Birrell Schedules Braves Stadium Town Hall

East Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell has just announced that she is joining her fellow district commissioners in having a town hall meeting regarding the Atlanta Braves stadium deal. 

Birrell's meeting is scheduled from 4:30-6 p.m. Monday at the Mountain View Regional Library, 3320 Sandy Plains Road.

Yesterday, commissioners Bob Ott and Lisa Cupid announced Monday town hall meetings on the subject. Both will take place at 7 p.m., Ott's in the 2nd floor Board of Commissioners meeting room, 100 Cherokee Street, Marietta; Cupid's at the South Cobb Community Center, 620 Lion Club Drive, Mableton.

North Cobb Commissioner Helen Goreham's town hall tonight was scheduled in advance of the Braves-to-Cobb announcement last week, but figures to be dominated by the topic.

Goreham's meeting tonight begins at 7 p.m. at the Cobb Senior Wellness Center, 1150 Powder Springs Street, Marietta. 

Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee, who worked secretly with Braves officials for four months before revealing the plans last week, has committed $300 million from the county for the proposed $672 million stadium near Cumberland Mall. 

The commissioners are scheduled to vote on a proposed memorandum of understanding between the Braves and Cobb on Tuesday. Lee has said he would not delay a vote, nor would he have a public meeting beforehand. 

But Cobb citizens have been flooding commission phone lines with robocall-inspired messages on either side of the issue, prompting county government spokesman Robert Quigley to liken it to "a denial of service." 

According to an AJC sampling of e-mails sent to commissioners, a majority of the responses are opposed to or skeptical of the stadium deal. 

Braves president John Schuerholz told The Atlanta Business Chronicle that the team has "no Plan B" as it prepares to leave Turner Field and downtown Atlanta and begin playing in Cobb in 2017: 

“We think very positively that the vote will go in our favor. We’ve had a lot of great, positive feedback about the feelings of many, many people in Cobb County and the leadership of Cobb County.

“So we’re very optimistic. We are confident, but we are optimistic more than anything.”

The Braves Come to Cobb

• Get Your First Looks at Braves' New Stadium
• Cumberland CID Votes Itself A Tax Increase
  
• Cobb Releases Memorandum of Understanding With Braves
• Anti-Braves Stadium Website, Petition Created
• Braves-to-Cobb Draws National Headlines
• Cobb DOT Prepares for Braves' Relocation
• Ott Undecided on Braves Stadium Plan
• Cobb Officials Urged Not to Rush Braves Deal
• Cobb to Fund 45 Percent of Braves Stadium
• Braves Announce Move to Cobb County