This, my friends, is a true story.
THIS IS NOT AN INDICTMENT.
I am only advancing my observations that some people who prefer to "Party" in the "Progressive Enclave" choose to remove their family's "Skin From The Game", instead opting to rest their heads where dance clubs are frowned upon by local zoning laws.
Yesterday I was driving to work. The time was a bit after 8am.
As I drove north on Hwy 85 through Fayette County Georgia I saw the SUV from "Club Ritz II". This is a popular Black night club on Old National.
By the time I pulled out my camera phone and post an entry on this "bit" - another car had pulled in front of me, the light changed - and this person decided to stop at the yellow light instead of zooming through. The light had changed and the "Club Ritz II" SUV had disappeared from my sight. I had a meeting to go to and thus was not able to chase him down.
On the way home that same evening I drove home via Old National Highway in order to snap the picture of the SUV in front of the club. I did not realize that the vehicle would be registered in Fayette County - the "Republican/Conservative controlled county" that neighbors Clayton County - where the club is located.
Again THIS IS NOT AN INDICTMENT on the club owner. He had a choice of where to live. He chose Fayette County - like so many other Black people who exit the Democratic Controlled utopias to the north - yet do all that they can to change their new locale by voting for the very same policies that triggered their exodus.
- There are no dance clubs in the city of Fayetteville (Fayette County has some)
- There are no liquor stores allowed in Fayetteville
- The Black Residents in Fayette County have a higher average income than do the White residents. This is because of the larger population of Whites who also have a wider spread of incomes thus bringing down their average. The Black residents are a concentrated set of Upper Middle Class Blacks who have the option on where they want to live.
- There are many Black Business owners and a few well known Black celebrities that live in Fayette
Once again - I welcome all who seek to maintain high standards in our community. I only ask that you consider the contradiction between your preferred environment within which to raise your children versus your political policy preferences and note the fact that where it is dominate - YOU chose to depart.
4 comments:
As usual, you can't see the forest from the trees. The differences between Fayette and South Fulton/Clayton have little to nothing to do with the political party of the local politicians, or the way the local populace votes at the national level.
In fact, it could be argued that Fayette has done better over the years partly because of liberal, progressive local politics. While every elected official in the county is staunchly "republican" on the ballot, nearly all of them act and vote like uber-lefties on the local level. Fayette over-funds its public schools (higher taxes, non-state subsidized fine art programs, etc.) Does that sound like a Republican idea?
Fayette officials embrace paternalistic big-government local controls, like strict sign/zoning ordinances, well-funded code enforcement, bans on certain types of businesses (like nightclubs, liquor stores, sex shops, etc.). Again, is that conservative?
In Peachtree City especially, you have a huge amount of taxpayer funded recreation facilities and road beautification sites. You have relatively high taxes and extremely strict greenspace enforcement.
Go ahead and stop me when I get to something happening here locally that sounds even remotely conservative...
"Republicans" like Ken Steele and Jack Smith hold big leadership positions in the Georgia Municipal Association and the Atlanta Regional Commission, where they lobby heavily and successfully for a wider slice of the federal and state pie.
I happen to know Fayetteville Mayor Ken Steele personally. Guess who he supported financially in the Atlanta mayoral race? Lisa Borders. Once it came down to Reed and Norwood, Steele supported Reed.
So, the question is, why do these the Fayette folks vote Republican at the national level when their local officials are RINOs? Well, there are a few reasons that I can think of: They don't want state or federal interference, they enjoy the status quo, they understand that the Republican party that best represents their (wealthy) interests, they're mostly white and mostly wealthy, the blacks next door vote democrat and there's class/race warfare going on in the voting booth...
The reason places like Riverdale and Old National are blighted is because of the conservatives that used to run the show in those places who up and left when the blacks moved in. Back then, conservative local governments were run by white "democrats" (all of whom are Republican in Georgia now). Old National used to be as white or whiter than Fayetteville. Same with Riverdale. They were considered fancy and fine communities once upon a time. When the conservative local government policies failed there, they picked up shop, moved to Fayette, and embraced progressive policies on the local level.
You're not worth having a conversation with if you really think the difference between Riverdale and Fayetteville has anything whatsoever to do with whether elephants or donkeys are winning the local ballot boxes.
Dig you head out of the sand and get past your false cause and effect.
Anon:
YOU are the one who are proving my point for me.
I DEFINE MYSELF as a "Black Conservative Independent". I tell people that Conservatives don't support "No/Reduced Government" I/we support LOCALIZED GOVERNANCE.
Thus you are singing my tune when you tell me that the leadership in Fayetteville:
1) Is funding OUR schools. I have voted for the various SPLOSTs on the ballot
2) Strict Zoning - OF COURSE!!! Retain the environment that YOU want. Don't allow external forces to dictate to you OR take your money in taxes
3) Limiting Liquor Stores, etc - YES!! Drive next door to do your vices. Keep the property values up
4) Greenspace Enforcement - Do you know the PARKS that we have? WE Paid for them
I think that you are operating with a particular bias about what you figure "conservatism" is.
The point is that it was the small local gov't, low-tax, low-regulation environment that blighted places like Old National. Once the white conservative crowd saw the errors of their ways, they moved (white flight) and adopted liberal, progressive approaches to local governance.
On a state and national level, the conservatives are bent on maintaining the chasm between places like Fayetteville and College Park.
Anon:
You are arguing with false/fake premises and thus your conclusions are flawed.
Let's talk about Fulton, College Park, Clayton County over these past 15 years.
While you are able to articulate what drove the "White Flight" - WHY don't you talk about what was driving the "WAOK" crowd to advocate for the take over of Clayton County, Riverdale, College Park, etc? (Derrick Boazman, Coz Carson, Lorraine White, Rev Timothy McDonald, etc).
WHY is it that you feel more comfortable talking about the agenda of the "White Folks" while acting as if the "Black Folks" that now control these places in question were merely "forced" to step up by necessity?
Instead - the truth is that there has always been a fight over RESOURCES. I was a loyal WAOK listener as Clayton County changed. My business used to be a member of the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce. It is true that they had a good connection with the state and federal governments - sending money their way.
The WAOK crowd noted that this money for Clayton was being channeled into the area around Clayton State College. Their goal was to use their majority to take over this allocation.
Anon - (while I do credit Riverdale for stabilizing recently) Do you think that this machine that has taken over Clayton has done a good job at representing the people's interests? (Property values, crime, academics?)
In summary - these county borders are not just "dams" between prosperity and poverty. It is ALSO an opportunity to allow a particular community to promote THEIR OWN policy agenda.
YOU need to get people to CONSIDER THE PEOPLE THEY ELECT AND THE EFFICACY OF THE POLICIES THAT COME WITH THEM.
Clearly the "Black Flight Progressives" prefer living in Fayette.
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