Date: Tuesday, January 9

What: Town Hall Meeting

Where: Ron Anderson Recreation Center, 3820 Macedonia Road, Powder Springs

Time: 6:30 p.m.

MARIETTA - County Chairman Mike Boyce and Commissioner Bob Weatherford spent Friday and Monday making a sales pitch to the Cobb Legislative Delegation for a new tax to pay for public safety costs. "Quality is not cheap," Boyce said. "I just don't think that you can cheapen public safety." The proposal would raise the county's sales tax from 6 to 7 cents if passed in a November 2018 referendum. A chunk of the money from the additional 1 percent sales tax would be placed in a restricted fund to pay for public safety, freeing up the county's general fund to pay for other things, such as the county's anticipated $30 million budget shortfall.

Read Here

click here

.  If you have questions, please call 770-528-5355 or email 

[email protected]

.

Chairman Mike Boyce will host town hall meetings to discuss implementation of memberships and fees:

Join us to celebrate the ribbon cutting ceremony for Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center 2 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 9. This unique facility offers space for people of all ages to develop and practice artistic skills and a full slate of activities is planned. Along with regular library events for children and adults, programs scheduled for Sewell Mill include free musical performances, writers group meetings, photography classes and screenings of classic films. 

This 28,000-square-foot facility includes unique children and teen spaces, study rooms, recording studios, a conference room, a digital maker space commons, a community room, an art gallery and art classrooms, an outdoor amphitheater and a black box theater. 

Click here to view the library's upcoming events.

Constructed at 2051 Lower Roswell Road on the site of the former East Marietta Library inside Sewell Park, the Sewell Mill center is a joint use facility of the Cobb County Public Library System and Cobb County PARKS. Funding for the facility includes $8.6 million from the 2016 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and $2 million from the Georgia Board of Regents. 

For more information, call 770-509-2711.

Upcoming Events 

in 

Georgia State Senate District 33

Jan. 3 - Board of Commissioner's agenda prep. 9 a.m. Third floor conference room, 100 Cherokee St., Marietta.

Jan. 4 - Auditions for entertainment at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration. 6 p.m. Jennie T. Anderson Theatre, Cobb Civic Center, 548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta. To secure audition slot, call the Cobb NAACP at 770-425-5757 or Cobb County at 770-528-8490.

Welcome Newly  Elected Leaders

in 

State Senate District 33!

New Marietta City Council 

Joseph Goldstein / Cheryl Richardson/ Reggie Copeland

Thank you for your service

Phillip Goldstein Marietta City Council

Thank you for your service Jeriene Bonner / Marietta School Board

Angela Orange Marietta City School Board

Jen Jordan Georgia State Senate

Nikema Williams Georgia State Senate

Maryline Blackburn 

First Black City Council Person 

in the 

history of Smyrna, GA

Henry Lust Powder Springs City Council

Marlin Lamar Austell City Council

It's Almost Better Than The News Paper.

Dear Editor of Marietta Daily Journal:

As 2017 closes and 2018 begins it is imperative that all resources be focused on the South Cobb community. For clarification the South Cobb community I am speaking of is the attendance zone feeder pattern for South Cobb High School and Pebblebrook High School. The south Cobb area has an alarming high rate of children living in poverty.

*All schools that is in the attendance zone for South Cobb High School and Pebblebrook High School are title 1.  The definition of a title 1 school is when a school have a rate over 45 percent of children enrolled at the school who receive free or reduced lunch.

*Riverside Primary  and  Riverside Intermediate have a 90 percent free and reduced lunch rate.

*Lindley Middle School has a 85 percent free and reduce lunch rate. Garrett Middle School has a 80 percent free and reduced lunch rate.

*The number of children that reside in the south Cobb community who receive SNAP, WIC, Medicaid which are government assistance programs is at 70 percent.

*The 30168 zip code, residents who are renters  outnumber homeowners at a rate of 51 percent.  *Overall in the south Cobb community the rate is 40 percent renter occupied homes.

* Renters pay more than 40 percent of their income on rent.

* Cobb County  magistrate court has seen an uptick of evictions, with some days seeing over 100 cases.

*

*Transient rates for Pebblebrook High School and South Cobb High School attendance zone fluctuates between 25 to 35 percent in the last 3 years.

*Transient rates also play a significant role in  (CCRPI)college and career readiness performance index scores. South Cobb and Pebblebrook scores both are in the 65 -68 percent range. Compared to other high schools in North and West Cobb communities who have less than 10 percent transient rates their  CCRPI scores are 90 percent.

United Way  of Atlanta just released their 2017 report giving a score for counties Titled "pathway to child well being" . Overall Cobb County  received a score of 68 percent. Some factors that were used to calculate the score were housing stability, children exceeding standardized tests reading scores, unemployment rate, CCRPI score, percentage of adults without healthcare insurance.  United Way of Atlanta provided a color coded map of the metro Atlanta area shade dark green  being communities where the children are well and orange and red shaded being  the lowest performing communities. The areas for concern shaded orange and red were the south Cobb area and central Marietta by 75. The high performing areas were North, West Cobb and Smyrna. United Way of Atlanta has launched a ten year plan to move communities to green.

The south Cobb community is full of potential with dedicated community groups,stakeholders, elected officials whose number 1 priority should be to make sure our children are ok.  There is a sense of urgency for all elected officials, government agencies, non profits that are in Cobb County to present a unified ten year strategic plan to move the south Cobb community forward.  More funding for early childhood programs should be at the top of the plan. The plan should include pathways for support wage earners to acquire homeownership. The plan should emphasize the importance building strong families. Most importantly, the plan should also incorporate emphasis on including everyone to become civically engaged in their community regardless of age, race and income status. We must do all we can to make sure all children have an opportunity to thrive and have a community to call home in their adult years.  A county as a whole can only be as strong as their weakest link. 2018 let's go

Monica DeLancy

Austell

Greetings Happy New Year,

We Thrive in Riverside Renters Association is a neighborhood advocacy group comprised of residents who are Renters who reside in the Austell/ Riverside Community.  We have been in existence since 2010 formerly as We Thrive on The Drive. The goal of  We Thrive in Riverside Renters Association is to encourage Renters to become more involved in civic engagement activities. Renters make up the 51 percent of the residents who reside in the 30168 zip code. 

There are 14 defined apartment complexes/ mobile park home in the Riverside Schools attendance zone and 22 in Pebblebrook High School attendance zone. Our goal this year was the eviction crisis affecting residents who are renters. In addition our flagship event is national night out against crime and this year we partnered with Cobb County Public Safety department. We meet quarterly and host 4 events a year. In 2018 we will host a neighborhood general assembly to connect neighborhoods in 30126, 30106, 30168 together. The community ambassador team will be working on that project. Everyone can be a member and you do not have to be a renter to join. 

Please direct all inquiries to Monica DeLancy 7703696531, [email protected]. Thank you

Our Bodies, Our Rights

Join Cobb Democratic Women for a conversation 

with

Come hear about the work of Planned Parenthood
and women's health rights that may be in jeopardy on the state and federal level.

Special Guest -State Senator Nikema Williams D-SS#39 
Vice-Chair, Democratic Party of Georgia

Are you ready to turn the clock back
on our rights?  
No?

Don't miss this meeting!

Thursday, January 11, 2017

Golden Corral

3845 Austell Road

Austell, GA 30008

Dinner 6 p.m.  Meeting 7 p.m.

www.ccae.co

Website

This year, we documented the success we had in 2016 with the Latino vote in Georgia. There's a lot to be proud of and you can read more below!

Report is linked here!