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Health & Fitness

The Cobb Braves – Yes, No, or Compromise

YES.  There are a number of reasons that the move of the Atlanta Braves might succeed. The rich and powerful generally get their way. It happened when the Braves left Boston for Milwaukee, and when they left Milwaukee for Atlanta. It will happen again when the Braves leave Cobb. Baseball ownership knows that when the discussion is about spending hundreds of millions of dollars, every greedy Cobb capitalist, small and large, starts salivating and wondering how they can get some of that money. Braves ownership just has to be patient as the wheels of Brave progress are greased by every member of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.  With an uninformed public, thanks to the Cobb Braves biggest booster The Marietta Daily Journal, an organized informed response to Cobb Braves invasion won’t be easy.

NO.  Logic is exclusively on the side of the anti-Brave forces. Cobb can’t keep its libraries open, its buses running on Sundays, schools open, and teachers employed but it can find $300 million almost overnight for a baseball team. Cobb’s county commissioners decided a referendum would take too long and might not succeed, so they will have a rush vote just weeks after announcing the potential Cobb Braves move. The excitement of the Braves coming to Cobb is starting to wear off. The whole notion doesn’t pass the smell test and it is getting smellier by the day. Opposition to the Braves is starting to form and many groups with historically little in common are asking for a delay in voting, so Cobb citizens can look at the fine print. Transportation is impossible in Cobb County and the Braves will only make it worse. The Tea Party was wrong to oppose the Transportation- Splost (where is that Plan B?) but they and many of their like-minded friends are right in opposing the Braves.

COMPROMISE.  The Braves know they have a limited window of opportunity to get started. An insurance policy against delay would be very attractive. The Braves know that the opposition to any move to Cobb County is growing and might be willing to listen to a little compromise. The anti-Brave forces aren’t used to winning and aren’t used to compromising but this might be the right time to sit down and think about the possibility of a win-win situation. The Tea people should put aside their inflexible fantasy’s as they sit in a room with other non-Tea Party anti-Brave citizens and discuss options. What is the one most important thing in Cobb County? Our public school system, it brings in business, residential development, and is the primary reason for strong house values. I would not encourage the Braves to come to Cobb County for any reason. The result will be a mess. The only way most Cobb citizens would put up with the mess would be if they got a better school system as part of the deal.

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If the county leadership can quickly put together a very large, financially creative plan to bring the Braves to Cobb, fixing our school system should be a quick easy fix. Our school system is underfunded. The solutions are easy.  Means test the senior school tax exemption. It is also known as the poor little old widow woman on a fixed income exemption.  This will take the exemption away from Senator Johnny Isakson, State Representative Sharon Cooper, and school board member David Banks and a lot of undeserving rich folks. Then make the little old widow woman on a fixed income property tax exemption larger. Rich folks will still be rich and little old widow women will get more help. This should generate $30-$50 million more for Cobb schools. Increase property taxes a little also. We will surely need it for transportation improvements and funding a world class public school system. Give the Cobb Legislative caucus a couple seats behind the dugout to make up for any hurt feelings.

YOU CAN’T DO THAT. The school board doesn’t communicate with the county commission or our elected representatives. Also, the school board doesn’t raise taxes it is done by the state legislature and school board members can’t tell the legislature what to do. This is obfuscation and plausible deniability by our elected officials which provides them with cover for doing or not doing their job. If Bob Ott is looking at losing his next election because voters are angry about this giveaway to the Braves, he might consider pulling out his phonebook and looking up Rep. Cooper’s phone number. Rep. Stacey Evans represents part of Bob Ott’s district and would probably like to get a call about improving public education. Senators Judson Hill and Hunter Hill like the prize that Cobb stole from the Democrats in Atlanta and definitely don’t want to return it. They are all in the same political party (except Rep. Evans) and if they want to be re-elected with a minimum of fuss, they should support an education compromise.

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