Key Points:
• Candidates for Sandy Springs mayor Rusty Paul and Dontaye Carter answered questions in a forum hosted by Rough Draft that can be viewed on YouTube.
• Voters can vote early starting Saturday, Nov.22 that ends Wednesday, Nov. 26.
Rusty Paul and Dontaye Carter addressed social media exchanges that sparked controversy as they took part in a candidates’ forum sponsored by Rough Draft Atlanta on Nov. 20.
Rough Draft hosted the public mayoral candidates’ forum on Zoom on Thursday, Nov. 20. A recording of the forum, and another between the City Council District 4 candidates, have been posted on YouTube.
The campaign heated up when State Rep. Esther Feuer Panitch (D-Sandy Springs), posted an endorsement for Paul on social media. She said the city’s Jewish residents need a mayor who will specifically name specific threats and stand up for the Jewish community. In a reply to the endorsement post that included those comments, Paul said he was humbled by her words.
Carter responded on social media by sharing a statement he made on June 2 after the anti-Semitic attack made in Boulder, CO, in which he said Sandy Springs has seen a rise in anti-Semitic and anti-Arab hate. He said Jewish residents in the city have every right to be concerned.
“Hate doesn’t stop at one door – it spreads, and tears at the community that connects us all,” Carter said in his post.
During the forum, Paul said that the campaign and the resulting vitriol have been challenging.
“I’ve had three candidates throwing javelins at me throughout the whole thing. So it gets a little challenging sometimes, and you have to have a thick skin to be able to do this,” Paul said.
In response, Carter said that endorsements don’t dictate the results of an election – the voters do.
“Nearly a million dollars went into this race, nearly a million dollars, and the guy that rolls the least, because he got outside and knocked on 10,000 doors and had real conversations with people, is still here,” Carter said. “And we know these folks are going to still keep showing up.”
Carter opened up the forum by saying he believes development should keep in mind the families who currently live in the city. Lack of community buy-in has stalled redevelopment progress, not high interest rates, Carter said.
Past achievements, future goals
Paul said he’s proud of the progress made during his time in office. As the city grows, he said protecting the quality of life that brought people to Sandy Springs will be accomplished by managing development, improving mobility, and supporting the neighborhoods.
Carter said he plans to form housing and transportation advisory councils to bring all residents’ voices into discussions, and said the city’s code enforcement staff could have done a better job at locating owners of run-down apartment buildings.
“But at this stage of the game, I think it’s important to make sure that in these conversations about where we’re going to rebuild, what we’re going to tear down, it has to be led through the voice of the people, and the people are speaking right now,” he said.
Resources for housing development
Paul said the Tax Allocation District he advocates would fund the resources needed to convince developers to redevelop aging shopping centers and apartments. He said development is happening in the city now, with owners of three vacant lots about three blocks north of city hall on Roswell Road seeking permits to begin construction. The city developed plans to show developers what they could build at North End shopping centers by using zoning incentives adopted by the council.
Paul said the city has brought major employers into the city and helped retain other employers, such as when Newell Rubbermaid moved from one office building into another within the city. Asbury Automotive then announced plans to fill the former Newell space.
Carter countered by saying these companies aren’t bringing jobs to the community, instead bringing employees who don’t live in the city. These commuters add to traffic congestion.
Candidates question each other
Given the chance to ask each other questions, Paul asked Carter how he would rebuild trust he lost when he made tough statements about the police department.
Carter said if politicians are held to a higher standard, then so should officers. He said he intended to ensure the highest standards are set so that laws that are enforced match the community’s values.
Paul was asked by Carter why he didn’t immediately start addressing the housing affordability issue when Fulton County School officials brought up the issue of low enrollment, forcing the closing of schools like Spalding Drive Elementary.
The enrollment problem goes beyond Sandy Springs, with Atlanta getting ready to close schools for the same reasons, Paul said. He said he met with school district officials, urging them to be creative and competitive with private schools, but they failed to do that. He plans to push legislators to pass a bill that gives parents the right of first refusal to buy an unused school in order to establish a public charter school.
Carter pressed Paul on affordable housing. Paul responded that housing is being built, including a condominium project near City Hall. A tax allocation district will give the city resources when aging shopping centers are torn down, offering the opportunity for affordable housing.
“But you can’t put a $400,000 house on a piece of property that costs a million dollars,” Paul said.
Carter asked if the mayor knows the definition of affordable housing. Teachers, custodial crews, and other city residents told him that a one-bedroom apartment starting at more than $1,200 a month becomes unaffordable because they can’t save up for a home.
“We’ve got to tear some of these older complexes down and be able to use the incentives, like tax rebates and our TAD that I’m talking about, reducing the impact fees that we have to be able to make to allow these developers to come in. They’ve got to develop what we want,” Paul said.
So far it’s been difficult getting the developers to build anything except for high-rise apartments, which Paul said are already in abundance.
