Politics More Important than Parks to Fulton Commission

By George Dusenbury - Executive Director, Park Pride
Posted Thursday, July 20, 2006

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On July 19, for the third time, the Fulton County Commission effectively voted to sell Sandy Springs parks to the highest bidder. It started on June 15, when Commissioners Emma Darnell, Nancy Boxill, Bill Edwards and Robb Pitts voted for legislation to sell six Sandy Springs parks on the open market.

Pitts soon announced that he misunderstood the legislation and did not support selling the parks to anyone but Sandy Springs. He and Commissioner Tom Lowe showed up at a June 26 rally for the parks organized by Park Pride, where they expressed support for selling the parks to Sandy Springs at a negligible cost.

At the July 5 Commission Meeting, Pitts introduced legislation to require the County to negotiate with Sandy Springs for the sale of the parks. He received no support.

At the Commission’s July 19 meeting, Pitts introduced legislation to sell six Fulton County Parks to Sandy Springs for a dollar an acre. He got no support. Commissioner Lowe introduced legislation to sell nine Fulton County Parks to Sandy Springs for $5,000 each. Commissioners Karen Handel and Lynn Riley supported the resolution, but not Pitts. The resolution failed.

Four Commissioners say they want to save the parks, yet they refuse to work together on a solution. Shamefully, cooperation seems too high a price to pay.

The Sandy Springs fiasco does not bode well for the rest of Fulton County. Earlier this week, Milton and Johns Creek voted to join Sandy Springs by incorporating as cities. Next year, South Fulton County residents will vote on incorporation. What will happen to the parks in these communities?

Parks clean the air, improve public health, strengthen communities, spur economic development and provide children a safe place to play. These benefits have tangible value. A nationwide study of property values found that people will pay a 20% premium to live next to a park. They will pay a premium of up to 10% to live within 500 feet of a park.

Atlanta has witnessed this phenomenon at Piedmont Park, Centennial Park and the proposed BeltLine project, which would create more than 1000 acres of new parks linked by transit and a multiuse trail.

Unlike Fulton County, other jurisdictions are scrambling to protect and preserve greenspace. The City of Atlanta will spend billions of dollars to build the BeltLine. This is in addition to the $105 million park and greenspace bond and 10% increase in the Parks Department budget passed in 2005.

DeKalb County passed a $96 million park bond in 2005. Much of these funds will be used to build facilities on land acquired through the $125 million park bond it passed in 2001.

The Cobb County Commission voted unanimously to place a $40 million park bond on the November ballot.

Gwinnett County continues to be the regional leader in sustainable park funding, dedicating $50 million in annual sales tax revenue to its park system.

These investments are acts of enlightened self interest. To remain healthy and viable, cities and counties must provide a quality of life that will attract residents, businesses and investment. Having an excellent park system is a vital part of this effort.

The proposal to sell Sandy Springs’ parks to the highest bidder is both myopic and vindictive. It would decrease the quality of life in Fulton County. The people who will suffer most are the residents of Fulton County – the very people that the Commission was elected to serve. All Fulton County residents will be much better served if the Commission works with Sandy Springs to find a solution to preserve these parks.

Park Pride, founded in 1989, is non-profit organization that leads and inspires action for the creation of new parks and greenspace, and the improvement of existing ones. In 2005, Park Pride developed master plans for three new parks, organized a dozen “friends of park” groups, successfully advocated for $105 million in park improvement bonds and a $2.6 million increase in the annual parks budget. In addition, Park Pride volunteers spent more than 23,000 hours cleaning and maintaining parks. Park Pride also successfully advocated for and legislation was passed to fund the Atlanta Beltline, a project that will create 1000 acres of new parks and 33 miles of trails in the city of Atlanta.

Kara Kennedy

Director of Development and Communications

Park Pride

675 Ponce de Leon Ave.

8th Floor

Atlanta, GA 30308

404-817-7969 Direct Line

404-641-6054 Cell

404-817-7988 Fax

kara@parkpride.org

Web: www.parkpride.org

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