Brookhaven « Representative Mike Jacobs

Sembler + Tax Abatement = Taxpayers Lose

June 14, 2009

After spending some time crunching the numbers this weekend, this simple equation sums up the conclusion I have reached. And I’m not the only one reaching this conclusion.

The DeKalb Development Authority will meet this Thursday, June 18, at 8:00 a.m. at 150 East Ponce de Leon Avenue, Suite 400, in Downtown Decatur. The meeting time and location isn’t posted anywhere on the Internet. You have to call the county to get it.

The Sembler tax abatement proposal is on the agenda. There is no word yet as to whether a final vote on the tax abatement will occur at this meeting. At a minimum, it will be discussed.

Thank you to everyone who attended last Monday’s community meeting about the tax abatement. It is estimated that more than 250 people attended. I also want to thank State Rep. Fran Millar for serving as the on-the-spot emcee for the meeting, Commissioner Jeff Rader for his thoughtful remarks and for his efforts to draw the DeKalb County Commission’s attention to the shortcomings of the tax abatement, and Jeff Fuqua of the Sembler Company for taking the time to explain his company’s position to a skeptical public.

I believe the public is right to be skeptical. I have reviewed the KPMG analysis of the 20-year tax “benefit” that Sembler and the Development Authority are claiming the county government and the school system will receive if the 20-year tax abatement is granted. Courtesy of Jim Walls’ “Atlanta Unfiltered” blog (more on Atlanta Unfiltered below), you can review the document containing the KPMG analysis here (click for link).

The KPMG numbers indicate to me that the proposed Sembler tax abatement will REDUCE the county government’s and school system’s operating funds, if you subtract from the padded totals (1) the revenue that the county government and school system will receive whether or not the tax abatement is approved, and (2) the revenue that doesn’t defray any county or school operating costs. Please take a look at the somewhat difficult-to-read page 3 of the KPMG document, and I’ll show you what I mean.

First, the analysis counts one revenue source that doesn’t go toward operational (instructional) costs of the school system, but instead goes only toward school construction:

ESPLOST Revenue = $4,098,287

Also, the analysis counts one revenue source that doesn’t go to the county government or school system at all, but instead goes to MARTA:

MARTA Sales Tax = $40,982,873

In addition, the analysis counts two revenue sources that will go to the county government and school system whether or not the tax abatement is approved, because the buildings that would generate these revenues are at or near completion:

Property Tax on Non-Abated Buildings = $45,594,544
Property Tax on Personal Property of Renters = $5,761,440

None of the above sources should be counted as part of the tax “benefit” to county government and school system operations. The following sources, however, should be counted:

HOST Revenue = $36,024,362
Property Tax on Personal Property of Retailers = $5,817,997
Business Licenses = $3,185,756

When you add these three numbers together, the total of the actual tax “benefit” is $45,028,115. From that amount, the following three amounts must be subtracted:

Value of the Tax Abatement = ($51,699,253)
Cost of County Services = ($11,321,760)
Cost to Educate Children Living in the Project = ($10,990,000)

The result is a NET LOSS to the county government and school system of $28,982,898 over the 20-year life of the tax abatement. Even if you assume that the “cost of county services” and the “cost to educate” arise only from the non-abated portion of the project (which is not likely), and add those amounts back into the total, the result is still a net loss.

Worse yet, this doesn’t account for Commissioner Rader’s point at last Monday’s meeting that many of the “new” tax revenues claimed in the analysis are actually existing tax revenues that are being shifted to the Town Brookhaven project from elsewhere in DeKalb County.

Granting this tax abatement is bad policy. It will place upward pressure on your property taxes. That problem will be amplified the more often the Development Authority decides to give away the shop to developers whose projects are victims of the real estate market.

Don’t just take my word for it. Jim Walls, a former AJC investigative reporter who now runs his own blog, Atlanta Unfiltered, did his own math and wrote an article reaching a similar conclusion, albeit with a lower price tag. You can read Jim’s analysis here (click for link).

If you’re available this Thursday at 8:00 a.m., I encourage you to join your neighbors at the Development Authority meeting. It is crucial to show the non-elected, unaccountable Development Authority that the community is watching.

Leave a Comment » | Brookhaven, DeKalb County, Fiscal Accountability, Property Taxes, Sembler | Permalink
Posted by Mike Jacobs

Sembler Tax Abatement Update

June 5, 2009

Thank you to everyone who responded to my e-mail message last week regarding the Sembler tax abatement proposal. I intend to reply to each of your messages personally, although that will take some time.

Most responded in opposition to the tax abatement. A handful supported it.

This is not about “standing in the way of progress,” as a couple of people characterized it. It’s about transparency and accountability in the way our county and school taxes are managed. It’s also about a very serious and real concern that throwing open the barn doors to giving property tax abatements to developers whose projects are caught in the doldrums of the real estate market ultimately will place upward pressure on the tax burden of DeKalb County citizens.

This e-mail is divided into categories to make it easier to read. It also includes a call to action at the end of the message.

COMMUNITY MEETING ON JUNE 8

There will be a community meeting regarding the Sembler tax abatement proposal on Monday, June 8, at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of Chamblee United Methodist Church, 4147 Chamblee Dunwoody Road.

We will discuss the mechanics of the tax abatement and ways that you can make sure you have a voice in whether it goes forward. In addition, Sembler will make a 15-minute presentation to give you their perspective on the proposal.

John Woodham, a lawyer who is fighting similar transactions in Fulton County, will not be speaking at the meeting. He had been invited to speak, but then last week the AJC and Fulton County Daily Report reported that he is facing sanctions from a Fulton County Superior Court judge after some questionable conduct. I promptly removed him from the meeting agenda.

DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MEETING ON JUNE 18

The next meeting of the DeKalb Development Authority is Thursday, June 18, at 8:00 a.m. Stay tuned for more information. There is no word yet as to whether the Development Authority will make a decision on the Sembler tax abatement proposal at this meeting.

BANKRUPTCY CLARIFICATION

I want to clarify that the Development Authority is never “on the hook” for any failure to repay the revenue bonds that would be issued to finish construction of the Town Brookhaven project. This is because Georgia law specifically provides that revenue bonds are never an obligation of the governmental body that issued the bonds.

With regard to bankruptcy, the point I was making in last week’s message (click for updated version) is that bankruptcy law gives a tenant such as Sembler Bell Brookhaven, LLC the unilateral power to reject its unexpired lease with a landlord such as the Development Authority, thus abandoning the failed project to the Development Authority.

REVENUE PROJECTIONS TOO ROSY?

At the June 8th community meeting, you will see tax revenue projections that appear to indicate the Town Brookhaven project will generate more tax revenues for the county and the school system over the 20-year life of the tax abatement than will be lost as a result of the abatement.

Caveat emptor. Buyer beware.

Like any projections, these tax revenue projections are based upon assumptions that might not pan out. You should make up your own mind about them, but remember that Sembler and the Development Authority are not infallible. Just last week, Dr. Eugene Walker, the Chairman of the Development Authority, e-mailed some of my constituents this gem of a prediction:

“It is estimated that this project will create 1,000 new jobs in the County, which is substantial particularly during these tough economic times, but this factor (I am surprised) does not appear to be receiving very much attention. If you conservatively estimate an average salary of $40,000 per job, that’s $40 million in wages pumped back into the local economy. Every year!”

Before assessing the “conservatism” of Dr. Walker’s estimate, it’s important to bear in mind that Town Brookhaven primarily includes retail stores and restaurants that are intended to divert business away from stores and restaurants located in Buckhead and Perimeter Center. To be fair, there is one small to mid-sized company considering the project as one of a couple of places to relocate its headquarters. However, I still wouldn’t call “1,000 new jobs” at “$40,000 per job” a conservative estimate.

Furthermore, many of the tax revenues included in the projections are from dedicated sources that are not used for providing county government services or covering instructional costs. For example, many of the projected tax revenues come from the seven-cent sales tax. Out of every seven pennies of sales tax, four pennies go to the state government, one penny goes to MARTA, one penny is for the five-year SPLOST that goes toward school construction (not school operations), and one penny goes toward the Homestead Option Sales Tax (HOST). Only that final penny goes to the county government. None of these funds are used directly by the Board of Education for school operations.

MY POSITION ON THE TAX ABATEMENT

As a state legislator, I have a role in writing the laws that govern the Development Authority.

Transactions like the Sembler tax abatement should be subject to a requirement that the elected bodies which might lose tax revenues (here, the Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education) must approve the tax abatement for it to take effect.

This is particularly true where the tax abatement would be granted after the developer already has broken ground on the project and is seeking to compensate for assumptions about the real estate market that proved to be incorrect.

State law gives the non-elected Development Authority the sole power to make this decision. I intend to change that.

Some, but not all, PILOT-type bond deals already have been made subject to a local government approval requirement. That was done in House Bill 63 (click for information), which passed the General Assembly this year. The same approval requirement also applies to those now-infamous Tax Allocation Districts (TADs).

The Development Authority is comprised of individuals who bear no direct responsibility to you, the voters and taxpayers of DeKalb County. Your elected officials should be making these decisions, not an unaccountable board that meets at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning.

As I mentioned last week, Sembler’s tax abatement will have to be approved in a bond validation proceeding in DeKalb County Superior Court. DeKalb citizens are entitled to make a legal objection in that proceeding. Thus far, I have come up with at least one objection worth making.

There has been some chatter that Sembler and the Development Authority might claim that they are entitled to “bootstrap” their new tax abatement proposal to the Superior Court’s approval of a different abatement that was obtained last year between Christmas and New Year’s Day. I don’t see how that is legally permitted, because the Superior Court’s prior judgment in favor of Sembler and the Development Authority is a final, binding judgment as to “all questions of law and of fact.” They cannot now change the facts and claim to be covered by the same Superior Court judgment. I will seek an injunction from the Superior Court if they try to do this.

This is not my first time at the bond validation rodeo (click for information about the Arts Center bond validation). I am willing to forgo making any formal objection if Sembler and the Development Authority will do the right thing and allow the elected officials on the Board of Commissioners and the Board of Education to make the final decision on their tax abatement.

EUGENE WALKER’S CONFLICT OF INTEREST

I also want to clarify that I do not blame Sembler for looking after its business interests.

I do, however, believe that Gene “$18K” Walker should be made to understand the intractable conflict of interest between his dual service as Chairman of the DeKalb Development Authority and as a member of the DeKalb County Board of Education.

The public should call or e-mail every other member of the Board of Education and ask them to insist that Dr. Walker allow them to vote on whether the Sembler tax abatement will happen.

Word is spreading that CEO Burrell Ellis may insist that the Board of Commissioners be given the right to vote on the Sembler tax abatement proposal. He could make this happen because he appoints the members of the Development Authority.

Shouldn’t the Board of Education have that same right? After all, the school system could stand to lose more property tax revenues than the county if these tax abatements are allowed to go forward.

Both the Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners should have the right to vote on the Sembler proposal. If Dr. Walker disagrees with that, then he should have to answer to his colleagues on the Board of Education for his refusal to let them vote. He has sufficient power and influence over the affairs of the Development Authority to hold up the tax abatement until the Board of Education weighs in.

You can make that happen. Please contact the members of the Board of Education and ask them to ask Dr. Walker to let them vote.

You can find their contact information here (click each member’s name for a link to their contact information):

Tom Bowen, Chair
Zepora Roberts, Vice Chair
Jim Redovian, District 1
Don McChesney, District 2
Sarah Copelin-Wood, District 3
Paul Womack, District 4
Jay Cunningham, District 5
Pamela Speaks, District 8

If the above links don’t work, you can find contact information for the Board of Education at www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/board/members/.

Leave a Comment » | Brookhaven, Community Events, DeKalb County, Fiscal Accountability, Legal Issues, Property Taxes, Sembler | Permalink
Posted by Mike Jacobs

Sembler’s Big Brookhaven Bailout

May 27, 2009

The proposed Sembler tax abatement for its “Town Brookhaven” project needs to be stopped.

One thing you can do to stand in its way is to attend an upcoming community meeting to be held on Monday, June 8, at 7:00 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall of Chamblee United Methodist Church, 4147 Chamblee Dunwoody Road.

At this meeting, we will discuss possible legal strategies for challenging this latest scheme foisted on the public by Sembler and the non-elected, unaccountable DeKalb County Development Authority. We also will explain the mechanics of the tax abatement proposal.

At the May meeting of the Development Authority, Sembler made its pitch for the tax abatement and dismissed the opposition to the proposal as coming from a small handful of discontented citizens. If the e-mails I am receiving from constituents are any indication, I’ll bet what Sembler is dismissing as a small handful of discontents will look a lot more like a packed room of unhappy taxpayers at the June 8th meeting.

Furthermore, attendance at this meeting should not be limited to those who live in the immediate vicinity of the Town Brookhaven project. Citizens across DeKalb County should be concerned about the proposal. Please forward this e-mail message and ask your neighbors to attend. Here’s why:

The deal Sembler is seeking is known as a PILOT bond deal. PILOT is short for “payments in lieu of taxes.” In this deal, Sembler will convey to the Development Authority ownership of large portions of its mixed-use Town Brookhaven project. The Development Authority will float bonds to finish construction of the project. The Development Authority also will lease the project back to Sembler. Under this lease, Sembler will make rent payments to the Authority sufficient to repay the principal and interest on the bonds.

Development Authority bond deals must be confirmed in DeKalb County Superior Court. Sembler and the Development Authority already have obtained Superior Court approval for a smaller PILOT bond deal. That deal was rushed through the Superior Court at a time the public was unlikely to notice, between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, in 2008. Sembler now wants a bigger tax abatement and is seeking to abandon its earlier, less lucrative deal. As I discussed in this week’s Dunwoody Crier (click for link), the “holiday gift” that the Development Authority gave Sembler last December could furnish a legal basis for challenging Sembler’s new, more costly proposal.

This PILOT bond deal results in a property tax abatement because the Development Authority, a government entity, will own the property and therefore the property cannot be taxed. The value of this tax abatement is estimated to be $51 million over 20 years.

The direct costs of educating the children who will live in Town Brookhaven and providing county services to the project will be borne by families and small businesses across DeKalb, the same families and small businesses who are struggling to make ends meet in this tough economy.

By contrast, Sembler may no longer be subject to the risks of doing business in a tough economy. As a result of Sembler’s proposed PILOT deal with the Development Authority, those risks could be transferred to the public.

The Town Brookhaven project isn’t owned by Sembler the parent company. It’s actually owned by a “bankruptcy-remote” entity known as Sembler Bell Brookhaven, LLC. The sole purpose of Sembler Bell Brookhaven, LLC is to develop and operate Town Brookhaven. It doesn’t own any other property.

If the commercial real estate market remains as bad as it is right now (click for AJC article) and Town Brookhaven flops, Sembler Bell Brookhaven, LLC could file for bankruptcy. Bankruptcy would afford Sembler Bell Brookhaven, LLC the opportunity to reject its unexpired lease with the Development Authority. That would leave the Development Authority the owner of a failed project and abandon the Authority to sort things out with the bondholders. The deal probably does involve insurance to cover the bondholders’ losses, and could require security to allow the bondholders to make a recovery. However, these safeguards don’t change the fundamental concern that Sembler is socializing the risks of its project.

Last but not least, there’s the unique ethical dilemma of Dr. Eugene Walker, who serves in dual roles as the Chairman of the Development Authority and a member of the DeKalb County Board of Education. He was first elected to the Board of Education in 2008 with the help of $18,000 in campaign contributions from Sembler executives, employees, and their spouses. You can view Dr. Walker’s campaign contribution disclosure reports here and here (click for links to two separate reports).

In a recent Dunwoody Crier article (click for link), Dr. Walker credited his “platform of economic development” for carrying him to victory in his Board of Education campaign. In the same vein, I suppose he might explain the $18,000 in campaign contributions as Florida-based Sembler’s way of showing special concern for the children of DeKalb County.

You should feel free to e-mail drepwalker@yahoo.com and let Dr. Walker know whether you think he should be involved as Chairman of the Development Authority in making a decision on Sembler’s request for a PILOT tax abatement. Unlike the other members of the Development Authority (click for more information), who get to vote to sock the taxpayers with Sembler’s $51 million tax bill without having been elected to anything, Dr. Walker is now an elected member of the Board of Education who should hear directly from DeKalb citizens.

Other developers are waiting in line behind Sembler to secure their own tax abatements from the Development Authority. If Sembler succeeds, the floodgates will be open. It’s a snowball effect that ultimately will cause county officials to claim they need to raise our property taxes to make up for lost tax revenues.

Somebody will have to pay for the services consumed by the new projects. You and I are those somebodies.

I hope to see you on June 8th.

1 Comment | Brookhaven, Community Events, DeKalb County, Fiscal Accountability, Legal Issues, Property Taxes, Sembler | Permalink
Posted by Mike Jacobs

Brookhaven Bolt on Saturday

May 12, 2009

The second annual “Brookhaven Bolt” 5K walk, run, and stroll to benefit Ashford Park Elementary is this Saturday, May 16. Please visit www.BrookhavenBolt.com for more information.

Leave a Comment » | Brookhaven, Community Events | Permalink
Posted by Mike Jacobs

Atlanta Greek Festival & Brookhaven Arts Festival

October 2, 2008

Two of my favorite annual House District 80 events are coming up the next two weekends. If you are looking for something to do, the food, sights, and sounds at these events can’t be beat:

Atlanta Greek Festival – Runs Thursday, October 2, through Sunday, October 5, at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 2500 Clairmont Road. Admission is $3 for adults and $1 for children under 12. Go there hungry. The food is great! Extra parking and a shuttle bus to the event are available at Century Center. Visit www.atlantagreekfestival.org for more information.

Brookhaven Arts Festival – Next Saturday and Sunday, October 11 and 12, on Apple Valley Road behind the Brookhaven MARTA Station. Admission is free. This year marks the fifth anniversary of the festival. Evan and I enjoy strolling through this festival every year and have artwork from the event hanging in our home. Visit www.brookhavenartsalliance.com for more information.

Leave a Comment » | Brookhaven, Community Events, Toco Hills | Permalink
Posted by Mike Jacobs

Taste of Brookhaven

June 13, 2008

The annual Taste of Brookhaven event is tomorrow, Saturday, June 14, from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. on the Oglethorpe University campus. Organized by the Brookhaven Arts Alliance, this is a great event every year. Tickets are $40 in advance and $50 at the door. Please visit the event website for more information.

Leave a Comment » | Brookhaven, Community Events | Permalink
Posted by Mike Jacobs

Township of Brookhaven? Toco Hills?

November 26, 2007

Does it really make sense for every aspect of local governance in every neighborhood in unincorporated DeKalb County to be controlled from Downtown Decatur?

This is one of the issues we will discuss during my town hall meeting on local government reform to be held this Thursday, November 29, at 7:00 p.m. in the Talmage Room of the student center at Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road, in Brookhaven. The student center is best accessed using the side entrance to Oglethorpe located off of Woodrow Way. Another issue that will be discussed is reining in the excessive power of the DeKalb CEO via House Bill 899, House Bill 894, or Senate Bill 52 (click for more information on each bill). Please tell your neighbors. I hope to see you there.

Arguably, services like planning, zoning, land use, code enforcement, building permits, and alcohol licenses that can be controlled by local neighborhoods at a very low cost, and have an immense impact on the quality of life in our neighborhoods, should be controlled more locally than the county level.

Like the overwhelming majority of my constituents, I am fed up with listening to the county CEO tell us what must happen in this neighborhood or that neighborhood for the betterment of the “tax base” of DeKalb County. When we choose to live in a neighborhood, we choose the great neighborhood that it is, not the cash cow for county coffers that it could become.

I am working with Representative Edward Lindsey of Buckhead on a new township bill that would give DeKalb County communities local control over planning, zoning, land use, code enforcement, building permits, and alcohol licenses, as well as enable presently unincorporated communities to control — by public referendum, and without further action by the General Assembly — whether they would like to become a full-fledged city at a later date. Under this proposal, townships also would be allowed to exist within large municipalities, such as Buckhead in the City of Atlanta, but not permitted to subsequently form a separate city from the existing municipality.

If this township legislation passes in 2008, I am interested in introducing for the 2009 legislative session a bill to create a new Township of Brookhaven, which will include neighborhoods in the Brookhaven and Ashford Alliance/North Brookhaven areas. Here is a potential map of a Township of Brookhaven (click for map), although these boundaries certainly would be subject to extensive community input and revision before being finalized. I also am open to creating a township in Toco Hills, another area I represent, if citizens are interested in it.

While the possible funding mechanisms for townships may need to be flexible in order to accommodate the various communities that have expressed an interest in this new form of local government, what I am considering for DeKalb communities is a penny sales tax, or some fractional amount not to exceed a penny, rather than property taxes. Any such sales tax would have to be approved by public referendum.

A sales tax may result in surplus revenues. Citizens of a township also would be empowered to decide via referendum what would happen with any surplus revenues. They could be applied as a rebate on residential property tax bills, like HOST, or contributed to infrastructure improvements in the local community.

The amount of professional staff that a township could hire would be strictly limited by law, so that a township cannot grow its bureaucracy. The governing council of each township would elect a chair and vice chair from within its own ranks, rather than having an at-large chairman or mayor.

Townships originally were proposed by Senator David Adelman during last year’s legislative session. That proposal was a good first step, but is more limited in scope than the proposal outlined above, which will be specifically designed to address concerns brought forward by individual members of the House of Representatives who have specific locations for townships in mind.

The unresponsive and sometimes arrogant approach of DeKalb County bureaucrats who are too far removed from our neighborhoods can yield disastrous results. Consider the following nightmare that is occurring right now in Dunwoody Forest, which despite its name actually is located south of I-285 in the Ashford Alliance/North Brookhaven area, just outside the Chamblee city limits:

Patrick Ejike, director of DeKalb County’s planning department and an appointee of the CEO, made a unilateral decision to subdivide two lots into three using bizarre property lines. The neighborhood obtained a decision from the DeKalb County Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBOA) that Ejike’s unilateral variance was improper and should not stand. Ejike then decided to disregard the ZBOA decision, and construction on the subdivided parcels continues to this day. The neighbors filed a lawsuit to enforce the ZBOA decision against the county and the developer, and now are defending against counterclaims by the developer for — among other spurious allegations — intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The biggest, but not only, benefit of a township is that each member of a town council will represent a small handful of neighborhoods, rather than one-fifth or one-half of the 710,000 people in the state’s third largest county. Those are the current, unwieldy population sizes of county commission districts.

Townships are not an additional layer of government, because the county no longer will exercise powers which are delegated to the township. Rather, townships will give local communities the exclusive power to shape and control their own destiny.

1 Comment | Ashford Alliance, Brookhaven, Community Events, DeKalb County, Toco Hills | Permalink
Posted by Mike Jacobs

Brookhaven Safety Meetings, Past & Present

August 20, 2007

Thank you to the approximately 150 Brookhaven residents who attended last week’s public safety forum at Oglethorpe University.

It’s a shame that on the afternoon of this meeting, as political retribution for the passage of House Bill 181 (click for more information), CEO Vernon Jones abruptly ordered the police department not to participate. The police department’s participation had been confirmed since July 18, and was confirmed again via e-mail the morning of the meeting.

Regardless of the CEO’s decidedly un-senatorial antics, I stand by HB 181 and the protection it affords DeKalb County taxpayers.

This is the second time recently that police department brass did not attend a Brookhaven community meeting in which they had agreed to participate, having previously missed a separate meeting organized for Brookhaven Heights by their neighborhood association.

The police department has scheduled yet another meeting this Tuesday, August 21, at 7:00 p.m. in Lupton Auditorium at Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road. DeKalb Police Chief Terrell Bolton will be there. Please attend, make your voice heard, and get your questions answered.

As promised at last Tuesday’s meeting, the following are minutes of citizen comments and questions. Also, as discussed, the anonymity of the residents who made the comments is being preserved. I hope you find these minutes helpful as a glimpse into what is happening in our neighborhoods:

A resident of Drew Valley stated that her neighbors’ house was spray painted with graffiti.

A resident of Brookhaven Fields spoke in opposition to out of control county government spending, and the county’s failure to spend adequately on the right priorities, namely public safety.

Four separate residents of Lynwood Park addressed the ongoing problem with drug houses in their neighborhood. Drug deals occur in the open throughout the day, and prostitution also is a problem. There was a high level of frustration among residents of Lynwood Park who attended the meeting.

A resident of Brookhaven Chase stated that her automobile, parked in her garage, was broken into while she was hosting a dinner party in her house. The resident stated that she placed four calls to 911, but the police never arrived. The resident further stated that the police came at another time, but declined to dust the automobile for fingerprints.

A resident of Ashford Dunwoody Road inquired about the prevalence of gang activity in DeKalb County.

A resident of North Druid Hills Road argued that the county should crack down on criminal activity along Buford Highway, particularly gang activity.

A resident of Ashford Park asked whether crime rates are increasing or decreasing in Brookhaven.

A resident of Oglethorpe Estates inquired whether there is a website or any literature that explains the gang signs used by street gangs in DeKalb County.

A resident of the Fernwood Park Townhomes talked about two men who were seen casing Brookhaven Fields, and Cartecay Drive in particular. This casing activity was followed by a series of break-ins in the neighborhood.

A resident of Brookhaven Heights mentioned that an SUV was stolen from Pine Grove Avenue the preceding night.

A resident of HillsDale encouraged residents to visit the North Precinct’s Yahoo Group (click for link) to get information about recent criminal activity in the area, and to share this information within their neighborhoods.

A resident who lives near Lynwood Park talked about a series of at least four car break-ins that occurred within a 30-minute period, which is how long the resident stated that it took the police to show up. The resident argued that criminals are aware of police response times and purposefully flout the system. The resident noted, however, that the perpetrator ultimately was apprehended. The stolen goods never were recovered.

A resident of Ashford Park stated that he heard a car idling outside his house. He later discovered that a man was sitting inside the car using the resident’s wireless Internet connection. The perpetrator drives up and down residential streets looking for an unsecured wireless Internet connection. The resident argued that laws against this type of activity should be strengthened.

A resident of Devereaux Commons asked in what places it is legal to carry a concealed firearm.

A resident of Harts Mill Road wanted the county to place more emphasis on resource allocation such that public safety would be a greater priority.

Leave a Comment » | Brookhaven, Community Events, DeKalb County, Public Safety | Permalink
Posted by Mike Jacobs

Brookhaven Community Meeting with DeKalb Police

August 9, 2007

Vandalism in Ashford Park.

Break-ins on Harts Mill Lane.

A kidnapping in Lenox Park.

Whenever crime happens in Brookhaven, I hear from constituents about it. While my role generally is restricted to policy-making at the state level, I wanted to do something at the local level to be of assistance on this major community issue.

That’s why Judge Johnny Panos and I have arranged a Brookhaven community meeting with the DeKalb County Police Department next Tuesday, August 14, at 7:00 p.m. in Lupton Auditorium in the main building of Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road.

Please come out and get your questions answered, learn about crime rates in the Brookhaven area, and find out what you can do to help law enforcement help you. I encourage you to forward this message to your neighbors to make sure they are aware of the meeting.

Many thanks to Al Fowler and Major Gilstrap of the police department’s North Precinct for their assistance in setting up this meeting.

Leave a Comment » | Brookhaven, Community Events, DeKalb County, Public Safety | Permalink
Posted by Mike Jacobs

Upcoming Community Meetings

July 25, 2007

This Week’s Briarcliff & North Druid Hills Meeting – DeKalb County Commissioners Jeff Rader and Kathie Gannon will host the next in a series of public meetings regarding potential redevelopment and infrastructure improvements at and around the intersection of Briarcliff and North Druid Hills Roads. This meeting will be held today, Wednesday, July 25, at 7:00 p.m. at the Kittredge Magnet School, 2383 North Druid Hills Road. For more information, please visit www.briarcliffnorthdruidhills.org.

Next Week’s Briarcliff & North Druid Hills Meeting – The Civic Association Network, an umbrella organization of neighborhood associations in North and Central DeKalb, will host a community meeting regarding potential redevelopment at Briarcliff and North Druid Hills Roads on Tuesday, July 31, at 7:00 p.m. at Lakeside High School, 3801 Briarcliff Road.

Brookhaven Public Safety Meeting – Judge Johnny Panos and Representative Mike Jacobs will host a Brookhaven community forum on public safety issues with the DeKalb County Police Department on Tuesday, August 14, at 7:00 p.m. in Lupton Auditorium at Oglethorpe University, 4484 Peachtree Road.