Wisteria Square Property Should NOT Be Used for Amphitheater

 Wisteria Square/Photo by Darla Dixon

Why turning the "bridge to nowhere" on the Wisteria Drive/Wisteria Square property is not a good idea.

On October 20th, Kelly Kautz pointed criticism at Barbara Bender during the mayoral debate. Kelly Kautz charged that Barbara Bender wanted to spend $200,000 on a sound stage for the Snellville Towne Green (the green field off of Oak Road near US78/Main Street that is used for the Snellville Farmers' Market and various entertainment events now. Barbara Bender corrected Kelly Kautz on that. The figure proposed was actually $120,000.

Oh, why are people always picking on Kelly Kautz? [Insert my sad, pouty face here] She was only off by a mere $80,000. Let me repeat that again...Kelly Kautz, a candidate who wants to be mayor and handle our city budget was off by EIGHTY. THOUSAND. DOLLARS.

Kelly Kautz proposed an idea that probably a lot of people support. That is, to turn the unfinished structure on the Wisteria Square property into an amphitheater. I am not against your vision. It shows some creativity and positivity, and I'm not knocking that. Glad to see it, however late.  HOWEVER -- If you support this idea, you do not know the whole story. If you just drive by the property, it looks like it only has that bridge on it, and some parking.

Look a little closer. Do you see fire hydrants? Why do you suppose that is?

Well, I'm here to tell you that the vision of having an amphitheater on the Wisteria Square property is "penny wise but pound foolish." The property is already set with water and gas lines.

In the foyer of Snellville City Hall several months back when the city council voted to purchase the property at a garage sale price,  I spoke to Doug Spohn, the original developer of the property. Mr. Spohn told me that the property already has millions of dollars invested in it in just the infrastructure -- all the water and gas lines to code, etc.

In my opinion, it wouldn't make sense to built an amphitheater there and lose out on all the potential the property has for something that is closer to what was originally planned for the lot.

The best analogy I can think of is to imagine that your house has a gorgeous professional chef-grade kitchen in it with all gourmet appliances in it, 3 stainless steel refrigerators, Venetian marble counter-tops and so on, and you want to tear all that out to make a patio. Sure the patio is really nice, but look what you have missed out on. The patio would be better somewhere else on your property.

Well that's why the sound stage should be put on the Snellville Towne Green, the same place where the Snellville Farmers' Market and the Beatles tribute band concert was held, among other great events. It is about location. You want the thousands of people who drive through Snellville to see exciting events happening all the time and stop to find out what all the excitement is about! Visitors need to see the excitement in front of OUR city hall right off of Main Street.  They're not going to crane their necks down Wisteria Drive.

In addition, I believe the Wisteria Square/Wisteria Drive property isn't even coded for such use at this time. I believe it's considered mixed-use/office/professional. It was zoned that way so the development there would be quiet. I haven't been on the city council for 4 years like Kelly Kautz -- I haven't been on the council at all, and even I have a clue about that. I'm surprised the homeowners behind the property aren't upset about the very idea. An amphitheater in that location would be entirely too noisy.

Video of Snellville Mayoral Debate Kelly Kautz vs Barbara Bender

October 20, 2011 Mayoral Debate held at South Gwinnett High School.
From my experience and knowledge about Snellville gleaned from publishing this blog for nearly 6 years, I can vouch that everything Barbara Bender says is true. It's unfortunate that Barbara Bender had to spend her time deflecting and correcting "misstatements" made by Kelly Kautz. Ms. Kautz gave me a shout-out of sorts (thanks!) and it was a real thrill for me to view this and see how Kelly Kautz successfully combines going on attack while simultaneously playing victim. That takes manipulation training that only experience as a defense attorney defending the bad guys can provide. It made for a lively debate, though. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Out of the mouths of babes...

My daughter goes to school at South Gwinnett High School. She sometimes sends me texts during her lunch time.

She sent these to me today after her Political Systems class. Keep in mind she's in high school, so there are going to be a lot of "lol's" :)

• "lol, In political systems, we got this letter from Kelly Kautz. lolol."

• "Basically, she's saying she's been with us for years, and Snellville needs a leader. She actually said 'I am that leader.' lolol"

• "lol. She needs an editor or something to peer read it before she sends it out...a lot of it looked wrong."

Yes indeed, we have a lot of sharp students at South Gwinnett. At least my daughter knows that Snellville deserves a mayor who can send out a letter without typos in it. But I will give Kautz credit for trying to get young people to vote.

Kelly Kautz visited my other daughter's class and according to my daughter encouraged all those aged 18 to register to vote and even brought the registration forms with her. A bit concerned over what was said in class to impressionable young people, I asked my daughter - "Did she openly ask the students to vote for her?" And my daughter said, "No not quite, but she kind of tried to make it sound like she was the only candidate running."

Now it's MY turn to "lol!"

The mayoral debate is tonight at 7 p.m. in South Gwinnett High School's theater. The questions have been writing by the Advanced Placement Government students, and as I understand it there will be 16 questions. The debate is expected to run about 2 hours.

More election-related links:
Why hasn't the Sabbagh story gotten coverage from local media?
VIDEO of Council Member Sabbagh speaking at Marietta City Council meeting shocks many
Marietta news article says Snellville council member issued Al-Jazeera threat
VIDEO of Kelly Kautz and Barbara Bender in Mayoral Debate

Early Voting Begins Today in Snellville

I don't know why the following web page is set up the way it is, but you'll need to scroll down a bit to see an article about Snellville by mayoral candidate Barbara Bender in Elliott Brack's blog the Gwinnett Forum - it does highlight well what's been happening in Snellville and why we all need to be involved to keep the positivity in our city rolling! If you like what you read, what you see is what you get with Barbara Bender, and early voting begins today between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at Snellville City Hall. I am voting for Barbara Bender, and I hope you will too.

All you'll need is your Georgia Driver's License. You can do the early voting through November 4th, then election day is November 8th.

"After the November, 2009 election, Snellville went 19 months without a negative article in the newspaper. So what was happening during these 19 months?" Read more>>

Besides the mayoral race and council seats, the other issue on the ballot is Sunday sales of beer and wine in grocery stores. I will be voting yes. If you wonder how I think, I tend to be pro-business, because being pro-business is pro-consumers and pro-jobs. How would you like to own a grocery store and have a huge section of your store that you could not sell on a Sunday?

I do understand the religious concerns about selling alcohol on Sundays, but I personally don't believe one segment of society's religious beliefs should dictate to everyone. If you don't want to buy alcohol on a Sunday in a grocery store, you can completely ignore that section. You can completely avoid the whole store on Sunday or any other day if you like. Isn't freedom great?

le ballot

You'll also see City Council candidates with no opposition. Barbara Bender and Kelly Kautz were required to resign their council seats in order to run for mayor. Tod Warner resigned his seat and he'll be working with the Planning Commission. We are so lucky that 3 wonderful people stepped forward to fill these council seats - Diane Krause, Bobby Howard, and Dave Emanuel. Please cast a vote for them too, because believe me, we are truly blessed to have these people, along with Tom Witts and Mike Sabbagh on the council.

A city council with Barbara Bender as mayor and council members Krause, Howard, Emanuel and Sabbagh will mean positive propulsion for Snellville. Three members of the upcoming council have already endorsed Barbara Bender. That should tell you something.

Mayoral Debate Scheduled for October 20

WHAT: 

Snellville Mayoral Debate, sponsored by the Advanced Placement Government Class of South Gwinnett High School. Candidates Barbara Bender and Kelly Kautz will debate.

WHEN: 

October 20, 2011,  7:00 pm

WHERE:

South Gwinnett High School (Auditorium)
2288 E. Main Street
Snellville, GA 30078

Responsible Party Usually Claims "Not Me!" First

Before you read this article from the Gwinnett Daily Post about a recent incident in Snellville, let me tell you a little story from my childhood, then relate it to the news article.

Together and from previous marriages, my parents raised 7 children. Whenever somebody would do something wrong (break a light fixture, for example), my father would ask, "Who did this?" -- He found that 9 times out of 10, the guilty party would be the very first to pipe up "Not me!"

Here's the link to the news article and an excerpt, if you don't want to read the full article...

Gwinnett | Snellville councilman decries political tactics

During the "public comment" portion of Monday's meeting, former councilwoman Kelly Kautz addressed Witts personally, agreeing with his remarks and stating that she is not responsible for the anonymous mailing. 

It is very unfortunate and makes me very disappointed that after Snellville has moved in such a positive direction and that there are those who only feel they can succeed by tearing others down. That is a sign of desperation.

More Regulations Proposed for Crematory

Snellville City Council member Kelly Kautz made a motion during Monday evening's council meeting for the City of Snellville to enact an ordinance to regulate and measure the emissions that are released from the Cremation Society of the South facility at US78 and Abington Road. The motion was seconded by Council Member Warren Auld. The new ordinance would apply to this crematorium and all future facilities of this type within Snellville's city limits.

Looks to me that this will serve two purposes:

• It will alleviate the fears of residents that the emissions from the crematory are harmful. Yay! This will free us up to smoke cigarettes on our front porches without worrying!

• It will eventually raise the taxes of all residents, because the money to pay for all these new regulations has to come from somewhere.

I think Kautz and Auld mean well on this issue -- I really do. I think they are trying to negotiate a resolution that will help their constituents feel better about all the mess-ups at City Hall.

But in my opinion, to create more regulations just opens up a big can of worms and more cost to 18,000 residents to make perhaps 1,000 of those residents happier. Good investment? What do you think?

Related Links:

Snellville sees no legal way to stop crematory
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
By BETH WARREN Two Snellville city officials delivered some
news Monday night that dozens of residents gathered at City
Hall didn’t want to hear: They see ...

Debate Continues in Snellville Crematory Controversy
MyFox Atlanta - Atlanta,GA,USA
Citizens gather at a hearing in Snellville concerning the opening
of a crematory near their neighborhood. ATLANTA (MyFOX Atlanta)
-- ATLANTA (MyFOX Atlanta) ...

Snellville News Updates

Councilwoman calls for investigation to clear up confusion
Atlanta Journal Constitution - GA, USA
By BETH WARREN Snellville Councilwoman Kelly Kautz has publicly called for an investigation into an unauthorized $31000-plus check written without the city ...

Tax Commissioner Katherine Sherrington holds annual Leadership ...
Duluth Weekly - Duluth,GA,USA
The conference opened with a welcome from Snellville Mayor Jerry Oberholzer and featured keynote speaker state Rep. Brooks Coleman (District 97, Duluth), ...

Evangelist Brian Fossett to be VP nominee
Town Hall - Washington,DC,USA
Rusty Newman, pastor of First Baptist Church in Snellville, said he will nominate Fossett for the post during the SBC's June 10-11 meeting in Indianapolis. ...

New football coach at Carver
Winston-Salem Journal - Winston-Salem,NC,USA
... will replace Keith Wilkes, the head coach since 1992 who resigned last month to become the head coach at Shiloh High in Snellville, Ga. ...

Account of a Rotary Club of Gwinnett Daybreak meeting with Jim Brooks as Speaker

Jim Brooks' visit to Rotary Club of Gwinnett Daybreak – 12/11/07

By Guest Blogger: Scott Henle
(Scott was a Past President of the Snellville Rotary Club/Rotary Club of Gwinnett Daybreak, and is the current Club Administration Chair)

Mr. Jim Brooks, Interim City Manager of Snellville, was the guest speaker for the Rotary Club of Gwinnett Daybreak (formerly Snellville Rotary Club) this last Tuesday morning. He was an excellent speaker, who seemed very comfortable in the spotlight. After listening to him for a few minutes, you realized that he has a wealth of experience in the public service sector. He mentioned his work with local law enforcement and state agencies, along with the FBI and other government agencies. After listening to him, I really have no idea how little ol’ Snellville snagged him for this latest tour of duty.

Within his first few phrases, you realized that this man has a great sense of humor, and one who is not afraid to poke fun at himself. He shared quite a few anecdotes with us from several of his past encounters.

Brooks, describes himself as the consummate business man and a facilitator for change. This was evidenced after sharing with us what he does on the side…he owns 28 rental properties in the Macon area. I can only imagine what goes into the upkeep for that!

He is a strong believer in a proactive government, which he described as using planning as a means to an end, rather than just the end. He paraphrased his style with…cities need to make use of what they have and know how to maximize those assets...he does not manage people, but rather the resources, and leads the people. For example, improving our city website (www.snellville.org) was one of his first steps. He mentioned that he gathered the department heads together to learn about current projects in the city…unfortunately nobody knew how many were active. So utilizing the current city software available, he compiled the list from each department and was able to build Department Projects List. Which includes 22 projects from the Administrative Department, 2 for the Parks, 15 from Planning & Development, 7 for the Police Department, and 6 from Public Works for a total of 52 open projects! (By the way all this information with detail is available on the website.)

Brooks feels his largest impact has been with the administrative staff of our city. He really likes Snellville’s current staff and mentioned they are obviously talented as they are starting to be lured away by other cities.

After I tried to pin him down and ask him how Snellville compares to other municipalities he has worked with, he laughed and mentioned that he was not going to fall into that trap. He stated that it is hard to compare cities, as everyplace has a different set of values and needs. He did mention a few challenges he sees for Snellville in the near future though:

• Hiring new city manager. Still estimated the hire as 2-3 months out, but mentioned the candidate will need to give a 3-5 year commitment to Snellville to see any real progress.

• Improving infrastructure. Estimated that there is probably $7M worth of ‘fair-price’ improvements that should be made within the city limits.

• New revenue stream. Currently 28% of the funding for city operations comes from property taxes (and he mentioned that ALL citizens should know this fact). With the proposal of HR900 before the House calling for the abolishment of ad valorem and local taxes, this would exhaust that source. Meaning the funding will have to come from somewhere else.

• Mayor & city council relationship. He stated the obvious fact that any of us here who have witnessed any local politics already know! They really just need to get along, remember who they work for, and why they hold their positions…he actually did not say that last piece, those were my own thoughts.

Brooks mentioned that he is under contract through February 13^th, but may be available for further consultation if needed. As you may know, the council is currently split on his position. I believe council members Robert Jenkins, Warren Auld, and Kelly Kautz may want to hire him, while Barb Bender, Tod Warren, and Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer want to continue the search for a replacement. I assume someone has asked him, but I do not think he wants the position. He mentioned that he was hired as INTERIM City Manager and believes that he should be here just to assist through the transition. His feelings also are if the vote was not unanimous among the elected officials, he would not want to stay…and frankly, I do not blame him. He gave me the impression he is a successful man that was hired to do a job and now after accomplishing that feat he is ready to move on. By all accounts, from what I have read (on this blog), I think by slashing our budget alone he was worth whatever we paid him.

When asked what he thinks we could do for this city, he declared that any changes here will probably need to come from the citizens. We need to get 4 to 7 movers and shakers in the community, making sure not to get more than 8; because the 8^th one will be an idiot (he said he found this out through experience, as we all chuckled). Get these people together to create a summit and give input on crucial matters. A ground swell will need to start from the citizens and once it gets large enough the government will join in and follow.

It was a pleasure to listen to Mr. Brooks, and although I have not seen him in action, I have to believe that Snellville is better off for the time he spent here. I am sure his business-like leadership, fresh perspective and new insights may have been a shock, but were much needed.

As I mentioned, speakers like Mr. Brooks come visit the Rotary Club of Gwinnett Daybreak every week. I would like to invite anyone interested in learning more about Rotary to visit our website. Here you will also be able to keep abreast of any upcoming speakers we have lined up. We meet every Tuesday morning at 7:30 for a delicious breakfast at Summit Chase Country Club.

Who won the Snellville Mayoral and City Council elections?

Jerry Oberholtzer has won re-election as Mayor of Snellville. It was a very close race - Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer had 1,101 votes and Bruce Garraway had 1,082.

For Snellville City Council Post 1, Kelly Kautz was the victor, with 1,230 votes. Marilyn Swinney had a decent showing with 951 votes.

If you would like more data, as well as election results for other counties, see this LINK

The Mayor's race was so tight that there could possibly be a recount. Here are some recent articles about the Snellville election:

Snellville Mayor retains his seat - AJC

ELECTION 2007: Recount likely in 19 vote win - AJC

Trivia tidbit: Snellville has 11,000 registered voters and only 20% showed up to vote

Of note: Loganville voters approved the liquor by the drink referendum. LINK
"I feel that the public has spoken about what they want," said city councilman Chuck Bagley, who has helped to rally support for the referendum. "They really saw it as an economic issue, not an alcohol issue.".....

..... "Neal Byrd, a realtor, said he was relieved that the grassroots fight against it didn't work this time. He stood on a corner rallying votes for the "economic development tool" early Tuesday morning.

Already, there is talk of new restaurants moving to Loganville now that the referendum has passed, said Byrd."

Ask the Candidates Meeting - Snellville

"Ask the Candidates"
Presented by the Hickory Hills Homeowners Association

Monday, October 29th

7:30 pm - 8:30 pm

at the

Masonic Lodge

(on Lenora Church Road across from the Library)

On Monday night, October 29th, candidates running for the Snellville offices of Mayor and our City Council Seat have agreed to attend our homeowners' association meeting to answer OUR questions about the issues in Snellville.

After providing each candidate a brief opportunity to present their platforms, we will then open up the floor for YOU to ask questions of the candidates!

Come and take advantage of this opportunity to become more informed about the candidates and their stances on the issues.

If you have already voted (via absentee ballot), or have already decided on a candidate, then this will be an opportunity to become better acquainted with your candidates of choice.

The meeting will end at 8:30pm. There will be an opportunity afterwards to visit informally with the candidates.

Two of the four candidates WILL be representing you on City Council. So take this opportunity to get to know them. All four candidates have agreed to be present on Monday night.

Candidates for Mayor:

Bruce Garraway

Jerry Oberholtzer

Candidates for City Council:

Kelly Kautz

Marilyn Swinney