Dear Editor: Coming very soon Smyrna council will be asked to make a decision on a zoning request to permit apartments to be built at the former site of Jonquil Plaza shopping center. This vote, perhaps above all others made in recent months, should be taken very seriously and not made without significant input from stakeholders as well as potential retail tenants of both the new shopping center and others existing nearby. I know that in writing this opinion I may very well be in the minority. However, I feel it is important for all citizens who care enough to voice an opinion to have a clear…

Aye matey! Its vote like a Pirate day on July 31, 2012. This is the day that Georgians will go to the polls to impose a 1% sales tax on themselves called T-SPLOST. The problem is your vote will not count for much if you live in a small county. The Georgia Constitution is remarkable in that it allows for “Home Rule” or county self-determination. It has been that way since Georgia started chartering counties. This Regional vote scheme of T-SPLOST completely dismantles “Home Rule” and disenfranchises thousands of voters. Many believe it violates the Georgia Constitution. T-SPLOST lumps counties …

The new Kroger has brought out interest in the Smyrna South Cobb Drive area by many other business groups along with property owners up South Cobb Drive. I have talked with business owners on South Cobb Drive and they still are talking about the huge crowd that came out for the grand opening of the new Kroger. I talked to Tri Land Properties, the owners of the Kroger complex, which is very interested in the Smyrna South Cobb Drive Coalition. The leasing agent at Tri Land properties will keep our group informed of any new tenants at the Kroger complex. People came out to the grand opening of …

There will be a book coming out about the Vinings community. A picture history of Vinings is being compiled and copies of old photographs are being collected. Susan Kendall is writing a pictorial history for Arcadia Press which tells the very interesting story of Vinings through pictures and captions.  The importance of family collections cannot be overemphasized. Vintage photographs become increasingly fragile, but by scanning and reproducing them in a book, they become available for all to see. Anyone having photographs of old Vinings, developing Vinings, or flooded Vinings is invited to …

By Ron Sifen With every new revelation, Cobb taxpayers have more and more questions about the relationship between Cobb County, the Cobb Development Authority and the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. How many of our tax dollars are involved and what do Cobb taxpayers get for their money? Previously we had the question of whether Cobb County was going to pay the Cobb Chamber to take over the Economic Development Department.Recently we had the revelations that the Cobb Development Authority had been voting on financial decisions without having all of the information about the items they were voting on…

By Ron Sifen Would you pay a penny to alleviate traffic congestion? Gotcha! You just got counted as supporting the TSPLOST tax. It will cost you thousands of dollars, not a penny. And most of the money will go to projects that will do little to alleviate traffic congestion.Would you support light rail to alleviate traffic congestion? Gotcha! Would you have said yes if you were asked if you would support spending billions of dollars on light rail whose design will not help to alleviate traffic congestion, and it will probably make traffic congestion worse?I put together my own survey to get to…

Update: Jan. 31, 2012 By Mary Kirkendoll I very much love diversity. My favorite areas - Decatur, Chamblee, Norcross, Inman Park and Oakhurst - are all very diverse communities. A good mix of people in a community is what should be sought. It also needs a good mix of businesses and jobs. Otherwise, as jobs leave an area what remains are many unemployed or underemployed people who don't have the means to open businesses, repair houses or support local businesses, shops & restaurants. Rental homes tend to go without remodeling and only see minimal repairs. I described the gentleman that …

We don’t really know how things went so wrong for the parents from Menlo Park, CA, who face 44 counts of suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Bill Burnett, a Stanford University professor, was arrested the night after Thanksgiving over a basement party thrown by his son, 17, to celebrate a high school football win, reported Leanne Italie. The story didn’t report how the alcohol showed up, or if this was the first time police responded to a call at this location, or what precipitated the call that led police to find teenagers drinking alcohol at this home. Instead, the …

‘Twas almost the night before Christmas and all through Cobb County Schools were still open for its students, teachers, and townies. The stockings were hung by the chimney with rushed care, No time for traditions that were typically there. The children were nestled, all snug in their beds But visions of exams danced in their heads. And mama in her kerchief and I in my cap Could not settle down with our family at a last. When all around my house there arose such a clatter I sprang from my bed…I know what’s the matter! Away to last winter my mind flew like a flash, When the three new board …

Note: Which is it, an “H” for Hanukkah or a “C” for Chanukah? Well, it’s all in the pronunciation and they are really are one and the same. The more important meaning behind this holiday is that it’s a celebration of two miracles that took place back in the second century BCE, the victory of the small army of Jews and the kindling of the seven branch menorah for eight days and nights with just one days worth of the oil.  Celebrated on the 25th day of the Jewish month, this year’s Hanukkah celebration will begin on Dec. 20. The menorah will be lit for eight nights along with the traditional …

Seriously, I asked this other day, but who was the lucky person from Smyrna who hit the Fantasy 5 jackpot Monday night for $310,820?!! Got some to share?? I won the Fantasy 5 once. I bought the ticket at an East Cobb Chevron station on Sept. 30, 1998. I pinned it to a bulletin board and forgot about it. I was working for the now defunct Atlanta Sports Weekly at the time. I remember going down to Miami in late January for Super Bowl XXXIII. You know, the only one the Falcons have ever played in. They were filming "Any Given Sunday" in South Florida at the time and I met Cameron Diaz. She said …

By Ron Sifen Recently, Tad Leithead, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission and chairman of the Cumberland Community Improvement District, had a column in the Atlanta newspaper supporting the TSPLOST. His main point was that the Atlanta region needs transit to promote economic development. He also glorified a transit “plan” called Concept 3. Not much on alleviating traffic congestion.Most of the TSPLOST money is being allocated to economic development projects that will do little or nothing to alleviate traffic congestion.Mr. Leithead said, “As the Atlanta region grows ... residents will…

By Ron Sifen Cobb legislators are calling the TSPLOST projects list a “bait-and-switch.“ (In a previous column I described it by saying that the TSPLOST had been “hijacked” by special interests.) Two weeks ago, the Cobb Legislative Delegation had a series of meetings with local officials in Cobb. As The Marietta Daily Journal reported Nov. 16 (“Lawmakers befuddled by Lee’s list for TSPLOST”), several of our legislators expressed their dissatisfaction over the TSPLOST bait-and-switch.Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) said, “We have a $6 billion bait-and-switch. It was sold as traffic relief. It’s …

By Ron Sifen Two important transportation projects are moving forward that may affect your commute.* I-75 / I-575 Northwest Corridor Project (NWCP) is the I-75 reversible toll lanes project that is widely misunderstood. It is nearing finalization. Construction could begin in 2012. It is a public private partnership. The NWCP is different from the I-85 toll lanes fiasco. This project does not take away any existing lanes. The NWCP is different than reversible center turn lanes. It will not be in the center of I-75. It will not touch any existing I-75 lanes. The NWCP will build two entirely new…

Dear Editor, Cindy Ganues at Cobb County Animal Control needs our help. The current animal shelter leadership has elected to discipline her not just once, but twice, for working during her off hours to save animals from imminent death. The first occurrence resulted in her receiving an eight-hour suspension. The second occurrence resulted in a recommendation for a 40-hour suspension. And who knows what the cost may be for a subsequent "violation"? Loss of a job she's held for over 30 years? On the first occasion Cindy was punished, she was off work. She learned that three dogs had been sent …

By Ron Sifen According to the Oct. 7 Marietta Daily Journal, Cobb Commission Chairman, Tim Lee said, the TSPLOST rail line “for the moment has been put on the back burner as we seek out the results of the AA (Alternatives Analysis study) and alternative funding. If that becomes available, then we’ll talk about it.” However, even though this project is allegedly on the “back burner” it is still being funded in the TSPLOST to the tune of $689 million!Technically, the TSPLOST is not a SPLOST. The Transportation Investment Act (TIA) was designed to resemble a SPLOST, but it is different.* Like a …

By Bill Lyons The letter below is a reaction to a letter in the MDJ on Oct. 16, form Edward D Biggs, “a self-employed independent inspector of rail equipment.” Commenting on a letter which expressed the belief that using the CSX line through Cobb County is not a viable option, Mr. Biggs says “I don’t believe it!” Dear Editor: Mr. Biggs opinion seems to deny reality. He suggests that the CSX line through Cobb County could support shared use by an effective commuter rail service. I suggest, “It cannot be done in a practical way.” My own experience is a bit different from his. I spent large …

Dear Editor, My heart goes out to the family of Steve Jobs, his friends and colleagues. He was an American icon and one of the greatest visionaries of our time. His passing is such a great loss for our country.   I did not know him personally but I shared something in common with him – pancreatic cancer. I lost my own mother on July 15, 2010, a very short eight days after her pancreatic tumor was found and diagnosed.  Although Mr. Jobs battled a rare form of pancreatic cancer (pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor), his passing, if due to the disease, serves as a harsh reminder of the …

By Kathryn Brown While it's certainly disappointing that some recently proposed charter schools did not meet the standards set by the Cobb County Board of Education, this does not affect the ongoing planning grants, property development plans, and petition writing for The Smyrna Academy of Excellence. The founders of SAE maintain that this school will be different than the schools that were not approved. The Smyrna Academy of Excellence is being created, managed, governed, and led by Smyrna educators, parents, and residents. SAE will never relinquish these responsibilities to any outside …

By Ron Sifen More and more community leaders in Cobb are realizing that the light rail proposal will consume a lot of tax dollars, but deliver little improvement in traffic congestion.State Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) has criticized this project, saying that it “is not about traffic relief: it’s about economic development.” Setzler has recommended an alternative package of projects that would do far more, short term and long term, to alleviate traffic congestion in Cobb.The Atlanta newspaper recently published a Politifact fact check on State Sen. Majority Leader Chip Rogers’ statement that …