Legislative Town Hall tonight at Dunwoody City Hall, 6 p.m. for Sally Harrell Georgia Senate District 40 and Mike Wilensky - State House Representative, HD 79

Town Hall Meeting Dunwoody

Hosted by Sally Harrell Georgia Senate District 40 and Mike Wilensky - State House Representative, HD 79

Tonight - Tuesday March 19th

6 PM – 8 PM 

Dunwoody City Hall

4800 Ashford Dunwoody Rd NE,

Dunwoody, GA 30338

City of Dunwoody, GA offers strong opposition to Georgia #HB302 & #SB172 violating Home Rule and jeopardizes residential safety. #gapol

Full Press Release

Dunwoody’s Mayor and City Council voted unanimously Monday night to oppose Georgia House Bill 302 and Senate Bill 172, which would prevent local governments from enforcing and regulating building design elements for residential homes. Members of Dunwoody City Council have been in close contact with our elected State Representatives, Senator Sally Harrell, Representatives Mike Wilensky, and Matthew Wilson, all of whom have taken strong stands against these proposals. The City has been in discussions with the Georgia Municipal Association, the DeKalb Municipal Association and has been in constant contact with our lobbyist in opposing these proposed actions.

Ten years ago the City of Dunwoody was created to allow us the right of self-determination and it is my opinion that this over reach proposed by the State Legislature not only erodes the home rule doctrine in the Georgia Constitution, which allows municipalities to have self-government over building and housing codes; but it completely eliminates the municipalities allowance of home rule.

Dunwoody Council Member Lynn Deutsch introduced a resolution respectfully requesting that the General Assembly oppose the bill. The Council voted unanimously to approve the resolution during Monday night’s City Council Meeting.

“We do not take this decision lightly. Most housing in the City of Dunwoody would be impacted by this,” said Council Member Deutsch. “This is an issue of local control. We have set minimum building standards that protect the safety of our residents and enhance the quality of construction.”

“This is an encroachment that is unbelievable to me,” added Dunwoody Mayor Denis Shortal. “We became a city to keep decisions close to home. This bill strips us of the rights to keep Dunwoody the way the citizens want it.”

Council Member Pam Tallmadge encouraged concerned residents to e-mail lawmakers who are backing the bills (Georgia House Bill 302 and Senate Bill 172.

City of Dunwoody Election breakdown by Precinct & Party for November 6, 2018 Election #gapol

As a political science geek who likes to look at the election numbers, demographics and trends, I believe the 2018 election was historic one for the City of Dunwoody as it identified a change of the electorate inside our boundaries whereby those who voted Democratic outnumbered those who voted Republican in most races.  With younger families moving into the area slowly replacing the original owners who bought in Dunwoody when this was considered the far out suburbs, along with the candidacy of Stacey Abrams energizing the Democratic base which drove record turnouts, a shift has occurred.  Though Stacey Abrams may not have won the Governorship, this democratic push carried many of those down the ballot to victory thereby changing the party affiliation in the State Legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives from a Republicans representing Dunwoody to now Democratic representation.

I obtained my data from the DeKalb County Board of Elections excluding third party candidates and provisional ballots still in dispute, used the City of Dunwoody GIS system for the precinct maps, cross referencing it against the DeKalb Polling Places and input it into Excel for trend analysis.  At any point I may have completely screwed up the data but I believe it to be correct.

If there are flaws discovered please let me know in the comments but do me a favor, be kind as I do this stuff late at night after most people are long asleep.  Another favor, I welcome your analysis of the data and election but let's please keep all comments kind as we all are neighbors and all want what is best for our Country, State and community in general.  Thanks  John Heneghan

Congratulations to Dunwoody's newest State Legislators - Mike Wilensky & Sally Harrell

Results from GA SOS website as of 7 am.

The above numbers may not be final but by all accords it appears that the results will stand, therefore I believe congratulations are in order to Dunwoody's newest State Legislators - Mike Wilensky & Sally Harrell, I look forward to working closely with both of you on items that will be affecting this fine community.

Thank you State Senator Fran Millar and former Dunwoody Mayor Ken Wright for your many fine years of service as both of you have made great improvements to the community you have represented.