City of Thomasville GA: Keep the Service Contract & Get the Prisoners Out of Our Parks & Recreati...

Dear Citizens of Thomas County, GA; Leon and Jefferson Counties, FL; and the following surrounding GA Counties: Baker, Berrien, Brooks, Calhoun, Cook, Colquitt, Decatur, Dougherty, Early, Grady, Lanier, Lowndes, Miller, Mitchell, Tift, and Worth:

I was driving past Cherokee Park and the City of Thomasville Rose Garden a couple of days ago (both are side by side), and was stunned to see something I’ve never seen in the six years I’ve lived in Thomas County: prison crews working inside our beautiful sister parks!! It was shocking to me, a disabled veteran, and mother of a young daughter, who visits when she’s not busy attending college classes. I couldn’t believe I was seeing convicted burglars, child molesters, rapists and Lord knows what else, working in an area that attracts families, young people, and retired folks from all over SW Georgia and North Florida! I’ve driven past Cherokee Park and the City of Thomasville Rose Garden for most of the last three years on my way to my job. I’d gotten used to the friendly faces of the workers of Davis Lawn Care Services, at least weekly, in the Park. ‘What happened?’ I asked myself, as I drove past stunned.

It turns out that Davis Lawn Care is a business that employs blacks, whites, Hispanics and disabled people. It is also a Disadvantaged Business Entity (DBE) certified by the State of Georgia’s Department of Transportation. I also learned the owner of Davis Lawn Care pays for background checks on his workers, and doesn’t employ people who are a danger to the citizens / customers it serves. Meanwhile, a friend explained to me that there was a recent shake-up in the City of Thomasville Public Works Department that resulted in the ouster of its long-time Public Works Director, in favor of one who is a known bigot, and who insists he could do the work of Davis Lawn Care at lower cost to the City. ‘Who could be cheaper than low-bidding DBE Davis Lawn Care, than a prison crew?’ they must have thought! But at what real cost to the citizens who visit the Park daily, weekly, monthly, or just a few times a year?!

I was more horrified when I realized that the young children in grade school and high school will be released for Easter Break soon, and then Summer Break from May through August. What will happen to the children, and the families of these children who visit the park during breaks from school? Is the City planning to shut the park down on the days the City and prison crews are working in the park?? No one has said anything to the public. This has not been in the local newspaper, or the local TV news. It’s all very hush-hush.

With a B.A. in Accounting and Business Administration, I know that any money the City saves on this cancelled service contract, would be offset by losses to the City in the form of higher unemployment after Davis Lawn Care lays off workers, who will then be living on ‘reserved’ tax revenues, in the form of unemployment checks. This loss would be further offset by those same workers not being able to contribute as much to the local economy on their reduced “incomes”. So the City gains nothing! Yet, we are all put at risk of harm in the form of prisoners, who have a higher tendency to escape prison while serving on work crews! Cherokee Park and the Rose Garden sit up front in a nice middle class community of houses and apartment homes; which also includes other small businesses: a day care center, a nursing home, a veterinary hospital, and a no-kill feline sanctuary.

The City of Thomasville did NOT think this through with an eye on the community it is supposed to serve!! Please sign this petition to let the City of Thomasville know we do NOT want prisoners in our park and recreation areas! We don’t want these people around our children, our elderly, or the middle class community and businesses around the Park! This is a community that attracts many people to both the Park/Rose Garden, and our Farmers’ Market, right down the street from the Park, from all the locations noted above. Thomasville will lose business all over town if it doesn’t protect its tourists and citizens all year round! Let the City know we’re NOT going to stand for this!!