Public Meeting Inspires and Motivates!

Thanks to ALL who attended the Tuesday evening County Commission meeting. Thanks to ALL who wrote and called commissioners, friends, neighbors, and HOA's! Thanks to ALL who brought children who will benefit from our work today to make sure they have greenspace to enjoy!

Here are samples of the tremendous press coverage:

The Marietta Daily Journal on June 28:
Wed. June 28
By Michael French
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer
MARIETTA - More than 85 Cobb residents packed the County Commission chambers Tuesday night to voice support for the preservation of greenspace and future parkland development in the county.
Every single resident who spoke before the commission, more than 20, urged commissioners to put a $40 million bond question on the November ballot to buy greenspace for future parks.
"I don't want the few greenspaces we have left to be gone in the next 20 years," Cobb resident Helen Cox said.
West Cobb mother Keli Gambrill said more parkland and untouched greenspace would benefit all generations.
"This bond referendum is not about politics," she said. "It's about preservation for future generations. All areas should be considered."
Dave Sillman, a 45-year-old Terrell Mill resident, said everyone in the county should fight for the bond.
"Sprawl is rampant and ravenous," he said. "We're an affluent county; we can afford this."
Dan Coffer, 40, of Kennesaw, moved to Cobb from San Diego a few years ago. He said he wants more parkland for his children.
Kennesaw resident Charles Spann, who also is a Republican candidate for the District 1 Cobb Commission seat, said he grew up in the housing projects in Atlanta as a child and always valued his visits to his grandmother's in Cobb.
He said he remembered seeing stars at night and catching fireflies, an atmosphere he said is all but gone in the modern Cobb landscape.
"We have the opportunity to come together to accomplish something very fine for the future of Cobb County," west Cobb resident John Pape said.
East Cobb resident Randy Turner, a lawyer who also is a Republican candidate for the Cobb School Board Post 6 seat, said time is of the essence.
"We are losing virtually every piece of land to retail and commercial development," he said.
Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens commended the response from residents.
"The parks coalition has done a fantastic job in a short period of time," he said.
Olens said the $40 million bond would be a great improvement in the quest for parkland, but not a solution.
"It is my hope the board will support this initiative," he said.
Cobb County Assistant Comptroller Jim Pehrson said the bond would carry a 4.5-percent interest rate over 10 years.
He said parcels throughout the county suitable for parkland and greenspace would appreciate at a rate of 8.5 percent to 10 percent annually.
Pehrson said that would translate into a $60 million increase in the cost of the land over the next 10 years and it would cheaper to buy the land now with a bond rather than wait for the money to come through a Special Purpose Local Sales Tax.
"This board is faced with walking the walk in regards to greenspace in this county," said District 1 Commissioner Helen Goreham.
District 3 Commissioner Tim Lee said he would support the bond.
"Absolutely," he said.
District 2 Commissioner Joe Thompson said he would support the initiative based on the enthusiasm of the residents.
"I would vote for it," he said.
District 4 Commissioner Annette Kesting said her vote would be for the bond.
"I support it 100 percent," she said.
Ms. Goreham did not return calls seeking comment on her position by press time, but has previously voiced support for the proposal.mfrench@mdjonline.com

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution June 28:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/0628metcobbparks.html

By CRAIG SCHNEIDERThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 06/28/06
When Charles Spann was a boy growing up in an Atlanta housing project, Cobb County was his escape to the country.

"We would come to Cobb, and I would look up to the sky and see stars forever," recalled the man who later made Kennesaw his home. "This is what I remember — and it's disappearing."
Tuesday night he joined others who encouraged, if not implored, the Cobb County Commission to place before voters a $40 million bond issue to buy more parkland.

Speaker after speaker told the commission they feared the county is handing its quality of life over to developers.

"Sprawl is rapid, rampant and ravenous," said Dave Sillman, 45, of East Cobb during the public hearing on the parks proposal.

The five-member commission could vote as early as next month to place the bond measure on the November ballot. If voters approve, county officials would begin looking for large pieces of land to convert to parks.

Commission Chairman Sam Olens has said the county could spend the $40 million on parks over the next few years without raising property taxes.

County Finance Director Brad Bowers has noted that the county has debts of $40 million, but it will eventually have a debt low enough that it could sell $25 million worth of bonds in 2007 and an additional $15 million in 2008 without increasing the debt millage.

Eighteen-year-old Helen Cox said that in the 10 years she's lived in Cobb, "developments have popped up in nearly every green space in my community. I don't want the few green spaces left to be gone in 20 years."

Many of the speakers joined The Cobb Parks Coalition, a grass-roots citizens group promoting the bond issue. The group handed the commissioners a petition they said contained more than 1,000 signatures in favor of the proposal.

David Byrne of Kennesaw told commissioners he feared that the county would become so overcrowded, "people won't know anybody anymore."

Parks bring people together, said Tamisha Peterson, 62, of Austell. "They may not talk to each other, but then they meet in the park," she said.

Olens said the county could buy 100-acre plots in north, south and west Cobb. East Cobb has few if any 100-acre plots left, he said, but there is a 50-acre plot next to Fullers Park that the county is eying.

The issue is somewhat controversial. Cobb voters rejected a proposed 1 percent special sales tax to buy parkland in 2000 after some supporters of the proposal began squabbling over how to use the land. Some people wanted ballfields while others wanted passive parks.

None of the approximately 40 speakers Tuesday opposed the parks plan.

Before Keli Gambrill, a west Cobb mother, expressed her support, she lifted up her 5-year-old son, Robert, to the microphone. "We need more trees," Robert said. Then he went outside to play in the park in Marietta Square.