Articles by: Elliott Brack
BRACK: Gwinnett school bus drivers delivering meals to students
By Elliott Brack | School may have been out in Gwinnett County for the last two weeks, but school buses were still running….this time on 498 routes delivering meals to students, not delivering students to school. While there will be no meals delivered this week during the system’s Spring Break, meal delivery will start again on Monday, April 6.
BRACK: Early-morning grocery shopping finds easy maneuvering
By Elliott Brack | Needing to re-stock our refrigerator and pantry, I left the house at 6:59 a.m. to take advantage of Publix’ “Old Folks” early opening. I arrive at 7:09 to find not many shoppers—perhaps a dozen or so, including several from our neighborhood. It’s not that often when shopping in this vast and diverse metro complex that you find people you know in grocery stores.
BRACK: Today’s reaction to virus stems from 1918 action in St. Louis
By Elliott Brack | Many of the precautions our medical community is taking in the 2020 coronavirus pandemic stem from the reaction in American cities during the influenza pandemic more than a hundred years ago, in 1918. The world-wide spread of the flu came as soldiers returned home from the trench warfare of the first Great War.
BRACK: Gwinnett to set new world standard for water technology
By Elliott Brack | Even before Gwinnett’s F. Wayne Hill Water Reclamation Plant was finished, it attracted water professionals worldwide to visit the plant. Gwinnett was aiming to treat sewage at a higher standard than anyone in the world, plus returning treated water to Lake Lanier at a higher quality than when the water came from the lake.
BRACK: How to find details about candidates in coming election
By Elliott Brack | Boy! What a job awaits Gwinnett voters in the upcoming primary election! There are 135 candidates from Gwinnett seeking your support. Making sense of who to support out of this onslaught of candidates may be the toughest job ever in an election for Gwinnett.
In what is the most essential election of a democracy, the voting itself, it is becoming harder and harder to find enough information to determine which candidate to support. One reason is that there is less and less media presence allowing candidates to present their information and stances.
BRACK: Whew! 135 candidates running on Gwinnett primary ballot
By Elliott Brack | The 2020 primary in Gwinnett opened the floodgates for candidates, as there are 135 people on the Gwinnett ballot seeking to get elected and begin serving January 1, 2021. However, only 17 political candidates are moving to the General Election without an opponent, including four Superior Court and four State Court candidates, plus the magistrate judge.
BRACK: Census forms coming soon; Beware of Census scams
By Elliott Brack | In a few days, between March 12-20, each household in the United States will receive a letter from the U.S. Census, asking all households to participate in the official head count as of April 1, 2020. The count will let us know how many people live in each city, county and state in the country. This Census, done every10 years since 1790, forms the basis to determine how many representatives each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives, and also is used for drawing up Georgia Senate and House districts, plus county commission and school board districts.
BRACK: Georgia’s impact on presidential race getting less likely
By Elliott Brack | Watching the Democrats wrangle for the nomination for president is much like watching a sporting event. Except that is long and drawn out, not so much like a fast-paced basketball game as it is an ever-so-boring, several-day cricket match. Add to this that the political commentators have a field day of putting out new views daily based on the sketchiest of information, the little matters that doesn’t amount to much.
Gwinnett Forum | Nov. 26, 2024
“Bureaucrats write memoranda both because they appear to be busy when they are writing and because the memos, once written, immediately become proof that they were busy.”
— Editor-in-chief of the Washington Monthly Charles Peters (1926-2023).
Continuing objectives
Gwinnett Forum publisher Elliott Brack suggests that Gwinnett County needs a long-range list of continuing objectives for improving the county. His list:
- Move statewide non-partisan judge and school board elections to the General Election.
- Adoption of the 2023 Transit Plan for Gwinnett.
- More creative efforts to support the arts in Gwinnett.
- Advancement and expansion of city historical societies.
- Require establishments that serve alcoholic beverages to halt sales of such products at 1 a.m., and close by 2 a.m.
- Require the Georgia Legislature to meet only once every two years.
- 21st century salary for the Gwinnett County Commission members.
- Remove chewing gum on sidewalks at entrances of post offices and other governmental buildings.
- Eliminate single-use plastic packaging and straws in Gwinnett and require instead the use of paper products.
- Condos instead of apartments for Gwinnett.
Interested in Gwinnett history?
Now re-printed in its third edition, Gwinnett: A Little Above Atlanta, the award-winning history of Gwinnett County, is once again available for purchase. It sold out of its first two printings. The book won the 2010 Award of Excellence in Documenting Georgia History from the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Board. The book is available at Old Town Antiques at 93 Main Street in Lilburn.
- The history of Gwinnett is also available as an e-book from Amazon or Barnes and Noble for $9.95.
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