A few thoughts if you please

A few thoughts on politics, government and community 

The 2010 midterm elections are approaching fast, and the there are so many candidates and offices up for election that it’s easy to get overwhelmed.  Endorsements are rolling in from groups and individuals whose motives are unknown at best. There are a lot of offices up for grabs for South DeKalb voters, so here is my rundown on some of them.

Let’s talk board of education first. EduKALB has endorsed its slate of candidates for the board of education. As we all know, the board has been the subject of some bad press lately, and the thought of having the accreditation of the county schools revoked has put the spotlight on the board members themselves. EduKALB, a reform-minded group , I think,  has endorsed Dr. Kirk Nooks in the 5th and Corey Wilson in the 3rd district. They also gave the nod to Donna Edler in the 7th district. These seem like reasonable endorsements to me. Having talked to two of the three, I came away with a good feel for both Wilson and Nooks. I have heard Ms. Edler on several occasions, and I think she will be an upgrade in the 7th. What surprised me about EduKALB was the lack of endorsement for Nancy Jester in the 1st district. She seems to be a well grounded individual that has a good command of what is going on in the system and wants to see a change in the way business is done. Maybe Jim Redovian is not like the other incumbents in that he has no dirt that is sticking to him like several of the other candidates. In any case, Voting for Jester would not hurt the 1st district in my humble opinion.

The election for the 4th district congressional seat is probably safe for Hank J., but I wonder how much of a dent Liz Carter will make. She has been at Hank from day one. Even during the primary, Hank was her primary target. She and her supporters make no bones about their lack of confidence in the present representation, but lets be real here, this is a pro Democrat district, and unless there has been some radical change in the last few minutes, it will remain just that. No Republican has gotten more than a third of the vote in this district since it was redrawn back in the mid-nineties, but Carter has been very vocal and has a solid group of hard core supporters that will probably go to the polls. Hank on the other hand has played it quiet, not engaging in debates, and basically ignoring Carter’s call for at least one debate. I do have to wonder why Hank won’t debate Carter; is it fear of a misstep that could be fatal? I doubt that even a few mistakes by Johnson would hurt him in the 4th. What I want to see is if Carter can get between 40-45 percent of the vote. If she does that would be news all its own and could signal a changing of the guard in DeKalb. 

I haven’t spent much time on the 13th district race, but I have to say this; I hope David Scott loses. Why, you ask? Well to start he doesn’t even live in the district. He would rather fight community gardens in Inman Park than live and play around the people he is supposed to represent. If you need more reasons, just Google him and then tell me you still support the guy.

The folks over at Crossroads News have been on point as of late. A series of articles taking the county to task about it’s roadside maintenance has reaped some benefits. In the past few weeks, I have seen not only county workers, but volunteers and community service folks cleaning up major thoroughfares in South DeKalb. One weekend I saw so many orange bags waiting to be picked up I had to wonder where all the trash came from. Now it is up to citizens to do their part. Trash strewn streets and waist high grass is an eyesore and shows a lack of pride in ones own backyard.

Thanks go to a DeKalb police officer who responded to my neighbors alarm. I came home one day and my neighbors alarm was going off I knew she was out of the country and had a home sitter while she was gone. I walked around the house and saw nothing out of place. I called her alarm company since I did not have the house sitters info, and advised them. They told me they saw the alarm, but it was a motion and not a window or door but would call police anyway. When the police arrived about 15 minutes later, the officer checked things out and alerted the alarm company who killed the alarm. The officer was polite and actually thanked me for alerting the alarm company. I wish I had gotten his name because all the crap that he police put up with, he took the time to be polite and friendly.

Lats but not least. The county needs to work on it’s documents depot. That is where average folk like you and me can go to see many of the documents that help us keep track of our elected officials. My beef with the DocDepot is that minutes from BOC meetings are never up to date. In fact if you go there right now, you will not see any minutes from BOC meetings since early July. I know that the minutes have to be approved by the CEO and there are some other additional hoops before they can be published, but there has to be a faster way. You will find agendas and summaries but no minutes. The minutes offer details that summaries and agendas do not. You would think that meeting minutes from August would be posted by now. In this day and age, information moves at the speed of light, but in government, it still moves at a snails pace.