Posts Tagged ‘Lawrenceville’

This is a great video taken by Gwinnett Broadcasting Company (http://gbcnow.com) – thanks for covering such an important event! Sorry about the advertising before the main video, not our doing!

One of our own New Lawrenceville networkers is racing for the cure! Please support Mona Johnson as she takes an amazing journey in the fight to end breast cancer! The Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure is a 60-mile walk over the course of three days. Net proceeds from the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure™ are invested in breast cancer research and community programs.

She is taking this challenge in honor of MANY great women like her grandmother Dorothy Bennett, who she never had the pleasure of meeting, due to this disease, and many other family members. She also walk for many brave SURVIVORS, her aunt JoAnn Bennett as well as 2 very good friends, Dionne Ferris and Maria Hale.

Thanks so much for your support and encouragement! Check out her link below to sponsor her fight!

www.the3day.org/goto/MonaJohnson

Below is a request from a local business owner, to help children in need in our community. Please do what you can to help!

I need your help! My staff and I have decided to give away 50 backpacks to any child in our community that is in need of backpacks and school supplies.
For th e next 2 Saturdays anyone that brings a child to our office in need of supplies will receive a free backpack. Now here is where I need your help………………

We need supplies!!!!!!

We are in need of pencils, erasers, note pads, pens, magnets, book markers, crayons, calculators, copy paper, anything that a child can use in school. If you have any of these items and would like an opportunity to promote your business, as well as help a child in need, this opportunity is for you.

We will be accepting any and all donations starting Monday, August 16 through August 20. You can drop off your donations at my office or we will pick up your donations. Just call us!!

Please consider helping the kids in our community! Remember it takes a village to raise a child.

Also! Pass the word around! We want to give these backpacks away!!!

Thanks for your help!!

Mernice Oliver
American Family Insurance
“W e are the family you choose!”
678.745.9490 office

2815 Buford Drive
Ste. 105
Buford, Ga. 30519

Lawrenceville, Ga., (August 6, 2010) – Aurora Theatre continues our series of club comedy on the Lawrenceville square, Funny Fridays with a huge night of hilarity on August 20 with shows at 7:15 pm & 9:15 pm . The evening will offer stand-up comedy from three very funny fellows. Audiences will love our special guest host for the evening comedian Chelsie Rice, whose style is clearly influenced by the old-school greats Redd Foxx, Don Rickles, and Flip Wilson just to name a few. The featured act for the evening is one of the founders of Affirmative Action Comedy, Steve Haigh. Steve is a great down to earth observational comedian, and the perfect compliment to our Headliner, the geeky-chic Mike Haun.

Headliner Mike Haun

Storming the stage with the runaway kinetic energy of a sleepy librarian, Mike Haun compels audience members to listen to every word of his act, lest they soon wonder why everyone else is laughing uproariously.  Named Atlanta’s Funniest person in 2008 and the Southeast’s Funniest Person in 2009, national recognition should logically follow the local and regional precedent that has been established. Having shared the stage with the kiles of Ron White, Gilbert Gottfried, Richard Lewis, Kathleen Madigan, and Emo Phillips, Mike Haun is an up and coming star whose act should not be missed.

Funny Friday’s at Aurora Theatre

Sponsored by McCray’s Tavern

August 20, 2010 at 7:15 PM & 9:15 PM

Tickets $15

Aurora Theatre

128 Pike Street

Lawrenceville, GA 30045

678.226.6222

www.auroratheatre.com

ATTENTION: Lawrenceville Business Owners

Georgia Gwinnett College has their first residential students moving in to the brand new dorms on campus! The school will have about 350 to 400 students moving in on August 18 and 19th.

If merchants want to put together information about their business to include in a welcome bag, they should drop off their materials at the LTTA office before Friday August 13, 2010. Jerry Moore will be the one collecting and putting everything together. He has some bags, but probably could use some more. Contact him directly at thetrolleyguy@msn.com if you can help out with bags.

Also, please contact Jerry directly when you’ve dropped off your materials at the LTTA.  Please limit what you want in the bag to direct information about your business and/or a merchant discount. Providing information to these new students will help them see what is on offer in Lawrenceville, make them feel welcomed and hopefully encourage them to shop downtown and use local services.

We are proud to introduce you to the Lawrenceville Community Children’s Choir.  The choir was organized in December 2009 by Michele Wright, Founding Artistic Director, and is open to children grades K through 7.  Michele’s dream is to give young choristers the opportunity to learn, sing, and perform while sharing their gifts with the community.  During its first half-season, the choir accomplished several community performances.  They went caroling on the Lawrenceville Square in December, sang for the senior residents of Applewood Towers in March, brought down the house with their recital performance in May, and performed at Kaiser Permanente’s new Lawrenceville Facility Grand Opening in June.

Lawrenceville Community Children’s Choir Performing for Applewood Towers March 2010

The board is busy planning the choir’s first full-season, but we need your help.  We are excited to announce that we have a new choir home, the Aurora Theatre on West Pike in Lawrenceville, for the 2010-11 season.  We are very grateful to the Aurora for providing the choir such a beautiful rehearsal space, but there is so much more that we need to help make the choir a success.  At this point, our costs far exceed our resources, so we are reaching out to our family and friends for help.

Please consider a small contribution to the LCCC.  We understand that most everyone is somehow suffering from the current economic downturn, so we are only asking for a $5 or $10 donation.  We need your donation to help us accomplish the vital business required to keep the choir “singing.”  We had ten choir members for our first half-season and expect to more than double the number for the first full-season.  The choir was well accepted in the local community and several businesses are ready to donate funds to our choir, but can only do so if we are a classified as a charitable organization.  With your help, we will be able to file our 501c3 application, acquire insurance, and purchase sheet music to get the choir launched for its first full-season.  We also provide scholarships for children who cannot afford the $225 season tuition.  If you would like to sponsor a child during a season, you may designate your contribution for the opportunity.

If you would like to make a contribution to the choir, please make your check payable to LCCC, and mail to our Treasurer.

Linda Grant

Treasurer, LCCC

4035 Butler Springs Drive

Loganville, GA 30052

Thank you for your support.  We appreciate your generosity and will keep you posted on the choir’s activities for the year.

We remain gratefully  yours,

Lawrenceville Community Children’s Choir

Here are some recent videos with Lawrenceville featured. They are related to the proposed expansion of the Briscoe Field Airport in Gwinnett County.

The following article is shared from the Craigdale Estates Home Owners Association newsletter.

If you do not already know that the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners are considering expansion Briscoe Field airport located partially in the city of Lawrenceville, please check your pulse and call 911.  If the proposed expansion becomes a reality, please turn off the gas lantern lights if you are the last one to abandon this neighborhood.

The purpose of this article is to provide reported information about the proposed airport expansion.  For purposes of full disclosure, this article is written by someone that strongly opposes any expansion of the airport.  If you sense this article is bias and against the airport expansion, my objective has been achieved.

Commissioner Mike Beaudreau appears to be the first county official to speak of the county’s interest in privatizing and expanding the airport.  Beaudreau has made the following reported advocacy statements:  “Most of Gwinnett would love the opportunity to have a second choice besides Hartsfield, than to drive all the way down there to pick up generally overpriced airfare and deal with the hassle of the world’s largest airport.”  “It’s a real special opportunity here.  I think it’s a great opportunity for the citizens, to be an economic engine for that whole area and unlock the potential.”  “The airport will be a huge asset toward driving our economic engine …it has the potential to be a game-changer.”

Candidate Tim Sullivan has been electioneering through our neighborhood at least twice.  According to his contribution reporting to the Gwinnett County Election office, his largest contributor is $1,000.00 from Beaudreau’s campaign fund.  Also look at Sullivan’s op-ed in the Gwinnett Post of July 4, 2010 about reasons for the airport expansion.  His suggest that we not be in opposition, but wait for more information.  What we already know is that Boeing 737 airplanes would fly at about 800 feet to 1000 feet above our homes.  And from Beaudreau’s support and Sullivan’s op-ed, we can infer that Sullivan would not serve our best interest with respect to the airport expansion.

Chairman Charles Bannister is reported to have said, “It’s an intriguing idea that could bring in much-needed revenue for the county.  But before we can seriously talk to any potential buyers or lease holders, we must first thoroughly investigator investigate and study the potential economic and environmental impacts.”  (Note, our neighborhood’s quality of life was not one of his considerations.  And do you think the “much-needed revenue” is because of the Gwinnett Braves Baseball Stadium?)  The following reported comment of his may cause you to wonder who he considers his constituents:  “It would have a great impact, not only on Gwinnett and its economic development, but a regional impact, assuming it’s successful.  We’ve had some great opportunities come our way [in the past], but nothing to this magnitude.”  Sure Chairman Bannister, sacrifice our neighborhoods so the region can prosper.  That makes us feel much better.

Propeller Investments has already been talking with Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners about contracting with the county to privatize the airport.  Propeller Investments wants to buy or lease the facility and expand and enlarge the runway to enable large airplanes like Boeing 737s to land and take off.  Currently, the largest aircraft using into Briscoe Field can seat as many as 19 passengers.  The Boeing 737 will carry as many as 140 passengers.

Briscoe Field sits on 507 acres, has one 6,021 feet long, 100 feet wide runway and is now the fifth busiest in Georgia.  Propeller Investments proposes to add 500 feet to the length and 50 feet to the width of the runway.  Most likely the existing runway would only have to be lengthened and widened but totally replaced to support the heavier planes.

It should not surprise you that the Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce and the Gwinnett Daily Post support the airport expansion.  Besides favorable articles, underreporting of the opposition, the publisher of the Post advocated for the airport expansion in an April 24, 2010 op-ed.  If only people were enlightened, they would not be against the airport expansion was his insulting message and explicitly expressed in the last sentence of the op-ed, “Education is the best way to overcome fear.  County residents need to get a clear understanding of what the Briscoe expansion will look like before forming an opinion.’’  Sure, wait and it will be too late.  And he is a member of Lawrenceville Tourist and Trade Association.  What’s with that?

The AJC reported that the Chamber of Commerce has been plugged into the issue since rumblings of privatization began last fall, and is highly supportive.  Demming Bass, vice president of communication and public policy for the Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce is reported to have said the following:  “Obvious economic development and competitive edge it brings to Gwinnett makes the privatization plan appealing.”  It would be a huge sales tool for us if we were able to have a commercial flights coming out of there, instead of having to go all the way down to Hartsfield-Jackson.”  “That’s not to mention the overall quality of life of residents or businesses being able to fly anywhere from Florida, New York or Texas without having to go down to Hartsfield-Jackson.”  When he speaks of “quality of life” he is not speaking of you or me or anyone that lives along our corridor.   His comments do not deserve but one response, if Hartsfield-Jackson is too far for Bass, East Point or College Park should be perfect place for his residence.

It is reported that the probable company that Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners will select for the privatization and expansion is Propellers Investments. The operative word is “Investments”.  Propeller Investments is an equity investment company. Brett Smith is the person that represents Propellers Investments when he is meeting with officials, media and parties of interest. What is Brett Smith background?  It is not in the commercial airline business.  His background appears to be in business development, and technical and marketing support to industries not particularly related to commercial airlines.  He was a co-founder of Ei3 Corporation and was in charge of business development for Presstek, Inc.  That background coupled with an equity investment company leads me to suspect that once the expansion is operative and an airline like Southwest starts flying out of Briscoe, Propellers Investments’ leasehold interest will be marketed for sale.

At the recent the recent rally against the airport expansion at the Historic Courthouse Square, Mayor Rex Millsap, and Council Members Mike Crow and Marie Beiser spoke against the airport expansion.  As you all know, Mayor Millsap’s home and quality of life will be adversely affected like we will.  I believe he is genuinely and sincerely against the airport expansion.  Those “no airport expansion signs” seen throughout town were distributed by Mike Crow.

If the Mayor and Council want to collectively combat the airport expansion proposal, they should either amend or repeal the section of City of Lawrenceville 2030 Plan that pertains to the airport expansion.  The airport section of the 2030 Plan references 2006 Airport Master Plan by the Gwinnett County Airport Authority and summarizes the plan as a preface to the expressed desires and recommendations of the Mayor and Council.  Quoting a most pertinent and applicable portion of that preface:  “… The master plan recommendations are to add on additional 5,000 foot parallel runway and supporting taxiways, strengthening the bearing capacity of the existing runway to support heavier aircraft, acquire more land between Highway 316 and Airport Road and between Airport Road and Hosea Road.  The acquisition of adjacent land to the north and the west of the current airport property and the recommended configuration of the additional runway, hangars, and base facilities will require the relocation of portions of Airport Road and Hurricane Shoals Road. ..”

Included in the City of Lawrenceville “Desired Development Patterns” in the 2030 Plan is:

• Encourage continued growth and expansion of Gwinnett County Airport land use.
• Not only does the City support and agree with the Airport Master Plan, but also applauds the effort set forth

Included in “Recommended Development Strategies” is:

• Annex into the City of Lawrenceville the entire airport property including potential airport expansion properties.
• Where possible, the airport and surrounding properties should be developed as per the Gwinnett Airport Master Plan.

The 2030 Plan was developed by a Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee and approved at regular Mayor and Council meeting on June 2, 2008.

This is a very important election year in which we need to vote for our neighborhood interest and survival.  When you are asked for your vote, please require commitments from the candidates.  And ask the city of Lawrenceville candidates to either amend 2030 plan to change their support to opposition, or repeal the portion that expresses support for expansion of the airport.

Bill Atkinson probably said it best at the aforementioned recent rally against the airport expansion when told that most of the advocates for expansion of the airport do not live in Lawrenceville, that they are not considering the best interest of citizens of Lawrenceville, and most importantly we, the citizens of Lawrenceville need to stick together and fight the airport expansion with all of our efforts.  I do not think a more appropriate and instructive benediction could have been made.  Remember the motto of our HOA, “TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE”.