Monday, August 15, 2011

Open Records / Public Meetings, Council Decorum, Growlers, Redistricting, DeKalb Supt, Hot Playgrounds and Plane Crash Thoughts.

Things that keep me up at night...

I read on Peach Pundit that the City of Atlanta was accused by the Atlanta Progressive News of violating open records & open meetings and that the case may be headed to the Georgia Supreme Court.  I have pushed from day one to assure that the City of Dunwoody works within the letter of the law, therefore I found the four memos written by the Atlanta Law Department enlightening, especially the items on Committees, therefore I will need to raise the issue with Dunwoody legal staff to double check that we are in good shape.
Memo 1, Memo 2, Memo 3, Memo 4

I read an interesting editorial in the Saturday AJC on the dealings of the Peachtree City Council and I see it as a good reminder for myself and the six other individuals serving on the Dunwoody Council that we are charged with finding common ground (4 votes or better) and once an item is decided those with opposing minority views should not see it as a challenge to push harder until the civil debate becomes a debacle.

I read on Decatur Metro that Growlers - tap beer to go was becoming a big item in that part of the County.  Wonder if Taco Mac, Mellow Mushroom, Dunwoody Tavern or the Total Wine would be willing to expand into this market?  I'll help cut the ribbon.

I read a bunch of articles on redistricting but from what I can tell the rules (quite a few) were followed, what was proposed will probably be approved in the Special Session and then lawsuits may be attempted.  Based on the changes it looks like Tom Taylor and Fran Millar will now be representing every square inch of Dunwoody and then some.

I read that DeKalb has put forward Dr. Cheryl Atkinson as the prospective school superintendent for DeKalb County and that several members (Jester & McChesney) are not happy with the choice.  I wonder what the residents of Lorain Ohio are thinking?  Read here, and here and the comment on here to find out?  What are your thoughts?  I was hoping for more, someone to clean house at the top in order to propel long term change to the educational system.  Countywide DeKalb group let by a Dunwoody father is forming to push for systematic change, please complete the short poll with your email address to learn more.  Our Kids and our Tax Dollars, deserve better than this.

I read something that I already knew, hot play grounds are not fun play grounds therefore I am looking forward to shade being installed in Brook Run soon.

Besides reading, I like to expand my horizons in other ways.  In my spare time, I enjoy watching informational, intellectual and inspirational videos on TED and I just submitted an application to attend the TedxPeachtree conference in person on November 4th.  If you don't know about TED, please check it out as I highly recommend it.  Here is one of my favorite videos, 3 things I learned while my plane crashed.

Good Night.

2 comments:

Bob Lundsten said...

John,
I have to say that after the last work session it is apparent that the council needs to change its rules and procedures regarding the ability of any one councilman being able to add an agenda item to the meeting's agenda.
Danny Ross's highjacking of the meeting on Monday, shouting and bullying people on an issue that has already been voted on and moving forward was embarassing.
His promise to keep bringing it up should serve notice that the procedure needs to be changed.
The fix is simple and logical. If any one counciman has an agenda item to be added to the schedule, he or she should be required to have a second council member supporting that item.
No one council member should be allowed to do what Danny did.

John Heneghan said...

Update on the Atlanta open records / open meetings decision.

City of Atlanta Loses Bid for Secret Memo Injunction, Contempt

Peach Pundit update

Georgia Sunshine Laws, your guides to Open Records and Transparent Government

Sam Olens pops the hood on Georgia sunshine laws