Fats Domino: New Orleans Legend

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Fats Domino passed away this week.  Being born in New Orleans meant you were aware of music and musicians at an early age.  I was no exception.

Domino was a fixture in New Orleans, where he had soaked up the influences of the musical melting pot and, even after gaining fame, stayed in his old neighborhood where he would sometimes sleep outside in a hammock.

I can still remember the day in the 1960’s, when my parents, who loved to take long rides, drove us past the home of Fats Domino.  It was not the first time, but it was the time that I remember that Fats Domino was sitting outside on the porch.

“Wave to him” one of my parents said.  And I did.

Fats Domino waved back, creating a memory I can see to this day.as if it were yesterday.

Rest in Peace, Fats.  We are gonna miss your presence.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/10/25/rock-n-roll-pioneer-fats-domino-dead-89/

While Driving in Johns Creek, Do You Stop More Than You Go?

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Watch The Video Above.  Here’s my data so far.  I will continue to track it.  Based on the numbers as of 10/19/2017, I am due for at least 80 green lights in a row soon.  I am certainly looking forward to that.

Overall 50.00% 50.00%
Green Red
5 8 38.46%
6 4 60.00%
2 3 40.00%
2 3 40.00%
5 6 45.45%
0 1 0.00%
3 2 60.00%
3 2 60.00%
3 2 60.00%
3 2 60.00%
3 2 60.00%
3 2 60.00%
2 3 40.00%
Total 40 40
Udell suggests it Should Be: 62 18

(Redlights should make up only 22% of my Johns Creek Driving experience)

Johns Creek Residents Should NOT Vote This Fall…

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Residents of Johns Creek should not vote in this upcoming election if they are not familiar with the candidates, the major issues in Johns Creek and are basing their decisions on such variables as :

  1. You are not familiar with the issues we are facing such as potential widening of our roads to overcome the ineffective traffic light system we have today
  2. You are unfamiliar with the negative impact higher density housing has on our roads, schools, and property values
  3. You are basing your decision on the endorsement of an elected official, who just wants to avoid having someone challenge them on issues before the City Council
  4. You saw more signs for the candidate that you are going to vote for so you believe that is a sign of more support for that candidate(Signs for candidates are placed on the roads by the candidates and their crews-Signs in neighborhoods actually show you who your neighbors support but you still need to educate yourself!!!)
  5. You read their mailers to your home and they seem like a nice person

Residents of Johns Creek should vote IF:

  1. They have done their own research into the candidates
  2. They have watched the debates, forums, City Council Meetings and Work Sessions and see how these candidates actually think and function
  3. They understand that Johns Creek is at a crossroads.  Do we become Buckhead or stay Johns Creek.

Continue reading →

This Is Why We Have Trust Issues With Government

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Do you happen to remember the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009?

A large portion of the funds allocated for this act were to go to infrastructure needs such as highways.  States were not supposed to cut their own budgets and use these funds in their place.

Yet somehow, we never saw those massive investments pay off in Georgia did we?  The St Louis Fed has now given us the reason why.

Why the 2009 Recovery Act Didn’t Improve the Nation’s Highways

Click on the link above to read the short but informative analysis on what happened.

Here is a summary in my own terms:

What happened was that Federal Funds replaced(or crowded out) state funds for the transportation projects.  A major condition of receiving these funds was that states, such as Georgia, would continue to spend what they were planning to spend on highway construction and the new Federal Funds would boost that spending. Continue reading →

John Bradberry for Johns Creek City Council Post 3

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John Bradberry at the Meet and Greet in Medlock Bridge

In the fall election for Johns Creek City Council Post 3, I am endorsing John Bradberry.

I have gotten to know John over the last 3 years working with John as a director for the Johns Creek Community Association, assisting John with Preserve Johns Creek, as well as personally.

From the first time we had a chance to work together, John and I have discussed issues within Johns Creek relentlessly.  Beginning with traffic issues, we have discussed nearly every issues that Johns Creek is facing and the opportunities that they present.

When there was an issue at Niblick Road@ Barnwell Road, for instance, and the conversations about installing a traffic circle or a traffic light, John and I drove out to the intersection to look for ourselves and see exactly what the issues were, and if there were any other solutions.

Indeed, we saw the problem immediately.  We were actually surprised that City Staff had not gone to the location and saw the same addressable issues we saw:

  • Line of site blocked by encroaching growth along the right of way from the curve southbound on Barnwell Road to Niblick
  • Shrubbery planted at the entrance to the neighborhood blocking the line of site from Niblick northbound on Barnwell Road

And, as we now all know the City finally sent crews out there and addressed these issues, and instead of spending millions for a solution, the City did what it was responsible for in the first place, and safer conditions resulted.

Macedonia Cemetery/ Fairway Package Billboard

John and I went to the location before the billboard was approved by the City.  Dismayed that the cemetery was the responsibility of the City and in such poor shape, with two homeless encampments in the woods, John raised awareness, searched for more information on the cemetery, and pushed preservation via Preserve Johns Creek.

John Bradberry, Chris Coughlin, EJ Moosa

Today, Johns Creek is maintaining the cemetery, although there is much to do to provide the sort of historical preservation this location deserves.  As a Council Member, I know Bradberry will work to preserve this and other historical locations within Johns Creek.

Finally, John and I have discussed issues with traffic at more intersections than I can recall.  John wants to get our traffic congestion under control.  He understands the negative impact of traffic lights, and that they more we install, the more issues we will have.  We have stood at intersections and watched the light sequences and seen the needless delays drivers face each and every day.  One of the worst: State Bridge Road between the High School and the Elementary School.

Bradberry looking at Lake Medlock, which has been a big issue for Medlock Bridge residents due to silt runoff

This is the type of forward thinking and efforts we need on the Johns Creek City Council.  If John Bradberry was doing all of this before he decided to run for City Council, you can certainly expect him to do it after we elect him.

John Bradberry will ask the right questions, challenge the City Staff for better solutions and will be listening and looking out for you.

That’s why I am more than happy to support Johns Bradberry for Johns Creek City Council Post 3.

EJ Moosa

 

State Bridge-Pleasant Hill:What’s The Right Solution?

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We are surrounded by roads.And we know that some roads function better than others.  Residents of Johns Creek have been suffering for as long as I can recall with roads with intersections that function poorly at best.  State Bridge Road in Johns Creek is scheduled to be widened using your tax dollars to add an additional lane in each direction.  (Note that it does not say just widen to three lanes)

“State Bridge Road Widening from Medlock Bridge to Chattahoochee River”

As I look at State Bridge Road I see what I will call main intersections and I see side access points.  Main intersections are 141 and State Bridge, for instance.  Access points intersections of a lesser intensity, many times providing entrance and exit to private properties such as shopping centers and neighborhoods.

For this analysis I am going to discuss the section of State Bridge Road between 141 and the Chattachoochee and continuing as Pleasant Hill Road to Peachtree Industrial Blvd. Continue reading →

Digging Into The Numbers: Forsyth County is Not the Cause of Our Congestion Problems(We Are)

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Johns Creek has a constant claim that the traffic here is bad, although it is NOT the fault of our poorly timed and prioritized traffic lights.  No instead it is because of the growth in areas around us that is the cause of our issues.

So I decided to dig into the numbers looking at what the last ten years have brought us in terms of population growth among Forsyth County, Johns Creek, Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton.  What I found is amazing.

Fastest Growing in terms of % Growth: Forsyth County

While that is not a surprise the reason is rather simple:  Forsyth County actually started with a much smaller total population than Johns Creek, Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton did ten years ago.  Put simply they started with a lower headcount, which makes their percentage growth look higher.

Annualized Rate of Growth Over The Last Ten Years

  1. Forsyth County   3.67%
  2. Milton                  2.79%
  3. Alpharetta           2.20%
  4. Johns Creek      1.75%
  5. Roswell              0.66%

There are no major surprises there.  In fact you might look at the numbers for Johns Creek and say “AHA”!  But that is not all there is to this story. Continue reading →

The Property Tax Model is Broken Beyond Repair

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Let’s be honest. The system of collecting taxes for county, city, and school taxes is broken. And the larger the area dependent on funding from property taxes, the more broken it becomes. North Fulton County residents pay tremendously more for the same county services than South Fulton residents.  Why?

Here are three reasons it needs to be scrapped:

  1. There is no correlation between the amount of taxes you pay and the amount of “services” you receive.

A family of six living in a $500,000 home and a family of two living in a $500,000 home, pay the same property taxes if they live in the same community.  Why?  What makes us feel its fair to collect three times as much tax on a per capita basis from one family than another?  What if the family of two lives in a home worth one million?  What makes it right to collect six times as much for the very same levels of services?  Should I mention that the family of six likely creates more demand for services than the family of two as well?

When property values are high, and tax rates are high, this can have the effect of driving out empty nester residents to avoid the high levels of taxes relative to the services they receive for those tax dollars.

2.  Property values rising(and falling) should have no impact on how much tax revenue is needed to run your county, cities, and schools.

We’ve seen property values fall during recessions and rise during better times.  This should have nothing to do with how many dollars are needed to provide services in your community.  Yet we have made the tax digest the first step in the taxation process, followed by each government agency voting on the millage rate to be applied to that tax digest.  Elected officials vote far more often on how much they will tax you than you have a chance to vote on whether or not they should remain in office.

Let’s add to that the huge infrastructure we now have in place at the Tax Assessor’s office to track every piece of property, every structure, and every improvement you make to your home, all in the effort to make sure every $ of real estate(real or imagined) is taxed.

Why on earth should you owe the government more dollars because you decided to finish your basement or add a deck?

The perverseness of this likely discourages residents from making improvements to their properties.

How much time and energy is used by the Tax Assessor’s office to gather all of this information?  How accurate is it?  Is it worth it?  Who is really benefitting?

3.  How many hours of effort will the Public spend appealing these assessments?

If 1/4 of the households in Johns Creek appeal, that could be as high as 7,000 homes.  Spend five hours on this process, and cumulatively we will have spent 35,000 hours fighting our high assessments.

Instead, why don’t we take a moment and consider a different system?  We do not tax each resident within an HOA a variable amount do we?  It’s a flat rate per household.  While not necessarily the same on a per capita basis, it is a fairer system than taxing each household based upon the value of their property.

What would a fixed property tax collected per residence look like?  First, it would treat all of us as equally as possible.

We would not need an army of government employees tracking our properties, needing to know everything about the inside and outside of our homes.

We would never have to appeal property taxes in the future.

Our governments would be accountable to us directly for the rate of taxation we face, and there would be no finger-pointing as to who is to blame.

The current system of taxation has more expensive property owners subsidizing the less expensive property owners.  In a society where wealth redistribution is frowned upon by most of us, it is curious to me why we are so willing to allow tax redistribution with property taxes, where the level of services received are so far removed from what the property owner pays in taxes.

Johns Creek could lead the way to a better model of taxation for its residents.  It’s time we slay the beast that taxation based on property values has become.   Taxation should not be unfair or onerous.

It’s time for a change.  Contact your locally elected officials and tell them you want a different system.  Tell them you want a better, more equitable system.

None of the Above (or What’s a 6th Congressional District Libertarian To Do?)

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The Georgia 6th Congressional District Race will go down as the most expensive Congressional race in US History.  Not because of the impact that the winner will have.  It will take years and years for that winner, if they stay in office, to amass the type of seniority and power to really make a difference.

There are no close votes in the US Congress that are going to be decided by 1 vote either.  Instead, this is about appearances.  It’s an opportunity for both national parties (who really could care less about us here locally) to symbolically suggest that the winner of this race somehow proves or disproves the election of one Donald Trump.

Making this race even more enticing is the number in front of the district: the 6th.  Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich once held the same seat number.  But the district is far removed physically from the same turf Gingrich represented.  Nevertheless the media has worked overtime to say just how symbolic a democrat in that seat would be.

As a Libertarian, neither of these two candidates are what I seek in an elected official.  There were several of the 19 candidates that were as close to being what I sought without running myself.  But we must be honest. Before the first votes were cast, the Republican Party leadership was already shaping the minds of the electorate as to who they should support.

An open election such as this would normally be a Libertarian’s dream come true.  An opportunity to participate in an open election without the ballot restrictions.  And were it not the 6th Congressional District, and it was not immediately after Trump’s election, things could have been a lot different.

Congressman Tom Price owned the seat.  In years past there have been no serious efforts by members of either party to unseat Tom Price.  That is the power of being an incumbent.  With incumbency comes money, power, and influence.

That’s also why you saw the mad scramble, mostly from Republicans in office who resigned to run, and those who had been in offices before, and saw this opportunity as the chance of a lifetime.

Due to ballot access restrictions in Georgia during the regular election cycle, Libertarians cannot generally meet the incredibly high number of signatures needed to be on the ballot, which is something the other two parties do not even worry about.

As a Libertarian, I feel that shows clearly that something is wrong with the system.  But, as a Libertarian, I am still entitled to vote for either of the two candidates remaining.

So do I vote for John Ossoff, the Democrat, to send the Republicans a message that they need to offer us true Constitutional candidates?  And then work to get a Libertarian on the ballot in 2018?

Or do I vote for Karen Handel, and give the Republicans another candidate who may likely have the seat for as long as she may want it?

No, I do not think I will do either.  I am going to vote for None of The Above(NOTA).  NOTA is really the only option for me, other than not voting.  And I will be voting.

Definitely Ossoff or Handel is going to win on June 18th. But there is only one way for those of us out there who are unhappy with both candidates to express our displeasure in a way that can be measured.

Imagine if 20,000 or more voters, unhappy with their choice of candidates, voted NOTA.  Would both parties get the message?  What if the race is so close, that one of those two parties learns that there is a group of voters out there that are being ignored that could have changed the outcome?  Will they try to appeal to us in the future?  Will they offer us better choices as candidates in the future?

It’s up to us to make our voices heard.  And we will not be heard if we just fall in line and support the (insert your party name here) because the other party is much worse.

While we are at it, let’s work together to end the restrictive ballot access issues third parties have in Georgia.  We are only cheating ourselves by eliminating competition before it even has a chance to be heard.

Is there anything less American than denying a candidate an opportunity to run for office because of their party, except in an open election?

As a reminder, both the US Constitution and the Georgia Constitution promise equal treatment under the law.  Every elected official has taken an oath to uphold that.  Isn’t it time they do what they promised they would and treat us all equally?

Gone In 80 Days

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It took less than 80 days for the swamp dwellers to convert Trump to being one of them.

History will show that Ron Paul, in 2008, was the last chance we had to save this nation from self destruction.

Trump was just a last ditch effort, as the public voted for the outsider who quickly became an insider…faster than anyone could have imagined.

What happened to “America First”?

If Trump is dismayed by useless deaths of women and children, he needs to address Chicago and not Syria.  There are Americans dying in Chicago each and every day.