Brown: Traffic key to future

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Addressing traffic congestion will be important to Peachtree City’s future, Mayor Steve Brown said in his annual State of the City Address to the Peachtree City Rotary Club Thursday afternoon.

Specifically, Brown said relief is needed for about 9,000 residents on the west side of Peachtree City, partially to combat the traffic wrought by growth in Coweta County. Creating an alternate route for west side residents is also a public safety issue because of the large number of motor vehicle accidents on Ga. Highway 54 from Ga. Highway 74 to the Coweta County line, Brown added.

Also, the city needs to “fix” the alignment of Rockaway Road “for the sake of public safety in Peachtree City,” Brown said, arguing that houses already under construction on Rockaway Road will add just over 900 homes to the area.

Brown also told Rotarians that the city will install its first traffic circle this year, replacing the current 4-way stop at the intersection of Walt Banks Road and Peachtree Parkway. The circle won’t be similar to the one in use at The Avenue shopping center, but will allow vehicles to continuously move through the intersection instead of having, say 40 cars back up during heavy traffic, Brown said.

Improvements have been made in the Wynnmeade subdivision and are underway in the Glenloch area with refurbishment of the recreation area, including the installation of security surveillance equipment “to keep that area safe,” Brown said.

The city has made a number of improvements in the past year, including the offering of online payment for traffic citations and avoiding a millage rate hike while at the same time funding the $4.9 million expansion of the city’s library, which was approved by voters.

Brown also complimented fellow councilmen Murray Weed and Steve Rapson for their work on the City Council and particularly for their work on the Tourism Association, which in February took over the operations of the Peachtree City Tennis Center and the city’s Amphitheater.

“For the record, they did not alter the employee policies nor manipulate the tennis center’s budget, they created them,” Brown said. “They have done an excellent job of creating structure where there was none at all. There are now solid budgets in place and there is no need to borrow funds to make payroll at the end of the year.”

Brown did not mention the council’s other two members, Stuart Kourajian and Judi-ann Rutherford. Rapson’s and Weed’s seats are up for grabs in the 2005 election along with Brown’s.

Brown also defended the city’s refusal to pay the $1.5 million owed by the Development Authority to Peachtree National Bank for construction and operating costs of the venues.

"The bank had exhaustive knowledge of the authority’s actions when they released the funds,” Brown said. “They knew about the debt funding of operating expenses. They knew that the DAPC did not have the means to pay the loans back.”

Brown also criticized the former Development Authority for how it ran the tennis center and amphitheater.

“The lack of standard accounting practices, acquiring loans without a public vote and various other items are now public knowledge,” Brown said. “Those deeds have now seen the light of day and the City Council has taken the matter out of the shifting sands and placed the operations of the authority on the firm bedrock of law.”

Brown also committed to continue to make government an open process for citizens, and he criticized Direct PAC, the political action committee that has expressed negative views toward Brown.

“The political action committee wants to disrupt the efforts toward progress and accountability not on behalf of the citizens but for a privileged few, not for the purpose of broadening fair and open government, but narrowing it,” Brown said.


		Friday, Jan. 21, 2005