Browse at-large candidate responses by clicking below
Updated: November 5, 2021
All candidates who qualified to have their name on the City of Atlanta Post 3 At-Large City Council 2021 Runoff, November 30, ballot are shown below.
Watch Post 3 At-Large TransFormation Tuesday Candidate Forums
Individual candidate responses are listed by post below, alphabetically by first name. All Atlanta voters will have the opportunity to vote on each at-large post.
Post 3
Question 1: What is the main way you get around Atlanta on a daily basis?
Candidate |
Response |
| Jacki Labat | Drive alone |
| Keisha Sean Waites |
I Drive, use Uber, Walk, and use Marta for Airport travel |
Question 2: Please share your vision for transportation and mobility in the city of Atlanta. How would you support transportation options for the 16% of Atlantans who don’t have access to a car, have a disability, and/or prefer to get around by sustainable, healthy modes of transportation such as transit, walking, biking, etc?
Candidate |
Response |
| Jacki Labat | My vision for transportation and mobility in the city of Atlanta is for Atlantans to become less reliant on their automobiles for every day use and for all of us to begin to take advantage of quality and innovative alternative transportation options. I would support enhancing the city's transit system, walking and biking trails and sidewalks to ensure safe, well-lit and clean environments are available to all. |
| Keisha Sean Waites |
My grandmother did not drive and used public transportation. Growing up in Atlanta, during the summer months I spent with my grandmother, I had the privilege of riding the Marta rail during its grand opening. Therefore, I am sensitive to the 16% of Atlantans that do not drive. COVID changed the way people live, work and play. For this reason, I support investing in putting transit on the Atlanta Beltline, expanding MARTA’s rail and bus network, and ensuring Atlanta is a safe city for pedestrians and cyclists. I also support relaunching the City bike share program to provide affordable first- and last-mile access to transit, especially in communities with low rates of car ownership. Additionally, we must provide pedestrian and bicycle amenities that make people want to walk and ride within city limits. This includes parks and greenspace, public transportation, city beautification projects, culture and the arts, and revising zoning and other policies to create mixed use spaces that people want to be in and around. I believe Councilman Amir Farokhi's zoning legislation is a step in the right direction: Updates the zoning code to allow for more flexibility in what kinds of housing gets built, to allow more people to live near transit and to fix exclusionary zoning policies. Councilman Farokhi's bill has the potential to increase Marta ridership and create more affordable housing near Marta transit stations. During my tenure in the General Assembly, I served on the transportation committee responsible for vetting legislation addressing transit. As a result, I authored and sponsored HR 948 legislation that would create an an authority to run light rail locally and high speed rail regionally. |
Question 3: The Atlanta Department of Transportation estimates the City has a sidewalk funding gap of close to $1 billion dollars. How would you fund sidewalks and other urgent transportation needs in the city?
Candidate |
Response |
| Jacki Labat | Wow, $1 billion is a BHAG to overcome. I will support a new TSPLOST and I am willing to undergo a budget review to ensure the maximum and appropriate amount of the city's general fund is allocated to these projects. Should the PAT3 program be revived within the city, infrastructure jobs could be filled by the program participants as the employment opportunities are made more widely available beyond the Department of Watershed Management. |
| Keisha Sean Waites |
The Georgia General Assembly passed HB 170 the Transportation Funding Act of 2015 to fund sorely needed transit infrastructure projects statewide. HB 170 generates $1 billion annually. Each city statewide receives a share of these funds. The City of Atlanta must re-prioritize how we use our state funding. Secondly, ask voters to approve a new TSPLOST that earmarks and dedicates resources to fund sidewalks, bicycle lanes and camera expansion while prioritizing safety and equity. |
Question 4: The number of people killed while walking in Georgia increased 22% from 2015 to 2019. Half of those killed were Black, a fatality rate more than twice that of white Georgians. In the city of Atlanta, out of the 16 pedestrians killed so far this year, 15 were Black and 13 were men. This mirrors the national trend of pedestrian fatalities increasing fastest among Black men. What will you do to make streets measurably safer for people biking, walking, and using scooters or wheelchairs? What will you do to address the disparities in whose lives are endangered the most by unsafe streets?
Candidate |
Response |
| Jacki Labat | As a native Atlantan, I can confirm that we are too attached to our cars and tend to drive even when we have the opportunity to use public transit, walk or bike. Having not been in the shoes of those who are biking, walking and using scooters or wheelchairs, drivers can become desensitized, aggressive and flat out rude. I would support the expansion of the city's (APD's) street camera system. There need to be serious consequences for drivers who break the law and make the streets less safe for pedestrians. |
| Keisha Sean Waites | In comparison with other metropolitan cities of our size and population, Atlanta unfortunately is not the most pedestrian or cycle friendly city. The scooter debacle highlighted this issue. Recently, woman was murdered in Piedmont Park while walking her dog. If pedestrians and cyclist do not feel safe, it will be difficult to encourage more people and families to walk and cycle. For this reason, I support increasing bicycle lanes and amenities that encourage families to walk and ride. Finally, given our current officer shortage and public safety challenges expanding our camera network will bring dual benefits of providing law enforcement with additional tools to apprehend those that violate the law. |
Question 5: In 2019, the City of Atlanta announced plans to "more than triple its on-street protected bike network" saying, "by the end of 2021, Atlantans will see more than 20 miles of safer streets.” Many of those projects are not on track to be complete by the end of the year, and while the pandemic challenged project implementation everywhere, building bike lanes and Complete Streets in Atlanta has always been slow. If elected, would you seek to speed up the completion of transportation projects intended to provide safe travel options for people who walk, bike, or have a disability?
Candidate |
Response |
| Jacki Labat | Yes, and I believe that the city and city council need to work together to develop a post-pandemic plan to prioritize all of the projects that have stalled during Covid and formulate a realistic plan and timeline to tackle each one. |
| Keisha Sean Waites | YES |
Question 6: Communities across the country have found stark racial disparities in enforcement of “jaywalking” and similar laws. In many parts of Atlanta, the nearest crosswalk is over a half-mile away. How would you address the over-policing of walking, biking, and riding transit, including crossing a street outside of a crosswalk?
Candidate |
Response |
| Jacki Labat | If additional crosswalks need to be added in areas that are heavily traversed by pedestrians, I would be in full support of creating those crosswalks. It would be unfortunate and a questionable use of resources in my opinion for APD or any law enforcement agencies to "over police" crosswalks when staffing levels are so low and violent crime is so high. Jaywalking and darting out in moving traffic can be two very different things. I will support any actions and measures that are pragmatic and improve the quality of life for all. |
|
Keisha Sean Waites |
Having served on both the Juvenile Justice and Public Safety committees during my tenure in the General Assembly, I quickly realized the Policing and Alternatives & Diversion Initiative (PAD) is an essential tool to addressing the underlying factors that impact crime and violence. Arresting and jailing people who are causing disturbances or harm as a result of substance use, mental health challenges, or survival activities doesn’t serve our communities. Instead, it pushes people even further to the margins, away from the connections and resources that support recovery and wellness. The cycle of arrest and incarceration does not address the actual issues people are struggling with. In the meantime, our communities continue to suffer from a lack of housing options and access to income, mental health services, medical care, and substance use recovery services. There is widespread agreement: we need a different approach if we want safer and healthier communities for all. PAD fosters a new approach to community safety and wellness by engaging in creative problem-solving to respond to community concerns, and addressing people’s human needs with dignity, patience and care. |
Question 7: The More MARTA tax allocates $2.5 B to expand MARTA in the City of Atlanta over the next 40 years. What do you think the relationship between MARTA and the City of Atlanta should be in implementing this program? What considerations should MARTA be expected to provide for on-street facilities for people getting to and from transit?
Candidate |
Response |
| Jacki Labat | MARTA and the City of Atlanta should continue to work together on the final project list. MARTA should work to provide accessible parking, station-area development that allows people to live, work, shop or go to school within walking distance of the station and to promote greater transit ridership. |
|
Keisha Sean Waites |
MARTA program is too important to the future of Atlanta to chance letting it get bogged down in inefficiency, poor prioritizing or non-transparent decision-making. I think that Atlanta’s various transportation focused advocacy groups could better coordinate with each other, with city planners, and with More MARTA to make sure their concerns are being heard and addressed. I believe that candidates for city appointments should have strong vision for what the city needs to look like 30 years down the road, and expertise in city transportation and growth management so that transportation improvements are focused on where they should be focused for the overall health of all communities within the city, and not simply where the loudest voices or flashiest development projects are today. They must also be held to strict ethical standards. |