A tale of two cities

Once upon a time, there were two cities. One was called Fear, the other was called Fearless.

All the citizens of Fear operated with a "better safe than sorry" mindset. The citizens of Fear never took any chances. Because of this, they felt they would be protected from ever risking making a "mistake." Therefore, they never grew. That was okay with some people who lived in Fear. They even stated to the newspaper reporter that they'd like to keep Fear like it was in 1972. Nevermind that the Fear of 1972 was 39 years ago, and many of the people that the City of Fear would like to attract to the city weren't even born yet in 1972. Foolishly, the people who lived in Fear didn't want improvements, because they felt that improvements would cause their property taxes to increase. That was okay with some people who lived in Fear. They were afraid of change, so living in Fear was perfect for them.

The people of Fearless understood why some of the people needed to live in Fear, but they knew that they wouldn't be able to live very well in Fear themselves. Fearless people could not go back to the burnt orange time of 1972. The people who were Fearless understood that the only way a turtle can move forward is by sticking its head out. The people in Fearless were visionary and entrepreneurial in spirit. They knew change was going to come anyway, so why not steer it toward the type of future place they and their children would like to stay to live and work instead of moving away? They thought carefully about the risks versus the possible gain and decided that there wasn't much to lose in trying.

Now, some people who lived in Fear or on the fence between the towns of Fear and Fearless said that a plan without financing was just a dream. In fact, some council members of Fear who were up for re-election sat on the fence between Fear and Fearless, just waiting to see which way the wind blew before they picked a side of the fence. But the truly Fearless people knew that if there was a vision and a plan - and, if they could get enough people to step out of Fear and into Fearless, the funding would come - especially as businesses saw Fearless as a city of growth.  The people of Fearless knew that with improvements would come more business growth, and more business growth would mean more jobs for the Fearless citizens, and more businesses would take more of the property tax burden off citizens.

The people of Fear sat around, grumbled and complained while the people of Fearless worked toward the future. Try as they might, the citizens of Fear were not able to stop change and growth. It came, it came just the same!  Fortunately, the Fearless people had laid enough groundwork so that when the growth to Fear and Fearless came, it was an improvement to commerce and traffic. The Fearless people were even able to enjoy funding from the FDOT (Fearless Department of Transportation) that paid for two roundabouts and a CFI (Continuous Flow Intersection) which eased up traffic even more.

And, maybe you have guessed by now that this fable is about Snellville.  I would like to urge you to be a Fearless citizen. Visit www.Snellville.org to learn about the Towne Center @ Snellville plans. Register to receive email updates on the Towne Center development at  http://www.thetownecenteratsnellville.com/.