SW Gwinnett: Portrait of an Identity Crisis

I consider myself a freshman citizen of this community, only having lived here for a year and a half now. I went on the path to buying a home that was a little rough around the edges and would inspire my imagination, and located in a bustling but charming community. Instead, I feel as if I got just the opposite, a home that really all it needs is some basic updating, and a community that’s rough around the edges and loaded with possibility. I’ve lived in other areas of Metro Atlanta from Stone Mountain/Decatur to Midtown and Roswell to Acworth. These areas of have their own issues to deal with, but they also had some semblance of pride and a community. So far I have not seen that since moving to SW Gwinnett. I drive around town and see homes and buildings in disrepair, trash along the streets and just pure apathy and irresponsibility. When someone drives up 85 or on any of the surface streets what impression do you think people have? Is that the impression you want them to have? Are we a business community? The stereotypical small town American community? The smallest international city? Just a ‘suburb of Atlanta’?

The answer is we are all of those things and more. The problem is there is no tie that binds our community together. Operations like the Southwest Gwinnett Community Improvement District and the Gwinnett County’s Operation Broken Window are attempting to breathe a new life in our community and launch our community into the future. Those operations may have a good start, but it is not enough. They have a larger problem to deal with if they cannot rally the community together and define its identity. The SWGCID must do more to reach out to homeowners more and gain their support, and more importantly involvement, just as they have begun to do with the business community. The county made a great step with Operation Broken Window, but now it is time they put their foot down and say enough is enough. The county needs to be more proactive enforcing existing building code and occupancy violations

This community is not a lost cause. It can be revitalized and reinvented. We are the Gateway to Gwinnett. We should be the mold by which all others envy and follow. Grant Park, East Point and College Park are prime examples it can be done. But it cannot do so without a sense of pride and development of community from its citizens and businesses working together.

So now I offer this challenge to the entire community to answer and act on this next question:

What are you going to do to affect change and help our community define its personality and identity?

Lets answer this question – together. Show me that I was right to believe this community has the potential I saw when I chose it as my home. We are bound to reap the rewards when we do.