GwinnettForum | Number 23.05 | Jan. 16, 2024
YOU’LL FIND THE STAGE at Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville the perfect place for baking bread when the play, Knead, opens on January 25. You’ll get to see Mary Lynn Owen working the dough in real time right in front of your eyes, then popping that creation into the oven. You’ll learn about love, loss, and Cuban food. Subtitles will be in Spanish. For more details, visit Notable below.
TODAY’S FOCUS: Dr. King showed us the power and impact of service
EEB PERSPECTIVE: Here’s why another Gwinnett city is being proposed
SPOTLIGHT: Sugarloaf Community Improvement District
ANOTHER VIEW: How a 71-year-old became a writer, then publisher!
FEEDBACK: Speed cameras at schools, particularly in Tallulah Falls
UPCOMING: Duluth offering citation amnesty program
NOTABLE: Aurora’s next performance features baking bread on stage
RECOMMENDED: Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
GEORGIA TIDBIT: John Wellborn Root key figure in skyscraper design
MYSTERY PHOTO: Rail tracks somewhere is today’s mystery
CALENDAR: Housing Resource Expo will be Jan. 20 at the Aurora Theatre
Dr. King showed us the power and impact of service
(Editor’s Note: today’s author has served as president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund. Before that, Dr. Lomax was president of Dillard University in New Orleans and a literature professor at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges. He also served for 12 years as chairman of the Board of Commissioners of Fulton County. He is on the board of Teach for America, Emory University, The Carter Center, and a member of Sigma Pi Phi fraternity. He is a graduate of Morehouse College, has a master’s degree from Columbia University, with his Ph.D. degree from Emory University. He was born in Los Angeles in 1947.)
By Dr. Michael Lomax
WASHINGTON, D.C. | As we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I reflect on his thoughts about the blueprint for a person’s life. He asserted that a person should have a deep belief in his/her own dignity, worth and “somebodiness.” He also posited that you should never allow anyone to influence or negate the belief in your own self-worth and the ultimate significance of your life.
Lomax
Dr. King also encouraged us to think about life’s most persistent question and proposed that it is “what are you doing for others?” The answers we give may be as varied as our infinitely different human experiences. However, the question asks us to consider the importance of service to our families, our communities, our nation and our world.
As I re-read these words, I again marvel at the depth of his beliefs, the breadth of his service, and the power of his sacrifice for all Americans.
Dr. King showed us the power and impact of genuine service. He led us to recognize our own self-worth and to respect the dignity and value of others. He asked us to put our beliefs and behaviors on the line for the goal of equality for all people. He left us a roadmap for true service and a clear vision of achievable goals.
On April 25, 2024, UNCF will celebrate its 80th anniversary. On reflection, for 80 years, UNCF has built on the very blueprint he described, working with like minds to allow talented African American students at college level to express their beliefs in their own self-worth, value and capacities to learn, graduate and become specialists in their chosen fields. We have encouraged, supported and guided our students to lives of service. We have recognized their equality and driven them towards acting on it.
Thank you, Dr. King, for sharing your thoughts and ideas, for serving us, and for your sacrifice. We will not forget.
UNCF, our 37 member HBCUs, and the over 50,000 students we serve each year, remember, and honor his legacy, his work and his ultimate sacrifice.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Here’s why another Gwinnett city is being proposed
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
(Part one of two perspectives)
JAN. 16, 2024 | What caused people in northeastern Gwinnett to seek cityhood, that is, to pursue legislative OK to form the proposed city of Mulberry?
You may hear lots of reasons. However, it seems to us that the overriding consideration was the aversion that most all homeowners have to apartments being developed near them. Over and over, often at homeowner association meetings, people speak out about apartment units being built in their areas.
“Devalues our property,” they claim. Over the long term, this is probably correct.
Here’s what happens: the apartment complex being built is often referred to when proposed as a “luxury” unit. The developers do that anticipating that the nearby homeowners won’t mind having “high end” renters near them. You seldom hear the word “affordable housing” (meaning low rent) being proposed.
But what happens to most all apartment complexes? The new folks who move into the 200-300-400 units cause little problem in the first few years. But eventually these people move on, and new people move into these-now-not-quite-so-new units. And over time, they also move on, so that a third group arrives, each wave of new people not quite as substantial financially as the previous one. The effect, over time, is that the apartment complex suffers, from an economic level.
Meanwhile, something else happens. The original builder and financier of the apartment complex soon gets it virtually 100 percent rented. By then that firm is ready to move on and get their money out of it, and build more apartments, so the complex is sold. The second owner eventually does that himself, and over the years, the apartments are sold once more. Guess what? Each new owner seems to take less interest….and by and by, the apartments decline in another way.
For your consideration: “luxury” apartments nearly always decline.
If you have driven through many of our Gwinnett cities in recent months, you may have noticed apartment complexes sprouting up. Many resemble one another so much that they seem to come from the same architect. There is seldom a really different design to most of them.
Don’t you wonder what Gwinnett will look like in a few years? You can bet that those brand-new, sparkling apartments, we must realize, will eventually not look quite so bright. Makes you wonder if the cities of Lawrenceville, Suwanee, Snellville, Peachtree Corners, Lilburn, Duluth, Norcross and Sugar Hill (and maybe more cities) will be so proud to have allowed so many apartments right near the middle of town. Are we forecasting eventual slums? You decide.
The proliferation of these many apartments in Gwinnett is nothing new. Homeowners don’t want them, but county and city officials recognize that not everyone can afford a “luxury” living space. That’s why government officials continue to look for ways to have “affordable” housing so that the Average Joe who can’t afford to buy a house can have a place to live near his work.
So over and over, city planning and zoning boards approve new apartment housing, and the elected officials of that city (or the county) recognize this need for affordable housing and OK’s their recommendations for more apartments.
And that’s why homeowners in the northeast segment of Gwinnett got upset so deeply that they started considering having their own city to oversee growth, to try to put a stop to approving so many new apartments.
Is there a better way? Yes.
Read the January 19 edition of GwinnettForum for another perspective of housing possibilities.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Sugarloaf CID
The public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com to you at no cost to readers. The Sugarloaf Community Improvement District was formed in 2016 to ensure the long-term success of Gwinnett County’s premier business and entertainment district. The CID is made up of 115 commercial property owners that pay an additional property tax to advance transportation, security, and placemaking projects within the district. The CID then leverages these funds to enhance the value and quality of life for investors, businesses, residents, and visitors. Sugarloaf CID is home to the Gas South District, Sugarloaf Mills, and a thriving business community. The CID has 7% of Gwinnett County’s jobs, including 1,278 companies representing 26,669 employees. The Sugarloaf district has a $15.6 billion annual economic impact on Georgia’s economy.
Since its formation, the CID has leveraged over $28 million in funding for transportation improvements in the CID, advanced projects to help make the district connected, safe, and attractive, and expanded the CID to more than six times its initial value.
- To learn more, visit its web site at www.sugarloafcid.org.
- For a list of other sponsors of this forum, click here.
How a 71-year-old became a writer, then publisher!
(Editor’s note: we were pleased to get a comment from Terry Freeman of Centerville on Friday. He and his wife, Judy, still live in Centerville on land which has been in his family since 1924. They have one grown son, Nathaniel. Terry is a graduate in journalism from Georgia State University who retired from Georgia Power Company after a 25-year career. He holds an MBA degree in management from Shorter College and a certificate in geological research from Boston University. He taught marketing at Covenant College and is now writing a study of the last words of Jesus Christ when on the cross.)
By Terry Freeman
SNELLVILLE, GA. | Here I am 71 years old. Here’s what I’ve been up to recently.
Ever since 10th grade English from Mrs. Evelyn Aiken at South Gwinnett High School, I’ve always fancied myself a writer. One day she gave us an assignment to write a poem. I’d never written a poem before, but I did my best to produce a sonnet worthy of Shakespeare himself. Mrs. Aiken loved it, and encouraged me to continue to write. All through high school and college I occasionally wrote poems in long hand.
Freeman
Then, life happened.
Fast forward to 2006. That year I began to gather all those poems with the intent to publish them. After many rejection letters, I finally talked to a kind editor at what is now B&H Publishing, who said, “Even if your poems were exceptional, you’ll probably not find anyone to publish them. I think you should self-publish.”
So, I did. It was a long, tedious, and expensive process. The result is Rebel Soldiers, and Other Musings on the Vanity of Life. I can say, with confidence, it sold under a million copies. How about under a hundred copies?
Judy and I moved to the mountains in 2012. There, I began to convert a Sunday School class lesson I’d written about into a book. During that process the idea for another book entered my mind. All I had was a title, Dust from a Red Dirt Road.
Fast forward to 2016. We came back to Centerville from time to time to check on Mom and Dad (Molly and Morris Freeman). November 2016 was one of those times. Dad and I were in his shop. We were laughing about the number of hammers and screwdrivers we’d accumulated when it happened. I had my back to him and heard a crash. He’d fallen. He had a stroke, and so began five years of caretaking. First Dad, who passed away in August 2019, and then Mom passed in July 2021. Their memory is a blessing.
Fast forward to May 2023. The phrase, “dust from a red dirt road” popped into my head. I said, out loud to myself, “You need to write that book.” So, I did. I wrote for eight hours a day, six days a week, for five months. I was a man possessed.
Finally, Dust from a Red Dirt Road was finished. Right now, it’s available on Amazon, but soon it’ll be available everywhere. Here’s the Amazon link: https://a.co/d/dsuDd1P
I also republished the poetry under the title, Rebel Soldiers. Right now, it is only available through Amazon. Here’s the link: https://a.co/d/7sdsHj8
In addition, I’ve started a publishing company, Tóg bog é Publishing. That name is a Gaelic phrase. It roughly translates “Take it Easy.” My focus is two-fold: to preserve the Southern storytelling tradition, and to be a positive resource for our writers, and our readers.
We have two more books coming soon. Farm Boy a memoir written by V. Clark Harrison of Loganville. It should be out by the end of February. The Narrow Path Leads Home is a 365 day devotional book written by Baptist Pastor Kyle Watts of Tiger, Ga. It will be out in time for Christmas 2024. Our website will be up and running soon.
Who would have thought that this old man would end up not only writing, but also publishing books? That was the big turn in my life.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Speed cameras at schools, particularly in Tallulah Falls
Editor, the Forum:
I enjoy your newsletters! Can you tell me if the school speed zone cameras are used 24 x 7 with or without warning lights notifying drivers of the change in speed?
I ask as the City of Tallulah Falls is regarded as a speed trap by using cameras to ticket drivers an average of $100 each, yet have zero warning lights and ticket 24 x7, 365 days a year! And it’s for a private school setback on a very busy highway (U.S. 441).
I fully understand and comply with school zone changes with proper notification and valid use during school hours. But to use safety as a guise to fund the city police department is wrong.
– Mike Davis, Peachtree Corners
Dear Mike: It is my understanding that the Norcross cameras are used only when school is in session, from about 7:30 a.m. (not sure) until about 3:30 p.m. The notification they give are signs posted saying speed is monitored by cameras. As to whether it is wrong to fund capital projects, Norcross suddenly found it had these monies coming in, which they could use for anything, and decided to shift most of it to capital, rather than calling upon local property owners to fund the new police station.—eeb
Raises questions about the proposed City of Mulberry
Editor, the Forum:
Regarding the proposal for a City of Mulberry: how many of the other 16 cities in Gwinnett do NOT have city property taxes? I know Peachtree Corners and Braselton do not.
I’m within the area proposed to be the city of Mulberry. I’d like to know how many cities in Gwinnett do not impose a city property tax with no lag in services.
And why did some city hoods get voted down? I’ve read many articles but no poll from citizens, just the vote percentage.
I know it’s a lot of questions, but the state rep who opposes the Mulberry cityhood proposal. equates it to the Buckhead situation, citing inclusion and equity for all. This proposal is only about reeling in developers and controlled growth with local input. Period.
One of the key points is Mulberry would be the ‘most affluent’ city in Gwinnett based on median HHI of $120k-ish. In my opinion income is not a gauge of affluence. There are many broke rich people – households making $120k/yr but spending $200k/yr. Citing ‘affluence’ frames up the argument that this cityhood proposal is about “rich people breaking away from common folks.” Again, anyone can make up a narrative, but the truth is it’s about reining in local control in an area that is highly desired by developers.
All this being said, I’m still learning and not 100 percent for the cityhood.
– Christa ORear, Buford
Dear Christa: yes, Peachtree Corners and Braselton have no ad valorem tax on property. The City of Buford has no tax for city operations, either. Of course, all residents of cities pay ad valorem tax for school purposes. As to why some proposals for proposed cities are voted down, I would suggest two reasons: There is no overall feeling among the area residents of the need for the city, or those proposing it do not make clear the benefits cityhood will have. –eeb
- Send us your thoughts: We encourage you to send us your letters and thoughts on issues raised in GwinnettForum. Please limit comments to 300 words, and include your hometown. The views of letters are the opinion of the contributor. We reserve the right to edit for clarity and length. Send feedback and letters to: elliott@brack.net.
Duluth offering citation amnesty program
The City of Duluth Municipal Court will be hosting a Citation Amnesty Program from January 8, 2024, through April 30, 2024. The purpose of the program is to allow individuals who have outstanding failure-to-appear warrants and license suspensions to close their cases without the fear and uncertainty of a pending warrant or license suspension that might result in an arrest.
No late fees will be imposed in these cases. Payment plans will be available, in cases that are heard in court. Many cases can be resolved without a court appearance. If the case is court mandatory, or the individual would like to speak to the solicitor or judge regarding their case, or a payment plan is requested, then the case will be scheduled to the next available court calendar.
Virtual Court sessions will be held once a month, beginning in February, to assist those participating in the Amnesty Program to have equal access to justice. Those individuals will need to contact the court to be scheduled for a virtual court session. Once the case is adjudicated, any failure to appear warrant or license suspension will be lifted.
To participate, the individual can:
- Call the court at 770-623-2771.
- Email: amnesty@duluthga.net.
- Visit in person: 3276 Buford Highway, Duluth on Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Amnesty Program does not apply to a defendant who is in custody or cases that have been previously adjudicated.
Gwinnett Stripers accepting game day job applications
The Gwinnett Stripers are now accepting applications for game day staff for the 2024 season. Online applications can be submitted now at GoStripers.com/jobs and an in-person Job Fair is scheduled for Saturday, January 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Suite Lounge at Coolray Field.
Individuals with a passion for delivering exceptional fan experiences can apply for the many part time slots, from ushers to parking staff to video production. Coolray Field’s concessionaire, Professional Sports Catering, is accepting applications for cooks and servers.
Those attending the Job Fair on January 20, should bring printed copies of their resume. Parking is free, and entry is through the Main Gate.
The Class AAA Gwinnett Stripers 2024 season will be the team’s 15th at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville. The first home game is April 2 at 7:05 p.m. vs. Louisville Bats. For tickets, team merchandise or more information, visit GoStripers.com.
Aurora’s next performance features baking bread on stage
Aurora Theatre’s record setting Season 28 hits the halfway point with an intimate theatrical experience, Knead, written and performed by Mary Lynn Owen, to be presented from January 25 to February 25.
The story takes place on the eve of a woman’s milestone birthday. Plagued by insomnia she is determined to finally make her mother’s bread recipe work. Baking the bread in real-time, live on stage, this true local from Snellville also mixes the ingredients of her past – love, loss, and Cuban food – into a spectacular performance.
Aurora Theatre Co-Founder and Producing Artistic Director Ann-Carol Pence says: “There is an endless amount of love baked into this story, a treasured recipe, a blending of culture, and a dash of history. For the first time, our production of Knead is translated into Spanish so that we can invite a new audience to wait with us while the bread is baking. Many Gwinnett families have stories as unique as the names they were born with. Aurora’s challenge in the coming seasons is to make space for new stories to be told.”
Knead was originally developed through the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab at Alliance Theatre where the show received its world premiere in 2018 under the leadership of Susan V. Booth, Jennings Hertz and Mike Schleifer.
Creating an on-stage kitchen so realistic we will bake bread nightly are a team of technical artists. They include Scenic Designer Alexander Whittenberg, Lighting Designer Hernando Claros, and Costume Designer Sydni Stephenson. The show will feature original music from Composer/Sound Designer Kendall Simpson.
Regular show times are as follows:
- Thursday–Saturday: 8 p.m.
- Saturday: 2:30 p.m., 8 p.m.
- Sunday 2:30 p.m.
There will be a special matinee performance at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 31 and a special evening performance on Wednesday, February 7 at 8 p.m.
Georgia Humanities names Murphy to its board
Murphy
Mary Kay Murphy of Peachtree Corners is a new member of the board of Georgia Humanities. Her professional experience includes teaching and over three decades of fundraising for educational institutions. She holds a Ph.D. in education administration from Georgia State University, a master’s in education and English from Emory University, and a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from Loretto Heights College. She was elected six times to the Gwinnett County Board of Education, and served as the first female president in 80 years of the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta.
Gillis is new Lawrenceville public works director
Huston Gillis is the new Public Works Director for the City of Lawrenceville. He previously was the city’s Electric Director. He will also serve as a member of the City Manager’s executive management team.
Gillis
Gillis joined the City of Lawrenceville in July 2021 as the Electric Director. Before joining the City of Lawrenceville, Gillis spent several years at Jackson EMC, including being a lineman and in marketing.
Gillis holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from North Georgia College and State University and a Master of Engineering from the University of Alabama, Birmingham. He has completed Leadership Barrow and Leadership Jackson programs, in addition to previously serving on the Banks County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
From Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill: It may sound odd to hear that I consider a book set in a World War II concentration camp to be a feel-good book, but I do. A true story about coping with unimaginable horror, Man’s Search for Meaning focuses on the psychological struggles of Viktor Frankl and his fellow prisoners while coping with their physical struggles in a prison camp. Frankl concluded that everything we own can be taken away from us except our choice to think and react in the way we choose. In contrasting modern life with the stark and tortured lives of those in the prison camps, I am reminded how utterly spoiled most of us are today. We are saturated with an abundance of freedom, an abundance of choices, an abundance of material things and an abundance of knowledge – right at our fingertips. This book really puts things in perspective and sparks enormous gratitude.
- An invitation: what books, restaurants, movies or web sites have you enjoyed recently? Send us your recent selection, along with a short paragraph (150 words) as to why you liked this, plus what you plan to visit or read next. Send to: elliott@brack.net
Root was key figure in skyscraper design
The architect John Wellborn Root, a Georgia native, became one of the key figures in the nationally significant Chicago school of skyscraper design. He designed one of the most significant buildings in Atlanta, the Equitable Building.
Root was born in Lumpkin in 1850 and grew up in Atlanta. During the Civil War (1861-65) his father, Sidney Root, a prominent Atlanta merchant, sent his young son out of the city on one of his blockade-runners to attend school in England. Later, after finishing school in New York City, Root went to Chicago, Illinois, to join Daniel Hudson Burnham in one of the pioneering architectural firms there.
This firm made both structural and design contributions to the late-19th-century evolution of the skyscraper form. Root, in particular, developed ideas about the design and philosophy of commercial architecture and communicated those ideas in the architectural journals of the period. Among the firm’s most notable buildings in Chicago were the Monadnock and Rookery Buildings, both of which are still standing.
In Atlanta the firm designed the Equitable Building (later the Trust Company of Georgia Building) in 1890 for the Atlanta developer Joel Hurt. Although the eight-story building would today not be considered tall, its steel-frame construction and monumental presence made it the city’s pioneer skyscraper.
Like the Rookery, the building had a heavy ornamented exterior and an interior light court with a large window area. The clarity of its design stood in sharp contrast to its surroundings. Unfortunately this building, which a Georgia Tech professor once said was the only structure an architect would stop off in Atlanta to see, was demolished in 1971, just as Georgia’s historic preservation movement was getting underway. The Equitable Building was the only structure Root is known to have designed in Georgia, although there are undocumented reports of others.
Upon returning to Chicago after delivering the Equitable plans in Atlanta, Root contracted pneumonia. He died on January 15, 1891. Only a few months later, on June 26, 1891, Atlantans praised his building with elaborate cornerstone ceremonies.
- To view the Georgia Encyclopedia article online, go to https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
About all you have is rail tracks for today’s mystery
There’s not much to go on in today’s Mystery Photo. But there is a big story behind this photo. Let us test your skills on this mystery. Send any thoughts you have to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
The last mystery was sent to us by JoAnn Pinder of Baltimore, Md., a former Gwinnett librarian. She wrote: “This lighthouse is on the Panama Canal. It is painted black because it is no longer in service. Going through the canal in a small boat (previously owned by Al Capone and used in his liquor running) was one of the highlights of my travel experiences.”
Among those solving this mystery were Jay Altman, Columbia, S.C.; Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill; George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Tex.
- SHARE A MYSTERY PHOTO: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: elliott@brack.net and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
Housing expo will be Jan. 20 at the Aurora Theatre
Ribbon-cutting at Generous Care Adult Day Center, a new business, will be held on January 16 at 2 p.m in Lawrenceville, at 1180 McKendree Church Road.
Housing Resource Expo will be held January 20 at the Aurora Theatre, 1218 East Pike Street, in Lawrenceville. Time will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It is sponsored by the Gwinnett Housing Corporation and Lawrenceville Housing Authority.Over 20 housing agencies will provide information and resources on emergency housing, home ownership, rental, and home improvement opportunities. This will be the fifth housing expo with the goal of connecting Gwinnett residents with all existing resources.
Historic Cemetery Tour of Norcross City Cemetery will be held on Sunday, February 4, at 2 p.m. Join Gene Ramsay for a historic tour. Discover Norcross’s history, decode street names, and hear captivating stories. Don’t miss this chance to connect with Norcross’s past! For details, visit here.
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