Q&A - Cobb County Residents

From the northeastcobbmonitor.com, issue 41, on Thursday, October 23, 2008 by David Poteet, editor

As a Cobb County resident, what are your thoughts on the November 4 parks bond referendum that would provide taxpayer funds to purchase more park lands in Cobb County, if passed?

Susan Vickery – Owner of X-Static Pets; a pet sitting service
“I don’t use parks much. There may not be a raise in taxes, but the money has to come from somewhere. How do we determine how much land is enough, anyway? The other side is I like the idea of slowing development by buying park space. That is a better argument for it.”

Sarah Behlmer – Student at Kennesaw State University and works at Johnny’s Pizza in Merchants Walk Shopping Center
“I think it’s a great idea. Passing it would mean less development and create more peaceful environments.”

Dale Adkinson – Dentist at Kennestone Dental Associates
“With the hard economic times we are in now, I’m not sure that’s the best way to be spending our dollars. Open land is not a big deal to me. We’re looking far ahead for parks, but looking for roads that are needed is different.”

Jeremy Jimmney - Painter
“As long as I don’t see a tax increase from it, I’ll back it. My concern is how long the property will just sit without any improvements. Somewhere there has to be a line drawn between development and too much development. We need more development for the tax base, but we need less for our roads and quality of life.”

Shawn Parmly – Systems engineer for Sun Microsystems
“I’m for it. We need more parks for walking or pets.”

Tracy Parmly – Works in sales for School Announcements
“Parks build a sense of community. There has never been a real sense of community in this area (northeast Cobb). It’s all been implemented by the schools. The more parks that are built, the more the community can build a sense of support. I would vote for it.”

Tony Simmons – Director of telecom software for Hewlett-Packard
“If you move funds this year from the fire fund, there is a likely hood the fire fund will be under-funded next year or in the future. If so, we will have to raise taxes for that. I do think it would be awesome to buy the properties, but will any improvements have to be made to maintain them?”