Wednesday, May 2, 2001

I have written a few times in the past and always said that I am on no one's side in the ongoing battles we face in Peachtree City. My past letters have found me on the opposite side of City Hall; this time I find myself somewhere in the middle. I am writing to talk about the traffic situation at Ga. highways 54 and 74 and the tone of the discourse we are conducting in Peachtree City and Fayette County. I ask your forgiveness for my long-windedness.

In the matter of the traffic, I believe that Mr. Beverly is right and wrong. He is right that there are things that we as a city could be doing to alleviate the problem. He is wrong to say that Peachtree City is "burning" because of this issue and we should drop all of those "nice" projects.

I am bothered when people write letters or complain but don't offer any plausible solutions to the problems. Everyone is complaining about traffic, but I have not read any legal ideas from any of the complainers. Here are some ideas.

First, let's look at what we are legally allowed to do within the limits of the moratorium on road building. My understanding is that we can extend the left-turn lane both ways on Hwy. 74. We can also make it a two-lane through intersection. On Hwy. 54 we can extend the left-turn lanes as well and make a few other improvements in the traffic flow. Let's find out that cost (I believe somewhere around $750,000) and make it happen on those bonds.

What can we do tomorrow? When I sit at that intersection, a large part of the problem is the amount of people who try to sneak through during the yellow and end up blocking the intersection. Let's put a police officer there during our two "rush hours" to encourage people to follow the law. It will cost money, but it will have an immediate impact. Perhaps we can also develop ways of directing traffic to alternate routes such as Peachtree Parkway and Robinson road as a "Peachtree City Bypass" to relieve some of the volume at the intersection.

Is PTC burning? No. I believe that what makes PTC special are the "nice" things the Council has done over the years and those are the things that brought me here in the first place. I had a picnic with my children last week on Drake Field and I am glad that the city is buying it instead of it becoming another ridiculous fast food restaurant. Nice to have? Definitely.

Obviously, we should balance those projects against the immediate needs of the city such as traffic. However, I think if you have ever driven in Marietta at any time of day, any day of the week, you know that we have a traffic "problem" here but it is not yet to the biblical proportions they face there. If we do something to fix it now, we can avoid it altogether.

I am bothered by the tone of those letters and editorials on traffic and those relating to the bonds. We have all beaten up Mayor Lenox for his sarcasm and arrogance in his public writings and speeches, yet we are no better. The constant name-calling and accusations of cronyism and deceit are reaching ridiculous levels.

Since I have become involved in local affairs, I have met nearly everyone in our areas city, county and state politics and I have found them to be much like us. They are hard-working individuals who care about our city and county and think they can make a difference. Are they always right? Nope. Are they evil or corrupt? I have not seen one ounce of evidence to support that at all. Mostly they are just trying to help and sometimes they do well and sometimes they fail. But at least they are trying.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to run for office in this city right now based on the smearing and vilification being conducted in these pages each week. You would have to indeed be crazy to do so. Why would you want to spend up to 20 or 25 hours a week in public service for a whopping $6,000 a year to be called the names I have seen in this paper in letters and its own editorials?

It is time for ideas and solutions, not name-calling and finger-pointing. Most people I talk to tell me they want to hear answers and vision. They tell me that PTC is a nice town and are mad at me because I have written negative things about it. Even more shocking, a lot of them actually like our elected officials.

So let's go straight to the horse. I think that City Hall should sponsor Town Hall meetings and the citizens can get a chance to get the truth on issues like traffic and the upcoming bonds instead of trying to sort through everyone's spin in these pages. They can express their opinions directly and get answers. But first, let's take the lead of President Bush in Washington and create a more civil tone and start arguing the issues instead of the personalities.

Of course, that is just my opinion; I could be wrong.

Fred Wellman

Peachtree City

GaWellmans@aol.com

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