Good morning, Cobb.
Smyrna has about 420 cameras. Starting Nov. 5, you get a say in how they're used.
Smyrna just put its surveillance numbers on paper, and a new resident task force is about to decide what to recommend about them. Here's what the city's own summary shows:
A Flock Safety license-plate reader camera with a solar panel on 5th Avenue in Kearney, Nebraska, April 2025. Illustrative. Not one of Smyrna's cameras. Photo: Tony Webster / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
About 420 city cameras across eight systems, from parks to the former city jail. That count includes 20 traffic cameras at selected intersections.
115 Flock devices inside that total: 57 license-plate readers and 58 pan-tilt-zoom cameras in parks and the public right of way. The city says only police and the fire marshal's office use them.
About $5.7 million over 10 years for Flock. The bill starts around $124,000 this fiscal year and climbs to about $740,000 a year for the last five years of the deal.
About $2.7 million over five years for Axon, the police body camera and evidence vendor, on top of that.
What it means for you: the cameras and readers already exist. The open question is the rules around them: who can see the footage and plate data, how long the city keeps it, who it's shared with, and how anyone checks that the rules are followed. That's exactly what the city asked its new Public Safety Technology Task Force to study. The group is advisory, chaired by Mayor Pro Tem Tim Gould, with eight resident members, and it reports to the mayor and council. It can recommend; it can't change a contract on its own.
How to weigh in: the task force's next meeting, Thu Nov. 5, 4-5:30 p.m., covers effectiveness, costs, data governance and privacy, and includes public comment. Can't make it? Email [email protected]; the city says feedback goes to the task force. More comment chances follow Dec. 3 and Jan. 14, with a final presentation to council Feb. 1, 2027. Meetings are open and recorded.
Source: City of Smyrna, Oct. 22 task force packet and working summary. These are city figures, not a vote.
SAVE THE DATE
(Next-week-and-beyond pointers.)
Sat Nov 7, 6:30 p.m. - "Houdini: The World's First Superman," William Root House, Marietta. A lecture marking 100 years since Houdini died on Halloween 1926, plus a mini-museum of artifacts he owned. $30, online in advance; space is limited. Cobb Landmarks
Sun Nov 8, 10 a.m. - Hyde Farm History Hike, East Cobb. A guided walk through Hyde Farm and the Power Cabin property, including spots not usually open to the public, led by longtime Power Cabin resident Morning Washburn. Breakfast included. $25, online in advance. Cobb Landmarks
Fri-Sun Nov 13-15 - "Before, At, and Beyond 250: Indigenous Cultural History in Georgia," Marietta History Center. Friday reception, Saturday speakers, Sunday tour at Etowah Indian Mounds. $20 for all three days or $10/$10/$5 by day; registration required. Marietta History Center
William Root House Museum, 80 North Marietta Pkwy, Marietta, September 2016. The venue, not the lecture. Photo: Andrew Register / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Hyde Farm Park, East Cobb, August 2026. The farm, not the hike. Photo: John Phelan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
WHAT'S HAPPENING IN COBB
Rocky Horror, a $5 scare, and pumpkins flying across a KSU field
Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Strand - Fri Oct 30, 8 p.m. and 11:59 p.m., Strand Theatre, Marietta Square. Costumes encouraged, a live organ pre-show 30 minutes before, and $7 prop bags while they last. Leave the rice, confetti, glitter and water guns at home; they're banned. TravelCobb
Earl Smith Strand Theatre exterior, Marietta Square, May 2025. The venue, not the screening. Photo: John Phelan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Cobb PARKS $5 Haunted House - Jim R. Miller Park, 2245 Callaway Rd. SW, Marietta. Thu Oct 29 and Fri Oct 30, 5-9 p.m.; Sat Oct 31, 5-11 p.m. $5 a person, paid on site. cobbcounty.gov
Riverside EpiCenter Fall Festival & Trunk-or-Treat - Sat Oct 31, 5-10 p.m., 135 Riverside Pkwy SW, Mableton. Free, but everyone has to register, kids included, and you pick an arrival time. Outdoors; it's canceled if rain is forecast 24 hours out. Riverside EpiCenter
KSU Pumpkin Launch - Today, Thu Oct 29, 1:30-5 p.m., Multi-Purpose Field, KSU Marietta campus. The 16th year of sophomore mechanical engineering students flinging pumpkins with machines they built. The splatter gets composted. KSU
Kennesaw State University Marietta Campus, January 2017. The campus, not the Multi-Purpose Field or the launch. Photo: Jud McCranie / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Passports downtown again - Starting Mon Nov 2, the Cobb State Court Clerk's office at 12 E. Park Square takes passport applications for first-time adults and kids under 16. No renewals, and no photos on site, so bring one. Weekdays 9 a.m.-3 p.m., per the MDJ. cobbcounty.gov
Casabella's holiday open house - Fri-Sat Nov 6-7, 4400 Roswell Rd., East Cobb. The boutique's lease won't be renewed, and the owner told the MDJ this will be its last Christmas at this location. MDJ
WHAT'S A SHORT DRIVE FROM COBB
Drums and dancers at Stone Mountain
Native American Festival & Pow Wow - Thu Oct 29 through Sun Nov 1, Historic Square, Stone Mountain Park. Thu-Fri 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Sat-Sun 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Dance and drum competitions Saturday and Sunday, with Grand Entry at 12:30 p.m. both days. Festival-only tickets are about $16 plus tax at the park, or it's included with an Attractions Ticket. Plan on about 45 minutes to an hour from Marietta. Stone Mountain Park
A member of the Warriors of AniKituhwa, an Eastern Cherokee dance troupe, at the Smithsonian NMAI National Powwow, Washington, D.C., August 2007. Not Stone Mountain and not this festival. Photo: Smithsonian Institution / Wikimedia Commons (No known copyright restrictions (Smithsonian, Flickr Commons))
OPENINGS AND SPECIALS
The lights are back on in Powder Springs, and Marietta keeps its star
Theatre in the Square at the Vaughn Center - Marietta's Theatre in the Square company is now also performing at the Patricia C. Vaughn Cultural Arts Center, 4181 Atlanta St., downtown Powder Springs, which sat unused after the pandemic. The city paid for a new LED lighting grid, sound system and revamped stage in a room that seats up to 200, or 125 at tables, so expect musical revues and concerts, per the MDJ. Next up: Whitney Luther & Friends, Fri Nov 13, 8 p.m. MDJ / tickets
Marietta Street in downtown Powder Springs, June 2015. Downtown, not the Vaughn Center. Photo: Thomson200 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
Spring keeps its Michelin star - Chef Brian So's Spring, 36 Mill St. on Marietta Square, is on Michelin's 2026 American South star list again, and his casual Korean spot, Spring 2nd Branch, made the guide as a Recommended restaurant for the first time. Think steamed halibut over taglioni with clams, spinach and guanciale at Spring, per the MDJ, and tteokbokki or bibimbap a few blocks away at 2nd Branch. Michelin Guide
CIVIC ROUNDUP
(Agendas = proposed. Minutes and official action summaries = decided. Draft minutes = draft minutes. Press-only = reported.)
Smyrna OKs $756,000 to tear down the old Emory hospital
Smyrna City Council voted 6-0 on Oct. 19 (Councilmember Susan Wilkinson absent) to hire Complete Demolition Services for up to $756,000 to demolish and grade the former Emory site at 3949 South Cobb Dr., paid from 2025 bond money in the Downtown Development Authority fund, per the city's official action summary. The same 6-0 roll approved new townhome standards (Sec. 515) and a second code amendment (Article XII, Sec. 1201). No demolition start date yet. Action summary
Meet Cinder, Cobb's new arson dog
Cobb commissioners approved buying "Cinder," an ignitable-liquid detection K-9, plus training and certification for up to $18,500, on the Oct. 13 consent agenda (5-0), per the official minutes. Minutes
Sgt. Robert Collins and accelerant detection K-9 Carter of Columbus Fire and EMS, Georgia, in State Farm Arson Dog training, April 2022. Illustrative. Not Cinder and not Cobb. Photo: State Farm / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Schaffer Road sidewalk, phase 2
Commissioners also approved a contract of up to about $719,000 for phase 2 of the Schaffer Road sidewalk, paid from the 2022 SPLOST, 5-0 on Oct. 13, per the official minutes. Minutes
Outcome: Cobb approves backyard ADUs and its first data-center rules (reported)
Cobb commissioners approved accessory dwelling units Tuesday night, 3-2, per the MDJ, with Chairwoman Lisa Cupid and Commissioners Erick Allen and Monique Sheffield in favor and Commissioners Keli Gambrill and JoAnn Birrell opposed. Each ADU will need a special land use permit, which means it comes before the board. Commissioners also approved the first data-center rules 3-2, per the MDJ, with Birrell and Allen voting no because they said the rules don't go far enough. A Birrell change limiting data centers to heavy industrial zones passed unanimously, as did language barring data centers from certain county business incentives, per the MDJ. Minutes aren't posted yet. MDJ
A detached one-story accessory dwelling unit in Oregon, 2014. Illustrative example of an ADU. Not a Cobb property and not built under Cobb rules. Photo: Sightline Institute (Missing Middle Homes Photo Library) / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
Queen Mill update
The 98-home rezoning (REZ2026-010) was on Mableton City Council's agenda Wednesday, Oct. 28, and the council deferred it to Nov. 23 at the applicant's request, per the meeting video. Staff recommends denial, per the packet. It is also on the planning commission's Nov. 5 agenda as unfinished business. Meeting video / Council agenda / PC agenda
Also: Early voting ends Fri Oct 30. About 195,000 Cobb ballots had been cast early, per Georgia Votes. Election Day is Tue Nov 3.
Reply and tell us: should Smyrna keep, cut, or tighten the rules on its Flock cameras? One word is fine. We read them.
See you next Thursday.
The Cobb Insider