Dunwoody GA

Dunwoody is in the North Atlanta Metro, in DeKalb County, nestled just above I-285.  Dunwoody was developed in the 1960s for single-family residential living.  By the 1970s, homes were developed in subdivisions, many with their own swim and tennis facilities. This produced a safe environment for families with children. 

 

When we moved to Wyntercreek Subdivision in July 1983, our 6 kids were greeted by dozens of neighborhood kids. They developed close friendships and we got to know their parents. Our home was one of several “hangouts”, so we got to know the kids in the neighborhood. Many of the kids attended Austin Elementary and Dunwoody high school.

 

By the 1990s, Dunwoody was almost all subdivisions, with convenient strip malls nearby. We saw the development of commercial properties and office buildings located together near Perimeter Mall. There are also a few apartment complexes that still exist today.

 

Now the Bad News

 

The population of Atlanta Metro grew from 3 million to 6 million over the past 35 years, but the road and highway system has not kept pace and is worse now than ever. Atlanta benefitted from the electronics boom in the 1980s, but most of our electronics industries moved overseas or back to their headquarters locations after 1993.

 

As manufacturing in Georgia shrank, immigrants replaced students in minimum wage jobs and the labor participation rate for working age US citizens rose to over 100 million.

 

Most new jobs created since 2008 were minimum wage jobs and most of these jobs were filled by immigrants and minorities.  Blacks who had been working in manufacturing are now working in fast food and retail.  Rural Georgia needs manufacturing to return to reestablish their economies.

 

We do need factory jobs, but we also need to reduce the population by about 1 million and expand our roads and highways. 

 

Gridlock is killing Atlanta Metro. Manufacturing operations need to return to the suburbs so put jobs, homes, schools and grocery stores are closer together.  

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader