Evermore is supporting a community concert scheduled for October 18, 2008 on the lawn at Snellville City Hall. Enjoy an open air evening of jazz. This is a free community event for the entire family beginning at 6:00 PM.

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Current Georgia Lottery results. Game results will dynamically update shortly after each drawing.

Georgia Lottery Results

Current Georgia Lottery results. Game results will dynamically update shortly after each drawing.

In this issue:
1. Corinth Hills Homeowner’s Association Board of Directors Status
2. Marty Weingarten To Run For CHHA Board President in 2009
3. CorinthHills.org Website Status
4. FREE CorinthHills.org E-mail Address
5. Community Mailing List
6. CHHA Bylaw Revisions
7. Special Requests

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1. Corinth Hills Homeowner’s Association Board of Directors Status

I (Marty Weingarten) have resigned my position as 2nd vice president on the CHHA board. This leaves two vacancies - Treasurer and 2nd Vice President. I would like to plead for association members to consider volunteering to fill these positions.

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2. Marty Weingarten To Run For CHHA Board President in 2009

This is YOUR association, you deserve a board that understands this and conducts business accordingly!
My platform for reform:
- No B.S. - I have a very low tolerance for B.S. and pledge to not subject you to any.
- A blanket policy of inclusion
- Transparency of association and board business
- Notification in advance of meetings held on your behalf
- Invitation to participate - we want your input!
- Disclosure - Summaries of business conducted on your behalf
- Aggressive recruitment of new membership
- Free flow of community news and information
- Overhaul of the bylaws to ensure homeowner inclusion and participation
Lastly - We’ve spent years and countless hours discussing the neighborhood sign and yet we still have nothing to show for it. I pledge to continue to seek a resolution without continually dwelling on the issue.

Your current board has been assembled for years, has held dozens of meetings, meetings that are supposedly held on the behalf of YOU who voted for them in the first place. Ask yourself:
- How many times have I been notified of a meeting?
- How many times have I been invited to submit an agenda item or concern?
- How many times have I been informed of the results of these meetings?

If the current board is not considering YOUR concerns at their board meetings, what are they doing? What’s the point of a board meeting if not for the consideration of the homeowner’s concerns? For that matter, what’s the point of having a board at all?

At our annual meeting the question of the neighborhood’s ability to contact a board member for the purposes of expressing a concern was raised by a sitting board member and I didn’t have the opportunity to address in reply. Sure, the association is free to contact any board member at any time to express a concern, but if this is the way the association wishes to address concerns, the board should be dissolved. One of the major purposes of a board that has been duly elected by its association is to invite input from that association it represents at board meetings. An analogy is that you don’t have to own a pet, but should you decide to have one certain responsibilities are attached. If you don’t want those responsibilities, don’t buy a pet. Using this analogy, had we maintained our pet in the same manner as has been the case with board meetings, we’d have one dead pet right now.

Don’t take my word for it, ask your friends, family and neighbors how a board is supposed to work, then ask yourself if this is what is occurring within your own association.

I attempted to address these issues - in writing - with the current board as 2nd vice president but was unsuccessful in my attempts.

Finally, some insight for you to ponder - I’m not a Republican nor a Democrat, I vote for the candidate that I feel would serve best in the position they’re seeking. I’m not an optimist nor a pessimist but a realist who tries to independently evaluate each situation as it presents itself.

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3. CorinthHills.org Website Status

CorinthHills.org will continue. As a member of the association I pledge to continue posting as much information about the CHHA as is offered,… much as it has been. I will also continue to post news, information and happenings from surrounding communities. The website is currently receiving approximately 100 unique visitors each day.

Please contact admin@corinthhills.org with news about our area for posting on the website.

We also own Gwinnettian.com, Gwinnettians.com and Gwinnett.ws and may possibly switch to one of these as our primary address at some point in the future. I’ve also been contacted by others who have expressed interest in collaborating on expanded community projects at these addresses. Same is true for our US-78.com address. Stay tuned!…

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4. FREE CorinthHills.org E-mail Address

I would be happy to setup an @corinthhills.org e-mail address for anyone in the community who would like one. It would be setup to forward to your primary e-mail account. For example: mail sent to john@corinthhills.org would automatically forward to your current e-mail box.

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5. Community Mailing List

I plan to maintain the mailing list and continue broadcasting news to the community as conditions warrant. I am very pleased to state that the website continues to register newsletter subscribers with many being from surrounding neighborhoods and even a few from GwinnettCounty.com and EvermoreCID.com. We appreciate them peeking in on us. As always, we would appreciate their news for distribution.

Should you not wish to be notified of neighborhood alerts via e-mail, please reply to this message with a short note asking to be removed and we will be happy to accommodate your request. E-mail changes and additions are appreciated.

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6. CHHA Bylaw Revisions

As I touched on at the annual meeting, if you review the CHHA bylaws you will notice that the document is almost entirely comprised of the board’s obligation to the board. The bylaws need to be revised and amended to refocus attention away from the board back onto the homeowner’s where it belongs.

I would like to suggest an independent committee be formed to review these bylaws and make recommendations for change to be submitted to the board. If a committee can’t be formed, I would like to request that a volunteer review my recommendations and to give them an official okey-dokey prior to submitting to the board for approval. Unfortunately, according to the bylaws, the board has the final vote on bylaw revisions and amendments - which needs to be changed as well.

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7. Special Requests

The board needs an infusion of new blood in some form or fashion. I would be happy to volunteer my services in some capacity but I will require broad support in order to do so. Me aside, I know that we have some very bright, very capable minds out there within our neighborhood,… PLEASE consider volunteering a little time (it really doesn’t take much) to better our neighborhood.

I would sincerely enjoy the opportunity to arrange a time to speak with anyone who would like to discuss the issues concerning our neighborhood and community. Additionally, should you happen to be a neighbor who has thought of volunteering but is apprehensive in some way about serving on the board and in need of some reassurance about doing so, I would love the opportunity to discuss with you how you could make a positive difference. Likewise, I would appreciate any counseling from anyone who has the desire to assist me with my endeavors.

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Bonus Story Time!

Time to make you suffer through a little story… When I was growing up my grandparents lived in Decatur at the corner of North Decatur Road and Superior Avenue. A nice little house (smaller than mine) for which my grandfather paid less than $3000.00 bucks. It always seemed to be a great little community until around the late 70’s when it endured a downturn. Homes went vacant for long periods of time and they couldn’t give a house away. Long story short - after awhile the homeowner’s finally banded together, identified issues, coordinated tactics, cooperated amongst themselves, contacted the appropriate authorities when necessary and exacted positive results - much as we accomplished as a neighborhood recently with the graffiti incidents. Today, the homes in that area go for $500,000 and up and are very much in demand.

Thank you for your support. Vote early and often!

• Current Georgia Drought Statistics And Area Lake Level Information

Lake Lanier Levels And Statistics

Current levels and stats for Lake Lanier. Information includes morning and evening pool levels, inflow, outflow, rainfall, power generation as well as daily, monthly and annual averages and statistics.

By MICHAEL PEARSON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, October 09, 2008

A south Gwinnett business group is proposing to create two tax-funded redevelopment districts to help pay for major projects between Jimmy Carter Boulevard and Steve Reynolds Boulevard.

One of the four major developments mentioned in Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District’s plan has a developer waiting on the approval of tax allocation district funding, that being a big mixed-use project at Jimmy Carter and I-85. The others are envisioned in plans previously developed for the site, according to CID officials.

The tax allocation districts, or TADs, revealed Thursday would raise as much as $1 billion over 25 years by diverting collections from rising property values within the district to a special fund used to pay for redevelopment costs, according projections by Huntley Partners, the CID’s consultant on the project.

“This will give us an advantage over parts of the county that don’t have TADs,” said Emery Morsberger, a developer and member of the CID board. “It kind of levels the playing field for attracting new people”

The most high-profile project envisioned in the plan is redevelopment of the OFS fiber optics plant at Jimmy Carter and I-85. A development company pulled back on plans to request rezoning of the site after a February Supreme Court ruling that rejected the use of school district funds in tax allocation districts.

Georgia voters will decide Nov. 4 whether to overrule that decision with a constitutional amendment.

Other major projects mentioned in the CID’s plan include a mixed-use development on the southwest corner of Jimmy Carter and I-85, across the highway from the OFS site, a mixed-use development centered on what is currently an RV park at Indian Trail-Lilburn Road and another project at I-85 and Steve Reynolds Boulevard.

Together, the projects are projected to create 4 million square feet of retail space, more than 4,000 homes and create or retain nearly 19,000 jobs. The projections call for nearly $4 billion in construction investment, with a total increase in taxable value by the end of the 25-year program of $11.2 billion.

The plans could become more complicated if voters reject the constitutional amendment on TAD funding next month. That would leave the districts with about a third of the funding they would otherwise get. One thing that might mute such an impact would be the approval next year of proposed legislation before the Georgia General Assembly allowing CIDs to pledge their own tax collections to the districts.

CIDs are funded by a property tax collected from owners of non-residential developments within the district’s boundaries.

CID Executive Director Chuck Warbington said that if the TADs are approved, he does not expect to sell bonds to finance construction costs until the credit and development markets settle down and rates are more favorable.

The CID wants to bring the request before a new county redevelopment authority on Nov. 5. Warbington, who also serves on the redevelopment authority board, is hoping for County Commission approval in December.

Two other Gwinnett CIDs, one centered on Gwinnett Place Mall near Duluth and another spanning U.S. 78 between Stone Mountain and Snellville, are also expected to seek county approval for a TAD before year’s end.

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… the seven hundred billion dollar ($700,000,000,000.00 USD) bailout…

H. R. 1424 As Amended; A bill to provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase and insure certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide incentives for energy production and conservation, to extend certain expiring provisions, to provide individual income tax relief, and for other purposes.

Senate vote October 1, 2008
Chambliss (R-GA), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Yea

House vote October 3, 2008
Linder (R-GA), Nay

…I guess it pays to call your congressman…

• Reference: The Library of Congress Roll Call Votes

One Response To “How Your Representatives Voted On The Bailout”

1. CorinthHills.org Says:
   October 4th, 2008 at 12:15 PM

   By Camie Young
   Senior Writer
   Gwinnett Daily Post

   LAWRENCEVILLE - While leaders Friday were able to get enough votes in Congress for the House of Representatives to approve a massive $700 million financial rescue plan, Georgia’s leaders voted for the second time this week to reject the idea.

   All seven of the state’s Republicans voted “no” Friday, including Duluth Rep. John Linder.

   “The House of Representatives took a step that would have made Karl Marx proud: nationalization of our financial sector,” Linder said “By passing this bailout bill, private enterprise will now be managed by the federal government.

   “While our markets, despite temporary volatility, have been effective at self-correcting for decades; the federal government only does one thing effectively - it picks winners and losers. In fact, federal intervention in our markets is largely responsible for the precarious situation in which we find ourselves.”

   In Monday’s vote, only two Georgia lawmakers voted in favor of the bail-out. On Friday, two switched their votes, while the state’s nine other representatives remained against the plan.

   “I am well aware of the urgency of this situation, but that is no excuse for Congress to abandon the free market principles that have guided our economic prosperity,” Linder said. “The American people, who are involuntarily funding this plan, deserve a better solution than one that relies on political pressure and haphazard solutions.”

   Gwinnett’s other representative in Congress, Democrat Hank Johnson of Atlanta, also cast a second no vote.

   “Without giving serious thought to workable alternatives, I simply cannot support a bill that further burdens the taxpayer and does nothing to address the economy from the bottom-up,” Johnson said. “Like every American, I know that we must find a way to fix Wall Street and protect our nation’s economy. I remain deeply frustrated that the President’s bill, which I voted against for the second time in less than a week, was the only option on the table.

   “I remain in agreement with many of the greatest economic minds in the country that there are alternatives to this acutely flawed bill - yet none of those alternatives were even considered. In a debate as serious as this, I find it profoundly disturbing that there was one, and only one, option.”

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The Gwinnett Citizens for SPLOST Renewal Committee has requested that we pass along this information…

• Gwinnett County SPLOST Renewal (the last item on the November 4, 2008 ballot) is projected to raise up to $850 million for capital projects over the next five years.

• SPLOST revenues will be shared by Gwinnett County and its cities with $717.2 million to be distributed for Gwinnett County projects and $132.8 million to be divided among the cities in Gwinnett County based on the sizes of their populations.

• Both the county and the cities of Gwinnett have important capital needs that must be addressed.

• The 2009 SPLOST will give the voters of Gwinnett an opportunity to continue to make investments in our high quality of life that is reflective of our diverse needs. The cities have identified dollar amounts for city-related transportation enhancements, parks and recreation projects, public safety improvements and water and sewer improvements that in many cases have been identified in city capital improvement plans.

• SPLOST provides a revenue source that is partially paid for by people traveling through the county who stop to shop in Gwinnett’s malls and its downtown centers and attend our diverse cultural opportunities.

• SPLOST is a proven viable and responsible way to pay for needed capital improvements rather than increases in property taxes or having to issue debt.

• SPLOSTs approved over the past twenty-three years have allowed Gwinnett County and its cities to enjoy tremendous improvements in parks, greenspace, roads, sidewalks, and libraries.

• These investments have made Gwinnett a great place to live, work and play.

• The 2009 SPLOST Renewal will help us to continue to prosper with improved parks, more greenspace, new and improved libraries, traffic and transportation safety improvements, public safety improvements, a courthouse addition and healthy and vibrant town centers.

The SPLOST item on the ballot will read like this:
Shall a special one percent sales and use tax be imposed in the Special District of Gwinnett County for a period of time not to exceed five years and for the raising of an estimated amount of $850,000,000 for the purposes of roads, streets, and bridges, public safety facilities and equipment, recreational facilities, libraries, County court facilities, City water and sewer capital improvements, City administrative facilities, and City parking facilities.
Yes
No

For more information, please visit our website at www.splostforgwinnett.com

BTW - SPLOST = Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax

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The Art Station will be hosting A Tour of Southern Ghosts at Stone Mountain Park from Oct. 15th thru the 31st. Dates and times will be 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays and 7 to 9:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. For additional information: call ART Station at 770-469-1105, visit www.artstation.org, or call Stone Mountain Park at 770-498-5600.

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The Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s annual burn ban has been lifted as of today, October 1st, BUT you must check daily for permission from the Gwinnett County Fire Marshal prior to initiating a burn as they evaluate burning conditions each and every day. A permanent link is provided to the daily burn information from the Gwinnet County Fire Marshal in the “Community Links” section in the right sidebar –>

SUNDAYS ARE ALWAYS NO BURN DAYS!

THE BURN BAN IS IN EFFECT FROM MAY 1, 2008 TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2008.

The Georgia EPD imposes a ban on outdoor burning to comply with Federal Clean Air Regulations. During the summer months in Georgia, the ozone in the air we breathe can reach unhealthy levels. The Georgia EPD has identified open burning as a significant contributor of the pollutants that form ozone. Consequently, open burning in metro Atlanta and larger counties must be restricted during the summer months. Gwinnett County Complies with the burn ban.
If you have any questions contact the EPD at 404-363-7000.

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