Packed among neighbors friends, coworkers and fellow patriots I felt right at home tonight. I would safely say approximately 200 to 250 residents packed the Bradley County Courthouse tonight in anticipation of the much contested rezoning vote.
The vote was nearly unanimously NO with 13 commissioners voting NO to the rezoning and one Mr Mel Griffith passed on his vote. 13-0-1 was the final vote tally.
The Mayor started out with budget talks and even mentioned that the school budget requests grew over 5 million dollars over last years budget and even emphasized that 66.6 percent of the current budget goes to the schools. This drew hisses from the crowd and begs for another blog on another day.
The arguments against the rezoning were compelling and offered many reasons why they ahould not rezone at the request of Mr and Mrs Larry Allen. Storm water runoff, air, visual and noise pollution, infrastructure costs etc were among the subjects and arguments presented.
After many efforts to speed the process up, Commissioner Connie Woods suggested that the vote go forward with no further discussion, this motion was approved.
The crowd was asked is there anyone in the room that is for the rezoning? One gentleman stepped forward and states his name as Mr Larry Allen. Mr Allen made one memorable statement that drew a gasp from the crowd when he said that he would not have asked for the rezoning if he had not been asked by the Bradley County Planning Commission to do so. The mere fact that several on the Planning Commission have worked with Mr Allen and have recused themselves from the process and nearly split a vote in favor of the rezoning was a stark revelation that at the very least needs to be investigated as unethical if not illegal.
The realization that Mr Allen would admit to this action puts to rest any doubt that the “good ole boy” machine is alive and well in Bradley County. Friends using friends using government appointed positions for-profit! I don’t believe Mr Allen purposefully let the cat out of the bag, but he sure did expose at the very least some dirty politics.
Without applying a damp rag on the whole evening and pull away from their efforts, I give applause to the citizens of Georgetown and the Committee to Preserve Georgetown.
This was a huge well oiled effort and exemplifies what America is all about. When the people speak, our government should listen and act accordingly.
This is what a Republic is made of, not a democracy as many bureaucrats in the room cited tonight!
Sleep tight! Wait for it all to sink in. Read the local paper, I can tell you already what part will be left off the front pages, wanna bet?
Bradley County News Network 