all politics be local...

Five years ago, almost 6 I bought my 2nd home in wonderful, exciting Grant Park/East Atlanta. I drove by this house enough times until I was certain this was the one I wanted.

But, I missed a very important detail..One that would haunt me for years to come.

I looked at the 'city street' beside my new home, and thought to myself " well, it's not paved, just gravel. But that means there wont be any 'speeders' whizzing by my house, and no one could sneakup on me. How bad could it get?

Well, for starters, there's the red dust. Georgia at this elevation is mostly red clay underneath the topsoil. So, after continued use, the gravel gets moved around and patches on red clay mix in with the dirt and on hot, Southern daze it turns into a cloud every time a sizable car or truck goes by the house.

Then, there are 'ruts' that occur every solid rain. During 'Katrina', the road washed out so many times, other cars began getting stuck in the ruts and knocking on my door for help. That's real nice when your cooking dinner and you look out your kitchen window and see some poor bastard bust his axle because he couldn't see the canyons, or was going too fast...

Then it's always a plus when the road washes out so bad the garbage truck can't get up it. It doesn't happen often, to be fair, but it happens.

This small rut is timid compared to some of the chasms I've seen in the past. But it is early in the 'season'.

1 year in, I started making calls to local 'represenatives' to try to resolve the issue. I called my councilwoman. I wrote a letter to the director of road services. I wrote the Mayor. Nothing.

The Mayor had trumpeted her 'pothole posse' early in her career. She also took a pay cut, and I admit, after decades of corrupt 'Good Ol Bro' Mayors I thought she might work out okay. Of course, now she is involved in her own scandals and will most likely leave the office the same way her predecessor did. I have that number on speed dial.

A couple years ago it reached a peak when a road crew arrived and began paving the road at the top of the gradient. This required wifey and I to enter the 'city road' on the downside instead of coming from the top, where the road machines were parked. This was also where the road 'washes' out. So after a couple days and about 100 ft of paving, the crew starts packing up!

I ask the foreman " Whassup? Are you not going to finish paving the street?" to which he repsonded " it's on the schedule: we will be back ro finish this road." That was years ago.

So the drill is, everytime you see a tornado warning on TV for ATL, my road is washing out. I then call repeatedly to the 'posse' and after a week or 2, they send in the clowns.


The road crew shows up, pours more gravel on the road, spreads it out, and waits for it to wash away again, which it will and the gravel runs right down into the city sewer. I'm guessing the $$$ they make on sending out the 'posse' everytime it rains ( when they can )is more then if they just paved the damn 400ft of 'city street' that they promised to do but did not.




Oh yeah, and my property taxes are about to jump. And people wonder why the suburbs keep cutting off from the City of Atlanta, and take thier %% with them. I should have gotten out when I could!


No, I had to be 'cool'. Live in the 'city'. Be a downtowner, and urban pioneer. What an idiot I am.