The First Public Meeting

On a cold February night, an overwhelming crowd filled the community room in what is now city hall. The doors and windows were opened so the overflowing crowd who could not fit inside could push against the open space to hear what was being said. 

We introduced the team leaders who had been having coffee talks with their respective groups organized by amount of land owned. We shared their phone numbers to develop a network of neighbors talking with neighbors. 

We shared that the recent grant to the Chattahoochee Hill Country Alliance would allow us to schedule a series of public meetings.  We introduced Shannon Kettering from ECOS who would lead the public effort.  Robert Reed of Village Habitat, the group providing research assistance to ECOS, presented some facts on what the area’s fait might be if we followed the the pattern of growth that had occurred in the past two decades in the 17 county Metro Atlanta area.  We were happy to announce that Fulton County would be a partner in the public meetings and we introduced Steve Cover, Director of The Fulton County Office of Environment and Community Affairs.   

We had awakened a community.  The process had begun. The success of the turnout was inspiring and daunting at the same time when we considered the reality of the responsibility our group now had to make something happen.  At our coffee talk gatherings and front porch chats, we talked about the need to have a voice in the future rezoning of the area.  The door was now open to do just that.