JULY 8 - JULY 21, 2016 • VOL. 10— NO. 14
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Sandy Springs Reporter
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► Local dishes PAGE 24
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► Tails on trails PAGE 26 SPECIAL SECTION | P20-28
Mayor: Employers must help fix traffic problems BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
We can’t wait for the show! Maci Kate Wix, 2, left, and her sister Elleigh Rae, 4, get ready to play a little Frisbee while awaiting the fireworks show at the Sandy Springs’ Stars and Stripes Celebration on the Concourse Corporate Center lawn July 3.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE A volunteer ‘legend’
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The local neighborhood parties we held, especially the streetside one at Mystic Place and Roswell Road, with our coolers nearby, frantically waving our American flags, as our neighbor ran by with the Olympic torch.
OUT & ABOUT Turtle Tours
See MAYOR on page 15
Is the ‘Sandy Springs model’ of government changing? BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
Since its founding in 2005, Sandy Springs has drawn national notice for outsourcing most city government operations to competitively bidding private contractors. But last month, the city approved three-year, no-bid contract extensions due to fears of government disruption during a planning and development boom. The City Council approved the nobid extensions only after voicing caution about not shifting to an “in-house,” public-
Karen Meinzen McEnerny See more Olympic memories in COMMENTARY Page 13
PHIL MOSIER
Cobb County’s plan to divert future Braves stadium traffic onto Northside Drive was blasted as a “nightmare” by the Sandy Springs City Council at its June 21 meeting. But adding behind-the-scenes fuel to the fire was the plan’s lack of any of five traffic fixes the city has suggested for nearly two years. And the stadium was just one of two plans the council slammed the brakes on that night due to traffic concerns. The council effectively declared a parking-garage moratorium in the Pill Hill medical center out of frustration that no traffic master plan has emerged eight months after the city demanded one.
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See CONTRACTS on page 18