The effort to split Fulton County in two is back again (Atlanta: low income, apartment)

[demonta4]

Originally Posted by Mattie

When my kids were at Milton, every day four busloads of students made the trip from South Fulton. Friends tell me there still are buses making that run(my kids graduated 5 years ago), but I can't confirm it. There was no controversy over it, most people I spoke with felt as I did, that it was a shame the kids needed to make such a long trip to have access to a better school, but it was commendable that they were willing to do so.

So little was made out of it, that I may never have known it happened, but there were times when kids who wanted to take part in after school activities needed transportation to MARTA so they could get home, and parents stepped up to get them to the station.

I'm glad they're being welcomed.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Good stuff. I think this move should be stopped at least based on the precedent it would establish. It wouldn't be a stretch for affluent parts of other counties to do the same with some other sort of justification.

This is an excellent point.

....One of the (multiple) major reasons why the effort for North Fulton County to split off from South Fulton County and form its own county in the form of a resurrected Milton County has never quite caught on at the Georgia State Capitol is because of the precedent such a move might set if it were allowed to be permitted.

It seems that the conventional thinking in Georgia (and most other states) is that state government can't be seen as permitting every part of a county that is disgruntled with its existing county government to break off and form its own new county government.

Though, I do know that the state of Virginia seems to allow city governments to function independently of any county government basically as "Independent cities" where some city governments are allowed to function as their own county government.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indepe...(United_States)

But Georgia law clearly does not seem to allow for this type of arrangement.

And even though the effort to re-create Milton County is being led by North Fulton Republicans in a Georgia Legislature and state government that is currently dominated by Republicans (meaning that, even though the chances of it happening seem to be very slim, this is probably the best and last chance that North Fulton Republicans may ever have to pursue the re-creation of Milton County) the chance that the Georgia Legislature will approve a vote on a constitutional amendment to re-create Milton County still seems to be very shaky.

[arjay57]

The folks up in Milton would do well to remember a little history.

Back in the depression when Milton wanted to become part of Fulton, it was both broke and rural. They had no bank, no hospital and no education system other than the occasional one room schoolhouse.

However, Fulton graciously took them in with no questions asked, and provided for them for decades. It strikes me as a bit unseemly for Milton to now turn around and bite the hand that fed them in their hour of need.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by arjay57

The folks up in Milton would do well to remember a little history.

Back in the depression when Milton wanted to become part of Fulton, it was both broke and rural. They had no bank, no hospital and no education system other than the occasional one room schoolhouse.

However, Fulton graciously took them in with no questions asked, and provided for them for decades. It strikes me as a bit unseemly for Milton to now turn around and bite the hand that fed them in their hour of need.

Wholly agree.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by arjay57

The folks up in Milton would do well to remember a little history.

Back in the depression when Milton wanted to become part of Fulton, it was both broke and rural. They had no bank, no hospital and no education system other than the occasional one room schoolhouse.

However, Fulton graciously took them in with no questions asked, and provided for them for decades. It strikes me as a bit unseemly for Milton to now turn around and bite the hand that fed them in their hour of need.

Keep preachin', Brother Arjay!

[demonta4]

Originally Posted by arjay57

The folks up in Milton would do well to remember a little history.

Back in the depression when Milton wanted to become part of Fulton, it was both broke and rural. They had no bank, no hospital and no education system other than the occasional one room schoolhouse.

However, Fulton graciously took them in with no questions asked, and provided for them for decades. It strikes me as a bit unseemly for Milton to now turn around and bite the hand that fed them in their hour of need.

Many of those people are transplants who know nothing about Georgia history.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by arjay57

The folks up in Milton would do well to remember a little history.

Back in the depression when Milton wanted to become part of Fulton, it was both broke and rural. They had no bank, no hospital and no education system other than the occasional one room schoolhouse.

However, Fulton graciously took them in with no questions asked, and provided for them for decades. It strikes me as a bit unseemly for Milton to now turn around and bite the hand that fed them in their hour of need.

I've heard this before and my response is that that area is so completely different now with very few remaining families that this really doesn't matter. This isn't something that happened ten years ago and now those same citizens and residents want out. Depression era was the opposite of present day North Fulton. There weren't even 7,000 people in Milton county back then! Nearly everyone involved with Milton joining Fulton is now dead or pretty close to it. Even if a significant portion remained, they would be hugely outnumbered by the amount of transplants and descendants of transplants. Seriously we're talking what, 99% of present day north Fulton residents that had nothing to do with Fulton's help. If Milton county had remained and really just sucked for the past 80 years, the well off families there today would've just chosen somewhere else to live like Cobb or Gwinnett. 80 years have passed and the dissolution is really irrelevant.

[Sualpine]

In 1898, New York City consolidated and created 5 boroughs from the surrounding towns and areas.

117 years later, Atlanta is still trying to split itself apart.

We are so far backwards its not even funny.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

I've heard this before and my response is that that area is so completely different now with very few remaining families that this really doesn't matter. This isn't something that happened ten years ago and now those same citizens and residents want out. Depression era was the opposite of present day North Fulton. There weren't even 7,000 people in Milton county back then! Nearly everyone involved with Milton joining Fulton is now dead or pretty close to it. Even if a significant portion remained, they would be hugely outnumbered by the amount of transplants and descendants of transplants. Seriously we're talking what, 99% of present day north Fulton residents that had nothing to do with Fulton's help. If Milton county had remained and really just sucked for the past 80 years, the well off families there today would've just chosen somewhere else to live like Cobb or Gwinnett. 80 years have passed and the dissolution is really irrelevant.

I understand that as to individuals, but it takes a long time to achieve institutional balance. For example, we can't say, "To heck with the Native Americans, none of us were around when they were driven out of Georgia."

[John Williams]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

Race is not the motivation in the desire to split, it is the incompetence.

Fulton County gov just sucks. Any effort to reform the county government, the "everything comes back to race" folks start screaming. People are too afraid to have a logical discussion about well run government then nothing happens. The race obsessed crowd does nothing but hold everyone back as their only interest is the color of a person's skin, not well run government. This only benefits the incumbents and their cronies.

If people would work together with the primary interest being a well run government, we wouldn't have a strong movement to branch off into another county. I look forward to the emotion filled race obsessed crowd dying out along with their emotion filled friends, "The Racists". Don't expect much progress in this realm until then.

There's an underlying belief among many people that a majority-black government or even a government prominently led by a black person is naturally bound to be corrupt, all because their natural character is often believed to be corrupt.

It's a bit of long-standing propaganda initially crafted in the antebellum days to convince people that letting the chattel govern itself would be a bad idea. It's a belief that still sticks with some people, especially when it comes to majority-black governance. Unfortunately, genuine concerns about corruption often get backburnered thanks to concerns that the "corruption" angle is just a ruse to neutralize and purge majority-black governments.

Who's to say that the newly-minted Milton County government won't be as corrupt (or even more so) than Fulton County supposedly is? I could point to Cobb County and the antics of Tim Lee, especially when it comes to the Braves stadium (and I still believe that's a complete disaster in the making).

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Thanks for touching on my previous question. Who in the state would give up their county status willingly? These tiny counties you mention, I'm sure the county government itself is probably the largest employer. I could see that it would be better on the state budget to decrease the amount of small counties like this, but I sure don't see any locals clamoring to dissolve the counties they have.

I agree about giving the cities more power. There is such a small part of the overall county that is unincorporated, Fulton County as a municipal service provider could be put to bed forever. So what is left that is run by the county that the Northern half would want to divorce over? Again, I see the county-wide school system. Again, I make the case that if the state gave an exception that there be two separate systems in this county, a North Fulton School district and a South Fulton.... or if South Fulton Schools consolidated with the city of Atlanta Schools.... I guarantee you the call for Milton would fade away.

The "North Fulton School district" seems like an interesting idea. It'll give taxpayers in that area another aspect of their government they can locally control, which seems to be the real issue. It's also a good reason why consolidating low-pop counties in other parts of Georgia just to maintain equilibrium as wealthier counties in the ATL metro split apart like so many hydrogen atoms won't fly - I'm sure most folks outside of ATL won't stand for it.