A couple of weeks ago, we told you about Melissa Link’s website. Now another candidate in District 3, Rachel Watkins, has one, too. It’s rachelwatkinsforathens.com.
I announced my candidacy for Athens Clarke County District 3 Commissioner in mid-December at the new Hi-Lounge on Prince Avenue. I was thrilled at the overwhelming support I received that night and the community spirit my neighbors and friends showed with the donations they brought for local charities.
The helpful, hardworking spirit of Athenians is why I moved back to this community to raise my family in 1995. There is a sense of place here that is very special.
While it’s my name on the ballot and on the yard signs, this campaign isn’t about me — it’s not about any one candidate. It’s about our community and our future. It’s about the issues and the concerns our families face and about how we can work together to craft proactive, forward-thinking, innovative policy that will work not only today, but in the future.
I hope to have a continuous dialogue with you between now and the May 20th election about what you think needs to be done in Athens and what you believe works well. You will find here some of the policy ideas that have already come up in discussions with my friends and neighbors in District 3 and across Athens. These aren’t my policy ideas; these are our policy ideas. Feel free to share your thoughts on them with me.
I’m not the kind of person who will lock myself in a room and come up with pages and pages of big ideas on my own. I’ll be the first to tell you I don’t have all the answers. No single person does. I believe good policy comes from collaboration, listening to each other and learning from each other.That’s the kind of candidate I am. That’s the kind of commissioner I will be.
With your help, I’ll be a commissioner you can be proud of, even when we disagree. One of the things I love about Athens is that whether we live across the street or across the city, we are all neighbors. I know that on the commission my number one job will be to look out for you, because that’s what neighbors do.
Note the subtle swipe at the notoriously wonky Link.
Herb Gilmore is running, too, but he doesn’t have a website.
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