Front page news! Petition draws a crowd!

From the June 20 Marietta Daily Journal comes a great update on our project! Click below to read the article online, or scroll down in this post. Note: as of this posting, 618 people have signed up saying "Yes!" to parks funding!

http://www.mdjonline.com/articles/2006/06/20/268/10222196.txt


Hundreds Sign Parks Petition
Group pushes for $40M bond question on ballot
By Amanda Williams
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer
MARIETTA - Paul Paulson hates to see development destroy Cobb County's natural green space and believes in reserving future parkland. But it wasn't until this week that he realized how many other Cobb residents feel the same way.
As of 10 p.m. Monday, 306 residents had signed the Cobb Parks Coalition's online petition to support a referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot asking Cobb to acquire land to reserve for future parks. Those who sign the petition also have the option to comment on the issue, which appears next to their name.
"The coolest part is the comments," said Paulson, who helped organize the group. "We struck some kind of nerve because that's what everybody thinks."
The coalition hopes to get a question on the November ballot to ask residents whether they'd support the county issuing $40 million in bonds to preserve land for parks. The group believes the county could issue the bonds without raising taxes.
The Cobb County Board of Commissioners plans to have a public hearing about the proposal 7 p.m. June 27.
Carol G. Morgan of Acworth, a Cobb County resident of more than 55 years, was the 170th person to sign the coalition's online petition.
"It's just a joke sometimes to say that pretty soon the county is going to be paved. There's just not enough green space, there's not enough gardens," Mrs. Morgan said.
Mrs. Morgan said she learned of the petition through some friends in a master gardening class and signed it to support them, but also because she believes Cobb needs more green space.
"It is imperative that we protect as much green space in our county for ourselves and future generations," Mrs. Morgan wrote in the comments section.
Like Mrs. Morgan's comments, John Cissell said all of the comments he has read on the petition so far favor the proposed referendum. Cissell is a retired superintendent of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park who is involved with the effort.
"They're all basically saying the same thing, that we're paving everything in this county and if we're going to save it we've got to do it now," Cissell said. "It appears to be a wide range of people that are signing it. I'm tickled."
If the county issues $40 million in bonds it would enable Cobb to buy 100-acre plots in north, south and west Cobb, and some smaller plots in east Cobb and possibly Vinings. The land would be reserved for future parks, when Cobb could afford to develop it.
David Hong, past president and incumbent secretary of the East Cobb Civic Association, said the group has not taken a public stand on the parks issue, but he has had some private conversations about it with other east Cobb residents. Of the people he has talked with, Hong said opinions are mixed with some people in favor and others opposed.
"The opposition's viewpoint is that it's a bond issue and we would have to pay interest on it because that's what a bond is, so we would wind up paying more than $40 million," Hong said. "But there is an opportunity cost. Land is not going to get any cheaper and if we don't get the land now it might not be around later."
Hong said one east Cobb resident he has talked with suggested the county try to pass a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax for parks instead of a bond.
"But I don't think that's a very reliable means at this point," Hong said. "It would be difficult to get one through."
Hong recalls the county's failed attempt six years ago to pass a SPLOST for parkland.awilliams@mdjonline.com