Norcross City Councilman
The Norcross council made many changes in 2006-2007, most of them in the city management organization, in planning for future growth, and in getting citizens involved in city operations. We view them as accomplishments, and they are listed elsewhere on this web site. But you�ll see them as �accomplishments� only if you believe they raise your own quality of life and make Norcross a better place to live.
Certainly in the cultural and entertainment arena, our citizens can enjoy several new options:
o The summer concerts in the park are very well attended, and we have added lunch-time concerts.
o Purchase of the old Methodist church property in 2006 has given us a huge community center where one can attend the Lionheart Theatre as well as classes and small meetings of various kinds. We have a room that seats 250+ for large town meetings, special events, and celebrations.
o We renovated the art center/baseball museum into a very attractive Norcross Arts Center, where members can paint and exhibit their art. The baseball artifacts are now displayed in the city hall atrium in new showcases.
o Our major events, including the British Car Show, Open Car Show, 3rd of July, Art Fest, and Tour of Homes show an increase in attendance every year.
Citizens can get involved in their government and community in many new ways. We set up the Parks & Greenspace Commission to advise the City on landscaping and management of our parks. There are several new boards staffed by citizen volunteers: Architectural Review Board, Historic Preservation Commission, a Steering Committee for the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, and a Norcross History Center to set up a city museum. There is also a new web site that makes it easy for citizens to keep informed and to request city services with a timely response.
Planning for Norcross� future is getting a lot of attention, because we must control future development in and around our city to be certain that development complements our historic area. Planning will be the subject of a future article, but you should know that city staff, citizens, the C.I.D., and county & state organizations are all working on plans that will guide development within the city and contiguous areas.
It is very important to remind you that all these improvements in Norcross� quality of life were accomplished without exceeding our conservative budgets for each year. Our financial health will also be discussed in an upcoming article, but there was no deficit spending or borrowing from our reserves for any of the 2006-2007 accomplishments. In fact, we were able to cut taxes by 0.5 mill for 2008!
