Click to enlarge photos.By Larry Wills
Columnist
When you ask people around City Hall why they support a $30 million park bond referendum the standard answer is that it will be good for Marietta.
They are like teenagers in an Andy Hardy movie sitting around the soda shop until the Mickey Rooney character says, "Hey, know what would be good for Marietta, spending taxpayer money," and they all rush to the bonding attorney.
Other of their whimsical, adolescent ideas has included: "Hey, let's build a publicly owned five star hotel. Hey, let's have a publicly owned golf course. Hey, let's have several City Gateway Projects to Nowhere that cost approximately $10 million a mile. Hey, let's sell our irreplaceable public land to private developers that don't pay their property taxes. Hey, let's see how big we can make the Tax Allocation Districts so we can take as much money away from the school system as possible. Hey, let's allow the city to compete with private companies in the property management business."
Both Andy Hardy and Marietta officials never seem to consider that their sophomoric ideas will have negative, unintended consequences. Marietta city governance is not a movie script that can write a happy ending. It has consequences that impact the lives of real people and like parents, the taxpayer ends up paying for the damages incurred by the teenager.
Even if we could trust city officials to spend bond funds wisely, does Marietta really need to borrow $30 million at this time? A reality check using data from the city's recreation master plan indicates otherwise.
Marietta's 22 square miles are built out and boxed in. The city's population growth is slowing and aging. Marietta has a per-capita income lower than that of Cobb County, Georgia, and the United States. Only 15 per cent of the population has a college degree. All of these factors affect utilization of recreation facilities and the study found that many of Marietta's parks are underutilized
Determining future recreation needs depends upon population projections. The current population is approximately 60,000. City officials use an unrealistic growth rate of 1,400 per year. The city will be lucky to maintain a 500 person per annual growth rate. The National Recreation and Parks Association recommends a park acreage standard of 6.25 to 10.50 acres per 1000 persons. The city master plan currently estimates a supply of 6.71 acres of parkland per 1,000 Marietta residents. This estimate only includes 408 acres of parks and green space within the city limits and under government control. It does not include Marietta school recreation facilities, Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield Park, the Chattahoochee River Recreation Area, private/nonprofit recreation facilities, two university recreation facilities, and county parks such as Jim Miller, Lost Mountain and on and on. If you add a few of these parks into the mix, every 1,000 residents of Marietta has approximately 90 acres of diverse parkland available.
Within a five-minute walk or drive most residents can find any kind of recreational activity they desire except snow boarding. According to police reports we even have a specialty park for middle-aged gay men.
The only rational conclusion is that Marietta sits at the center of the Recreational Universe and does not need to borrow $30 million. What officials should do is set a more modest goal of seeking funding for repairs or additions as they arise.
The only park now needing emergency attention is the 1.16 acres of Glover Park. It is over-utilized and mismanaged. It is not able to adequately handle concerts as revealed by the conflict between smokers and non-smokers. Continued heavy foot traffic will eventually kill its large trees and ruin its esthetics.
The most pressing recreational need is for the city to buy back the Winter Marietta LLC development fronting on Waddell Street and build a concert area, outdoor movie theatre, permanent farmer's market, an international food court and a building containing booths for artists and craftsmen. Winter has closed its sales office. If Marietta is ever to revitalize downtown, now is the time to reclaim control of this property.
The recession is the third reason against a park bond. When local governments borrow money they place more household debt on taxpayers. Nationwide, total household debt stands at $13.8 trillion, equaling the GDP and amounting to $125,000 per household. In 2008 debt exceeded income by some 33 percent. The only way out of the recession is to convert this mountain of debt into equity. The taxpayer understands this and saving rates are climbing. Our current city officials either do not understand the causes of the recession, or do not care about the taxpayer.
Larry Wills is a retired recycling consultant in west Marietta.
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Posted Comments
You need to know the facts about TAD's before you rant. It does NOT take away money from the school system. Taxes remain the same until the bond is paid pack.
Well written Mr. Wills. Maybe the boneheads at city hall will read this and understand for a change.
I really like the idea of an outdoor movie theater, a concert area and farmer's market located off Waddell Street. Other residents will as well.
Kudos, Mr. Wills!
Larry Wills for high office! I have always enjoyed reading his valuable input. His letters are always intelligent, full of useful information, and sometimes, as today, humorous in a wry and caustic way. They have a serious, grown-up, adult tone, as contrasted with the aphoristic, rah-rah pap that emanates from so many politician types. Bravo!
Excellent editorial! Thanks for sharing new, relevant information about Marietta that helps me be better informed on the topic. It seems to me the most needed new parks in our city may also be the least politically popular: recreation parks in area around Franklin Road, like soccer fields. That area is neglected by the City and, properly tended, could yield more new property tax revenue than the established neighborhoods the City favors.
Marietta could lure rich bicyclers by the hundreds if they would just do their part on the Kennesaw Mountain bike trail, but do they do it? Heck no! Bicyclers are all rich, they LOVE Kennesaw Mountain Road, all we have to do is make that road accessible. HEY we have Kennesaw Ave all tore up right now. We are adding bike lanes right? YEAH RIGHT. NO way. This place is too stupid to do anything smart. We borrow money to build places for people supposdly to move here but offer absolutely NO reason anybody would want to move here!!! We in fact do our best to chase away everybody instead. ARGH!
Mr. Wills, thank you. I, and probably many others see money being spent on parks and say - sign me up. I appreciate the thoughts that went into your letter. It will go a long way towards my deciding how to vote in November. I, too agree that spendign money on parks is a good idea. But in these day and times, spending money, and much less, on repairs and upgrades would be more feasible.
Mr. Wills knows for certain that the real estate market will never recover in our lifetimes and that projects now in limbo will never, ever be completed. Everyone quick -- walk away from your mortgages and leave this desolate place forever! Mr. Wills has spoken. Real estate is dead and buried forever.