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AFPLWATCH Stories Posted in March 2008 |
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Fulton Commissioners Approve Library's
$150+ Million Building and Renovation Plan
Posted March 19, 2008
The Fulton County Board of Commissioners voted today to approve the library
system's plan to upgrade the county's library services by building,
renovating, or closing numerous library facilities.
Because the plan submitted to the county commissioners includes renovating
(rather than closing or relocating) the Buckhead Branch, the Commission's
vote on Wednesday effectively rejects a local developer's proposal to buy
the current building, demolish it, and build a new branch within one of the buildings in a mixed-use development
he wants to create in the area surrounding the current building.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported various
details of the commissioners' vote on the plan, as well as a few
details of the plan itself.
What the commissioners did not decide at their meeting Wednesday was how to
pay for the library improvement plan - something they will presumably be
discussing soon, especially if the funding mechanism turns out to be a bond
referendum to be placed on this year's November election ballot.
Georgia Legislators Introduce 10 Proposed Laws
to Overhaul an Obstinate Fulton County Government
Posted March 11, 2008
Ten bills aimed at forcing changes in Fulton County governance have been
introduced into this year's session of the Georgia Legislature.
Although legislators' preoccupations with other matters - plus today's
deadline for passage of legislation in at least one of the legislative
chambers - make passage of the reform bills unlikely this year, so the
bills' existence may be serving mostly a symbolic function.
Whatever the fate of this year's proposed reforms, the number of reform
bills targeting Fulton is one of many symptoms of widespread and
longstanding frustration and disgust with the incompetence of several
county departments and with the stubborn refusal of county commissioners
to acknowledge that it has any serious problems with the way they
govern the county.
Details about the proposed legislation were published in
yesterday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Milton County Proposal Still Alive
Posted March 5, 2008
Widespread, longstanding frustrations with Fulton County government among
citizens living in the northern end of the 85-mile-long county led recently
to the incorporation of several cities there. But there's still plenty of
support to completely eliminate Fulton County government's control of the
area by re-creating a separate county, one that merged with Fulton during
the 1930s.
If Milton County were re-created, an enormous part of the county's population,
including the residents of Alpharetta, Roswell, and Sandy Springs - where
Fulton County operates, among other things, several extremely busy public libraries,
and where citizens have asked the county to build more libraries - would become controlled by an entirely
different set of county officials.
Although the proposal to revive Milton County may not reach the Georgia
Legislature this year, the controversy and the proposal's prospects for
eventual enactment is revisited in a
story in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Continue reading previously-posted AFPLWATCH stories
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