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Unincorporated DeKalb residents used to have an advantage when HOST funds were distributed because HOST calculations were based on the county millage rate.  Unincorporated DeKalb had the highest county millage rate. However, under the Equalized (that’s what E stands for) E-HOST that replaced HOST, the calculations were changed so that city residents got more HOST funds while unincorporated residents remained the same.  Unincorporated residents lose their advantage in the new E-HOST and as a result get less of the HOST pie than what they had before. 
 
SPLOST has unincorporated residents at a disadvantage as well.  Though we now have a whole pot of money (an additional 1%) to go towards infrastructure, unincorporated residents have to share their money with cities, while city residents do not share their SPLOST revenue with residents in unincorporated DeKalb.
 
Does this seem right?  Help me understand why this is OK with residents of unincorporated DeKalb. Why are unincorporated residents willing to be an ATM for incorporated DeKalb?
 
Help me understand why we (unincorporated residents) are willing to sit still while all around us development is occurring but not one “crane” development (meaning the development is big or tall enough that a crane is needed) is occurring in south DeKalb. 
 
Help me understand why residents of south DeKalb have put 1% into a MARTA sales tax for over 30 years and studies and assessments were done to build rail down I-20 but to date, there is no rail nor any planned rail for most of south DeKalb.
 
Help me understand why we residents of unincorporated DeKalb are not holding our leaders accountable to ensure that we have growth, new buildings, new businesses, rent-a-bikes, rent-a-scooters, tiny homes, sustainable buildings, convention centers, stadiums, commercial centers and so forth.
 
HELP ME UNDERSTAND WHY RESIDENTS OF SOUTH DEKALB WOULD WANT TO REMAIN UNINCORPORATED WHEN FORMING A CITY MEANS NO RAISE IN TAXES BUT A REVENUE INCOME OF $258 MILLION OVER 6 YEARS FROM SPLOST THAT WOULD BE DEDICATED JUST TO SOUTH DEKALB!!
 
Finally, help me understand why you, residents of unincorporated south DeKalb, are sitting by allowing elected officials to deny you your right to vote and you’re doing nothing about it.  IT’S TIME TO TAKE ACTION!
 
HELLO, HELLO, HELLO, is anyone home?  I need someone to help me understand.

Donkey:  “Did you hear about the rise of the Democrats in Georgia?”
 
Elephant:  “What you talkin bout, Donkey?”
 
Donkey:  “You know, people been watchin to see what the Democrats are going to do in Georgia.  Well, it’s official.  We done turned the state purple!”
 
Elephant:  “How can you say that when we got a Republican Governor, a Republican House, a Republican Senate and most of the voters?”
 
Donkey:  “Yeah, you do right now.  But what makes a state purple is when things are changing and it could go either Republican or Democrat.”  Here’s why we’re purple right now.

• Stacey Abrams, the Black woman running for Governor got more votes all by herself (424,305) than Jason Carter got in his 2014 primary bid (304,243) and he’s the grandson of an ex-President of the whole United States. (And you know she kicked the behind off her opponent – won 76% of all the Democrats voting.)
• And, in 2014, the last time there was a Governor’s race, Republicans got 291,975 more voters to turn out in the primary than the Democrats.  But in 2018, the Republicans only got 52,352 more voters than the Democrats. If we were in a car race, I’d say you better watch your behind.
• And you know what else?  Stacey Abrams got all those votes when there was a low voter turnout!  Only 17.5% of the people registered in the whole state actually voted.  That’s really low compared to the Presidential elections in November 2016 when 62% of the people came out to vote.  
• But here’s the kicker.  In Fulton County by itself, you got 536,586 registered voters and only 88,552 voted. Same in DeKalb – you got 389,998 registered voters and only 78,656 voted. You got similar numbers in Gwinnett, Cobb, Clayton and some other counties.  What I mean to say is that you could have gotten that extra 52,352 votes Democrats needed to tie up the vote with lots of voters left over to win in any one of those counties.  You get my drift?

 
Elephant (getting noticeably agitated now):  “Yeah, I get what you’re tryin to say.  But Donk, you already explained why you’re still going to lose.  You had a low voter turnout.  And why do you think it’s going to be any different in November.  On the other hand, my President gets people to come out.  We’re going to turn out in numbers!!!”
 
Donkey (getting more bold now):  “Bruh, you missed my drift.  I said there was a low turnout but I also said that even with a low voter turnout, Stacey Abrams got more votes than the ex-President’s grandson.  Let me try explaining this again.

• Stacey Abrams got more votes because most of the people moving into Georgia are voting Democrat (maybe that’s cause of your President or maybe it’s because Ms. Abrams got a real good message).  Did you know that since 2010 Georgia is the 4th highest in population growth of all the 50 states?  So, while a lot of people stayed home, there were still 69% more Democratic votes since the last Governor’s race in 2014 – from 328,000 Democratic votes in 2014 to more than 550,000 votes in 2018.  And I left the best for last.
• People probably think since Stacey is Black that all the “colored” folk voted for her.  There were big increases in all people of color voting Democratic.  But there are so few Asian and Hispanic voters that they didn’t make a big difference.  The biggest difference came in White men and White women (not Hispanic).  From 2014 to 2018, there was a 76.34% increase in White men voting Democratic and 84.4% increase in White women voting Democratic.  The increase of White folk voting since 2014 (13,374) was bigger than the increase in Black men and women (10,569).”

(Donkey got a big grin on his face now.)
 
Elephant:  I hear you.  But it ain’t over yet.  Look at the Supreme Court ruling last month that supported Ohio in removing voters who hadn’t voted in 2 years.  Don’t worry. Georgia is not done yet.  And you keep talking about Ms. Stacey Abrams.  But I remember a whole lot of Black leaders who didn’t support her.  Who says they will now?
 
Donkey:  Don’t let that give you hope.  They didn’t support Keisha Lance Bottoms and now she’s Mayor of Atlanta. Lots of our Black middle class leaders didn’t support Stacey Abrams and she won.  My auntie told me that no brown skinned woman who wore her “naps” was going to win.  You know what I have to say to those Black middle class leaders?

1. Get off your duff and support the right of people in south DeKalb to vote!
2. While you’re at it, support the city of Greenhaven!  It’s a way for people in south DeKalb to get some of the things that everyone else all around them are getting!

Well, that’s it for me for right now.  Nice talking to you man.
 
Elephant:  Yeah, always good talking to you Donk….but watch your behind too.