Immigration, traffic talked about at forum
By EILEEN DRENNEN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... _0508.html

Published on: 05/08/08

It was a tightly orchestrated and mostly polite night, as political forums go.

But not so tight that the Gwinnett County Commission candidates couldn't occasionally find ways to poke each other during the hour-and-a-half-long, question-and-answer session Wednesday night at Meadowcreek High School.

Hosted by the Gwinnett Village CID, the event was designed to focus on issues of concern to the southwestern parts of the county: transit solutions, redevelopment, crime and illegal immigration.

Attending were the three candidates for chairman, incumbent Charles Bannister, District 1 Commissioner Lorraine Green and political newcomer Glenn Pirkle, a Buford electrical contractor; and the three seeking Green's seat, former Suwanee councilwoman Carol Hassell, MARTA board member and Duluth businessman Bruce LeVell and former Duluth Mayor Shirley Lasseter.

All agreed illegal immigration is a problem, but they had different notions of how county government should address it.

"Each and every one of us is part of the problem," Pirkle said. "We brought them in here to get a cheaper way of living."

Targeting business owners who hire nonresidents and cracking down on the landlords who run what amount to boardinghouses, Green said, were good places to start.

Hassell called for enforcing the quality-of-life ordinances that are on the books and putting more emphasis and visibility on the efforts under way.

The county is dong what it can, Bannister said, including adopting the program known as 287(g), which trains law enforcement officials to flag illegal immigrants admitted to jail for other offenses. But at the end of the day, it's a federal problem, and the local government can only do so much, he said.

Bannister said he has increased the number of police officers during his term from 450 three years ago to somewhere in the ballpark of "632 ... 692, in that range."

Green took issue with his math.

"Though we've hired 292, 170 have left," she said, adding she didn't think there were enough officers. "That's why crime rates have jumped."

All favored creative solutions to the county's traffic woes, ranging from mass transit options like light rail to increased use of the county's buses and even car pooling.

Too many of the cars on I-85, Lasseter said, carry a single commuter.

The question of how best to revitalize vacant or abandoned areas in the southern part of the county brought forth the night's biggest chuckle.

"I don't have an answer to that one," Pirkle said.

To which Green, sitting on his right, quipped, "I like an honest man."