Wherein I get a wee bit political:<\/p>\n
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Dear Ms. Walldorff,<\/p>\n
As a resident of Dekalb County, I am writing to you in support of the Dekalb Infill Task Force recommendations, as displayed on www.dekalbinfill.org.<\/p>\n
I was only moderately interested in the issue until I went to the website www.truthaboutinfill.com, which purports to be a “grassroots organization of concerned citizens.” A simple lookup on http:\/\/precow.tucows.com\/cgi-bin\/whois.cgi shows the site owner to be Holly Berry of Berry Realty. As you probably know, Berry Realty is involved in a number of infill projects around town, including the home two doors down from mine.<\/p>\n
This, to my mind, is flagrantly dishonest propoganda. I understand such distastful tactics are ever present but I believe in ferreting out and discrediting what we can.<\/p>\n
I do not necessarily know the correct answer on this issue. It is difficult to know what to believe when being lobbied by vested interests, especially when part of the issue relates to property values (a nebulous, subjective value to be sure). But once I discover that one side of the argument is using dishonarable tactics, I tend to believe they do so because their argument is too weak to support itself.<\/p>\n
The website in question also contains a page describing how to contact commissioners, and a suggestion for letter content. I am copying the letter below so that you may identify missives originating from this source. Know that the senders procurred the copy from a biased, dishonest source.<\/p>\n
Thank you for your service to our community.<\/p>\n
Kind Regards,
\nRyan J. Lucas
\n[email, address, phone deleted]<\/p>\n
—letter from www.truthaboutinfill.com copied below—<\/p>\n
Dear Commissioners:<\/p>\n
As a citizen in Dekalb County who stands to be negatively impacted by the zoning restrictions that are currently under consideration, I implore you to please come to the public meeting and hear us. Further, we ask that you delay the vote on September 27th until you have given us this opportunity.<\/p>\n
If you cannot delay your vote, please vote for neighborhoods who wish to have protection to have to vote it in. Otherwise, many of us will fall victim to inverse condemnation due to over regulation that deprives us of property rights and the loss of value as a result. This is a very measurable and definable issue. Citizens in your county will lose half their nest egg the day these restrictions get passed. Please do not take property rights from one citizen for the benefit of another.<\/p>\n
As Vernon Jones himself recently wrote in a letter to Congress and the Georgia General Assembly ” using the power of condemnation to take from one private property owner and give to another private owner is wrong. I don’t believe our founding fathers intended eminent domain to be used in this way, and I believe most of us think that Robin Hood is not a role our government should play”. Isn’t this what is happening to us now? Property rights are being taken away from one to benefit another and it is being called quality of life…only its true name is inverse condemnation.<\/p>\n
Senator Chip Pearson is currently sponsoring a bill on inverse condemnation that will provide protection for citizens who have lost valuable property rights as a result of over regulation and makes government accountable for the loss in value. We ask you to take the first step in protecting our rights so that we need not look further for it.<\/p>\n
Thank you for your time and consideration.<\/p>\n
Best regards,<\/p>\n
[Your Name Here]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wherein I get a wee bit political: —————————————- Dear Ms. Walldorff, As a resident of Dekalb County, I am writing to you in support of the Dekalb Infill Task Force recommendations, as displayed on www.dekalbinfill.org. I was only moderately interested … Continue reading