My name is Nick Ferrante, and you might have heard that I’m running for something. That something is, Mayor of my hometown, Peachtree City, Georgia.
I was born and raised right here. I’m a 2002 graduate of Starr’s Mill High School. I went on to study theology and organizational leadership at a small bible college. After college, I spent five years as a local youth minister.
During that time, I also started a landscaping business to make some extra money. By 2010, my landscaping business had grown to the point that it became my full-time career. My wife and I were ready to make a change so my business took a contract with Fannie Mae to maintain foreclosed homes in Oregon.
After fulfilling the terms of my one-year contract, we decided to move back home and get office jobs. Using my background in organizational leadership, I have grown a successful corporate training consultancy focused on helping Fortune 50 companies with change management. I also do fraud management consulting in the insurance industry.
My wife, a graduate of McIntosh High School, and I bought our home on Peachtree City’s original street six years ago. We have two young daughters who we are raising as Peachtree City natives. Everyday, I see the ways this bubble is magic through their eyes. I want to make sure generations of kids remember growing up in this unique town.
Peachtree City has had 11 mayors since it was founded in 1959, six in my lifetime. If I am successful, I will be the first homegrown mayor.
As I was making the decision to run for Mayor, I poured over the founding documents of this City. The ideas put forward by the founders of Peachtree City were filled with vision and energy to create a place for people to truly thrive.
Peachtree City was founded by dreamers. Along the way, we’ve lost that vision and allowed complacency to seep in. Many of you have heard me repeat one of my favorite sayings: the enemy of great is just good enough. For many years now, Peachtree City has chosen to be just good enough but I know we have it in us to be truly great.
The job of the Mayor of Peachtree City is to listen to the concerns of the citizens, collaborate with city staff, and work with fellow council members to guide the City.
It’s through the cooperation of all of those parties that we will be able to rise to greatness. Our play parks are out-dated, we have long vacant big-box stores, and the path system needs new signage.
Small cities like ours are updating and evolving, creating space to work and play and be together. I’m the only candidate that’s willing to admit that Peachtree City is falling behind.
If we don’t start thinking toward the future now, it’s going to be too late to catch up as other towns expand their amenities. I’ve written in-depth about my visions for Peachtree City on my website, www.nick4mayor2021.com.
This sort of thinking, planning and dreaming isn’t magic, I know it is going to take effort. If any of you have been keeping tabs on my campaign, you know I have been hustling. My campaign team and I have built a giant living sculpture of a lake monster for the parade, thrown close to twenty yard parties all over town, painted rocks with the community, held a fundraising dinner, knocked doors, made phone calls, and threw a huge “Get Out the Vote” festival attended by thousands of our neighbors.
I know it takes more than magic to win an election.
It takes effort.
It takes votes.
I’ve put in the effort; now, it’s your turn, please go vote on November 2 and help me protect this city’s magic, now and forever.
Nick Ferrante
Candidate for Peachtree City Mayor 2021
Peachtree City, Ga.
I am a millennial and I went to the festival that he was promoting last weekend. I too have lived in in Peachtree City on and off for 31 years. I asked his helpers at his booth selling his items. I asked a lot of questions about how the school curriculum would be. The response I got was, “he doesn’t handle that. That is for the school board”. I also asked what political party he sides with. Their response was, “he is bi partisan, he was a republican, but now considered a democrat”. The volunteer I spoke with told me to go to his website or to email him to ask my questions and he could answer them. I have an almost 5 year old, whom would start kindergarten next August. I wouldn’t think most parents no matter what age their kid is, should learn about racism. Let kids stay innocent. The Critical Race Theory divides children and makes them hate themselves. If your child is mixed, that right there is teaching them to hate half of themselves. It’s bullying, and lowering their self esteem. Why would you want to ruin your kids? I don’t live in The Bubble currently, but I do plan to move back within the next year. Save our children, and our community. I am a republican and damn proud of it.
I think magic man and his loyal followers should acknowledge their privilege and make room for the oppressed in PTC. They can acknowledge their supremacism by offering their homes at an affordable price below market value to the oppressed. Then they would be true allies instead of democrats in name only (Dinos)
But we know they won’t do that. They will not practice what they preach. They latch to power centers to gain power themselves.
Nick, I am also a millennial raising a family in Peachtree City. Here is what I see with your campaign.
1) You haven’t listed your qualifications for this position. What committees have you volunteered for? How have you been helping this city since moving back? Putting effort into campaigning does not make you automatically qualified to have sway over a $40 million dollar budget. Tell us how your professional experience in either industry or the public sector makes you qualified for this position!
2) Your magic campaign is just branding, it has limited substance. Show me an actual platform beyond creating more bureaucrat positions in our city government and lobbying for open container in a family oriented community. Do you have the political capital and connections to get things done?
3) We don’t want more taxes. We would move to a blue state if we wanted to pay $10k a year in property tax. This includes the nickel and diming like you’ve proposed with golf carts. It reminds me of a sticker we had to buy in my former blue state just to park at the public beach. The price for the sticker – $150.
4) You’ve brought national politics and slogans into a community focused election causing unneeded tribalism. Why do this? Campaign on your own merits instead of dragging PAC money in. I don’t want a candidate that is beholden to the ideas of their back door super pacs.
5) please please please stop grouping millenials together. You are embarrassing us as a group within this city. Tell it like it is, you are a young family man that identifies strongly with left ideology. Be transparent to your fellow community members – unless for some reason you are afraid to.
6) consensus is that you don’t play well with others. If you expect to actually bring change then you need to change this perception and prove it to the community.
Finally, To our elders that built this city and have been faithful stewards:
I’m ashamed at how our millennial age group has been presented in this election. Millennials have attacked our older citizens online and in other social forums. We have no right to say “move from your homes into multi family housing”. Please know that this is not the majority – but a loud and obnoxious minority. The majority of the young families want to work across age groups and ideologies to do what is best for the community. Hopefully we will have a better representative in the future.
Uhm. Anyone want to tell Mr. Millennial he’s actually does live in a Blue State?
LOL right ? Mr. Millennial Sir, are you lost?
Stolen
Oh. You’re one of THOSE people?
1. He’s listed his qualifications. Whether you deem them worthy is strictly up to you.
2. Political connections? This is a non-issue. What is your profession? Have you ever moved to a different position with another company that was sort of similar, but one that you needed to some time to catch up to understand the nuances? Anyone in the professional world has experienced this. The same applies here.
3. Golf carts. Everyone whines and complains about the paths but they want the money to come out of thin air to build them, maintain them, and police them. You’ve got to pay to play. We pay $15 a year. This area is WEALTHY. Most don’t think a thing of dropping $8-10k or more on a cart. Don’t like the fees for a cart? Get rid of yours.
4. Prove the PAC support. Are you another one of those that believes everything you read on social media?
5. Again, believing what others with nefarious opinions have told you.
6. Just your opinion – take it for what it is worth.
Do you really believe older citizens can’t take care of themselves? You mistake having young people engaged as the only group Nick cares about.
Lots of projection in these naysayer posts about Nick. Vote for who you feel comfortable with, but keep the fake stuff out of it – you’re just fooling yourself.
His qualifications are not worthy. Learnard, Imker, and Ernst are the only reasonable candidates. Haddix knows his stuff but his time has past. We don’t need someone to “grow into” their position. We need someone who already has proven themself a leader.
Look at the difference between how he speaks to his constituents vs. when he’s on the pulpit. Magic, butterflies, cool guys, and unicorns vs authoritative statements.
He’s an AOC wannabe.
Your statement is a statement of opinion and feelings – nothing more.
My statement is a statement of watching hours of our candidates displaying their positions on the issues in our city. It is recorded.
A statement describing local yokel dawn haddocks:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wKjxFJfcrcA
millenialPTC–
Baby-boomer here.
I am chagrinned to read your adamant comments and realize they sound like myself, a lifetime ago.
As Dylan puts it, “I was so much older then; I’m younger than that now”.
It is not “Magic, butterflies, cool guys, and unicorns” I have learned to trust and am willing to take a chance on.
I have learned to side with the things that remain–faith, love, and charity.
Like you, in my youth it seemed like a long shot. Thankfully, the years have convinced me it is a sure thing.
We can listen to new ideas; and try new things. We can change for the better. We can take a chance.
We can grow younger!
oops! forgot hope–faith, HOPE, and charity.
Suz, I certainly respect your point of view and I think it’s great that you find that hope within your candidate. I am simply stating my views as well and appreciate your kind dialogue. May the best candidate win! : )
millenialPTC–
I couldn’t ask for a more fair or civil reply–thank
you!
Are you done with this nonsense now?
Ahhhhh. I think you may want to ask that question of yourself. Before the final tally was reported, the group of conservative PTC loonies started in with their brand of nonsense, calling Learnard the other stealth progressive and the real threat to PTC. Now we have another month filled with half-truths, made up stories, and outright lies. Of course, the gullibles perpetuate the lies and they spread like wildfire. Those miscreants get the attention, while others that dare to call out their lies are villainized.
With last nights results, the people of this town started the process of deciding who they want, as it should be, but remember this – there is constant change. The old guard continues to grow weaker while the replacements get stronger. Some who want to live in the past and some who want to move ahead.
It isn’t nonsense to want change, Spyglass. Remember that when you’re complaining about the retreads that you voted for. As I’ve mentioned before, PTC is not going to devolve into a chaotic ghetto (as the nefarious would have you believe) no matter who is elected as Mayor or Council member. Things change, people come and go, citizens whine/complain, and life goes on.
So in a word, no. Got it, thanks for playing.
If you don’t like to play, by all means, take your ball and go home.
millenialPTC, you are certainly spot on. Any consideration other than who is the most qualified person for the job of mayor of PTC is off topic to me. That is certainly not Nick. That is beyond obviously why his woke supporters and Nick do not ever address why Nick is more qualified than Eric or Kim. The magic and goodness of people does not factor in to who is most qualified in my book.
Everyone single one of us has a different idea what qualifications are important in a position. The same people that have whined, complained, and belittled the past mayors and past councils are now defending them and begging for more. That’s the very definition of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
Nick is your target because he’s a popular raging centrist. He’s not a member of the current crop of conservative cultists and therefore, in your mind, will not represent the interests of you. He’ll bring rampant crime, people will be raped in murdered in the streets! California gas prices will be here the second he takes office! We’ll have non-stop partying on every street, 365 days a year, from sun up to sun down! Section 8 housing and gargantuan apartments will be built on every remaining empty piece of land! They’ll start tearing down existing houses and building high-rise office buildings! Nick will run an authoritarian style government and PTC will be destroyed in mere matter of years! Hell, there will be sex shops and a marijuana dispensary on every corner! He’ll turn the K-Mart building into a 24-7 night club! Gangs, druggies, prostitutes, and street racers will run this town!
Do you have anything else to add?
The “user fee” concept is old-school conservative values. I don’t have a golf cart, so why should I pay to maintain paths that offer nothing to me? I don’t want to see the bands at the Fred, so why am I subsidizing the cost of operating the venue?
If we want to discuss how the presence of golf cart paths enhances our property values and everyone benefits from the quality of life they offer, then let’s consider raising property taxes to ensure they’re kept up and maintained. That’s a legitimate and substantive debate. As a community, we’ve had this conversation about fire services, and that’s why we don’t need to have a “fire license” to have the fire trucks roll up to our house. That’s not the case in every community in our country, though. In some places, the fire department only responds if you’ve specifically paid for their services.
In your example, the “use fee” for the beach pass is to offset the operating cost for the care and maintenance of the beaches. (And, perhaps, some money to the general fund. I wouldn’t know without seeing a budget.) I had a similar experience growing up, except that everyone had to have a beach “card” to get in to the beach.
Millennial, I also found the nick4mayor website lacking when I tried to learn about education and experience to better understand his qualifications. You might try searching him on LinkedIn. It does provide answers to some of those questions.
From his website, verbatim, since deleted:
“In 2003, Nick Ferrante EPICLY FAILED OUT OF COLLEGE AND GOT ON THE FAST TRACK BACK TO HIS PARENT’S HOUSE.
His parents were shocked to learn he managed to live on a college campus for two semesters without earning a single credit hour. They wondered if maybe their baby boy wasn’t ready for college after all. Nick wondered if maybe they were right.
Actually he knew they were right; he had very little doubt about how it all happened. Not only did he know how it happened but he also knew how it started. He knew from the day he packed up his room and moved to school that he didn’t have any business living in a college town. Nick wasn’t ready because he didn’t know why he was going in the first place.
No vision
+No plan
+No dream
No Reason to Say “No”
So there wasn’t any confusion or surprise only frustration.
Nick spent the next 2 years searching for that reason but floated from temporary vision to makeshift plan and from makeshift plan to short lived dreams. They were all stop-gaps. Band-Aids. The time had come for surgery.
Nick and his parents agreed that a period of seclusion and self-investment would be the best thing. He moved to the FARM. 18 months later he left a changed man. He finally found his reason but it was more than just a reason to say “No” but a reason to say “Yes”.”
His site (since deleted) also says that he “gave away” his Oregon business and took a job at banana republic. He is not being honest with his testimony on accepting office jobs.
Mr. Ferrante–
My husband and I (both retired, 24 year residents in PTC) early-
voted for you.
Whatever the outcome, we thank you for running.
Please don’t lose your faith in “magic” and the basic goodness of people. We won’t lose our faith in the youth.
The kids are alright!
As Jon Osoff might say, we are better than this. And BTW, stop the gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is bad.