4:20pm March 7, 2019: UPDATE. VISTA GROVE BILL HAS BEEN PULLED!
Today is officially Crossover Day. As of now, we haven’t heard of a sponsor for Greenhaven and it appears to be dead for this year. We won’t know for sure until Midnight tonight or a little thereafter if this is completely true. If that is the case there is a little chance that it can make it through in the remaining time in session.
However, our friends in the Vista Grove footprint weren’t so lucky. A House Representative from Gwinnett, Timothy Barr, sponsored a bill for Vista Grove. According the AJC “The long shot bid is aimed at continuing the cityhood effort in unincorporated DeKalb. If passed, the bill from Timothy Barr, a Lawrenceville Republican, would put a cityhood referendum on the ballot this November.
It’s a crucial step for Vista Grove proponents, but Thursday is “Crossover Day,” when bills generally must pass one chamber of the General Assembly to stay alive this year. The possible trajectory of the bill — and how it could get to floor of the House in just two days — is unclear.”
DeKalb Strong has sent a strongly worded email to Representative Barr. Please email him to voice your opposition to this bill: timothy.barr@house.ga.gov
Tyranny in Georgia
“Taxation without representation” was the primary grievance of the American colonists in the Thirteen Colonies, and was one of the major causes of the American Revolution. The Americans believed they were not represented in the distant British Parliament since they could not vote for or against the Members of Parliament who were imposing laws on them, such as the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act.
The right to vote against a representative whom they disagree with has been THE basic tenant of our American system from our earliest days. And yet this tyranny is again being permitted in the Georgia Legislature, right now. A distant representative is sponsoring legislation that profoundly affects citizens, and those affected citizens have no way to vote against this representative.
Earlier this session, the House Government Affairs Committee confirmed a new rule to preclude this tyranny. The new committee rule states that no bills for new cities or annexations will be heard if the bill sponsor does not actually represent the area being affected. Now we see in the eleventh hour, a representative who lives more than 25 miles away, is dictating the path for an entirely new jurisdiction while the actual elected representatives of the affected citizens refuse to take up that effort.
By what means are the aggrieved citizens allowed to express their exasperation with this tyrannical mis-representation? They cannot vote against the very representative who is enabling this legislation. When the legitimate elected local representatives of the area, following the dictates of their constituents, refuse to enable this legislation and outside, distant influences are allowed to circumvent the will of people affected – we once again have tyranny.
Rep. Tim Barr does not represent one person, not one square inch of the area he is attempting to dictate to. This is unfair and violates our first American tenant. Tim Barr, withdraw your sponsorship of HB575 and allow the voice of the people to be heard through their actual elected representatives.
We’ll update everyone tomorrow and hope this bill doesn’t pass through committee and that there will be no Greenhaven, Ga bill as well. Thanks to everyone that signed the petition, bought a sign or emailed our representatives.
Police remove Greenhaven’s Kathryn Rice from State Capitol
Big Money Lobbyist for Greenhaven and Vista Grove
N.A.G. Neighbors Against Greenhaven 
Prohibiting cities from forming IS tyranny. Neighborhoods wanting cityhood aren’t being represented by their current elected officials because their areas are split into multiple districts. Each of the districts combine Vista Grove with other cities like Brookhaven, Chamblee, Atlanta, or Decatur. Vista Grove’s current representatives care more about the other cities they already represent like Brookhaven, Chamblee, Atlanta, or Decatur. These cities want to annex the most profitable parts of Vista Grove while abandoning the residential areas that support the profitable commercial areas. They want to dip their dirty hands into Vista Grove’s cookie pot. Therefore, Vista Grove will suffer from taxation without representation, and all its money will disappear into Brookhaven or Chamblee’s tax revenue pot, to be spent on foreign city centers across the highway.
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Spare us the hyperbole. The representatives are listening to those that are tired of your lobbyist guided tyranny to get a city. So sick of your righteous indignation. You don’t have any more rights than the rest of us.
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