Voters reject South Fulton’s city plans
Mon,
09/24/2007 - 9:53am
By:
The Citizen
The
preferences of voters in unincorporated south Fulton
were heard Sept. 18 as the call to form the city of South Fulton
failed in a landslide vote with percentages that were
virtually opposite those of Fulton County’s four other
unincorporated areas that previously voted to become
municipalities. Voters rejected the city of South Fulton
measure 84.65 percent to 15.35 percent.
Numbers from
Fulton County Elections Office showed a total of 9,718 votes
cast out of 42,041 registered voters. That number represents a
23.22 percent turnout.
Votes against
the measure in many precincts ran above 90 percent. Even in
the areas such as Cliftondale and Welcome All, “no” votes took
the day with a 3-1 margin. The only precinct where the vote
was close was at Evoline West Elementary near Fairburn, where
38 residents cast ballots in favor of the city and 37 cast
their votes opposing it.
In the end,
Commissioner Bill Edwards had his say and got his way. The
most continuously outspoken of those opposing the new city,
Edwards was initially involved with conversations that led to
the pro-city groups that later advocated for the formation of
the city of Chattahoochee
Hill Country and the city of South Fulton. Edwards had often
said that he later became concerned with the finances of the
new city and its apparent leadership. For Edwards, the vote
Tuesday was a vindication of those concerns.
“As a result
of the vote, the people in south Fulton have said ‘leave us
alone’ to the cities and to state government,” Edwards said.
“We’re fine where we are. Leave us alone.”
After the
votes were tallied Tuesday, South Fulton Concerned Citizens
President Benny Crane said the voters had spoken. They chose
to have a government where commissioners decide our fate, he
said.
“In spite of
the numbers, we have to take a tragic situation and create an
opportunity to make good things happen. Let’s make south
Fulton
the best place it can be,” Crane said. “Some of us will end up
in other cities (through annexation) and I envision those
cities changing for the better because we will have an impact
on them.”
Attending the
Tuesday night gathering of the group of pro-city supporters,
Rep. Roger Bruce said people should always cast their votes
based on facts, not on fear. But many today voted from fear,
he said.
The last word
on the vote came from Sandra Hardy, in whose living room two
years ago the initial idea emerged of having a chance to
follow north Fulton cities and vote for local control in south
Fulton.
“I do not
regret what we tried to do for the future. We have nothing to
apologize for. Our mission was to have the right to vote and
we got that right,” Hardy said. “I will sleep well knowing
that we did not betray anyone. We stood firm and never had to
check our integrity. We don’t get mad, we get up.”
The proposed
city of South Fulton was the only one of Fulton County’s five
unincorporated areas that opted to remain unincorporated.
Chattahoochee Hill Country in June, Milton and John’s Creek in
2006 and Sandy Springs in 2005 voted to establish cities.
“Yes” votes in each of those areas supported cities by margins
approximately equal to the “no” vote percentage in south
Fulton.
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