Hey Dar, if I vote for you will you take off the gym enhancement fee from my membership? That really upset me! A thought, how about we approve the Kohl’s next to your new $700,000 house in Centennial? If you win, and you vote yes to Kohl’s, I plan to picket your gyms along with other residents of PTC.

Is there a sign somewhere on city hall that reads “developer’s friends please apply? There has to be another small city somewhere in need of some "developer's friends" on their city council.

”Post 2 candidate Dar Thompson said he didn’t see any difference between putting up an 89,000 square foot store (Kohl’s) or four stores at 25,000 sq. ft. each; he added that based on his calculations the store would bring about $100,000 in taxes to the city each year.”

Exactly what ‘calculations’ have you done?

Have you checked with Fayette to see how much money their Kohl’s is contributing? What about the one in Coweta? How much tax money is it generating?

Since you’ve “done the calculations” why don’t you tell us what the corresponding reduction in sales taxes will be from existing businesses?

Is it alright with you that two, three or more small specialty shops that employ full and part time residents of PTC may be forced out of business because of this proposed big box store?

Do you perceive some need to do your best to eliminate more small, locally owned and operated business’s from PTC?

Do you perceive a need of more vacant smaller retail space in PTC?

Have you read the current ordnance that discourages the development of big box type retail in OUR community?

Just incase you’ve never read it or can’t find it I’ve listed it here for you.

“The city council does hereby find that, based upon studies conducted on behalf of the city and by other cities, big box developments, typically over 32,000 square feet for an individual business, and developments with over 150,000 square feet of retail space, can have negative impacts on a community. In particular, such developments can have a negative impact on the scale of retail development in the community, and can also adversely impact existing retail businesses in the city. Additionally, such developments can result in an over-supply of commercial development within the city, thereby shifting the economic focus of the community. Employment opportunities may also be adversely affected by such developments. Finally, such developments are contrary to the city's comprehensive plan, as well as the goals and objectives of providing public safety services to the city's residents. For the foregoing reasons, the city council has determined it to be in the best interests of the city to provide that such developments may only be established pursuant to a special use permit, subject to the terms and conditions for the application and approval thereof set for in this section.”

Gee, I wonder why it was worded that way.

You obviously don’t seem to care about PTC or its small business owners the way the 75% of PTC’s residents do.

” Thompson said the roads are “leverage” for the city to use, and if the city, particularly the citizens nearest the project, decide its a good thing to do “it make absolute sense to do it.”

How do you know what the citizens of Planterra or Cardiff Park want? You certainly didn’t ask them and neither has anyone else. Did you ‘calculate’ that as well?

Why don’t you try using our existing ordinances’ as “leverage” instead of our roads?

Is there anything else that PTC has that you think we need to sell to a developer? A tennis center we’re paying for comes to mind. Why don’t you "calculate" what we can get for it and get back with us?

” Thompson said he wanted to examine the price quote used to come up with the construction figure for the Gathering Place expansion, as “I could build somewhere in downtown Atlanta for that price.”

Mr. Thompson, you sure would like us to believe you are a master with other peoples money.

That’s OK, because I “calculate” you probably won’t be getting enough votes for us to worry about your “calculations”.

Please tell us you’re going to promise to lower taxes too. That should just about cinch it for you.

Can someone explain zero based budgeting?

I have just a few comments and clarifications regarding my remarks at the Rotary candidate's forum Tuesday evening, October 9th. First off, my compliments go to John Munford. The program was 2 hours in length and the format basically followed alternating questions for each Post's candidates with each candidate being allowed a 90 second response. That means a lot of content was thrown at the audience in rapid-fire order and Mr. Munford has done a fairly decent job of condensing all that material into a concise news article.

Having said that... as a candidate, I found it difficult to organize and succinctly express my thoughts effectively given the constraints allowed and the fact that all remarks were unprepared and off the cuff. Still, forums such as this have great value and the Rotary Club should be commended for hosting the event.

In the article, Mr. Munford paraphrases me by stating that "...there are too many police officers on staff now judging by the amount of traffic fines the city collects annually." I believe that this comment was in reference to a question about whether the Recreation Department's budget was excessive given that it approached the amount of the money spent on our Police force.

What I actually said was that formerly I had lived in East Point for over 30 years before moving to Peachtree City 15 years ago, that both cities were comparable in size, that East Point's Police budget was about $14.6 million while Peachtree City's Police budget was about $5.9 million, and that I thought that we were getting a pretty good bargain. I then quipped that the City was collecting over $1 million dollars a year in fines, but I never stated that we have too many police officers on staff.

The second point that I need to clarify is that I am quoted as saying that I don't "... have a problem with big box stores coming here, but [I] was interested to see how the city’s special permitting process for big boxes will hold up in court." The second part of that statement is true… the first part is not. What I actually said was that in principle, I did not favor big box stores coming to Peachtree City.

I also stated that I would like to see a comprehensive traffic study for the Kohl's and Hwy 54/Hwy 34/Fisher Road projects and what the net financial impact of Kohl's would mean for the City. This is not a blanket endorsement of big box stores. I also said that my gut was that Kohl’s probably would prove to be a net positive revenue impact; however, that is purely speculation as I do not have enough information at this time to support that contention.

I then stated my concerns for the precedent of allowing big box stores into the City and that I was interested to see how the new Special User Permit would hold up in this regard. I also complimented the homeowners group of Cardiff Park / Planterra Ridge for the outstanding job of negotiating the aesthetic improvements in the Kohl’s proposal because they deserve it.

Other issues discussed that night were edited likely due to space constraints. I hope to cover some of those topics in upcoming essays to the paper.

Many thanks to The Citizen for making this forum available to the citizens of our community.