Lawsuit seeks dissolution of Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Milton, Chattahoochee Hills

[WestVirginiaRebel]

ajc.com:

The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus filed a lawsuit Monday against the state of Georgia seeking to dissolve the city charters of Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Milton and Chattahoochee Hills. Further, the lawmakers, joined by civil rights leader the Rev. Joseph Lowery, aim to dash any hopes of a Milton County.

The lawsuit, filed in a North Georgia U.S. District Court Monday, claims that the state circumvented the normal legislative process and set aside its own criteria when creating the “super-majority white ” cities within Fulton and DeKalb counties. The result, it argues, is to dilute minority votes in those areas, violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution.

“This suit is based on the idea that African Americans and other minorities can elect the people of their choice,” said Democratic State Sen. Vincent Fort.

The Office of the Governor and the Office of the Attorney General declined comment pending further review of the case.

Rep. Lynne Riley, R-Johns Creek, called the lawsuit “frivolous” and “disrespectful to the citizens of these cities who are most satisfied with their government.”

Riley was active in creating Sandy Springs and the subsequent cities while serving as a Fulton County commissioner.

“These jurisdictions were based on geography and nothing else,” she said. “We haven’t seen any evidence of any disadvantage based on the creation of new cities. We’ve watched the Fulton County budget continue to grow … to say there was damage done by this creation, there are no facts to support that, and I would reject it.”
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A desperate attempt to halt white flight, or control voting districts?

[righteousmomma]

Ridiculousy!!

I grew up in Atlanta. In those days (50s to 60s) we called it N W Atlanta and the shopping/church area Buckhead. Now Buckhead is ALL that area including part of what used to be N E Atlanta.

Now NW and NE are way the heck out. Regardless though "Sandy Springs" was there then and my parents actually looked at houses there when they decided to move. The area flows as affluent neighborhoods right into Buckhead on one side and affluent Roswell on another and so on.

In those days this entire North side of Atlanta was largely white.

Always has been. The government of Atlanta itself in those days was all white. Now the government is mostly black. Times have changed - just a fact.

 

NCT and I were transferred back to the area about 1990 and chose to live in Dunwoody which is on the line - partly in Fulton Co. and partly in DeKalb Co. for tax and utility purposes.

Regardless all the McMansions and luxury condos in Buckhead support the city of Atlanta itself and Fulton County. The northern parts of Fulton County supports the southern half.

always has.

 

Forgive me for quoting wiki but in this case they nail some issues:

 

Taxation

 

Geographically remote from each other, the northern and southern sections of the county have grown increasingly at odds over the collection of taxes and distribution of services. Residents of the affluent areas of North Fulton have increasingly complained that the Fulton County Board of Commissioners has ignored their needs, taking taxes collected in North Fulton and spending them on programs and services in South Fulton. In 2005, the Georgia General Assembly directed Fulton County, alone among all the counties in the state, to limit the expenditure of funds to the geographic region of the county where they were collected. Fulton County contested this law, known as the "Shafer Amendment" after Sen. David Shafer (Republican from Duluth), in a lawsuit that went to the Georgia Supreme Court. On June 19, 2006, the Court handed down a decision upholding the legality of the Shafer Amendment.

The creation of the city of Sandy Springs prompted a move to create two additional cities that completely municipalized north Fulton. In a domino effect, the residents of south Fulton then moved for referenda to potentially create additional cities. One of these two referenda passed; the other was defeated.

Municipalization

 

Since the 1970s, residents of Sandy Springs had waged a long-running battle to incorporate their own city. They were repeatedly blocked by Atlanta Democrats, but when control of state government switched to suburban Republicans after the 2002 and 2004 election, the movement to create the city picked up steam.