They Paved Paradise, And Put Up A Parking Lot.....

Well, it’s nearly that time of year again!  My favorite time of year….fall!  Yes, we are already feeling the temperatures change and soon the trees will begin to signal the onset of cooler months by exposing their true colors.  With fall will come leaf peepers from all over and the scads of tourists filling our streets during the apple festival and padding the pockets of our local merchants.  Scarecrows will begin to emerge from their annual slumber and corn mazes and apple houses will be in full swing.  Ah, fall.  You have to love it.  And, as quickly as the frenzy begins, it will wane and we will settle into the quiet months of winter.  Yes, we are close to hitting the peak of our tourist season……but what would it be like if the tourists didn’t leave………. (enter dream sequence)

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I have nothing against tourism, tourists and certainly not the money they bring in to the local economy.  Let’s face it; our small downtown would wither and perish without a steady injection of tourism cash.  And, quite frankly, we have a great downtown area.  But, what makes it great?  Charm?  Appeal?  Is it because it’s small?  I would say it’s all of the above.

Now, I ask the question – What happens to small, charming and appealing towns when you push to commercialize them, add big box stores, chain restaurants, mass housing developments and other conveniences desired by ‘city people’?  Well, they become Blue Ridge.

Now, before the torch brandishing mobs appear on my doorstep because I used the term ‘city people’ or because they moved here from a city – just think about it.  Why did you move here?  Was it your desire to escape the urban disaster you called home just to create another urban disaster?  Or, did you prefer the small town charm, lack of traffic, low crime and nice people?  The hard truth is that you can’t have conveniences of cities and maintain a small town way of life.  It.will.never.happen.

Now, back to Blue Ridge.  Have you been there lately?  Have you talked to locals that have lived there a long time?  Well, guess what.  They aren’t happy.  Blue Ridge has really grown over the last few years and quite frankly - it is over populated.  Traffic is terrible, big box blight lines the highway and nary a Georgia license plate to be seen.  During my last trip through I could have sworn I was in upstate New York!  The locals have developed a rather strong attitude toward anyone coming to the area and for good reason.  Their small, quaint town has been sold out and overrun.  All in the name of progress!  “Let’s bulldoze the forest and put a housing development over here.  Well, now we need a grocery store and a gas station, maybe another chain restaurant with sub-par food.  Now we need another hotel and a movie theatre for guests of all the new families we are going to cram into a small space.  We are progressing!  Yay!”

The sad reality is that I’m not talking about Blue Ridge - statements like the one above are being made right here in Ellijay.  Blue Ridge is lost and Ellijay is hanging on the development fringe of Blue Ridge and Jasper.  If we aren’t smart and stop blocking development, we too will be lost.

It’s already happening around us in CRR.  Sell more lots, build more houses, bulldoze more trees.  How many people a day are moving in to CRR?  Development is not a sign of success….it is a sign of lost opportunity to preserve what makes this area special.

Every day I hear complaints about renters, garbage along our roads, loud music, speeding cars, messy neighbors, people who can’t keep their pets on their property and let them roam freely.  Bothered by those issues now?  Just wait until more ‘progress’ is made and we sell more lots and build more houses.  CRR Management presented a golden opportunity to residents during the $1000.00 lot sale.  Sadly, not nearly enough took advantage of it.  In a year from now, those that didn’t will be complaining about the noise from the new rental property that was built right next to them because a developer cashed in on the deal.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  We live in a beautiful area of the country with a lot of great people and I would personally like to see it stay that way.  I’m sure this post will generate a wide variety of reactions – and it is meant to.  I’m interested in hearing your thoughts and opinions.  Where do you see Ellijay going in the next 10 years?  Please feel free to comment or e-mail me directly.  My e-mail address is shown to the left of this post.

In the meantime, I’m going to take a quiet stroll along the Coosawattee River.

Food for thought…..

Chris

Potpourri

I know I have not posted in some time and that seems to be the opener to most of my posts in the last year!  I have to admit, I’ve been busy.  You know, it seems that as you get older things should get easier.  You should have more time to relax and enjoy the world around you.  The truth is you just get busier and busier and, yes – more tired!


Aside from work I’ve been finishing projects around the house before the summer heat is fully upon.  One of the major projects has been planning a full on assault against the carpenter bees.  Good grief!  I have an older post that discusses these little buggers and various options to help alleviate the damage they cause, but they seem particularly rough this year.  If you have any suggestions, tricks or tips on how to eliminate them please leave them in the comments below!


Since it’s been a while since I’ve posted I think I’m going to jump around a bit this time and cover several topics.  The annual meeting will be upon us soon and I hope some of these topics will bring about positive discussion and change.  As always, I love to hear from my readers so please feel free to leave comments.  You can always use your real identity or post as ‘anonymous’.  I just ask that you keep comments fair, clean and respectful.


RV Section.  I know I’ve written about the RV section many times and I feel to positive results.  I must say that there are some great things happening in the area.  We all know that the RV section went through the some tough times in the last 10 years.  I attribute much of the difficulties to the building moratorium that was instituted.  The moratorium was a double edged sword as it prevented a great deal of shoddy construction, but at the same time idled positive development.  I must say that during my last drive through the area I was pleased to see some great development and a renewed air of ‘pride in ownership’.  We must maintain this movement and encourage continued development and continue to work to make the section great again!


On the note of improvement I would like to say thank you to the Campground Committee (really need to work on the name – just saying) for handling the issue on 12^th Street of the camper with the collapsed roof.  The blight is no more and I am sure appreciated by all the owners on that street.


I’d also like to say that I am pleased that the association took the suggestion I posted on January 21, 2014 about creating an RV section lot buy-back program in my post titled Coosawattee Campground:  Why it is Important to CRR.  Anytime you suggest spending association funds you always have the nay-sayers climbing out of the woodwork to chide you for making such a dastardly recommendation.  However, one must only step back and look at the options.  The only option that CRR has to control and thwart the issues that have plagued the subdivision is to manage the properties that it has the ability to manage.  That means pulling property back into possession, clean it up, deed restrict it and re-sell.  This not only provides the association the opportunity to generate new revenue, but also improves the area and helps all owners.  I have always stood by the philosophy of focusing on goals that positively affect the most owners first.  The February board meeting packet contains the information regarding the set-aside of funding to allow for the buy-back of approximately five lots per year.  Kudos to the board!


Board Meetings.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  CRR is comprised of so many part-time owners that participation in board activities is very prohibitive when physical attendance at meetings is required.  We live in a day and age when technology rules our lives.  Surely we can secure a conference line to allow owners to call in and board members to attend via phone.  The last election cycle generated many e-mails to me asking me to run for a seat on the board.  Wow – I really appreciate that people read my posts and respect my opinion, but I WORK FOR A LIVING!  My work often takes me out of area and out of state.  I simply would not be able to fulfill the duties that are currently required when all members are expected to attend in person.


While I’m on the topic of board meetings……why do we have monthly meetings?  Of all businesses and organizations I have work for and volunteered at I have never seen an organization hold monthly board meetings.  Dedication of one Saturday a month is more than most people would want to stomach (just speaking honestly).  I could see board meetings, at most, every other month if not quarterly.   There just isn’t that much to talk about…..food for thought.


Committees.   Number one – eliminate those committees that are not essential to operations.  Number two – hold meetings after hours when people who work and have families can actually attend.  There is a common belief among owners that committee meetings are held during certain times of the day to curtail participation.  These are not clubs.  They are meant to conduct business on behalf of the board to be reviewed by the board.  Transparency can only be achieved when the majority can be included if they wish to be.


Pools.  Riverside Pool looks great!


Well, I have to get back to work and nothing else too pressing is coming to mind.  I’m excited for the warm weather and cool nights and can’t wait to hop on an inner tube and enjoy a blissful journey Along the Coosawattee River!

Till next time,

Chris

Time for Giving Thanks

Wow – what a couple of weeks it has been.  I personally have been basking in the glory of our wonderful weather.  While it would be wonderful if our skies would part with a little dearly needed water, we can’t control that.  Aside from missing the rain, I do miss sitting outside at night with a campfire burning while I enjoy a couple (few) adult beverages and retell the stories of the past summer to anyone willing to listen! 

I could use some time for rest and relaxation.  Color tour season is always busy for the misses and I.  It seems that family and friends come from all over to see the colors, enjoy the apple houses and farms and drink in near perfect temperatures with warm days and chilling, autumn like evenings.  And, that is exactly what the majority of October entailed.  And now, we will once again be preparing for the influx of guests for the holiday season.  I have to say – I just realized today that Thanksgiving is next week ALREADY!  What happened to Halloween?  In fact, what happened to September and October?  Haha.  I guess time flies when you are having fun! 

Regardless, Thanksgiving is coming and it is always a time to reflect on the previous year and prepare for the next.  I give thanks for the things I have.  I give thanks for the things I don’t have, but give me the drive and desire to continue to strive to get there.  I give thanks for the simple things – blue skies, color streaked forests, a deer wandering around the property, spring rains as the buds come onto the trees before exploding into a thick carpet of greenery.  There is so much to be thankful for and yet so many people spend their lives in turmoil and anger.  Our country has never known that fact to be more true than now.  So many people need ‘power’ and ‘control’.  I don’t need either of those.  I want to be left to my own devices to live my life.  The past election was representative of what went on within our own boundaries not too long ago.  Sad really.  It’s terrible that people have such low personal thoughts of themselves that they can only raise themselves up by attacking others. I hope that sometime in the future the angry parties can accept certain truthes and move on…… but…..enough about that. 

I wanted to take a few moments to post some of the terrific pictures I’ve captured this fall and to tell everyone Happy Thanksgiving!  Additionally, I would like to extend well wishes to our new president-elect.  I’m sure he doesn’t check in on my blog (that often), but I wish him well.  He doesn’t have an easy task before him, but I have every faith that he will do a great job…..we’re gonna love it!

Enjoy the pictures and I’ll be posting again soon as the seasons change along the Coosawattee River.

 Chris