Sunday, August 30, 2015

Lean State Government

Priorities
Water supplies must be maintained through a series of reservoirs, rivers and pipelines. The number of gallons of water in these reservoirs should be sufficient to supply water to residents and agriculture through all periods of drought.
Interstate highways, state roads, freight rail lines, pipelines and harbors need to be provided and maintained to support commerce. All gasoline taxes collected from automobile drivers and trucking operations should be used to ensure robust interstate highways and state roads. Federal gas taxes should be retained by the state. The top of I-285 needs to double in size to handle the traffic. Atlanta needs an Interstate Bypass to decongest I-285.
Low utility rates are needed to provide electricity and natural gas to residents and businesses.  Coal and nuclear should not be abandoned.  Expensive solar and wind should not be subsidized by federal or state taxes.
Federal laws and regulations that damage the Georgia economy should be nullified by the Georgia Legislature. The unnecessary EPA air and water regulations should be nullified.  Obamacare should be nullified.  Federal occupation of Georgia land should be ended; all land in Georgia should be private or deeded to the State or Municipalities.
Mal-investment
There is absolutely no reason for the State to own any wildlife preserves.  Let the Sierra Club buy their own land.
Education and healthcare consume too many federal and state tax dollars. These subsidies over the years has resulted in total unaffordability.  The costs of education and healthcare are 4 times higher than they should be. These industries need to be repaired by the free market.
Public transit should not receive any federal or state tax subsidies.  This is a local expense and in most cases is unnecessary. Passenger trains should be private.
Local roads, storm drains, sidewalks, bike lanes and multi-purpose trails should be funded by local taxes only. Road maintenance should be good before recreational modes are created.
Government agencies should not engage in “nanny-state” activities.  Families are responsible for their members, not the government.  Medical kidnapping should not be allowed. Children’s Protective Services should be closed. Crimes can be reported and investigated by the Police. Children do not belong to the state. Community Supervision should be repealed. Parents should be able to keep their children from bureaucrats seeking adoption bounties.
Government should never be viewed as a “jobs program”.  The cost of government at all levels has long past the price/demand curve.  Labor costs for government and functions dealt with by government need to be cut in half. 
Citizen Abuse
Traffic fines are too high. Poorly designed road systems confuse drivers and most stop signs do not really require a full stop. High density results in insufficient road-width. Traffic fines are predatory.
Property seizure is abused. Banks should not allow the seizure of business or personal accounts. Police should not be able to seize any person’s property.  Property seizure is predatory.
No-Knock Warrants contributed to the Revolutionary War. Police should not take tips from criminals or raid an alleged drug house with a Swat Team without documented probable cause and a Warrant issued by a Judge. 
Voter abuse in Georgia
The Georgia Legislature spends most of its time expanding Municipal powers over voters.
The fact that Cobb County voters were not able to vote on the Brave’s Stadium deal is a travesty. They should not be charged $1billion to further congest I-75 North.
Regionalism and UN Agenda 21 implementation caused flawed zoning ordinances pushed by consultants to be created in Dunwoody. Shrinking lot minimums to 15,000 square feet created a split-lot in-fill dispute in Dunwoody Club Forest and the addition of “care homes” in R-100 residential zoning resulted in a medical treatment facility being plopped in the middle of Manget Way subdivision.  Homeowners had to hire attorneys to plead their cases.
Easements in Dunwoody are excessive. The addition of bike lanes and sidewalks on Mt. Vernon Road resulted in an initial “taking” of easements that were 50 feet from the centerline each way, for a widening that would only result in a 12 foot widening. This would remove 1/3rd of some homeowner’s yards.  The additional suicide lane that was planned was removed from the plan by the city council, but the easement remains as a threat and a property value loss for resales.
Separation of Public & Private
Easements present a problem for Homeowners. If the easements are actually government property and they are considered public property, homeowners should only be taxed on what they actually own as private property.
Dunwoody Bait & Switch
Dunwoody voters approved their city charter in 2009 based on the 3.04 millage cap. In 2011, the Dunwoody City Council quietly slid redevelopment authority on the ballot.  In 2014, the new charter added Taxing Districts to ensure that voters would not be able to vote to raise their Dunwoody taxes.
Hall County Property Tax
In 2015, Hall County hired an out-of-town consulting firm to appraise property.  They increased Lake Lanier property by 300+%.  Homeowners had to appeal all of these assessments.
Property Rights Abuse
All cities and counties in Georgia have Land Use Plans and beg the question whether Land Owners have any rights to use their land as they wish. This is government of the government by the government and for the government and tramples individual rights.
The free market system used to allow property owners the freedom to do what they wanted to do.  Now property owners are strapped with federal, state, county and city rules that will result in their failure to manage their property to pay for itself.  If a farmer needs to switch crops or livestock to stay afloat, they should be able to do this easily.  Rural areas need to continue to be able to use septic tank systems, bottled LP gas, well water and their own equipment and farming techniques.  They should be able to sell their land for residential development.
Valdosta Georgia, Lowndes County has banned subdivision development outside their designated area. That’s too much free market interference. The only check on high in-town property prices is the freedom to move out.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
 

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