After reading the recent article in The Citizen (Jan. 7) regarding Peachtree City's Traffic Task Force, one must wonder why this group was put together in the first place. Are the city residents who are volunteering their time and talents to this task force doing so in vain?

I found it funny (in an odd sort of way) that our Mayor Lenox would form this task force in November, mainly due to concerns over the traffic situation in the Ga. Highway 54 corridor, then not allow them the time to look at the situation clearly before the Home Depot site plan was approved. When task force members inquired about delaying the city council's Dec. 16 hearing on the site plan, the mayor told them that it could not be delayed. Why?

What is the reason that council felt they could not table the Home Depot appeal to allow time for the facts to be gathered and the mayor's own task force the time to review the data and provide their insight? What was their hurry, especially considering the tremendous impact their decision will have on our city's quality of life? We may never know the real answers to these questions.

Perhaps the Traffic Task Force members are much like the volunteer members of the Planning Commission. While they are led to believe their efforts can make a difference, the truth is that their advice is simply ignored by city council when they see fit to ignore it. The Planning Commission members were quite clear when they denied the Home Depot site plan, yet our mayor and council chose to ignore them and overturned their decision.

Even the mayor, who just two months ago thought the task force was needed, now says he doesn't know what there is for them to do. Good question, Mr. Mayor, what is left for them to do? With the council's approval of the Home Depot site plan, it appears any action now by the Traffic Task Force would be too little, too late.

Steve Fodor
Peachtree City

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