DeKalb continues fight for I-20 rail

by Larry Johnson

The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently published an article regarding Cobb County’s decision to amend recommendations for a rail project for the county. 

After input from citizens and businesses voicing opposition to the project, the Cobb Regional Roundtable representatives reallocated the funding allocated to them.

This is a stellar example of the voice of the people being heard and the wishes of the constituency being followed.  DeKalb voters must demand and fight for what it needs as well. DeKalb residents will be asked to vote in 2012 to add an additional penny to the current 7 cent sales tax.

Voters will be asked to approve a project list (see list at right) under the Transportation Investment Act funding. This approved project list does not include funding for rail for the I-20 East Project.

Proponents of the project list will say that DeKalb residents are getting $1.6 billion from the total $6 billion allocated for the region.

On the surface, this might sound like a great deal:  for a mere additional one cent tax, you get $1.6 billion in roadway projects (minus the $700 million for the Clifton Corridor project)l but no rail. You will receive

Bike/Pedestrian improvements.

But no rail. And you will receive bus rapid transit, but again, no rail.

Over 30 years ago, an agreement was made with the taxpayers of DeKalb and that agreement was in short: “Pay the one percent sales tax and rail will be constructed throughout DeKalb.”  Thus far, no new rail projects in 20+ years have

been constructed in Central and South DeKalb --- Central and South DeKalb have been left alongside the road.

The project list continues to perpetuate the very challenge that the regional transportation plan purports to want to address.

Road improvement projects, in effect, are road-widening projects and intersection improvements are to accommodate more traffic.

South and Central DeKalb will have great roads that will continue to be clogged with bumper-to-bumper traffic.  South and Central DeKalb will not be in a position to get people out of their cars and on to rail for another 40 years --- and

then there is no guarantee that some other roadblocks will not have been created or appear that will delay rail even at that point.

Proponents of the project list say that the vocal opposition that has been raised because there is no funding for rail for South and Central DeKalb will have a negative effect on the region if the opposing voices are successful in defeating the referendum.

Central and South DeKalb have lived with the negative impact of having no rail for the past 30 years even though Central and South DeKalb have been contributing their one percent sales tax for all this time.

An additional one percent sales tax does not improve the conditions in Central and South DeKalb.  An additional one percent sales tax does not provide rail for a transportation-starved area.

Throwing the baby out with the bath water has been a phrase used to characterize the opposition to the list as adopted --- but endorsing this list would be akin to selling your car to buy gas.

DeKalb Commissioner Larry Johnson represents District 3 and is the presiding officer for the DeKalb Board of Commissioners.

Vote yes for SPLOST to improve DeKalb schools

By Thomas E. Brown

For the last 15 years we have been asked to go to the polls three times and vote yes or no for a 1-cent Special Local Option Sales Tax for new construction or major renovations for our DeKalb School System.

The first 5 years we renovated and constructed new elementary schools throughout DeKalb County.

In the years 6 through 11, we said yes again to major renovation and new construction to middle and high schools.

In year 12 to date, we again said yes to our children and upgraded existing schools throughout the system with new HVAC systems, new roofs, new multipurpose buildings and Physical Education

infrastructure improvements.

Now, we are being asked to go back on Nov. 8 to continue what we started. Make no mistakes, I have followed the improvements closely the last 10 years as your Sheriff and 5 years before as your Public Safety Director. Our

children have been well-served. The school system deserves another vote of confidence and I will give them mine and ask that you give them your vote as well.

Voting yes on the 1-cent sales tax for education will help build new classrooms, new auditoriums, new vocational classrooms and other improvements in many schools and will make much needed repairs, renovations and

improvements in many other schools throughout DeKalb County. All schools will get updated with improved technology and our children will have new buses to get to school safely. All of our children will benefit.

Please join with me on Nov. 8 and vote yes to continue the 1-cent SPLOST. DeKalb County will be a better and safer place to live. For more information visit www.splostforschools.org

Thomas E. Brown is Sheriff of DeKalb County.

‘Misinformation’ communicated about gasification plant

I have participated for over a year now in a public debate that at times has both amazed and frustrated me because of repeated misinformation communicated to the public about the biomass gasification plant.

Let me give some facts on our project:

The fuel we are using is woodchips which comes from the fallen limbs and yard trimmings collected from the trees and bushes in DeKalb County, chipped and distributed to residents as mulch and used all over the County.

Our process does not “burn” the wood but merely heats it at a high temperature that then causes the wood to break down into wood gas. At the turn of the previous century, wood gas was used to provide gas to cars, provide fuel to street lamps in most major cities. We generate wood gas that is trapped and cleaned in our process to remove tars and other particles to produce a natural gas which is used to generate electricity.

We are not engaging in racism. There have been 20 permits issued in the State of Georgia and 180 permits issued in the South and Northeast in all types of communities. Presently, there is a gasification plant in Conyers, GA along State Route 138 that has been operating for the past three years without any complaints from citizens of the City of Lithonia. There is a wood chip gasification plant in downtown Columbia at the University of South Carolina in the middle of campus less than 100 yards from a dorm and approximately one mile from the South Carolina State Capitol building which has been operating for 4 years. There is currently a plant operating in Forsyth County.

Some members of the community who opposed the plant have been relying on a report authored by a political organization named the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League. This same report on page 47 states that while they advocate other management methods for the handling of biomass, there is ZERO tons (0.0000) Human Health Carcinogens produced in gasification and negative (-1) ton of Human Health Toxins produced by gasification. The Blue Ridge Defense league has lobbied against President Obama’s environmental policies.

Three 767’s landing and taking off per day at Hartsfield Jackson Airport,( 3 planes) will send more emissions into the air than our plant on any given day. To date there have been no complaints of ill health from local community as a result of emissions from the gasification plant currently operating in Conyers, GA.

An independent consultant has determined that this plant will create 500 construction jobs while the plant is being built. We will employ 28 full-time positions at the plant with another 78 full-time positions created in the community to service the plant. We have already met with Workforce Development and with the local Commissioners, we will plan a job fair to make sure local DeKalb County residents are first in line for these jobs. We have requested to meet with members of CHASE on several occasions to have our meeting request ignored.

– Neville A. Anderson

Green Energy Partners-DeKalb, LLC

Open letter from Commissioner Lee May regarding the Green Energy project

Dear DeKalb:

Many of you have heard in the media about a Renewable Energy Facility that has been proposed in the Lithonia community. 

You may have also heard some disturbing things about this proposed plant as well.  Below are some of the misleading things you may have heard:

1. This facility will spew hundreds of tons of toxic waste into the air

2. This facility is an incinerator that will burn Municipal Solid Waste (trash), carpet and tires

3. This facility will be located in the middle of a residential community

4. This facility is just as bad as a plant that burns coal

As a result of these misleading statements, their are those who are upset with me and any other commissioners who would support this facility.  Let me use this time to shed light on the inaccuracies of these statements.

First, this facility will only be allowed to operate if the Georgia Environmental Protection Department (GA EPD) allows the final air permit to be approved.  This facility will not be permitted if it produces the levels of emissions that opponents claim it will produce.

Second, this facility is not an incinerator.  This facility will use only wood chips that have originated from residential wood trimming that you as citizens have placed on the curb for pick up by our Sanitation workers.  These residential wood trimmings will be taken through a process that will eventually produce electricity.  Burning trash, carpet, tires or anything besides these wood trimmings will be explicitly forbidden.

Third, this facility is not located in the heart of a residential community.  The closest community/subdivision is approximately 1.3 miles away from this site in any direction.  However, there are a few individual homes that are within this 1-mile radius.  Unfortunately, these individuals either knowingly or unknowingly moved into a heavy industrial area. Yo'u will hear opponents say, "why in our community?", however it is important to note that the zoning for this area dates back to the 40's and 50's, where during this time DeKalb was predominantly white and rural.  Anyone who currently lives in this area, moved to this area long after this area was already Zoned Industrial. This facility is located between two landfills, it is adjacent to our county's transfer station (trash), it is around the corner from a rock quarry, and close to a number of junk yards. These are all appropriate for this industrially zoned area, which is also appropriate for this  Renewable Energy Facility.

Fourth, this Renewable Energy Facility is the type of project that fits within President Barack Obama's renewable energy plan.  This proposal has a net positive effect on our environment, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels such as coal.  The use of wood as a coal substitute would produce only a fraction of the emissions of coal, which will lower both air and water pollution.

Finally,  this facility will only be approved under a certain set of conditions of which, I will be creating a Citizen Advisory Committee that will serve as an independent community group charged with insuring that all conditions placed on this site will be adhered to by the applicant. Other conditions are as follows:

a. This facility will only be approved for wood chips and no other product will be allowed.

b. This facility will only be allowed to operate as a minor source for emissions, under the GA EPD standards of 25 tons for both Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide.

c. Prior to the issuance of any certificate of occupancy, proof of issuance of an air permit by the GA EPD must be confirmed by the District Commissioners

d. Any warnings or Citation by Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources given to the owner must be published within seven (7) business days in the DeKalb County legal organ.

I am writing this to say that in 5 years as your Commissioner I have always had the best interest of the people of DeKalb County in mind in all my decisions, from fighting liquor and check cashing stores from entering our communities, to stopping private landfills from expanding in our communities, to fighting for quality development, to protecting your hard earned tax dollars.  We may disagree on some issues, but we can do so without being disagree-able.  Let's continue to work together for the advancement of our Great County!

Sincerely,

Lee May

Commissioner, District 5

DeKalb School Closings Not an Option

DeKalb County is facing the most difficult economic times in modern history. Unemployment is double digits in South and South East DeKalb in particular, and if you have noticed, new good jobs are going to the suburbs (a national trend).

The foreclosure rate in South and South East DeKalb are highest and our property values are at an all time low, leaving many mortgages upside down, while property taxes and user fees for water and sewer are increasing.

Closing schools will level yet another severe adverse socio-economic impact to the South and South East DeKalb Community (which we may never recover from), according to credible research which measures the fiscal affects of school consolidation which I have attached for you to carefully read. Even if you do not have children in the DeKalb School System, the socio-economic impact will affect you.

A good education is the only hope for the future our children have to compete in this global society, and downward spiraling economy. Therefore we must find alternatives to closing schools in our community, and seek ways to greatly improve upon the performance of community schools, this needs to be the conversation.

There is a demand for excellent education, and it will be a blessing to the future of our children if the community and school system can work together to accomplish excellence in education, and we can. Numbers in the low enrollment schools will balance out as a result of increased demand for good public education, and communities will prosper. But as you know, this is not the conversation in DeKalb County, and it must be, everyone person in DeKalb County has a stake in this.

Please e-mail our 9 school board members (contact info attached) and express your concern, and plan to attend as many school board meetings as possible.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to review the research attached, please contact the school board by e-mail or phone right away.

Sincerely,

Calvin E. Sims, Sr., MPA