Coalition building support for bond

From the Marietta Daily Journal on Friday, September 29, 2006 by MDJ staff writer Amanda Casciaro

With advance voting just a month away, Paul Paulson and the Cobb Parks Coalition are busy mustering support to pass a $40-million bond issue to buy land for future parks, and they're doing it everywhere.

Paulson and coalition members have set up an information booth at the North Georgia State Fair in west Marietta to distribute information and bolster excitement about expanding parkland in Cobb.

So far, it's working.

The group has attracted attention from residents across Cobb, even in districts outside west Cobb where development now shrouds much of the last remaining slivers of green space.

"I've been to two events within the past two weeks. On Sept. 16 I helped with the east Cobb Parade, and there were about 2,000 people there. Every person we talked to was in favor of this, tremendously enthusiastic about it," said Morning Washburn, an East Cobb resident and participant of Cobb Parks Coalition. "Here at the fair, at least eight or nine-and-a-half people out of 10 have been in favor of it."

Paulson, a longtime community activist and west Cobb businessman, said the desire to save green space for children and the environment, and the benefit of doing so without raising taxes has attracted people to the grassroots movement.

"I moved here 38 years ago from a place that was totally developed (in) northern New Jersey, and when I came here it was like Shangri-La, the Garden of Eden," Paulson said. "It was so pleasant and beautiful to me, and we still have a chance to hang onto some of this beauty. This has shown us that even government has a soul and understands what's being lost."

This spring, Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens suggested Paulson and others lobby to get a question on the November ballot for $40 million in general obligation bonds that Cobb could use to fund land for future parks without raising taxes. Since then, each of the commissioners has supported the idea.

"This is important to the county because it's important to the citizens," said Commissioner Helen Goreham, who represents west Cobb. "It's a quality-of-life issue, and it's a possible way to improve quality of life for our citizens by providing additional green space."

The Cobb Parks Coalition has bought several signs and pamphlets to distribute with the small amount of money it has raised. Recently, the coalition received a commitment from the Trust for Public Land to match every dollar it raises, Paulson said.

"You can just look at the Beltline Project in Atlanta to see why we need to do this," said volunteer Magda Gomez, a real estate agent from Mableton. "They built it too much and now they don't have that much green space. After all these years they're spending all this money to go in and reverse what they did so they can beautify the Atlanta area.

"We don't want Cobb County to be so deprived and the density so high that we don't have green to enjoy. It's important to our children and our health."

Cobb owns 5,075 acres of parkland, of which 4,251 is developed. Most of the remaining undeveloped land, 823 acres, cannot be developed because it's used for events such as the North Georgia State Fair or it sits on a floodplain.

acasciaro@mdjonline.com