about the TDK Extension. Our city's number one

priority is the Hwy. 54 West widening. Recently, we had to remove $1.8

million out of our city's beleaguered budget. Following that, we were

forced to move or eliminate $635,000 worth of additional scheduled projects

just so the Hwy. 54 West widening could take place in June 2003.

We all need to ask Mr. Hofrichter,

Where is the money coming from for the $1.2 million TDK Extension? Is

he willing to support large tax increases on the Peachtree City business

community to pay for it? You can't eat the cake if you can't afford the

ingredients.

Our second priority is the

widening of Ga. Highway 74 South. Some of our industrial residents on

Hwy. 74 South take their lives into their own hands pulling into and out

of their parking lots daily. If we want to keep these industries that

pay substantial taxes, we had better get to work on that widening project.

If we lose industry, the residential taxes will go up.

Do we really want the cars

from a new TDK Extension feeding onto a crowded two-lane Hwy. 74 South?

The TDK Extension project will happen eventually and the City Council

likes the project. For the record, neither state Senator Mitch Seabaugh

nor incoming Chamber Chairman Jim Pace tried to extort the TDK Extension

project out of me in exchange for providing badly needed funding for Hwy

74 South.

Unfortunately, I had to go

tell officers from Peachtree National Bank and Regions Bank about the

Development Authority's $287,000 tennis center overage, the additional

$200,000 line of credit that they picked up to complete the center, the

$879,000 balloon loan due in 2005, the $75,000 borrowed to pay the employees

and the fact that they finished the year in red ink, etc.

I told the financial institutions,

and the news media has correctly reported, that I vowed to pay the debt

back, put out the fires and work to create a new authority for the venues.

I view Mr. Hofrichter's comments as an attempt to exacerbate a situation

that is on the verge of a workable, permissible solution.

Mr. Hofrichter stated that

the cost overruns on the tennis center project were for the Continuing

Education rooms. This is not true.

The City Council approved a

specific plan with a specific budget for a city-owned building. The council

was adamant about that project staying on budget, especially in a difficult

budget year.

Besides, the Development Authority

is expressing a willingness to work with the City Council, and it is best

not to allow Mr. Hofrichter to cause any more friction on this issue while

he disregards the accountability owed to taxpayers in Peachtree City.

For the record, our city planner

has not resigned and is still in the employ of the city. We reorganized

the way we are handling our city attorney and city solicitor positions

and expect a savings to the taxpayers in the neighborhood of $70,000 per

year while maintaining a high standard of service.

The situation with the city

manager has been thoroughly covered in the news media, and let's not pull

another one of Mr. Hofrichter's favorite issues through the wringer. We

should respect the privacy of these individuals.

The city began declining in

industrial tax collections before I took office. In fact, I am steadily

visiting our local industries, and they are telling me that a local elected

official has not visited them in nearly a decade. That will not happen

on my watch and I am pulling hard for our industrial residents on Hwy.

74 South.

For the record, I took office

in January 2002 following one of the worst American tragedies (Sept. 11)

since Pearl Harbor, in the midst of a failing economy, and Peachtree City

still landed over 300 new businesses. In addition, our local option sales

taxes actually increased while other counties across the state suffered

losses.

An interesting fact is that

the only time I ever read about Peachtree City being a negative business

climate over the past 12 months was when Mr. Hofrichter was roaring about

it in the news media. Go look on the websites for the newspapers and do

a search under "Hofrichter" and see for yourself.

An interesting aside is that

Mr. Hofrichter, an attorney, was a strong vocal proponent of making Fayette

County its own judicial circuit. The state rejected the idea because it

would have cost taxpayers millions of unnecessary dollars. Yet again,

what about my taxpayers?

In case the reader does not

know, the Peachtree City government is a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

As every member is free to participate in a committee of his or her choice,

I am on the Legislative Action Committee with the Chamber.

Mr. Hofrichter recently announced

that I was being thrown off the committee. Why? Guess who the next chairman

of the Legislative Action Committee is going to be: Former Mayor Bob Lenox.

I am a very fortunate mayor

that is incredibly blessed with smart constituents that can see through

questionable intentions. I am looking forward to a better relationship

with the new incoming officers of the Chamber in 2003.

I love being your mayor and

I am fighting for the interests of all my citizens. Happy holidays!

Steve Brown

Mayor, Peachtree City

[email protected]