Today was a sad day for me. I went to a council meeting, to participate in the due process of my local government, only to find that I had no voice in that hallowed chamber. I was forced to sit mute while others decided issues that affect me and many others directly without any apparent regard for the legitimate concerns that were voiced.

Just the show of hands from close to 100 people against the approval of the site plan for the Islamic Center, people whom you are sworn to serve in your capacity as a district representative, should have been enough to give you pause.

But it didn’t.

Contrary to the wishes of the very people that you serve, the people whose votes elevated you to that lofty position, you did not listen.

Contrary to our reasonable request that you take a moment to pause, and look into the many concerns of the impact that the increased traffic such a large center will have on our rural roads, you chose not to even take a moment to discuss it.

Even though we did manage to voice our concern for the safety of our children and the other residents who walk on these roads for lack of public sidewalks, you assuaged us not.

We sat and watched as our duly elected Board of Commissioners  instead focused their discussion on sewers and easements, and then unanimously voted to let this project go ahead.

Fortunately, like a bout of laryngitis, I may not have been heard today, at that meeting, but I will be heard tomorrow, and every day after until Election Day, as I remind the people around me that when you had that chance to hear us, you turned a deaf ear.

Brian Conway

Alpharetta