After the Dunwoody bill was voted down in committee in January, a miracle happened and the bill was brought up again in the same committee and then passed. Next was another big hurdle whereby it had to pass the Georgia House of Representatives. On Wednesday March 19, 2008 I was sitting in the gallery of the chamber with others knowing that this was going to be the day for debate and a vote, up or down on the City of Dunwoody. Fran Millar took to the well of the chamber and gave a passionate speech for incorporation and several others followed. It then appeared that every Democratic representative from DeKalb wanted to speak in order to be on record as being against the measure. Then Representative Jill Chambers took the floor and made a “very memorable speech” where she mentioned my small neighborhood blog (not on the video) and then complained about the way bloggers in general have treated her. She also raised the issue that there were still too many questions to be answered and not enough education of the citizens taking place so that they could make an informed decision.
Soon after the debate, the question was called and legislators were running onto the floor from the rotunda where Saxby Chambliss was holding a press conference. The vote was frantic but the final count was 106 to 60 for passage and the Dunwoody legislation would soon be on the Governor’s desk for signature.
This video not only documents the passage of the bill but it raises two other points, education of the electorate to make an informed decision and sadly, racism.
I am very proud of the effort that the Citizen’s for Dunwoody put forward to make sure that the electorate was well informed prior to the vote. There were huge presentations sponsored by the DHA which were well attended, a League of Woman Voters debate, numerous newspaper articles and letters to the editor. Besides those items, I’m really proud of the small cadre of speakers led by Robert Wittenstein and Tom Taylor who met with more than 20 neighborhood civic & church groups to give small presentations, passed out literature and answered questions. Hopefully because of these efforts, the citizens will feel confident in going to the polls and voting for incorporation.
The end of the video claims that Dunwoody wants to incorporate due to racial issues and that couldn’t be the furthest from the truth. I believe that the citizens are fed up with mismanagement of the County, the lack of services provided and believe we can do it better and more efficiently. I can unequivocally state that I have never heard one person on the Citizens for Dunwoody group ever bring race into the equation of cityhood and the claims being presented in this video are preposterous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKaij0fE3kc
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