March 5, 2005 MLPA eBlast - Wildwood Forrest, Grady High School Grand Opening, Speed Camera Bill

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WILDWOOD FOREST COMMUNITY MEETING
Monday, March 7th from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm in the Fellowship Hall at Morningside Presbyterian Church.  Everyone is welcome! Come meet the members of the Wildwood Forest Master Planning Committee and help shape plans for this 31-acre forest located in Morningside near Cheshire Bridge Road. Tom Tomaka is the Committee's contact person and he can be reached at 770-315-0675.
 
GRAND OPENING CELEBRATION
The newly redone Grady High School is showing off. Everyone's invited to attend a grand opening celebration on Sunday, March 20th from 2:00 pm to 4:00p m. Grady High is along 10th Street near Charles Allen Drive. This invitation comes via Jane Modica, Grady's PTSA President, in her letter thanking MLPA for its recent gift to strengthen the school's teacher grant program.   
 
ACTION ALERT:  SPEED CAMERA BILL AT RISK!!
For the fourth year in a row, the bill allowing communities to use camera systems to ticket speeders in school zones is  at risk of getting stuck in committee. This year, House Bill 294 passed  the Public Safety Committee unanimously -- but is at risk of getting stuck in  the Rules Committee.

Far more bills are introduced at the state legislature each year than ever make it the  floor of the House or Senate for a vote.  Both the Senate and House have "Rules" committees, each of which reviews bills that have been approved by other committees and determines which of these will be considered on the "floor" of  the House or Senate the next day. The leaders of the Rules committee have  tremendous power--for they sift through the bills that are being presented at  the Rules Committee and determine which of these their fellow committee members will have the opportunity to "move" to the floor.

House Bill 294  has  been presented to the the Rules Committee twice -- but both times, the committee  chairman, Earl Earhart, skipped over it when selecting bills that the committee  members could "move"  to the floor the next day. A bill can be  presented to the Rules Committee just three times.  In addition, just four  days are left before the legislature reaches its "crossover" date. If a bill hasn't  passed either the House or the Senate by that date, it will no longer be  considered this year. 

Please call Rep. Earl Ehrhart (404-656-5141) and Rep. Jerry Keen (404-656-5052) to ask them to let HB  294 be considered on the floor of the House.

HB 294 is a matter of life or death for kids who walk to school. The speed  camera demonstration project we facilitated on E. Rock Springs Rd. last year confirmed what parents fear and children know all too well from their walk to  school: far too many drivers blaze through school zones with no concern for the safety of children. During the 6-week period when cameras monitored speed, 260 cars a day traveling 40 mph or higher sped past Morningside Elementary School each day. And this was in just one direction! The risk of death to a pedestrian hit by a car at that speed is 85  percent.

Speed cameras use technology similar to that of red light camera systems, which are already in place in Decatur, Marietta, and other cities. The bill has  bi-partisan support and is popular with communities in metro Atlanta.  In  September, the Metro Atlanta Mayors Association voted unanimously in support of  legislation authorizing speed cameras in schools.

Technology exists to make school zones safer for children. Please ask Rep. Earl Ehrhart (404-656-5141) and Rep. Jerry Keen  (404-656-5052) to allow the legislature to consider authorizing its use in  Georgia.

Thank you  for your help!

Sally Flocks
President and CEO
PEDS
100 Edgewood Avenue
Suite 540, Atlanta, GA 30303
 
404-873-5667             Fax:  404-873-6978
info@peds.org            www.peds.org

making metro Atlanta safe and accessible for all  pedestrians

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