Clairmont Heights Civic Association

From state rep. Mary Margaret Oliver: February 5, 2012    ---2012  Session Completes Day 14!  This is Mary Margaret Oliver’s third email newsletter for the 2012 General Assembly Session which convened January 9, 2011, and has completed 14 days of the 40 day Session. If you want to receive this email newsletter please visit my web-site at http://www.marymargaretoliver.org .  In each newsletter, I ask how you would vote on a pending bill or budget item. I am very grateful for your thoughtful responses and I personally read all your answers. Thank you for your interest and opinions! and, please friend me on Facebook for more frequent postings on the 2012 Session and MMO's legislative work on your behalf.  Third newsletter question: How would you vote to save HOPE, which is running out of money?  The Board of Regents increased both tuition and fees for this school year based on reductions in HOPE scholarships in the 2011 Session. With the recent changes made to the HOPE scholarship, eligible students and families have seen an immediate increase in the cost of college. Current HOPE scholars and incoming HOPE freshmen will have to pay roughly 13 percent of their tuition bill, plus the full cost of books and an additional $100 to $350 in fees per semester. At UGA, for example, students will pay at least an additional $2,600 per year. At Georgia Southern, it will cost at least an extra $1,800.

Note the the new map (attached) appears to move our near neighbors from District 2 (Jeff Rader) to District 4 (Sharon Barnes Sutton).  We remain in Jeff Rader's district.  From the North Druid Hills Briarcliff Patch: ...."Rader also brought a map showing proposed new county commission districts that was released only hours earlier. He feels the map is problematic because it packs about three percent more people into the district than there should be, meaning that the voting power of its residents is diluted. This map also takes the Briarcliff Elementary, Druid Hills Middle and North Decatur voting precincts out of his district.  “This process, unfortunately, has really fallen apart this year,” he said. He also said the county school board’s redistricting process is “a trainwreck” because they must reduce from nine districts to seven or fewer. Rader said DeKalb is the only county that has not been able to propose maps like this. He encouraged concerned residents to contact their state representatives as soon as possible because maps must be submitted before Feb. 14. The U.S. Department of Justice must approve all maps, and they require 60 days for approval. However, many legislators will be out of town for a recess this weekend and they will want to get it done sooner."... [Read more]

From the AJC: No Brookhaven, but Ashford still a possibility By April Hunt. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2:11 p.m. Tuesday, February 7, 2012.  Goodbye, city of Brookhaven, at least for now. A House committee agreed Tuesday that residents of north-central DeKalb County should be allowed to vote this summer on whether to create a city there. But over objections of state Rep. Mike Jacobs, the Republican from the area leading the cityhood fight, the name will be Ashford. [Read more]