Last Call to Qualify for City Council Elections

If you're interested in joining the fray for three of our seven city council seats this November, today is your last day to get to City Hall and qualify.  Get your district straight, make sure you've lived there for at least 6 months and you too can be a candidate.  All of the excitement you can handle will set you back $360 for entering the race.

The rumors and backstories and questions about our current candidates are starting to fly.  The DWG is staying tuned to watch how they develop.  Yes the "home business activity" angle will come into the discussion.  You have been warned.

Here's the lineup as of 10 AM today:

District One:

Pam Tallmadge (I)  http://pam4dunwoodyga.us/  (Original campaign site from 2015)

Joe Hirsch  http://www.dunwoodyjoe.com/

District Two:

Jim Riticher (I)  http://riticher.com/  (Original campaign site from 2013)

Bobby Zuckman  No campaign website yet.  Here's his LinkedIn profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertzuckman/

District Three:

Tom Lambert  http://www.votetomlambert.com/

Henry Bierenfeld  No campaign website yet.  Here's his LinkedIn profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bierenfeld/

UPDATED: Follow up on the Manget Way group home - the status three years later.

In spring and summer of 2014, the Center for Discovery purchased a home on  Manget Way in order to convert it to a treatment facility (or group home, depending upon who you ask) for teens with eating disorders.

I'll not rehash the entire controversy in this post but here are some historical references:

http://sdocpublishing.blogspot.com/2014/04/zoning-retrospective-group-homes.html
(Commentary from this blog)

From the Dunwoody Crier:

http://www.thecrier.net/news/article_95a74d8c-b99a-11e3-8672-0019bb2963f4.html

http://www.thecrier.net/news/article_a1cf7334-16b3-11e4-9da8-0019bb2963f4.html

http://www.thecrier.net/news/article_e8a04420-1c38-11e4-9c21-0019bb2963f4.html

The denoument where the City of Dunwoody settled the inevitable federal lawsuit:

http://www.reporternewspapers.net/2016/07/10/dunwoody-city-council-settles-lawsuits-manget-way-home/

It is now 18 months after this process was legally resolved.

As per my usual this time of year, I submit ORRs to do research on the status of home-based businesses.  License, physical location, cross-reference code enforcement complaints, etc.   As I'm going through the lists and updating the map, a couple of map points jogged my memory about this event.  On the Dunwoody Home Business map, grey markers are used to note homes that have been involved in some zoning controversy but were not home businesses.  (That is, the home owner does not live in the house full time and work there as a secondary use.  The home was converted entirely to a commercial housing facility.  )  Manget Way was one of those markers.

"I wonder what's happening there now?" I thought.

A little Google fairy dust later generated some interesting results.

The facility seems to be open for business.  Here is their website with a video presentation of the homel:
http://www.centerfordiscoveryatlanta.com/location/

Note the street address is obviously Dunwoody but they list the city as Atlanta.  Six of one, half dozen of the other I suppose.

Then since I had the list of business licenses in front of me for the map project, I did a search to see if there was a business license associated with the property.

There is no business license issued to the Center for Discovery home on Manget Way, or to the LLC that made the purchase, Dunwoody DV, LLC.  The only licenses issued to Manget Way addresses are to other home/business owners.

Then I did a search on the LLC.  There is no sign of any company called "Dunwoody DV LLC" in Georgia or any other state.  There is not even a public record of the LLC being dissolved or terminated.  (Another series of records I look up for the home business map.)

My previous searches on code enforcement complaints came up empty on Manget Way complaints.  I have an ORR in the hopper right now and that will bring out more current answers.

So as a result of this extended legal process, there seems to be a mixed bag of outcomes.  Some homeowners sold their properties and relocated when word of this facility spread.  When someone sells a property, that means someone else is buying and those new neighbors don't seem to have any complaints thus far.  All is quiet according to the code enforcement docket.

On the other hand, a  multi-million dollar company is operating freely without a license and without paying the same business taxes that the rest of us have to pay.   I'll be interested to see if our city government follows up on that.

UPDATE 7/17/2017
It came to my attention that there is some confusion about the information above.

1)  The "business license" in Georgia is a colloquialism for an Occupational Tax Certificate.  So when the blog states that Center for Discovery is operating with out a license, it should be understood that "license" is shorthand for "occupational tax certificate".

2)  Center for Discovery is a for-profit business.  There is nothing about it that qualifies as a not-for-profit that would exempt it from taxes or other regulations (Federal Fair Housing Act notwithstanding).

3)  According to the main corporation's press release (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/02/prweb14076227.htm), the opening of Manget Way was announced in mid-February of this year.  There was reference to an "open house" in the blog post.  According to their Facebook page, that open house was held on February 23.  https://www.facebook.com/events/1360773197295404/.  The ORR for code complaints covering this time period is in progress.  We will find out if there were any code complaints associated with this address.

Insights Into Dunwoody After the GA06 Special Election

Even the most staunch, long-term "I've lived in Dunwoody longer than YOU!!" citizen is coming to realize that Dunwoody's population is not a monolith but a mosaic of assorted lifestyles and ideologies.  Like it or not, there are people different from "us" (whoever "us" may be) living in our fair city.

Not everyone is accepting that fact peacefully.  In fact, a few weeks ago an anonymous Dunwoody resident posted this comment to Stan Jester's blog, regarding where "REAL" Dunwoodians live and that "those others" should be cut off outside of city limits.

But is this right?  Is our city split along district lines, with District 3 being all "those" whackos?

Let's take a look at how Dunwoody voted in the House District 06 special election.  This image was taken from an interactive map that showed precinct results from all District 06 precincts.  (View it in Firefox for best results.  Mousing over or tapping each precinct will highlight the borders and give a final vote tally.)
http://www.myajc.com/news/gen-politics/how-each-neighborhood-voted-the-6th-district-runoff/72ZamHK2RQLoVsvFhcfWjM/

Here is what Dunwoody looks like.  Red and Blue are self-explanatory

What's this we see?  Dunwoody's districts, divided via north/south lines are not the boundaries of the red and blue majority votes.  The ideological divide in this case split along a roughly east-west  through all three districts.  The "blue" segment is a mix of apartments, condos, large-scale commercial space and long-established single family neighborhoods.  The "red" district sees its own share of high-density housing as well.

The putz who wrote the stupid comment above may well change his tune to say, "Well, just cut off that perimeter district" instead of Dunwoody's east side - same difference."

Not so fast there, Skippy.

The perimeter area houses the commercial districts that are paying 70% of the property taxes, which are keeping residential tax rates stable.  And - making the existence of Dunwoody feasible as a city.\

So what did we learn from this week, aside from the fact that if we never see a canvasser again it will be too soon?

• Ideologies and lifestyles are a broad, diverse mix in Dunwoody.  The days of the stereotypical one-type of resident is long gone.
• You probably live next to someone who thinks and lives differently than you do.
• Our districts are all a steady mix of these ideologies.  There is no cutting one off saying "I have no need of you."
• We'll all be a lot happier if we can coexist in spite of these differences.  No one is going anywhere.