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       Chuck Warbington
        Executive Director
Gwinnett Village Improvement District
 

Norcross, GA (February 4, 2009) --- On the heels of the County's release of another year of double digit reduction in crime for the CID, the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District (GVCID) has announced implementation of phase 3 of their Targeted Enforcement Zone (TEZ) program by providing dedicated private security for the Gwinnett Village area.

In December 2008, GVCID contracted with Specialized Intelligence and Security (SIS) to provide dedicated private security for properties within the district. The team of private security officers will have four patrol vehicles providing continuous overnight coverage, 7 days a week, for the commercial areas of the CID.  When asked about the program Mark Lemke, public information representative for SIS said, "We are extremely happy to work with Gwinnett Village and we feel that there is a real opportunity to make an impact here. Our ultimate goal is to act as a crime deterrent by being as visible as possible in the community."

This initiative is an additional arm to Gwinnett Village CID's ongoing TEZ program. For the past two years, the CID contracted with Gwinnett County and Norcross Police to provide an additional layer of police coverage.  With the rollout of the private security patrols, the CID has budgeted $450,000 for all three phases in 2009.

"We are pleased with the results of 2 years of crime reduction efforts by Gwinnett County and the City of Norcross and we want to build upon that success with additional eyes and ears on the street," said Chuck Warbington, executive director of Gwinnett Village CID.

In April 2007, the GVCID board and Gwinnett County Commissioners voted unanimously to approve additional overtime police protection services for Gwinnett Village. In November 2007, the GVCID board and the City of Norcross voted unanimously to approve two full time officers dedicated to the CID area.  The patrols are exclusively funded by the CID and focus on suspicious activity, vehicles and persons in commercial areas of southwest Gwinnett County.

The results of the efforts by Gwinnett County, City of Norcross and the CID speaks for themselves.  In the past two years, there has been a significant decrease in overall crime within The Village. Vehicle break-ins, motor vehicle theft and commercial burglaries have declined 22, 21 and 10 percent respectively from 2006 (numbers gathered from the Westside precinct) even with a downturn in the economy.

Gwinnett County Chairman even indicated his positive support saying "Gwinnett County is becoming a safer place to live and work and the Gwinnett Village area is no exception. County government is working successfully with our CIDs to keep reducing violence, gang activity, drug dealing, and property crimes" Chairman Bannister

"We are certainly pleased with the results the Targeted Enforcement Zone Program has yielded thus far," said Warbington. "Gwinnett Village security will continue to be our top priority for 2009."

 ABOUT THE GWINNETT VILLAGE CID

The Gwinnett Village CID is a special benefit district supported by area commercial property owners which aims to improve  southwest Gwinnett County's aging infrastructure, security issues and property values. The mission of the Gwinnett Village CID is to increase property values, promote business development and improve the quality of life for all those who live, work and play in the village. Online at www.gwinnettvillage.com .

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This article has been posted with the express consent of the author. 

By: Chuck Warbington, PE - Executive Director, Gwinnett Village CID

As the dust continues to settle over the July primary elections and we analyze the results, Gwinnett took a major step in setting a positive course for our future with the passage of the Redevelopment Powers Law.  This new policy allows the County to encourage positive change in depressed and declining areas of the County through a creative financing mechanism.

The ballot question, referenced as the Redevelopment Powers Law, centers around the use of Tax Allocation Districts (TADs).  TADs allow local governments to leverage private investment to pay for infrastructure and other community improvements in declining or blighted areas so that those areas can become safe, attractive and productive parts of the community again.  As property within one of these areas is redeveloped and improved by private investment, the County uses the increment on the tax revenues as a result of the increase in property value to fund the improvements in the defined area.

So why was this so important to the future success of Gwinnett?

First, Gwinnett County is one of a handful of counties in the metro-Atlanta region that did not have this mechanism in place.  47 states through the nation currently use this financing tool and Gwinnett has consistently been put in a competitive economic disadvantage for projects.  As seen across the nation over the past 50 years, the track record of TADs indicate a significant role in attracting high quality, sustainable developments to blighted neighborhoods.

Second, this tool will encourage new economic investment by the private community in depressed and blighted areas.  Private investors have consistently focused on green field development in Gwinnett due to the fact that development costs are 30% to 40% cheaper to remove forest and trees rather than demolishing an existing shopping center and starting over with a new high quality and sustainable development.  TADs will level the playing field and encourage investors to seek out blighted and depressed properties to redevelop.  Since TADs have been used in Georgia, direct private investment in these districts have now totaled just under $18 billion dollars.  One example is the Atlantic Steel brownfield site in mid-town that was once an abandoned environmental hazard and is now a positive economic engine for mid-town Atlanta.

The Gwinnett Village CID is very pleased to add this to our redevelopment tool belt as we continue our mission of providing positive change to the southern part of the County.  For a more in depth look at TADs in Gwinnett, visit www.gwinnetttads.com . 

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