Bad economy's silver (and green) lining

A opinion published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday, July 14, 2008 written by guest columnist Paul Paulson, founding member of the Cobb Parks Coalition

Two years ago in Cobb County and other metropolitan areas across the land, the good economic times were killing us.

With more than 90 percent of our heritage paved over, a handful of Cobb citizens spoke up when one of the last historic farms, Bullard, was put on the block, earmarked for sacrifice.

We called for salvation - buy the best of what's left before it's all gone. Land prices were appreciating at an annual 9 percent rate in the spring of 2006. The chairman of the Cobb County Commission, Sam Olens, listened and answered with a painless solution. An about-to-be-retired $40 million bond could be rolled over and spent for this higher purpose without a tax increase if the voters approved. On Nov. 7, 2006, the people answered, with 72 percent approving the Land for Parks Bond.

But that wasn't the end. We had to spend the money wisely, secure the best, politics be damned. The citizens were to assess the land available and rank the results. Then, deals must be struck. Not easy. There were no guarantees.

Bullard was chosen among the top two of the 18 selected out of the nearly 100 nominated properties as the most critical to save. The Cobb Parks Citizens Advisory Committee chose Bullard even though it was aware that a court challenge was still pending on the county's denial of a zoning request to allow a Florida mall developer to construct a massive mixed-use project on the 112-acre farm.

And now, who would have thought? We are on the verge of collapse; the real estate market, that is. It softened like a Dairy Queen sundae on a July afternoon.

So now Cobb County holds claim to those 112 Bullard acres, the fields, the forest, that 1840s farmhouse. Our heritage has been protected, purchased with the bond money granted by the electorate in 2006. The economy spoke, that fat Florida development company quickly saw the light and pulled the plug on its claim, leaving the Bullard clan with few options except to deal with Olens. The heirs settled on a price of $18 million, about half what big development was offering. Thank you, Bullards.

So, now, even though many cry the blues because the "good" times have gone, I feel better.

Without the downturn, we'd most likely be shopping somewhere near where that old house stands, or visiting the "Dinosaur Park" the developer promised. Instead, a future child will get to feel a bit of what drew his ancestors here in the first place.

Maybe we're just learning a lesson. Maybe we put too much faith in land and money and forgot about the intrinsic values home provides.

Thank you, down economy. You may be our salvation.

> Paul Paulson lives in Powder Springs.