Mayor and Council, along with an absentee and apparent incompetent City Manager; a bullying and equally incompetent City Attorney; and an invisible Economic Director have placed the City in the spotlight to be sued by EVERY homeowner and business owner who resides or has property within a two miles radius of the Urban Redevelopment Areas/Districts designated as SLUMS by an indifferent, incompetent, and greedy Mayor and Council.
Mayor and Council sent out the public notice for a public hearing to the South Fulton Neighbor Newspaper for the Urban Redevelopment Ordinance on December 26, 2018. Who is reading any paper for a possible public hearing one day after Christmas? They did not want any residential feedback. At the January, 7, 2019 Council Meeting, Council Minutes states no resident spoke for or against the Ordinance. REALLY? What was the rush, if after more than two and a half years the Council is just making it known that four Communities: River Park, East Washington, Central Park, and Connally- DeLowe Estates are in SLUM designated Areas/Districts!
If the SLUMS designation increases:
- Any residential or commercial owners insurance,
- Mortgage interest rate for a new loan, refinance a loan or to be denied a loan,
- The chance of a seller losing a home buyer because of the location of schools (Hamilton E. Holmes, Paul D. West, Asa Hilliard, and Woodland Middle Schools), and homes, and
- The loss of new businesses seeking to relocate to the City because they were unaware of the fact, the City can easily find itself facing extremely expensive and protracted legal litigation.
It is the job of the City Manager, City Attorney and Economic Director to KNOW this and to ADVISE Mayor and Council of the consequences of adding SLUMS to areas/districts that had already been designated for Urban Redevelopment. It is the job of Mayor and Council to PROTECT the City from lawsuits that can easily be avoidable and to protect residential and commercial property owners from undue loss of income or reduction in their property values. The City stands to lose millions of dollars in reduced property taxes if homeowners and businesses in SLUMS designated areas appeal their property tax assessments.
IT IS TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE IN EAST POINT! BEGIN WITH SWEEPING OUT THE INCUMBENT MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS! THEN FIRE THE CURRENT CITY MANAGER and CITY ATTORNEY IF THEY ARE STILL AROUND AFTER THE ELECTION!
