South Cobb Can Do Better and As District 4 Commissioner, We Will

When my family and I moved to Cobb County in the 1990’s, we settled in Marietta because my husband had been transferred from Lockheed Space Center to Lockheed Marietta.

I was always a “hands-on” parent as I made sure my children got the best education possible at Marietta High School. I knew each teacher personally, met frequently with them, and attended PTA’s and other events that impacted their education. After graduating with honors from Marietta, I guided my children to receive their college education and degrees from Vanderbilt University.

Once they went off to college, I became an "empty nester". I had done the important work as a parent, educating my children. I was now in a position where I could go anywhere and live any where I wanted. Because of the promises that were being made that this community was on the verge of emerging into a great community, I chose South Cobb. Those promises included great economic development, quality housing, fine dining, and more that would complement the areas easy access to interstates, downtown, and the airport. I came to Mableton, found a neighborhood, built my current home, and waited for the promises that were made to be promises that were kept.

After investing in South Cobb, I quickly found out that things were not quite as they seemed or were promised by the Livable Communities Study. Within a short period of time, my neighbors and I discovered that a waste station was illegally bringing in waste into our community and were now seeking a legal permit from the County to bring in 150 tons each year. Not only were they operating illegally - within a few hundred feet from the back gate of our community - they were also operating their noxious business withing a few feet of the Chattahoochee River.

I did not look around and ask others what to do. Instead, I tapped into my local, state, and federal government experiences and went to work to challenge this company and Cobb County. I mobilized the community and working together, we were able to shut this company’s illegal operations down and stop it from becoming a permanent member of our community. After winning that fight for our community, I could have left, chosen to get out, but I chose to stay to fight for what was promised to me and others who call this area home.

I joined MIC as a Board Member, became involved in zoning matters, and advocated for better businesses to be located in the area. When K-Mart announced that it would be closing its location at the corner of Veterans and Mableton Parkway, I urged our elected officials to bring something else to that location. My pleas were ignored and the empty building continues to sit dormant after several years. Its only usage now is for Amazon to park their trucks there and the homeless to seek shelter during inclement weather. Our community can do better and with me as your Commissioner, I promise you we will. I will seek to turn that building into a community resource facility with areas designated for Seniors, Youth, and our Veterans.

Magnolia Crossing is another area that begs for attention but has been ignored. It is a developers dream - 50 acres of prime real estate with a wonderful view of the skyline of the City of Atlanta and minutes from the interstate, yet after five years, it’s only purpose is to serve as an area for waist high weeds to freely grow. Our community can do better than this and with me as your Commissioner, we will. I promise you that the County will form a public private partnership with a quality developer and together, we will transform this area once and for all.

Several months ago, I called for a Public Safety Summit in our community, but it was cancelled due to the Coronavirus. I called for this action because of increased crime in the area, especially near Riverside Parkway. We cannot have positive changes occurring in our community if we do not deal with this quality of life issue. If you do not think crime is bad, ask the people at Waffle House why they chose to close their business and board up their building instead of continuing to operate in our community. When contacted, executives from the company advised us that it was crime that drove them out of the area. Upon hearing their response, I had to ask myself “how bad does an area have to be when a Waffle House would rather close its doors instead of staying in our community?” This simply does not happen in other communities, but it happened here in South Cobb. As your Commissioner, we will clean up this area once and for all and reduce and eliminate the crime that has driven out businesses and blocked the emergence of new development in the area.

I will work with fellow Commissioners and Public Safety to have a mini precinct established in this area to allow quality policing to occur. I will work to identify quality affordable housing for police officers to live in the community where they patrol. This will build trust, develop partnerships, and create a sense of community for all. The good folks at Waffle House have also expressed interest in returning to the area to serve the community, as they should.

All these things and more are possible and as your Commissioner, I pledge to be the change agent our community needs that will allow the “promises made to our community to be promises that are kept”.

Transforming our community in a positive manner is possible and upon being elected your Commissioner, I will go to work on day one.

I stated my story out talking about the illegal waste station that I led the efforts to shut down. In its place, we have quality economic development occurring in the form of housing, a coffee shop, a restaurant and more located on Riverview Road - near the banks of the Chattahoochee River. We also have a new park that is being constructed on Discovery Boulevard. Each of these provides a wonderful place for families to visit and enjoy instead of serving as a dumping ground for household waste.

I will be a "hands-on" Commissioner and ensure that our community receives the best. We can do better and as your Commissioner for District 4, I promise you, we will!

#Shelia 4District4