Friday, March 29, 2002
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Friday, March 29, 2002 |
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PTC mayor wants Rep. Cox to stop requiring unanimous vote By JOHN
MUNFORD
Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown wants State Rep. Kathy Cox to reconsider her position of sponsoring enabling legislation only with a unanimous vote from council. Brown's beef specifically relates to a council action to create a Community Improvement District for the Ga. Highway 54 West area . That would allow business owners in the area to "vote" on whether to assess special taxes among those businesses to fund projects for the area. For the tax to take effect, a majority vote would be required both in number and in land value. Council voted 4-1 to create the district at its Feb. 7 meeting, but Cox has declined to sponsor the enabling legislation that would be required for it in this session of the General Assembly. Councilwoman Annie McMenamin was the lone vote against the idea, saying she didn't think the concept would work in Peachtree City and that the businesses could get together to fund special amenities. Brown proposed using the funds from the tax district to implement projects designated in the Liveable Centers Initiative study that a volunteer group of citizens and developers conducted. The LCI plan identified projects such as burying overhead power lines, using decorative street lighting and mast arms for traffic signals and other aesthetic improvements for the area. The concept was to improve "a burgeoning new commercial district and promote aesthetics, character and quality while reducing the cost to the citizenry," Brown wrote in the letter. Cox said Tuesday afternoon that she is drafting a reply letter to Brown but she declined further comment. Brown said Cox's position supplants the concept of "majority rule." "All of us, including you, were not elected by a unanimous vote," Brown said. "Your discriminatory actions are nothing short of a mechanism that enables a minority faction to maintain control of our government even though a vast majority of the voters made a conscious decision while in the voting booth to move in the opposite direction."
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