Hundreds turned out for a party on the historic downtown Square to
celebrate Marietta being named of the 10 best cities in America. U.S.
Congressman Phil Gingrey congratulated the community, and Governor
Perdue sent a proclamation recognizing Marietta’s achievement as a 2006
All-America City.

The award is the oldest and most respected community
recognition program in the country. Nearly 600 communities began the
application process, and Marietta beat other national finalists for the
award, which recognizes exemplary grassroots community problem-solving.

The Marietta Master Chorale, conducted by Jerid Morisco, started the party by singing Georgia on Mind and America the Beautiful. Volunteers served free hot dogs, cake and drinks, and children enjoyed balloon animals and face painting.

Sharon Metz, a member of the National Civic League board and juror for the national competition, congratulated Marietta on behalf of the organization that crowned the winners. She explained the importance of the award to the community and why judges chose Marietta as one of the country’s best cities.

Marietta City Manager Bill Bruton and Mayor Bill Dunaway presented each member of the team who competed in California a plaque. Members of city council also thanked the community organizations that were a part of Marietta’s application for the award.

The Mustangs played a free outdoor concert, and the crowd wrapped up the evening by doing the chicken dance and electric slide.

The All-America City award is like the “Academy Award®” for cities and means the work the community is doing is among the best in the country. Since 1949, the All-America City award has recognized civic excellence, honoring communities of all sizes where citizens, government, businesses and volunteer organizations work together to address critical local issues.   

Being selected a winner substantiates Marietta is a model for the nation with extensive planning efforts and approaches to facing difficult challenges in innovative and collaborative ways. Winners in previous years have been honored at the White House.

Marietta applied for the award and was selected a finalist. Then a delegation of community members presented the city’s programs and successes to a jury of national civic affairs experts during a three-day competition against other finalists in Anaheim, California.

Marietta presented several community projects to the judges. The first was Marietta’s efforts to reduce crime and stabilize deteriorating neighborhoods by creating M-STAR. The citywide program combines community policing and computer analysis of crime trends with accountability of city staff and public involvement. M-STAR has resulted in many successes, the most notable being a 22 percent reduction of crime.

The Marietta Revitalization Program was the second initiative submitted to judges. Its goal is to save the city from decline and create a stronger sense of community by balancing the city’s housing stock, stabilizing school enrollments, creating affordable workforce housing and revitalizing neighborhoods. The city has made substantial progress toward increasing the percentage of homeowners while reducing substandard rental units. Over $335 million has been invested in Marietta’s redevelopment.

Judges required a program to benefit children, and the city highlighted Marietta Reads. The citywide effort to foster reading and literacy has increased student test scores and book circulation, while students read one billion words.

Dozens of community organizations and programs were cited in the city’s award application, and many were part of the delegation that competed before the jury. Everyone in Marietta should be proud, because winning the award is the result of the entire community working together every day.

Allgood Neighborhood Revitalization Task Force
Atlanta Regional Commission
Aviation Museum
Boys and Girls Club
Brown Park Cemetery Restoration Project
Center for Family Resources
Chattahoochee Technical College
Citizens Government Academy
Citizens Police Academy
Civil Service Commission
Clean City Commission
Cobb Chamber of Commerce
Cobb County
Cobb County Comprehensive Traffic Plan Task Force
Cobb Housing, Inc.
Cobb Landmarks and Historical Society
Cobb Municipal Association
Cobb/Paulding Regional Transportation Task Force
Communities in Schools of Marietta/Cobb County
Community Leadership Development Program
Downtown Marietta Development Authority
Faith based organizations, including local mosque
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Franklin Road Community Association
Franklin Road Task Force
Georgia Ballet
Georgia Department of Education
Georgia Department of Transportation
Georgia Municipal Association
Homeowners’ associations
IMPACT
Keep Marietta Beautiful
Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield
Kennesaw State University
Kiwanis Club of Marietta
Latin American Association
Leadership Cobb
Loop Group neighborhood association
Marietta Business Association
Marietta City Schools
Marietta Civitan Club
Marietta Housing Authority
Marietta Initiative for Neighborhood Transformation
Marietta Mayor and City Council
Marietta Metro Rotary Club
Marietta Museum of History
Marietta Parks and Recreation Department
Marietta Planning Commission
Marietta Reads!
Marietta Redevelopment Corporation
Marietta Schools Foundation
Marietta Tree Keepers
Marietta Weed and Seed committee
Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art
M-Star community policing program
MUST Ministries
NAACP
Powder Springs Road Master Plan participants
Root House
Rotary Club of Marietta
Southern Polytechnic State University
Strand Theatre
Theatre in the Square
WellStar Health System

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Marietta City Council approved route C as the local preferred alternative for the Powder Springs Road Connector at its meeting August 9, 2006. The Powder Springs Road Connector is a transportation improvement project that would link Powder Springs Road with South Cobb Drive to reroute traffic before it reaches the city center.

Alternative C begins at Powder Springs Road north of the Brownstone Square subdivision. The new four-lane road would have a median and run between Brownstone Square subdivision and Sourwood Circle. The road would turn eastward to Sandtown Road and follow a newly widened four-lane Leader Road with a median to South Cobb Parkway.

Voters approved funding for the project as part of the 2005 Cobb County special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) for transportation improvement projects. Although Marietta City Council previously approved a route for the Connector, the current Council recommended a new preference, which will be submitted to county and state transportation officials for their consideration. Cobb County and the state of Georgia must also agree on the preferred route before funding can be authorized.

The $15 million Powder Springs Connector is currently on the Atlanta Regional Commission’s long-range plan with funding for engineering to begin in 2006, right of way acquisition to begin 2012-2020 and construction to begin 2021-2030. The city of Marietta and Cobb County plan to request that the project be moved forward to the Transportation Improvement Plan for right of way acquisition in 2008 and construction in 2010.

For more information, call 770-794-5650.

The city of Marietta and its partners built a new home for a citizen in need of improved housing and cut the ribbon on the Griggs Street house in a ceremony July 27. Venture Homes made generous contributions of labor and services to build the 1,320 square foot three-bedroom, two-bathroom home, saving $20,000 in construction costs.

Marietta purchased the land for the home after federal drug authorities seized it, and city officials expect the new construction will help redevelop the neighborhood. Elected officials hope other builders and developers will assist in revitalizing the community by becoming involved in the program.

The home was built as part of the federal Housing and Urban Development Community Development Block Grant and HOME program operated jointly by the city of Marietta and Cobb County Community Development Divisions. New homes are built for lower income homeowners when their current home is deemed rehab unfeasible and the cost for replacement with a new home is reasonable.

This is the eighth reconstructed home in Marietta since the program began in 2002, and three more are planned for next year.

It looks like the MRC can now buy property without the council’s approval. I wonder if this is a step in the right direction or not? Any thoughts? Thanks to the AJC for the story…

By CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/15/06

The Marietta City Council on Wednesday approved an amendment that gives the Marietta Redevelopment Corporation new authority to buy property without first getting the council’s consent.

The council also passed a new budget for fiscal 2007 and agreed to a franchise agreement with Comcast to be the city’s new cable television provider.

Only one council member, Rev. Anthony Coleman of Ward 5, voted against giving the redevelopment organization increased power. As presently constituted, the MRC has 11 voting members — its chairman, real estate broker Floyd Northcutt, formerly served on the city council, and the city’s mayor, Bill Dunaway, is a nonvoting member.

As part of the agreement approved on Wednesday, a city council member will join the MRC as a voting member, but Coleman said he’d like to see another added.

“When public tax dollars are concerned, you want as much oversight as possible,” Coleman said.

The council is considering appropriating $2.1 million in seed money to get the project under way.

The MRC, which currently acts as an advisory board to the city on issues concerning redevelopment, will now have the power to, for example, take out loans without the council’s consent.

A new working agreement that will effectively govern the MRC has yet to be completed.

The corporation is modeled after the RiverCity Company, a private, non-profit chartered to spur economic redevelopment in Chattanooga.

So far, growth and development watchdogs like Involved Mariettans Planning Actively for the City of Tomorrow have not taken a position on the MRC’s broadened authority, although IMPACT president Laura van Mever is optimistic about the group’s potential.

“It involves taxpayer’s dollars, so it needs to be watched,” she said.

“But from what I’ve seen in Chattanooga, I think there’s great opportunity here. The city doesn’t have the time to focus on the key issues of redevelopment, and I think it’s good to have a group where that is their primary mission.”

Way to go everyone! Check out the award that our precious city has earned!

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The National Civic League crowned the city of Marietta Sunday night one of the 10 best communities in the nation as a 2006 All- America City, the oldest and most respected community recognition award in the country. Nearly 600 communities began the application process, and Marietta beat other national finalists for the award, which recognizes exemplary grassroots community problem-solving. Winners in previous years have been honored at the White House.

Finalists participated in a final round of the All- America City competition in Anaheim, Calif., June 9- 11. Each delegation presented three innovative community programs to a jury of national civil affairs experts. The finalists’ presentations addressed a wide range of social and community issues, including youth, education, poverty, affordable housing and race relations.

Since 1949, the All-America City Award has recognized civic excellence, honoring communities of all sizes in which citizens, government, businesses and volunteer organizations work together to address critical local issues. Being selected a winner substantiates Marietta is a model for the nation with extensive planning efforts and approaches to facing difficult challenges in innovative and collaborative ways.

“The city is honored to win the All-America City award because only four other Georgia communities have won in the award’s 57-year history,” Marietta Mayor Bill Dunaway said. “It means the work we’re doing is among the best in the country, and it’s great that others recognize it, too.”

Dozens of community programs and organizations were cited in the city’s award application, and many were part of the Marietta delegation that competed before the jury.

“Everyone in Marietta should be proud, because winning the award is the result of the entire community working together every day,” Marietta City Manager Bill Bruton said. “We appreciate the community’s work for the great progress we’ve made the last three years.”

The National Civic League awarded Marietta because the city showed it is successfully resolving issues with active citizen involvement, volunteer and business resources, efficient government, community vision and collaboration.

In its application, Marietta demonstrated how three unique projects were solving challenges through community partnerships. The first was Marietta’s efforts to reduce crime and stabilize deteriorating neighborhoods by creating M-STAR. The citywide program combines community policing and computer analysis of crime trends with accountability of city staff and public involvement. M-STAR has resulted in many successes, the most notable being a reduction of crime.

The Marietta Revitalization Program was the second initiative submitted to judges. Its goal is to save the city from decline and create a stronger sense of community by balancing the city’s housing stock, stabilizing school enrollments, creating affordable workforce housing and revitalizing neighborhoods. The city has made substantial progress toward increasing the percentage of homeowners while reducing substandard rental units.

As part of its application, Marietta was required to show how it met criteria of the National Civic League’s Civic Index, a twelve-point self-evaluation tool that measures a community’s overall abilities to solve problems, including planning efforts and partnerships with community organizations such as the Loop Group.

Judges required a third program to benefit children, and the city explained how Marietta Reads, a citywide effort to foster reading and literacy, has increased student test scores and book circulation.

This is the first time Marietta has been selected a finalist and a winner, and the city should experience economic and community benefits as one of only 10 winners in this year’s national competition.

“Winning the All-America City award should help Marietta attract and retain businesses, which generate jobs and a stronger tax base,” Bruton said. “This is the premier national award for communities, and winners have seen an increase in tourism, grants and better bond ratings.”

“The city appreciates the support of the sponsors who helped us compete,” Bruton said. “Their contributions enabled the entire community to win the All-America City award.”

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On Monday, the City Council voted to give $2.1 million to the Marietta Redevelopment Corp., as a part of a special land-buying fund. The MRC was asking the Council for this “seed money” so they can use it to obtain more money for acquiring land for redevelopment projects around the city. The Council did give approval for the funds, but only on the condition that one member of the Council be on the board of the MRC. This issue of an additional member on the MRC’s board of directors was a topic of debate amongst members of both City Council and the MRC.

With City Council split on the matter, Ward 3 Councilwoman Holly Walquist, was the swing vote. She agreed on giving the $2.1 million, but only if the additional member be added to the MRC’s board. The issue of taxpayer money being used for the seed fund elicited some reaction from Ward 7 Councilman Philip Goldstein, who said, “I strongly believe that if we are going to use city taxpayers’ money then there should be a council member on that board.”

With the MRC’s board expanding from 11 seats to 12 now, the newest seat will go to the Council’s Economic Development Committee Chariman, Grif Chalfant. The MRC will be required to submit quarterly and annual reports that detail their spending for each period of time.

Thanks to the Marietta Daily Journal’s Aaron Baca for information on this story.

Looking to live closer to the square if you aren’t already? Walk to the historic downtown Marietta Square from this beautiful home in downtown Marietta, GA. Built in 1951, this house has 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths (both upgraded in 2001 w/Tile and the master with a Jacuzzi heated spa).

Beautiful refinished Hardwoods line the interior of the home and are also in the newly renovated kitchen (2002).

A cool front breakfast room also sits right off the kitchen which is a great retreat for reading and relaxing. The front porch on this home is huge measuring 42ft x 7ft for close to 300 sqft of entertaining space complete with 3 porch fans and plenty of room to have your outdoor parties. Click here for more details >>

It looks like the number of building permits in Cobb County is decreasing over recent years according to an article we came across in the MDJ…

Building permits issued for single-family residential homes in Cobb County have dropped 28 percent through April compared to a year ago.

To date, 1,610 building permits have been issued. By May 2005, 2,253 permits had been issued.

In February 2005, 527 permits were issued while only 458 were issued in 2006. In March 2005, 578 permits were issued and only 423 in 2006. April posted the largest difference. In 2005, 719 permits were issued while only 297 permits were issued last month.

Lee McClead, manager of development and inspections for Cobb County Community Development, said part of the reason is that land available to build on is becoming scarce.

“The availability of land is getting difficult to obtain,” he said.

As a result, he said, builders are building more multi-dwelling structures on smaller plots of land.

“We’re actually issuing more permits for townhouses and condos,” McClead said. “Builders get more for their buck.”

What do you all think? Is the land just gone in the city? We always are wondering just how many 700K homes they can build in the area? Share your opinion below!

The Marietta City Council continues to discuss the Historic Preservation Rules in place within the city. According to the MDJ, the meeting last night was quite interesting.

The historic preservation ordinance issue divided the council as Mayor Bill Dunaway used his veto Monday to keep a proposed change to the ordinance on a schedule to be considered at the council’s June meeting.

The story continues…..

Historic preservation rules permit property owners to keep their properties from being listed in a historic district if one is created by the city.

State standards do not include that provision.

If a property were listed in a historic district, its owners would be subject to restrictions governing how they could use their property and what they could do on it.

“I think there’s still a lot of confusion about what the new ordinance would mean if we adopt it,” Ward 3 Councilwoman Holly Walquist said.

Ward 2 Councilman Grif Chalfant exchanged heated words with Dunaway after Ms. Walquist said she planned to vote to put off debate on the ordinance.

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t chastise my fellow council member,” Chalfant said, angry that Dunaway was arguing with Ms. Walquist.

Ultimately, Chalfant, Ms. Walquist, Ms. Lewis, Ward 7 Councilman Philip Goldstein and Ward 5 Councilman Anthony Coleman voted to kill Dunaway’s veto.

What are you thoughts on the issue of Historic Preservation for our community? This brings us to the issue of the beautiful trees in the historic downtown area.

Should the beautiful, large trees in our community be preserved as well as the historic homes and buildings? We now have a nice patch of treeless land at the new Walnut Grove development. At some point, maybe the city should require that larger trees be planted when a clear cut occurs. Does putting a sapling in the ground where a 100 year old oak once stood meet your standards? Share your opinion below!

We wanted to follow up on a story we reported a few weeks back - The restoration of the Strand Theatre. The Friends of the Strand group is working to restore the Strand Theater to its original 1936 art deco design. Currently, the group is working to attract a coffee house or other type establishment to be located in the inside of the renovated theatre, according to our sources.

Recently, the Friends of the Strand asked the Cobb County Commission to make a $250,000 donation to its effort to restore the old Strand Theatre on the Marietta Square. What are your thoughts on this project? Will it have a positive impact on the Marietta Square? What are your opinions? Share them below by clicking the “Share your Opinion” icon.

thanks to Andy Sharp/AJC for the detailed article..

The Friends of the Strand has raised about $1.2 million to renovate the Strand Theatre on Marietta Square. The non-profit organization is trying to raise $5 million to restore the theater.

The not-for-profit organization is trying to raise $5 million to restore the building and create an endowment. The group is asking Cobb to make the $250,000 grant when its fund-raising effort reaches $2 million. So far Friends of the Strand has raised about $1.2 million, said Earl Smith, the group’s chairman.

When finished, the theater will seat 500 people and be used to show classic films, for hosting film festivals and for live productions and concerts. The upper story will be used as a reception area with open-air seating overlooking the Marietta Square. It will be available for rental to the public.

WHO’S AFFECTED
Everyone who pays taxes in Cobb or visits the Marietta Square.

THE MEETING
The Cobb Commission meeting will be 9 a.m. Tuesday, 100 Cherokee St. in Marietta.

LEARN MORE
Contact your commissioner. Telephone and e-mail addresses can be found at www.cobbcounty.org