Open Letter to the Tucker Civic Association

Dear Tucker Civic Association Leadership,

I read recently that the Tucker Civic Association studied the potential of incorporating the city of Tucker sometime around 1996 or 1997. I was wondering if you have any reports available to the public regarding the findings of this study? If so, how could I go about obtaining a copy?

Separately, is your association currently involved with any type of study or movement that would allow for the incorporation of Tucker into its own city, especially in light of the recent accreditation issues with DeKalb County Schools? If so, how would someone go about joining any committee or study group or participating in the discussions?

I have been active in the issues surrounding our schools and have serious concerns about my property value as well as the decline in general of our area as a result of abuse within the school system that has sent an unusually high number of the county’s most difficult students to our schools, forcing many of our neighborhood families out. It is harming our way of life and is likely causing realtors to steer their clients elsewhere if they have children as one must also factor in private school education to the cost of living here.

If you were to look at the schools in Tucker, you would think we are a community living in poverty, which is not at all the case. Many of us have worked hard to afford to buy homes in this area and have been disappointed to learn that our neighborhood schools are not serving our neighborhood children. This fact is harming the community's ability to stay cohesive as many of us must all send our children to different schools all over the county. This is not by choice, but by necessity.

In addition, several Tucker schools were selected unfairly for cell phone towers which are known to reduce property values and suspected to be harmful to the health and safety of children and people who live nearby. Again, there has been no concentrated effort to inform the Tucker residents when these issues are taking place and we believe our community is being harmed as a result.

We are very interested in looking at the costs associated with incorporation as much of the infrastructure has already been designated with that purpose in mind. Tucker would be the third largest city in DeKalb County, behind Brookhaven and Dunwoody, which have already incorporated.

It makes sense that many of us would want to at least look at this option again at this time. Thank you for any information you can provide. 

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