Mayor: Too early to hire development professional in Doraville
- 2/17/10
- Categorized in: DeKalb News
Doraville Mayor Ray Jenkins protested a city councilman’s claim that Doraville isn’t prepared to manage redevelopment of its shuttered General Motors plant.
City Councilman Bob Roche told The Champion this month Doraville wasn’t equipped to negotiate with New Broad Street, an Orlando development company that recently agreed to purchase the 165-acre site after more than 18 months of negotiation. He said he’s urged fellow council members to hire a development planner as it anticipates and pushes for a wave of redevelopment that city officials hope will push the city beyond its industrial past.
Jenkins said Feb. 15 he thought calls for a new planner were ill-timed and negative.
“(Roche) is completely negative,” he said. “I don’t see any reason to say anything negative until we really know if they’re going to buy it. They have a contract, yes. That don’t mean anything.”
General Motors officials may make their first post-sale visit to Doraville within two weeks Jenkins said.
In other plant news, the Atlanta Regional Commission gave the city $100,000 to help plan the redevelopment, which will be the largest urban, brownfield redevelopment in state history, city officials said. The city’s study will focus on developing solutions to address land use, development patterns, transportation circulation and economic development.
“This is great news, and the timing could not be any better,” Jenkins said.
The grants, given to Atlanta area local governments yearly, help recipients design plans that better link transportation improvement with land use strategies, according to the commission. Once plans are completed, those governments are eligible for a larger pot of federal dollars for their projects.
The grant program was created in 1999 to help local governments reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality by better connecting homes, shops and offices, enhancing streetscapes and improving transit options. The commission has awarded more than $141 million similar grants to 107 local governments this year.
The plant has been vacant since GM shut it down in September 2008. Many city officials are looking for science- and technology-oriented industries to flourish in Doraville.
The plant site had become the center of controversy in October after residents learned of the county’s intention to possibly build a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons there. The Doraville City Council voted unanimously Oct. 19 to oppose the construction of a new stadium. The vote followed a town hall meeting where city officials said residents overwhelmingly protested the presence of a stadium because of the excess traffic it would attract, among other development issues.
Impressive to say the least!
What does he know compared to an employee that is alleged to have 4 college degrees including a masters in admin.
Nothing?
He voted to hire the City Planner and was insistent on creating a development department which has never occurred;
-True. I had high hopes for the new planner. Unfortunately these hopes were not met. We desperately need to hire someone with the qualifications and experience to build an effective Development department.
He voted to approve the C-1/C-2 Ordinance that he now so much desires to amend to once again allowing Doraville to be an armpit of wholesalers, massage parlors, and car lots;
- True again - I placed my trust in the planner and voted along with the rest of the council to adopt the new Zoning ordinances pretty much as written by the planner. Then, along with many others, later found many problems which need to be rectified. The only thing wrong with making a mistake is making a mistake and refusing to correct and learn from it.
-My vision of Doraville's future involves better kinds of businesses, but the economic reality means this vision cannot materialize for some years. Trying to take Doraville to a new vision without a workable transition plan is malpractice.
He instigated lowering fees to send the City into financial crisis;
-I instigated lowering fees to bring them more in line with area municipalities and encourage more businesses to come to Doraville. These fees make up a tiny portion of the city's revenue. Over 40% of revenue comes from commercial property taxes and commercial occupational taxes. Sandy Springs recently decided to waive most fees.
-The city is nearing a financial crisis. When I tok office two years ago, there was about $7 million in the general fund. as of June 3 last year it was $4.5 million. If we hit our current budget numbers it will be below $3 million in a few months. I have repeatedly advocated getting spending under control and investing in activities that will increase revenues, but these efforts have been ignored or attacked.
He attacks not only the City Planner, the City Accountant, the Mayor's Aide, the City Clerk, the Assistant City Clerk..and now the staff is so demoralized they all are talking of leaving;
-there are serious problems at City Hall mostly due to a lack of leadership and managerial skills. Certain employees are protected regardless of competence.
He recently voted to allow 2 more massage parlors into the City. Seems to me some of these were recently raided;
-I voted with the majority of the council to grant the conditional uses. The one raid I'm aware of resulted in arrests for performing full-body massages without a State license. There were no accusations of sexual services or human trafficking.
He attacks the Mayor and other members of Council on a daily basis;
-I have been sounding the alarm and will continue to do so. Doraville deserves good government. I'm confident that the financial problems and other issues will soon come to light.
Shall we go on and on............
Its time for the Councilman to leave.
-Frankly, I have considered resigning out of frustration and discouragement several times. And I've spoken to many people who have given up on Doraville.
But I have not given up on Doraville. I made a commitment to the citizens of Doraville and I do not take such commitments lightly.
I believe the following:
The Councilman could be viewed as a hypocrite because I believe:
He voted to hire the City Planner and was insistent on creating a development department which has never occurred;
He voted to approve the C-1/C-2 Ordinance that he now so much desires to amend to once again allowing Doraville to be an armpit of wholesalers, massage parlors, and car lots;
He instigated lowering fees to send the City into financial crisis;
He attacks not only the City Planner, the City Accountant, the Mayor's Aide, the City Clerk, the Assistant City Clerk..and now the staff is so demoralized they all are talking of leaving;
He recently voted to allow 2 more massage parlors into the City. Seems to me some of these were recently raided;
He attacks the Mayor and other members of Council on a daily basis;
Shall we go on and on............
Its time for the Councilman to leave.
>> BrandSmart flew an executive in from Florida to publicly warn the City Planner of "arbitrary and capricious" behavior. Google that phrase and see what he really meant.
>> The city's largest property owner stood up to say that the last year in Doraville has been the worst of his 45 years in the city due to "an unfriendly bureaucracy and an unfriendly bureaucrat"
>> State Senator Curt Thompson stood up to point out that over half of the complaints aired that night mentioned "unfriendliness" and more than one third mentioned one specific person - the City Planner.
>> The city is currently being sued by one of its' best business owners because of the actions of the City Planner.
>> The City Planner sent a code enforcement officer to harass H-Mart four hours after the grand opening ribbon cutting that was attended by the mayor and council members.
>> The City Planner has still not processed the majority of 2010 business renewals and will not say publicly or to the council how many established businesses he intends to non-renew this year.
>> The City Planner's previous employer told Doraville that their City Council would not hire him again.
>> The City Planner has no degree or certification as a City Planner.
>> The list is much, much longer.
>> The discrediting has been done over and over and over again. It is time to move on and start fixing things
Who ever you are, you don't know much about the homes in Oakcliff.
The majority of the homes have downstairs dens/family rooms that are completely finished. Some of the citizens have rented those rooms out to family. However, we do have some who are renting them out for whatever reason, probably just to be able to keep a roof over their heads. If you are so educated and knowledgeable of such matters, then why wouldn't you at least check this out for yourself instead of trying to look superior to the ones who actually need the help. Hopefully you won't find yourself in a similar situation at some point in your life. Consider yourself very lucky.
Remember the saying, Only by the Grace of God, go I...meaning that it could happen to you...
Sharon Spangler
However, I couldn't help noticing this poster's email address is MPAFSU at Yahoo, which may indicate they received a Masters of Public Administration at Florida State University.
I have a good idea of who "knowledge", is, but believe they have a mistaken identity. I know you and I know where you use to live, believe me, it was in our neighbors downstairs, which she now lives. I think she did a lot of work on it first, but it is her home. The person who sent this is someone we all know . I'm thinking its someone who does not live in the city either...you will be able to figure it out with a little thought.
Sharon Spangler
You used to reside in a basement within the City, correct?
There is no Planning Deparment. There is one employee - the City Planner.
I am sure you meant Department since not sure what a Deparment is.
The complaints all stem from the Planner actually enforcing the Code that Mr. Roche adopted along with the rest of the Council.
Doesn't appear that truly is the case according to the many complaints received from the businesses in Doraville about his attitude and actions. When you have a City that has several business places complaining, then like they say - where is smoke there is more than just smoke.
Pity the person who has no vision and moves from one policy position to another just to remain popular with the voters. Here today, gone the next!
I don't think Mr. Roche moved from one position to another. And in fact he truly does have the interests of the ENTIRE City at heart, not just a select few.
I challenge Mr. Roche to discredit an individual who is obviously more educated and talented than he and has the ethics to do what is right not just to please the people.
Nobody has to discredit anyone; the Planner has obviously done that on his own since he has so many business people in the City already challenging him and the City.
And for Mr. Roche to be chastised publicly for a comment he made last week, I am wondering if the Mayor is going to be chastised for the comment he made about Mr. Roche being negative. I think it was strongly suggested that Mr. Roche should not have made a public comment. Momma always said - what's sauce for the goose is also sauce for the gander. It was strongly recommended that Mr. Roche apologize to the Mayor and others for his comment; well it is strongly recommended that the Mayor apologize to Mr. Roche and others for his comment.
The complaints all stem from the Planner actually enforcing the Code that Mr. Roche adopted along with the rest of the Council.
Pity the person who has no vision and moves from one policy position to another just to remain popular with the voters. Here today, gone the next!
I challenge Mr. Roche to discredit an individual who is obviously more educated and talented than he and has the ethics to do what is right not just to please the people.
I have received over a dozen complaints from business people and others about their treatment from Doraville's City Planning department. Over 80 people attended a recent Business Forum to complain about long delays, lack of responsiveness and business licenses denied for vague reasons.
Dismissing these complaints as "negativity" is playing politics instead of responding to serious problems existing in Doraville, problems that are affecting Doraville's citizens as well as businesses.
Bob Roche
Doraville City Council, District #2