Since announcing my candidacy for the City Council of Peachtree City, my conversations with friends and neighbors concerning the direction of our fair city and its governance have solidified my stance on some of the issues facing us today. I take this opportunity to express where I stand on two and a couple of random thoughts.

The TDK bridge issue, while certainly on hold, is by no means dead. As previous city administrations voiced their support and funds for this project, our current council appears to not give it support. They (council) realize that it may well be out of local control due to the recent court ruling in favor of the GRTA position requiring us to build the bridge and ultimately be forced upon us.

Why not pursue every avenue available to have traffic upgrades to both Fischer Road and the county road connecting Thomas Crossroads to Interstate 85 before creating nothing more than a side street from Coweta County to Ga. Highway 74?

Connecting the TDK bridge to Hwy. 74 will only exponentially add congestion for those among us who use this route to commute north, making this trek more dangerous than it is now.

The growth in Coweta County with the McIntosh Village project and the Fischer Road Center require access to I-85 and can be accomplished within Coweta County and not further adding to the morning and afternoon gridlock already in place.

The selling of sewer capacity to neighboring communities does not in the long run favor the citizens of Peachtree City. Sure, the monetary reimbursement helps, but by doing so we have encouraged our neighboring communities to expand and develop at our expense when one looks upon the quality of life consequences it brings.

I do favor maintaining the capability to provide limited capacity at the discretion of the council, but the numbers and amounts published in our newspapers do us much more harm than good.

I simply cannot support having a Peachtree City capability enhancing the whims of developers in Tyrone and Coweta County.

Once we commit to providing this service, we will be committed with little chance of getting out. If the monetary gain is such that we require the funds to run the city, then the council needs to look inward to find funds for required services.

Speaking of funds, after bailing out the Tennis Center debt, we now face another challenge in the new police station that was built upon a landfill.

Imagine another million dollars thrown at a situation with no certainty of resolution. Somehow, someway, someone missed the boat on this one.

Do we not do all kinds of engineering and environmental studies that are designed to prevent this kind of debacle? As a citizen of Peachtree City, this infuriates me. This is our tax dollars being wasted. This mediocrity in our city government has to stop.

I look forward to the upcoming election and ask for your help in keeping Peachtree City the place we love to call home.

Michael L. “Mike” King

Candidate for City Council Post 2

Peachtree City, Ga.

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