During a wide-ranging forum Thursday, candidates in the runoff for several Clayton offices said the south metro Atlanta community must address issues of blight, jail safety and attracting more than gas stations and warehouses if it is to compete in the 21st century.
And the county must do so without making the mistakes of its big neighbor to the north, a least one wannabe leader said.
Commission chair candidate Terry Baskin said if Clayton is not careful, overdevelopment of apartments, senior housing, townhomes and logistics buildings around a portion of the Ga. 138 corridor could overload the county’s water infrastructure.
That could create the kind of chaos bedeviling Atlanta where burst water pipes over the past week brought parts of Georgia’s capitol to a standstill and embarrassed city leadership.
“I’m looking at in the next five years that we possibly might have the same situation because of the density,” Baskin said.
Time is of the essences for those who hope to be elected to get that and other messages across. Election day is June 18 and early voting begins today and continues next week, through Friday.
During the forum, the candidates did their best to pitch different priorities.
District 1 candidate Eddie Gordon said if he’s elected, he would put the kibosh on a controversial mandatory trash pickup the county plans to launch soon. His opponent Alaina Reaves said she would deal with rising property taxes by looking at how other metro communities created legislation to keep longtime residents in their homes.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Valencia Stovall and Kenya Wicks, candidates for District 34 of the Georgia Senate, both said they were experienced leaders, but spent much of the forum accusing the other of spreading mistruths about their candidacies. Stovall said among her priorities are helping youth get jobs and supporting small businesses while Wicks will help veterans and advocate for apprenticeships and workforce development.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
In three of the races — Commissioner District 3, Commission chair and sheriff — only one candidate participated in the forum, which was sponsored by civic organization Women of Clayton County.
Sheriff Levon Allen and Commission chair candidate Alieka Anderson did not participate and didn’t returns messages seeking comment.
Tashe Allen, who is running for the District 3 seat, said in an email that she didn’t attend “because I was meeting with District 3 residents at Pinebrooke Apartments, who are facing an unjust water disconnection scheduled for June 17.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
District 3 candidate Attania Jean-Funny said that one of the issues Clayton faces is a failure to attract high quality businesses. That has sent Clayton residents across the county line to neighboring Fayette County for many shopping needs.
In addition, raw land on the county’s southside is being overrun by the development of new storage units, she said to rapturous applause.
“Businesses are coming into our community based on our income level,” she said. “We’ve got to look at workforce development. We’ve got to train our citizens so that they are making the incomes that will attract the businesses that we want to see.”
Sheriff’s candidate Jeff Turner said he would conduct a forensic audit of the Clayton sheriff’s office, retrain deputies and tackle violence in the jail. Turner, currently the chairman of the Clayton County Commission, said the sheriff’s office has been off track for years, going well beyond its core duties of operating the jail, protecting the courthouse and executing warrants.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
He also questioned Allen’s spending at the jail, alleging that the sheriff has blown through the department’s annual $45.5 million budget, including requesting more than $16 million in emergency funding for salaries, overtime and food costs in the last three months alone.
“There needs to be somebody who is responsible in that position, somebody who is going to be transparent,” he said.
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