I promise, the Star Wars references will come to an end VERY SOON. Promise.

This is an extra issue focused on what happened earlier this week at the Board of Commissioners’ Work Session and Regular Meeting. Both myself and Linda attended both sessions where two very important events happened:

• Commissioners voted to challenge the state’s redistricting of District 2 and the possible removal of Commissioner Jerica Richardson
• The county restarted the conversation to bring a mobility referendum to voters in 2024 (go directly to this section by clicking here)

Home Rule

Last night’s Board of Commissioners meeting was very contentious and emotional for everyone there. Here’s a rundown of my experience:

• Before the doors opened at 6:30, there was already a large crowd outside and all 12 public comment positions were filled (I showed up at 5PM and was the 5th person there…)
• There was discussion to let all 12 public commenters speak before the session, but it had no support, so as usual, there were 6 public speakers before the session and 6 after (and after the all-important vote).
• The audience filled the room and was decidedly pro-Jerica. I’d say about 60-80 people showed up in support and only 5 people were obviously against her. They had signs they held up asking her to recuse herself.
• Unfortunately, due to the first-come, first-speak policy, the public comment was more mixed.
  • Seven people spoke in support of Home Rule/Jerica
    • Jerica’s mom spoke passionately about the impact and how appalling the actions of the state and others have been in the process
    • I spoke about how much asking someone to “Just Move” bothered me and how she is empowered to vote on the measure as she represents the over 50,000 voters who voted her to serve.
    • Multiple others spoke in support of her and the highlight was probably when Caroline Holko made the whole room laugh when she thanked Lisa Cupid for “being a better person than her [in controlling her emotions], and that’s why she’s the chair”. It’s always great to listen to what William Parker has to say.
  • Four people spoke in opposition to Home Rule
    • Hill Wright started the opposition by saying although it doesn’t seem fair, the redistricting means that only one commissioner represents East Cobb. Leroy Emkin read from a legal opinion that said the county had no standing to challenge, and Christine Rozman went on and on about how the racial issues in Cobb are fabricated.
    • Cobb County Republican Party Chair Salleigh Grubbs spoke and insinuated that this was all a political stunt and Jerica should have started her challenge much earlier.
  • One other commenter was…interesting and showed a video from PragerU that lacked context and relevance and ended his time by asking Commissioners if they fight for or against slavery…
• The Consent and Regular Agenda were relatively normal and straightforward and highlighted by the County approving a site selection study for the Cumberland Transit Center…
• …UNTIL the Home Rule item…
  • County Attorney presented the resolution to challenge the redistricting of the maps using Home Rule (basically that the county has powers to overrule the state maps)
  • Each Commissioner spoke and it was obvious from the beginning that it was going to finish with a 3-2 vote
    • Jerica spoke first. I highly recommend watching it as I don’t think I can adequately recap it in text.
    • District 3 Commissioner JoAnn Birrell and District 1 Commissioner Keli Gambrill both spoke in opposition. They mentioned how this wasn’t personal but the county is wasting money with this challenge, it’s precedent since voters have already voted using the new maps, and claiming that they would not challenge it themselves if it were them.
    • District 4 Commissioner Monique Sheffield spoke next and mentioned how she would have the same vote whether it impacted a Republican or Democrat and how this was much bigger than how it impacts Jerica or this county. She also brought up a point that she thought there was a blatant “You don’t belong here” tone with those saying she should just move.
    • Chairwoman Lisa Cupid concluded the Commissioners’ comments and focused on the strain this would put the county under and how this Board has already been through a lot. She also mentioned how some of the language was very similar to victim-blaming.

After the Commissioners comments, the vote was 3-2 and a loud cheer erupted throughout the room with many standing. Who knows what the legal outcome will be, but I believe the county is on the right side of history to challenge this obviously political redistricting and avoiding a precedent that could impact either party in the future.

Transit Discussion Restarted, Progressing Towards 2024 Referendum

Before Tuesday night’s Regular meeting, the Commissioners met in the afternoon for a Work Session where Cobb Department of Transportation Drew Raessler made a presentation to Commissioners that had a couple of goals:

• Restart the conversation of transit by restating the needs and benefits of transit
• Get the Commissioners to commit to a transit referendum in 2024

Here’s the entire presentation file, where you will find it lacking in concrete plans or proposed solutions. That was intentional. As I mentioned in the issue earlier this week, the goal right now is to close some doors and simplify the conversation to start progress.

Here’s a couple of highlights/screengrabs from that presentation:

Those two slides, combined with a reference to Induced Demand, did a good job showing that our current transportation system will be overwhelmed with future growth.

It was positioned that any transportation solution, including transit, needs to satisfy three goals: Mobility within activity centers, connections to activity centers, and serve the community.

A few different examples were shared that detailed how transit travel could become competitive with car travel and then the presentation/discussion ended with proposed next steps that highlighted a possible vote to progress towards a referendum on November 17th.

After the Commissioners spoke, Smyrna Mayor Derek Norton made a comment representing the other mayors in the county that reiterated they wanted to be involved in conversations and an accelerated timeline of rollout.

The Transit Advisory Board earlier in the week unanimously adopted a suggestion that the county move forward with pursuing an HB 930 referendum in 2024. If the commissioners authorize this, the process will begin to finalize the plan and details for a 2024 referendum!

What can we do?

Cobb 4 Transit is coordinating two activities to rally support for moving the county forward towards HB 930:

• Increase attendance at upcoming Board of Commissioners meetings
  • Tuesday, November 8th at 9:00 AM
  • Thursday, November 17th at 7:00 PM (likely voting date)
• Organize communications with Board of Commissioners
  • Setting up meetings with each Commissioner
  • Coordinating emails and talking points

It’s very important that we activate and show our support for this if we want Cobb County to move forward with transit expansion in the near future.

Let us know how you want to help out!

That’s the update from a pretty interesting week! I tried to recap it the best I could and you can always reach us at abettercobb@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Have a great weekend!