My Stance
We can ensure a bright future for Georgia. But to do so requires thoughtful awareness of and smart solutions to help overcome the problems facing our state today.
The current economic climate has made it clear that no industry, neighborhood or region is safe from hardship. We must invest in education, economic development, infrastructure and transportation in order to grow our tax base and create new jobs.
Sadly, regardless of where our children live - in cities, suburbs or in rural areas - they are not graduating from high school. Georgia ranks in the bottom five states nationally in the percentage of students attaining a high school diploma. We must change this.
An excellent educational foundation is a required first step for success later in life. Improving Georgia's public schools will create a stronger, more diverse and better-trained workforce. A steady improvement will strengthen communities, drive population growth, raise property values and increase public safety.
While Georgia is fortunate to have a diverse economy - home to 13 Fortune 500 companies - we must provide better support to industry and business in each corner of our state, so that as the economy recovers we can be a leader in creating jobs and developing industry to ensure more opportunity for all Georgians.
Another critical piece in making Georgia more livable, improving our schools and recruiting more jobs is making sure we have the infrastructure in place to support our initiatives. We must consistently support and improve MARTA, make the Atlanta Beltline a reality and develop high speed rail options on pace with our neighbors in Florida and North Carolina. Improving transit in Georgia will help us increase our role as an environmental steward, as will conservation and comprehensive solutions related to Georgia's water rights.
If we elect leadership focused on education, economic development, transportation and infrastructure, we can take Georgia in the right direction.
- Education
- Transportation
- Economic Development
- Water
- Green Initiatives and Sustainability
- Fiscal Responsibility
- Local Issues, Relationships & Responsiveness
- Redevelopment of the Former General Motors plant in Doraville
Education
Our schools and children are suffering thanks to massive cuts to education funding over the past eight years.
Education cuts have been implemented every year since 2003, even when there was money in the budget. The current leadership has cut almost $3 billion from education. Teachers have been furloughed, class sizes increased and foreign language, music, art and PE programs eliminated.
The state has lost sight of the crucial role education plays in ensuring future prosperity for our state and equal opportunity for all.
We must restore funding cuts, invest in early childhood education, and give high school students the option to take technical/vocational courses that can enable them to be trained for a skilled, high-paying job immediately upon high school graduation.
Making high school more relevant to students would help decrease the drop-out rate, which is currently the second-worst in the nation. We need to hire, train and provide support for the best teachers and reward them for their results.
A well-educated workforce will permit Georgia to attract good jobs and will also halt the growth of Georgia's prison population, which has grown to the fifth-largest in the country. It costs twice as much to incarcerate a person as to educate them.
The vast majority of Georgians are educated in public schools and those students are at a clear disadvantage against students from other parts of the country, and increasingly, the world.
Georgia needs elected officials who will not accept Georgia's public schools place in the bottom 10 percent of all U.S. schools. Our students and families deserve better, and the future prosperity of our state depends on it.
I'm proud to be endorsed by the Georgia Association of Educators. In me, GAE believes it's found a new proactive voice for education at our State Capitol.
Transportation
Atlanta ranks as one of the worst commutes in the country and most Atlantans have no realistic choice but to drive their cars to work. Traffic is choking Atlanta figuratively and literally — Atlanta ranks in the 10 worst cities in America for asthma incidence in children.
For years, the Republican-controlled Legislature has failed to come up with transportation funding solutions for much-needed improvements. It finally took an initial step towards funding this year, but there is much still left to do. In particular, Atlanta cannot be a world-class city without a first-rate mass transit system, but MARTA has been unable to be that because it is the only major public transportation agency in the country that does not receive any state funding for operations.
Atlanta's notorious gridlock damages job growth as well as the environment. The current system is unsustainable, and mass transit, renewable energy and energy efficiency are a necessary part of our future.
The sooner that fact is realized by metro Atlanta and by Georgia and changes are made to our current methods of transportation, the more attractive we will be to companies and potential residents, and the more we will prosper.
So what are we waiting for? The benefits for our quality of life and our state are limitless.
Economic Development
Our future ability to attract jobs to Georgia depends on making improvements in areas long neglected by our state leadership.
Two top issues businesses look at when deciding to relocate are the quality of the education system and the quality of the transportation system.
Georgia has been lacking in both areas, and on top of that, we have a problem with water sourcing - having been told by a federal judge that Atlanta has been illegally drawing water out of Lake Lanier for years and must stop within two years - and no plan to address it.
Failure to solve these issues is driving business away from Georgia and will only continue to do so unless addressed, urgently.
Water
The Atlanta region has a serious problem with water. Recent droughts have demonstrated the fact that water isn't an unlimited resource. Worse, Atlanta's major water source is in jeopardy.
A year ago, a federal judge told Atlanta that it has been illegally drawing drinking water from Lake Lanier for decades. This necessitates immediate action.
We must start by conserving water through concrete steps such as: retrofitting our homes and businesses with low-flow plumbing and taps, submetering existing multi-family residences, and repairing the old, leaky pipes that transport water at the municipal level.
Between 10 and 30 percent of water entering the state's distribution systems is estimated to be wasted through leakage.
Green Initiatives and Sustainability
The future necessarily involves using energy and water more efficiently than we have in the past.
If we work to make Georgia a leader in renewable energy through a Renewable Portfolio Standard, we can draw new, high-paying "green" jobs to Georgia, such as the relocation of the Mage Solar Energy company's North American headquarters to Dublin.
On the neighborhood level, we must promote and make accessible expansive recycling in neighborhoods and office buildings.
Fiscal Responsibility
Government spends your money, and as such has a huge responsibility to be accountable and efficient in how it does so.
I will demand transparency, accountability, and adequate controls to ensure that your money is spent on smart policy initiatives that will give you a return on your investment and not on special interests.
Currently, the state has seriously eroded its tax base with over one hundred lobbyist-driven sales tax exemptions that cost the state billions of dollars annually.
Meanwhile, our state's leaders have raised our property taxes and decimated the education budget, demonstrating that the spending at the Capitol needs to be re-prioritized.
Local Issues, Relationships & Responsiveness
As your State Representative, I'll work hard to ensure that the needs of my constituents are met at the Capitol, particularly when it comes to local legislation.
I'll build the relationships necessary to get the legislation passed and keep you informed of its progress.
My constituents will always come first, and I pledge to be accessible to you, sending a monthly email newsletter and responding to any constituent request within one business day.
Redevelopment of the Former General Motors plant in Doraville
At 165 acres, the former GM plant parcel is an excellent redevelopment — and economic development — opportunity for Doraville, for DeKalb County and for Atlanta.
The former plant has a MARTA stop attached, and with smart planning, it can become a model for future livability and sustainability initiatives.
It has the potential to create over 6,000 jobs and be a new urban mecca in our region, as well as a large new revenue base.
I'll work with Doraville and DeKalb County to ensure that any development is environmentally friendly, smart, and sustainable, with long-term high-paying jobs.
