Posted Nov 4, 2018, 4:22 PM
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In the Deep South, residents of an upscale suburb fight to secede from their neighbors
In the Deep South, residents of an upscale suburb fight to secede from their neighbors - Los Angeles Times
Quote:
When Vikki Consiglio exits her subdivision next to the Eagle’s Landing Country Club, leaving behind a neighborhood of neatly manicured lawns, circular driveways and golf fairways, she cannot help feeling a wave of disappointment
“I see the Waffle Houses and the McDonald’s, the Walmart and the dollar stores,” she said. “I’m thinking, ‘Is this all I can have?’ There’s no fresh farm-to-table, no parks, no entertainment.”
In what she says is a bid to attract more upscale amenities to this rapidly developing suburb about 20 miles southeast of downtown Atlanta, Consiglio has come up with a controversial plan: to form a new city, Eagle’s Landing, by combining unincorporated pockets of the county with the most affluent parts of the existing city of Stockbridge...
...Backers of Eagle’s Landing counter that their aim is nothing more than to lure new fine dining and retail to a freshly coined community with a median household income of about $128,000 — more than double that of Stockbridge. Imagine, they tell their neighbors, a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe’s, a California Pizza Kitchen or a Capital Grille.
They also push strongly against accusations that they are seeking racial separation, pointing out that whites will hardly control Eagle’s Landing. The proposed city, population 17,000, would be 47% black, 39% white, 8% Asian and 6% Hispanic.
“I don’t look at this as a black or white issue; I look at it as an issue that would benefit all,” said Charles Marshall, an African American resident of the Eagle’s Landing subdivision who supports the creation of a new city. With minority residents the majority, the 68-year-old district manager of an automotive company said he was confident of a diverse council board...
...While Consiglio, who lives in unincorporated Henry County, complains Stockbridge’s leaders have failed to provide basic services and let down high-end neighborhoods with poor city planning, she says her push for cityhood is less about Stockbridge than giving the area an economic jolt.
“If we have a city, we can control our destiny and control what comes in and what it looks like,” she said. “We felt we didn’t have that. We wanted an economic boost for our area...”
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