Candid State Reps Talk to Residents at Sandy Springs Town Hall

MARTA, Human Trafficking, a possible Milton County and a dysfunctional Fulton County were all topics for discussion at the District 6 town hall meeting, held Monday, at Holy Spirit Preparatory School.

City Council member Karen Meinzen McEnerny invited State Representatives Edward Lindsey, Joe Wilkinson and Wendell Willard to field residents’ questions and discuss the high points of the last General Assembly.

They were pointed in their comments.

Lindsey, who represents Buckhead and Sandy Springs, explained that the state of Atlanta Public Schools, which is on probation by local accrediting agencies, affects Sandy Springs and how successful state and city officials are in attracting new business.

“When it comes time for us to attract new businesses into the Metro Atlanta region…the fact of the matter is while we all love Sandy Springs and we think the world of Sandy Springs, most folks don’t know where Sandy Springs is outside of Georgia,” Lindsey said.

People do know the city of Atlanta, he added. And the probationary status of Atlanta Public Schools has had a direct impact on the city’s ability to attract new business, Lindsey said.

On Wednesday, State Representatives and the Mayors of Fulton and Dekalb Counties will meet at 5:30 p.m., at Atlanta City Hall, in the Old City Council Chambers, to discuss the regional transit agency and the 2012 referendum. The referendum would include a one cent tax.

Resident Laurie Robbins told Lindsey that MARTA is broken. Robbins recounted how she and a group of co-workers stopped using MARTA several years ago because the commute changed to two buses to two trains to reach their destinations.

“I can tell you my neighbors and I are absolutely not going to vote in favor of a penny sales tax,” said Robbins, who has received robo-calls asking residents to vote in favor of the sales tax.

“We don’t have a realistic transit system for Metro Atlanta,” Lindsey said. He agreed that MARTA is inefficient in funding and delivery of services. He wants residents to help with a plan, via feedback, prior to the 2012 referendum. 

State Rep. Wendall Willard emphasized the importance of transit, again, by raising the goal of attracting new business to Sandy Springs.

“The fact of the matter is we have a Fortune 500 company get ready to move Atlanta, [They] get right in the middle of negotiations and get up here to Abernathy and 400, and the COO says, ‘Guys, I’m not going to put my people in this traffic,’ “ Willard said.

Stay tuned Tuesday as Sandy Springs Patch brings more from the District 6 town hall meeting hosted by Council member Karen Meinzen McEnerny.