Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Comment Card CC - 11/06/2017 - GENERALHOME OF ' h-:= - ITY OF I IFF IN GFORC-W Irl I LTO Nl*t- frSl'ARL1511ED 200ti PUBLIC COMMENT CARD (Please print & fill in completely Instructions: 1. Complete this card in its entirety (DO NOT leave anything blank) 2. Give the card to the City Clerk BEFORE THE COUNCIL MEETING BEGINS. 3. When your name is called, approach the podium and speak directly into the microphone and state your name and address. Please complete the following information: z I would like to make a General Comment that does NOT pertain to an Agenda Item or Zoning Case. (Skip to Today's Date) I I would like to speak about an Agenda Item or Zoning Case. "*(Please indicate Agenda Item No. belox)** Agenda Item No. : Zoning Case No. : TODAY'S DATE: d 1/, �. II v v wm6p� NAME: �144Ct4 �/salWe-73 ADDRESS: J�IL16 PHONE: 0,O -ems( -lg7j� Please check ALL that apply: I am in SUPPORT of this Agenda Item I am in OPPOSITION of this Agenda Item �I am a Milton resident ❑ 1 am a Milton business owner ❑ 1 am a local lobbyist duly registered with the State Ethics Commission am a paid representative of either the support or opposition I am affiliated with a Group or Neighborhood*** Name of Group/Neighborhood ***(complete attached form) ***You are required to fill out the attached Affidavit before speaking on behalf of the group you are representing. ❑ I want to speak about this Agenda Item ❑ 1 DO NOT want to speak but I would like the following comments read into the record: (Please use the back of this card for additional writing space.) **Please read the following RULES regarding Public Comment: • Public Comment is allowed on an Agenda Item or a General Public Comment can be made about something that is not on the Agenda. • NO Public Comment is allowed regarding Consent Agenda Items or First Presentation Items. • All General Public Comments are allowed a total of five minutes. • ALL Public Comments in SUPPORT of an Agenda Item are allowed a TOTAL of ten minutes. This means that ALL people who wish to speak in SUPPORT have a total of ten minutes as a -group. • ALL Public Comments in OPPOSITION of an Agenda Item are allowed a TOTAL of ten minutes. This means that ALL people who wish to speak in OPPOSITION have a total of ten minutes as a group. If you have made any campaign contributions to a Councilmember aggregating $250.00 or more, please check "yes" or "no" : ❑Yes ❑ No. When you have completed this card, please give it to the CITY CLERK before the meeting begins. Please see the CITY CLERK if you have any questions regarding this Public Comment Card. TnTTF-UrU—rA, MMIM 7=,Mj THE FIRST POINT Bill Lusk's use of emails to invite people in the Memorial Day Marker program to share some BBQ at a Meet & Greet. To be clear, 290 email addresses in the City's database were used. For this, the City sent out 2 email notifications to more the 4 thousand residents. The City's response had a 20-1 ratio. Twenty people were notified for every 1 email address Bill used'. I personally felt the ity's reaction was over -the -top. MEMO] Bill Lusk created the Fallen Veterans Markers program in 2007. He spent his personal funds and hundreds of hours making memorial markers, which today number around 7011, placed along Milton's roads on Memorial Day and Veterans Day. He organized and manages the Memorial Day ceremony. His sense of duty in honoring our veterans is x ,rnm grateful for his own service in Vietnam and to our Milton community in helping remember [hose who served this country. Recently an anonymous Facebook page called "We Call Milton Home" held a raffle, offering $30 dollar gift certificates to a local pizza restaurant. The drawing was for residents who posted photos with the I voted" stickers together with signs for one of the 3 candidates they endorsed. Several people questioned the legality of the raffle. "Is this legal?" "Wasn't this buying votes?" 1111111111T 1 1111 11 11111! � � I I R I I reassured us, "Nothing illegal with this." Another response came, "This is most definitely illegal bribery." Then someone gave the actual Georgia Code violated (21-2-570) and pointed out this act Two of the 3 candidates, endorsed by "We Call Milton Home," have remained silent. So far there has been nothing in the print media concerning the felony charge. The point here is that a felony goes largely unnoticed but supposed misuse of emails gets broad coverage. I o the informed, running in an election in Milton is definitely NOT running on a level playing field. Very often the facts on issues and/or circumstances are often skewed the citizens are the losers simply because they are unaware of being manipulated. That why anonymous Fabebook pages or anonymous sources must be exposed. i ZEBI= The Milton Coalition, which now identify itself as just one guy who is under investigatioA by the State Ethics Commission, the Coalition, which professes to be for Clean, Competent, Transparent and Courageous government; the Coalition, which endorsed t Facebook page "We Call Milton Home," is ALSO now very curiously silent on the felony charge and the blatant attempt to influence this election. (I Jill III , I !IN -30ITIT, . r. .11 1 Fill 111,11iliplimm= the felony charge. It's important to the integrity of our elections that it be pursued to the fullest extent of the law. 1,. 1 " ,,., � 71,01369110M -am P-3701 111 111711 1 PPIOIIIMIIIIIIIIII�ill�iiiiiiiiiiI JIJ1111;1111111 IIIIJIIIJII��111111111111111 I !111IJII�qji 11111111 111011,11MIT 0 •I Facebook page offered gift cards for support of Milton candidates Mitchell Northam - The Atlanta Journal -Constitution 3:56 p.m Friday, Nov. 3, 2017 Fled In Neighborhoods A Facebook page called "We Call Milton Home" caused some raised eyebrows this week when it offered gift cards to residents who showed support to candidates in an upcoming election. The post has since been deleted, but appeared on the site on Tuesday. The page calls itself a place for discussion on "all things Milton" and has more than 3,000 followers. The post read: "Here is your chance to win a $30 gift card to Milton resident owned Campania Restaurant at 800 North Main St. We will give away 9 gift cards, 3 each day left in early voting for Milton City Council. Take a picture of yourself with an I voted sticker and with a (Laura) Bentley, (Peyton) Jamison or (Joe) Lockwood campaign sign, post it to your Facebook page and email us the picture to wecallmiltonhome@gmail.com. If your picture has all three campaign signs you will get 3 entries to win. Pictures taken with actual candidates get double entries and if you have voted early already you can still be entered in to win by posting your pictures. 3 gift cards will be awarded Wednesday. 3 Thursday and 3 Friday- Your reward could be a great lunch or dinner at a great restaurant. Get out and vote!" The Official Code of Georgia — Title 21, Chapter 2, Article 15 — states "Any person who gives or receives, offers to give or receive, or participates in the giving or receiving of money or gifts for the purpose of registering as a voter, voting, or voting for a particular candidate in any primary or election shall be guilty of a felony." The AJC reached out to the Facebook page, but its moderator did not respond to a request for comment. The owner of Campania, Jennifer Muller, addressed the issue on Wednesday, replying to a comment from another Facebook user. "We had nothing to do with that post nor do we support or endorse any political candidate(s)," Muller wrote. "Sadly, we cannot prohibit people from giving our gift cards away and have been totally blindsided by this action." On Thursday, the "We Call Milton Home" page posted an apology of sorts, writing that they thought the post offering gift cards was "okay" but removed the post after reading up on Georgia's election laws. It added that the page is not affiliated with any candidate for city council or mayor. "We are simple people who are passionate about the Milton City Council candidates we endorse and believe will guide Milton in a great direction over the coming years." the post read. The city's mayor. Joe Lockwood — who is seeking his fourth term this election — said he "wasn't really aware" of the post, doesn't follow the page and doesn't know who runs it, but said he hasn't seen anything like this before around an election "I don't know that I had a whole lot of reaction to (the post). I didn't really know anything about it, he said. "I certainly would not have any part of that." Lockwood faces a challenger in the mayors race this year from Dr. Laura Rencher, who has lived in the city for a decade and is the co-founder of a non-profit. "Preserve Rural Milton." "There's so many sites out there with so much sluff that sometimes, especially when you're a candidate, you got to just put your blinders on and not look at it," Lockwood said. "This is probably the first election in a long time (in Milton) where it's been contested. so I'm sure there is a lot more energy going around." The other candidates mentioned in the post are Peyton Jamison and Laura Bentley. Jamison is running unopposed for the District 1 city council chair, while Bentley is challenging incumbent Bill Lusk for the District 2 post. Lusk. 74, has been on the council since 2006. He called the post an 'unethical tactic. - 'I'm also disappointed that the three candidates who appear to be the beneficiaries of the vote buying plan have kept quiet about this illegal conduct," Lusk said in a statement. "I think the police should investigate this criminal activity. We have to protect the integrity of our elections." Ben Cunningham . @MiramarBeachMan You can't bribe people to vote your way. Your nine paragraph rant about your struggle and plight about living in north fulton is great. But the article is about violating election laws. Just because your favorite candidate did the violating, don't try to justify breaking the law talking about "intent" If you or that business wants to participate in politics it is YOUR responsibility to know how to legally. If i were to coerce people into voting for a moral issue, still doesn't make my actions justifiable. R '4 11 • MiramarBeachMan . 1 did not rant. sir. I gave facts as it relates to my and many neighbors experiences. Neighbors who are native to the area. We have not struggled personally. but to try to get roads repaved, a fire station built and staffed, more police officers on the beat was always a challenge. This is a problem of a dysfunctional democrat controlled Fulton Commission. The commissioners set the budget. Chief Chaffin would always ask for money, and he was always denied once Lomax was elected. Chief Chaffin was the Chief in 1975 when the county split from Atlanta. APD and AFD used to provide services prior to 1975. 1 have a photo of me as a child in the early 1970's standing next to an Atlanta Police car in our driveway in the northern part of Birmingham Hwy - 35 miles north of the city limits of Atlanta. They would not come north of the river unless they had a call for service. Otherwise, the Atlanta cars were always in Sandy Springs. For years the only car for the three 8 hour shifts of Fulton County Police would be the 40 car. The 32 car was always pulled, and reassigned to Sandy Springs. The NE area. now Johns Creek, would also experience the same issues. The 30 and 36 cars report for duty, but the 36 car covering the southern area would be reassigned to Sandy Springs also. This would leave only two cars north of the river. I do not contribute to campaigns where I own land, and want to build something. That's my personal choice and the ethics taught to me by my father. The City of Milton mayor and council have done an excellent job since 2006. Our money is obviously being spent in our area because there are three three times the police presence. Fulton had excellent and very capable personnel, just not enough personnel. Their major case division had some of the best detectives due to their vast experience of investigating the high crime areas of south Fulton, Sandy Springs. and Atlanta. I am well aware of the campaign law, and it's max penalty. But. I doubt a judge will sign a warrant for the arrest of any individuals associated with these incidents. The DA knows intent is involved. and to find probable cause for an arrest for this will be extremely difficult. The DA would have to approve any arrest anyway. Otherwise, you. sir, could go down to central Magistrate, and apply for a warrant application for those responsible for the Facebook page etc. • MiramarBeachMan . r What the vast majority of people who call Milton home don't know is that prior to about 1985 we had zero problems in this area known as unincorporated Fulton or as an Alpharetta zip code. Then when Michael Lomax was elected to the Fulton County Commission we were ignored. And. we were largely ignored by a Fulton Commission that can do anything without four votes. We rarely, or basically never. got four votes when it came to wanting something with a large price tag. Then farmers began selling their land, and subdivisions were built from the late 80's on. Now, hardly anyone in Milton is from here. And that's fine. But they don't know that prior to the election of Lomax. and other democrats to the Fulton Commission we were just fine. We are still just fine, in fact we are much much better off than any of the other cities in Fulton County; including the south Fulton cities. But it took creating the city in 2006 to get there. What the Milton mayor and city council need to focus on is transportation issues. If they don't want to widen roads, especially through Crabapple where my ancestors built the historical buildings. then they need to build some roundabouts, and get with the state DOT, and get GA 372 through Crabapple fixed quicker than 2019. Roundabouts move traffic much better than 4 way stops. They are all over Europe. I have been on every continent except Antarctica. and the Milton / Alpharetta / Johns Creek / north Roswell area is about the best place to raise a family. Sandy Springs used to be. but not so much anymore. I agree with a previous post about ignorance of the law being no excuse. but there is also intent. and there appears to be no intent to violate the law. The DA's Office would not touch that one. Or. would Howard do something. He hates north Fulton, and he knows he gets very few if any votes from us. If only most people knew how bad he screwed up the Ray Lewis case. • Chloecake _ i i, , M @MiramarBeachMan The intent was to influence a local election. This post just went too far but there were many more in support of these three candidates. There has been a good deal of pressure to reveal the administrators. They have steadfastly resisted revealing who they are. In a surprisingly short time this Facebook page garnered an outsized following with minimal posts. The whole effort appears orchestrated and is suspicious. It needs to be investigated. The public has a right to know who is influencing their elections especially in such a small area as their home town. • 1949 Flamingo Road - I",- �� p r And the person(s) at Milton City Hall responsible for not reporting the March 2013 murder in Avensong should be held accountable as well -- as if no one knew otherwise until that transgression was brought to their attention as well... • Chloecake - ,: i, r Afelony is a felony. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Several people questioned the legality of the Facebook post and were brushed off. Until the specific law was referenced by someone else. "We Call Milton Home" charged on. at one point raising the gift card to $50 and saying they had the support of other businesses. "Simple people" my foot. This needs to be prosecuted. :i