Yet more positive coverage on the city - way to go everyone!!! Thanks to the AJC for a great story!
Andy Sharp/AJC

It’s a year of milestones for Marietta.

In June, Marietta was one of 10 cities that won the “All-America City Award” from the National Civic League, a bragging rights designation.

Marietta Mayor Bill Dunaway is pleased with the changes in his city, but still hopes to increase homeownership to 50 percent of residences.

In May, Marietta celebrated the 20th anniversary of the renovation of its town Square — officially known as Glover Park — a key ingredient in the city’s renaissance.

And on Sept. 9, the city of Marietta will herald the 25th anniversary of its prestigious Theatre in the Square, which currently is playing “Turned Funny,” a play based on the memoir of the late Celestine Sibley, a columnist with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

One would think Marietta Mayor Bill Dunaway would be satisfied with the city’s progress.

But the mayor has his own scorecard. And in his mind, he has much more work to do.

One of his main measuring sticks is the high percentage of apartments in the city. When he first took office in 2002, 64 percent of the residences were renter-occupied.

“We now have that percentage down to 59 percent,” says Dunaway, who was elected to his second term last year. “Our goal is to be 50/50 by 2010, but it’s going to be very difficult to get there.”

Yet riding around Marietta with the mayor, it’s clear developers are busy bringing in more

homeowners to the city.

Street after street, modest World War II houses, primarily rental homes, are being torn down and replaced with more upscale housing.

Several top regional developers are transforming large blocks of land into higher density townhomes, condos or single-family homes — all close to Marietta’s town center. Some of the developments are being built on what used to be public housing communities that have been torn down.

Winter Properties, Hedgewood Properties, the Myrick Co. and Roger Deboy all are busy building developments, with several selling out before construction is complete.

“Four or five years ago, you had to go out and try to find developers to come to Marietta, but now they’re knocking on our doors,” Dunaway says. “We’ve got so much upscale housing going on it’s hard to keep up.”

Although Dunaway may not reach his goal of 50 percent owner-occupied homes by 2010, it’s only a matter of time before Marietta completes its conversion from the rental community of working families, primarily from Lockheed and Dobbins Air Force base, to a more upscale town that appeals to homeowners and professionals.

Earl Smith, a Cobb County leader who has served as chairman of the County Commission and the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, has seen the ups and downs of Marietta.

When he moved his heating and air conditioning business to the Square in the 1960s, downtown Marietta was full of lively shops. But then shopping malls were built nearby. “In the ’70s and ’80s, Marietta dried up,” Smith says. “It was bad.”

At one point, Dunaway said there was a proposal to turn the downtrodden Square into a parking deck.

Then in 1985, developer John Williams came forward and donated $250,000 to renovate the park and offered to maintain its landscaping for 10 years. Another $500,000 from the city and other private donors turned Glover Park into Marietta’s gathering spot — complete with concerts, art shows, a farmers’ market and other festivals.

As Dunaway sees it, the Square has helped spark the economic rejuvenation of Marietta.

“The magic phrase is: ‘walking distance from the Square,’” Dunaway says of how developers market their new projects.

Smith has been tallying up all the recent announcements and projects.

“I counted a half billion dollars of new investment and 1,000 new residences,” Smith says. “People are ready to move back in town.”

That’s one of the reasons Smith is chairing Friends of the Strand, which is raising money to restore the historic, but now vacant, Strand Theatre — a prime attraction on the Square for decades.

Dunaway remembers taking a “date” to the Strand to see a movie when he was in third grade. The ticket price was 14 cents, a nickel more than the other theater in town.

Back then, Dunaway’s mother referred to Marietta as a “city of the dead.” She was convinced there were more people buried in Marietta’s cemeteries at the time than the 10,000 residents. (Today, Dunaway says Marietta has about 61,000 residents with more moving in every day).

And the renovation of the Strand will continue Marietta’s rebirth. “It will become another focal point for Glover Park,” Dunaway says. “It will look really good.”

So far, Smith says the Friends group has raised $1.6 million (including a $300,000 gift from developer John Williams) for the project. Smith expects to raise $2.2 million by the end of September, at which time construction can begin.

That will be another milestone for Marietta — a community that is showing how parks, public spaces, theaters, artists, restaurants and museums play an important role in revitalizing a historic town center into a thriving, modern-day town center.

Here is some interesting traffic news - what does everyone think?

By CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 08/24/06

The road to fruition for the Powder Springs connector will likely be as slow as rush-hour traffic.

Now that the Marietta City Council has voted to place the road on undeveloped land just east of Brownstone Square townhomes, the Atlanta Regional Commission will study the proposed site before forwarding its input to the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, said county spokesman Robert Quigley.

“It’s not coming in front of the commission anytime soon,” said Quigley. He estimated it would be next year before public hearings are held on the connector.

After that, the Georgia Department of Transportation will receive the final proposal.

There’s no guarantee either body will follow Marietta’s recommendation.

Two weeks ago, the Marietta City Council voted 5-0, with abstentions by Annette Lewis and Anthony Coleman, to approve the connector, which would link to an expanded South Cobb Drive.

The previous council had voted to place the connector across the street from Chestnut Hill Road, the main entrance to Whitlock Heights. But opposition left the city scrambling for a new alternative.

The Brownstone Square option was formulated just over a month ago and received the broad consensus Mayor Bill Dunaway was seeking. He said in a recent interview, however, that there are “problems with all of them. None of them are slam dunks.”

The biggest problem with the Brownstone Square site might be price, as the route is longer. It’s too early to tell if that will sway DOT’s decision, but Dunaway was encouraged by the City Council’s vote.

“The more unanimity we have here, the more unanimity the Cobb Commission has, the more the DOT will pay attention to us,” he said. “They’ve got limited dollars chasing a lot of projects. They want to spend those dollars where they can be heroes, not where there’s controversy.”

Construction on the $15 million connector is not set to begin until 2021 at the earliest.

The city and county will request that the project be moved up, with right-of-way acquisition beginning in 2008 and construction in 2010.

It looks like the city is starting to crack down on more drug deals…

By Katie Fallon

Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

MARIETTA - The city will soon have money to bolster neighborhood safety in the Franklin Road corridor.

The United States Department of Justice announced Tuesday that the Marietta would receive an initial grand of $175,000 for 2006 under the federal Weed and Seed program. For each of the next four years, the city is eligible to apply for additional awards of up to $175,000 a year.

In March, Marietta was named one of 32 cities across the country to receive approval as a Weed and Seed Community. The award money should arrive before Oct. 1.

The Weed and Seed program is designed to help prevent and reduce criminal, drug and gang activity in communities with high crime rates. “Weeding” is done through increased law enforcement involvement to rid a community of criminals and drug users and traffickers. “Seeding” is done by community groups and private organizations that help implement programs to address the community’s problems.

The United States Department of Justice Community Capacity Development Office sponsors the program. It includes law enforcement, community policing, neighborhood restoration and prevention, intervention and treatment. The Weed and Seed strategy includes collaboration, coordination, community participation and leveraging resources.

Terrill Mill Road to the south, South Marietta Parkway to the north, Interstate 75 to the east and Cobb Parkway to the west will border the targeted Weed and Seed area in Marietta. Franklin Road runs down the middle of that area, which also includes the portion of Delk Road between Cobb Parkway and I-75.

Various neighbor groups and nonprofit organizations in the area formed a Weed and Seed committee before the city received approval. Those groups likely will provide input on how to spend the $175,000 grant.

“I would imagine that those people still will have a say in the allocation of the money,” city spokesman Matthew Daily said.

The city plans to hire a project manager to help coordinate Weed and Seed resources and work with community groups to see where the money is most needed.

Daily said the committee is working on a job description for a project manager and would post it soon and start fielding applications. Approximately $35,000 of the award money will cover a project manager’s salary.

Otherwise, Daily said a very specific budget was created when the city applied for the funding.

He said $89,000 will go to law enforcement and community activities, which will fund increased patrols, police time to work with the community to strengthen relationships between police and residents. The money will not cover hiring extra officers.

Daily said more than 50 percent of the money will go to police activities and the remainder to community development activities, such as youth and community programs. Partnerships will be strengthened with the Boys and Girls Club, the Latin American Association, Travelers Aid, Center for Family Resources and the Cobb Community Collaborative.

Marietta City Manager Bill Bruton said it is no secret that the focus of the city’s Weed and seed program is the Franklin Road corridor.

“The city of Marietta is serious about cleaning up Franklin Road,” Bruton said. “People should know Marietta is not a place to commit crime, especially Franklin Road.”

The journey toward improving Franklin Road and its surrounding neighborhoods began four years ago when the city increased efforts to clean up the area for residents and business owners. Since, a Franklin Road Taskforce formed, and later, the Weed and Seed committee.

Mayor Bill Dunaway said the Weed and Seed money would help accomplish a goal the City Council has set to increase safety in neighborhoods across the city.

“The resources that will be made available to Marietta will help us enhance the community and begin redevelopment in an area of the city that is in great need,” Dunaway said “We are very excited about the possibilities.”

What does everyone think… are there less day laborers ‘hanging out’ in the city each morning these days despite what this story says?

ATLANTA - Between 2000 and 2005, Georgia had the nation’s largest percentage increase in illegal immigrants, with an average of 50,000 coming in annually, according to a Department of Homeland Security report released Friday.

More than 12 percent of the estimated 408,000 illegal immigrants who entered the country annually on average in the last five years wound up in Georgia, the government said.

While California and Texas lead the nation both in terms of illegal immigrants living there and moving there, Southeastern states are gaining immigrants at a rapid pace.

Georgia’s increase is 114 percent, and North Carolina saw a 38 percent increase. Georgia was home to 470,000 illegal immigrants in 2005, up from 220,000 in 2000. North Carolina went up to 360,000 from 260,000 in the same period.

The Office of Immigration Statistics estimates nearly 11 million illegal immigrants lived in the U.S. by January 2006, with nearly a third being recent arrivals from 2000 onward. About 6 million of the immigrants came from Mexico, and more than a million others came from El Salvador, Guatemala, India and China.

Earlier this year, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue signed Senate Bill 529, which is considered one of the toughest immigration measures in the nation. It requires verification that adults seeking many state-administered benefits are in the country legally. It sanctions employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants and mandates that companies with state contracts check the immigration status of employees.

The bill does not take effect until next July.

“This report confirms what Governor Perdue already recognizes - that the state of Georgia is heavily impacted by illegal immigrants,” said Perdue spokeswoman Heather Hedrick. Perdue, who’s running for re-election, and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Taylor have been bickering over cracking down on immigration.

Last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement rolled out two new fugitive teams in Atlanta and Raleigh, N.C., dedicated to finding illegal immigrants who have defied their deportation orders. The agency said it decided where to locate the teams based on where most fugitives are. There are now 45 teams nationwide.

I thought I would post this story. Praise God they have found this sicko. Last night I was watching Patsy’s sister on Fox News - she made an excellent point that even if they never did catch whoever did this, that we have a just God and one day, he/she would be accountable. It makes me sad for the Ramsy’s and how much scrutiny they went through over the past 10 years. Any thoughts?

BOULDER, Colo. - A former schoolteacher was arrested Wednesday in Thailand in the slaying of 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey - a surprise breakthrough in a lurid, decade-old murder mystery that had cast a cloud of suspicion over her parents.

Ramsey family attorney Lin Wood identified the suspect as John Mark Karr, 41. Federal officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the name, and one law enforcement official told The Associated Press that Boulder police had tracked him down online.

Wood said the arrest vindicated JonBenet’s parents, John and Patsy Ramsey. Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer June 24.

“John and Patsy lived their lives knowing they were innocent, trying to raise a son despite the furor around them,” Wood said. “The story of this family is a story of courage, and story of an American injustice and tragedy that ultimately people will have to look back on and hopefully learn from.”

The attorney said the Ramseys learned about the suspect at least a month before Patsy Ramsey’s death. “It’s been a very long 10 years, and I’m just sorry Patsy isn’t here for me to hug her neck,” Wood said.

Karr was a teacher who once lived in Conyers, Ga., according to Wood. The attorney said the Ramseys gave police information about Karr before he was identified as a suspect.

Wood would not say how the Ramseys knew Karr. But JonBenet was born in Atlanta in 1990, and the Ramseys lived in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody for several years before moving to Colorado in 1991.

Thai police said that when Karr was arrested, he denied any involvement in JonBenet’s slaying. But a source close to the investigation in the U.S. said Karr confessed to certain elements of the crime. Also, a law enforcement source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AP that Karr had been communicating periodically with somebody in Boulder who had been following the case and cooperating with law enforcement officials.

District Attorney Mary Lacy said the arrest followed several months of work, but she said no details would be released until Thursday.

U.S. authorities said Karr was initially taken into custody in Bangkok on unrelated sex charges. But Thai police Lt. Gen. Suwat Tumrongsiskul said he was unaware of any criminal charges the suspect faced in Thailand.

Karr was arrested at his apartment in downtown Bangkok at the request of U.S. officials, and was being held until they arrived, Thai police said. Suwat said he expected U.S. officials to take Karr back to America in the next few days.

Karr’s brother in an interview with WAGA-TV in Atlanta called the accusations “ridiculous, without a doubt.”

Nate Karr added that suspicious e-mails cited by authorities related to a book his brother was writing. He declined to comment further, saying the family would have more to say on Thursday.

JonBenet was found beaten and strangled in the basement of the family’s home in Boulder on Dec. 26, 1996. Patsy Ramsey reported finding a ransom note in the house demanding $118,000 for her daughter.

The image of blonde-haired little JonBenet in a cowgirl costume and other beauty pageant outfits has haunted TV talk shows ever since, helping feed myriad theories about her killer, and the case became one of the most sensational unsolved murder cases in the nation.

Over the years, some experts suggested that investigators had botched the case so thoroughly that it might never be solved.

Investigators at one point said JonBenet’s parents were under an “umbrella of suspicion” in the slaying. And some news accounts cast suspicion on JonBenet’s older brother. But the Ramseys insisted an intruder killed their daughter, and no one was ever charged.

In the months after the slaying, Patsy Ramsey went before the cameras, vigorously defending herself and her husband, chastising the media and blasting local law enforcement as incompetent.

In a statement Wednesday, John Ramsey said: “Patsy was aware that authorities were close to making an arrest in the case, and had she lived to see this day, would no doubt have been as pleased as I am with today’s development almost 10 years after our daughter’s murder.”

The Ramseys moved back to Atlanta after their daughter’s slaying.

Wood lashed out at the frenzy that long surrounded the case, and he accused the media of “the most obscene false accusations.” “I think the public’s mind was so poisoned against this family that no one was able for too many years to look at the evidence,” he said.

Patsy Ramsey’s sister, Pam Paugh, of Roswell, Ga., said the family was celebrating the news of the arrest. “We are elated. We are elated. If this is, in fact, the killer, then we have a very heinous killer off the streets to never harm another child,” Paugh said.

Lib Waters of Marietta, Ga., visited the gravesites of Patsy and JonBenet Ramsey in the Atlanta suburb immediately after hearing news reports about the arrest.

Waters, who described herself as a longtime friend of the Ramsey family, taped a piece of notebook paper to JonBenet Ramsey’s headstone that read: “Dearest Patsy, Justice has come for you and Jon. Rest in peace.”

In 2003, a federal judge in Atlanta concluded that the evidence she reviewed suggested an intruder killed JonBenet. That opinion came with the judge’s decision to dismiss a libel and slander lawsuit against the Ramseys by a freelance journalist, whom the Ramseys had named as a suspect in their daughter’s murder. The Boulder district attorney at the time said she agreed with the judge’s declaration.

“Today is additional vindication of the family,” Wood said.

Wood said he and the Ramseys “have been totally amazed and impressed with the professionalism of law enforcement” under Lacy’s direction. Lacy became district attorney in 2001.

Lawrence Schiller, author of the 1999 book “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town” about the case, said Wednesday he understood the man had been on a list of sexual offenders who were suspects for a long time.

“There are a lot of facts about her actual death that the public does not know.” Schiller said. “If he did confess to some facts of the murder, to reveal those facts of the case, that would finish the puzzle.”

Among the facts he said were not generally known was the murder weapon and what the killer did with it.

DNA was found beneath JonBenet’s fingernails and inside her underwear, but Wood said two years ago that detectives were unable to match it to anyone in an FBI database. It was not immediately known Wednesday whether investigators had any DNA evidence against Karr.

Bob Grant, a former Adams County district attorney who worked on the case, said there was never enough evidence to convince him that any potential suspect could be successfully prosecuted.

“I wasn’t convinced it was an inside job, nor was I convinced it was an outside job,” he said. “All the outside suspects were cleared after exhaustive investigation, and there were a whole lot of outside suspects.”

Associated Press Writers Suzanne Gamboa and Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington; Jon Sarche, Judith Kohler, Robert Weller and Chase Squires in Denver; Linda Deutsch in Los Angeles; Harry R. Weber in Atlanta; and Doug Gross in Marietta, Ga., contributed to this report.

Thanks to the MDJ for the news on the Middle School - any thoughts? Great job everyone!

MARIETTA - Less than a month after Marietta Middle School appealed its status on the federal needs improvement list, the state wiped the slate clean for the nearly 1,000-student school.

School officials said the state made a mistake when it labeled the school as not making “adequate yearly progress,” as defined by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The change means the state will classify Marietta Middle School as having met adequate yearly progress, a measure it achieved last year.

Since the school has now made AYP for two consecutive years, it also will move off the federal needs improvement list. That means only one district school failed to meet AYP and only two schools remain on the needs improvement list. Marietta Sixth Grade Academy did not meet AYP this year, and, along with Marietta High School, which this year did meet AYP, still is on the needs improvement list.

A school’s progress is measured by students’ standardized test scores and attendance rates. The state also divides a school’s population into different groups according to race, learning disability and economic status.

Superintendent Dr. Emily Lembeck said the middle school missed the mark this year because the state attributed one student’s attendance record to the wrong group.

“They know it’s bad public relations for the schools when they don’t make AYP,” Dr. Lembeck said.

Dr. Lembeck said she learned about the change in status about 10 minutes before the start of Tuesday night’s scheduled school board meeting.

Board Chairman Tom Smith said the accomplishment was more significant given the more difficult testing standards and other mandates the state implemented this year.

“We’re really proud,” Smith said.

In other news, the board approved a resolution for the Hickory Hills Park deal to send to the City Council for approval.

If both parties approve the plan, it would add Hickory Hills to the city’s 23 existing parks, and the Polk Street firehouse would become school district property.

In addition, the city would pay the school board $450,000 over nine years, install sidewalks on the western side of Polk Street near West Side Elementary School, spend $100,000 on sidewalk improvements near Park Street School and put a five-year freeze on a percentage of tax collection costs charged to the school board.

Smith said the groups have set a deadline of Oct. 15 for an agreement.

(Marietta, Ga. - August 15, 2006) Cobb County transportation officials will hold a second round of public meetings on the county’s Comprehensive Transportation Plan.

The study addresses mobility, safety and air quality challenges over the next 25 years for Cobb and its six partner cities. The study was launched in Jan. 2006 and will conclude in Oct. 2007. In a first round of meetings in April, widespread interest was shown in various approaches to improving mobility and the environment, including more mass transit, better connectivity, land use/transportation integration, more green space and improved bicycle and pedestrian networks.

At the second round of public meetings, transportation officials will update the public on what has been accomplished to date and ask for additional input. Citizens are encouraged to attend, as planners seek ideas from as many citizens as possible.

Second Round Public Meetings

Aug. 16 – 7–9 p.m. East Cobb Government Service Center, 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
Aug. 17 - 7–9 p.m. Kennesaw Community Center, 2753 Watts Drive, Kennesaw
Aug. 23 - 5:30–7:30 p.m. Cobb County Central Library, 266 Roswell Road, Marietta
Aug. 24 - 7–9 p.m. Ford Center, 4181 Atlanta Street, Powder Springs

For more information:

Laraine A. Vance, Project Manager
Cobb County Department of Transportation
1890 County Services Parkway, Marietta, Georgia 30008
(770) 528-1679

###

Released by:
David Layman
Robert J. Quigley
(770) 528-1105

Just got this from Holly (Holly Walquist) - thought you all might want to check it out - - -

Holly’s Office Hours at City Hall: I currently hold office hours every Tuesday from 2pm-7pm if you would like to make an appointment to stop by and talk about issues that you have on your mind. You can also just stop by, but if I already have appointments you might have to wait. Please email me ahead of time or call me (my number is listed at the end of this email).

Louise Burford Henry Park Renovations: The next public meeting about the park is August 22nd at 7pm in the City Council Chamber. Some of the changes you will see are: The dog park has been eliminated, the basketball courts have increased to two half courts and the number of parking spaces have decreased. See the below E-news for more information.
We are trying to strike a balance between the community’s desire for a passive park and the need for recreational facilities.

The Kroger on Whitlock has been doing this for some time, while I have noticed that Publix hasn’t been as quick to jump on the bandwagon - I wonder why? After reading this, I see what they mean - I am less likely to buy stuff if I have to scan my groceries myself.

What do you think?

The Associated Press

ATLANTA - The magazines, candy bars and lighters stocked beside traditional checkout counters linger on shelves a little longer these days as the popularity of scan-it-yourself registers grows.

According to new research from retail technology advisory firm IHL Consulting Group, sales of the last-minute items have plummeted.

From 2004 to 2005, sales scanned at the self-checkout registers rose 35 percent to $111 billion. But in that time, impulse purchases by women decreased 50 percent when they used the self-checkout, and men made last-minute grabs 28 percent less.

Some retailers are responding to the drop in sales by stocking impulse items in the self-checkout areas, too. The Atlanta-based Home Depot started selling candy at all checkout stations, including the do-it-yourself ones.

Kroger also has begun putting up product displays at self-checkouts.

But even placing candy bars and magazines next to the self-checkouts might not turn the trend around.

“Folks have more on their minds at the self-checkout,” said Jerry Sheldon, vice president of technology at Tennessee-based IHL.

“The machine is barking orders at them, and people take it personally. They don’t want to make a mistake, especially in front of the other shoppers waiting in line.”

IHL surveyed 533 consumers for the report.

I wanted to inform everyone on the first day participation rate for student uniforms at West Side Elementary and MSGA. West Side had 93.37% participation. Of the 6.63% that did not wear uniforms today, 25.8% were new to West Side and were uninformed about the policy.

MSGA had 92.22% participation. Only 3 parents have requested opt out forms at MSGA. The teachers and staff are thrilled with this rate of participation.

It’s great to see so many parents and students participate in something that will lead to a new “dress for success” attitude in learning.

Welcome back to school everyone!