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Map fiasco a slap a rural Georgia
The people of western Camden County have been getting the short end of the stick since anyone can remember. They have to drive to reach government offices, grocery stores and most other businesses and services. Schools aren't nearby and most of the jobs aren't, either.
But in the communities of Tarboro, Waverly, Spring Bluff, Colesburg and White Oak, there was still the satisfaction of being on the map.
That may soon be going away.
The state of Georgia has removed around 500 communities from the official State Department of Transportation map. This is the map given out at all tourist information centers and probably winds up in the hands of more people each year than any other detailed map of the state.
It is also the map created by the same people who inadvertently left the City of St. Marys off the 2006 version, an omission that had city officials fuming this time last year.
Now, the DOT wants to pretend that there's no one in Camden County worth mentioning west of Interstate 95 unless they live in Woodbine. We take exception to this.
Sequestered in far-off Atlanta and surrounded by a metropolitan area that has been strangling on its own growth for more than a decade, it's really no wonder the state wants to free up some space on the map. Problem is, erasing the names of rural communities will do nothing to ease the congestion on the roads of metro Atlanta.
The people we talked to at the DOT this week were a might testy about the whole issue, but considering that the removal plan made national news, that was no surprise. They actually got somewhat strident when we asked about the removal of towns from the map. The spokesperson quickly corrected us, saying that most of the places scheduled for removal were communities that were not officially incorporated. As if that somehow made them less of a place. We doubt that the people of Tarboro have any less a sense home than do the people of Kingsland.
There is a more sinister way of looking at this snub of rural Georgia. Metro-Atlanta politicians are always looking to grab more of the state tax pie for themselves. If they can erase 500 rural places off the map now, a few years from now they can point to the big blank spot in western Camden County and say, "See, there's nothing there, we should send them even less state funds for roads, healthcare and education."
Don't think it won't happen.
Camden's state Rep. Cecily Hill and state Sen. Jeff Chapman should both work hard to have all of Camden's communities restored to the state map. Contact Hill at (912) 673-7373, (912) 763-7225 or (912) 674-2206. Contact Chapman at (912) 280-0456 or jeff@jeffchapman.us.
But in the communities of Tarboro, Waverly, Spring Bluff, Colesburg and White Oak, there was still the satisfaction of being on the map.
That may soon be going away.
The state of Georgia has removed around 500 communities from the official State Department of Transportation map. This is the map given out at all tourist information centers and probably winds up in the hands of more people each year than any other detailed map of the state.
It is also the map created by the same people who inadvertently left the City of St. Marys off the 2006 version, an omission that had city officials fuming this time last year.
Now, the DOT wants to pretend that there's no one in Camden County worth mentioning west of Interstate 95 unless they live in Woodbine. We take exception to this.
Sequestered in far-off Atlanta and surrounded by a metropolitan area that has been strangling on its own growth for more than a decade, it's really no wonder the state wants to free up some space on the map. Problem is, erasing the names of rural communities will do nothing to ease the congestion on the roads of metro Atlanta.
The people we talked to at the DOT this week were a might testy about the whole issue, but considering that the removal plan made national news, that was no surprise. They actually got somewhat strident when we asked about the removal of towns from the map. The spokesperson quickly corrected us, saying that most of the places scheduled for removal were communities that were not officially incorporated. As if that somehow made them less of a place. We doubt that the people of Tarboro have any less a sense home than do the people of Kingsland.
There is a more sinister way of looking at this snub of rural Georgia. Metro-Atlanta politicians are always looking to grab more of the state tax pie for themselves. If they can erase 500 rural places off the map now, a few years from now they can point to the big blank spot in western Camden County and say, "See, there's nothing there, we should send them even less state funds for roads, healthcare and education."
Don't think it won't happen.
Camden's state Rep. Cecily Hill and state Sen. Jeff Chapman should both work hard to have all of Camden's communities restored to the state map. Contact Hill at (912) 673-7373, (912) 763-7225 or (912) 674-2206. Contact Chapman at (912) 280-0456 or jeff@jeffchapman.us.
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