There is a difference between words and actions. Words can be spoken by anyone, and are often used by election candidates to pontificate or promise grandiose, but usually nebulous, solutions to issues. But in this upcoming Peachtree City mayoral runoff election, the citizens have an advantage.
That advantage is the voting record of both candidates, who have both served on Peachtree City council before. This voting record points to very stark differences between myself, Eric Imker, and my opponent, and our goals for this city. Allow me to summarize the three main points of my campaign: Protect the Village Concept, Improve Traffic Flow, and Lower Taxes, and illustrate these differences.
Protect the Village Concept: I voted “No” to rezoning 86 acres of perfect industrial land to dense residential housing near the railroad tracks. This acreage would’ve never been seen from MacDuff Parkway because half the trees would still be there. It’s a shame my opponent voted “Yes” to destroy the forest and then remove the possibility of new jobs and revenue for the city, all while failing to address the added traffic ramifications. Ask yourself, was this in the best interest of Peachtree City?
In the future my opponent wants to double down on Huddleston Road and create an even bigger nightmare of traffic on Ga. Highway 54 by placing bars, restaurants, and more commercial. This is not the densely packed environment you want for our family-oriented city, nor the vision our founders had in mind. Overall, we need to keep the village concept intact. It’s one of the tenets that makes Peachtree City unique.
Traffic: I voted “No” to adding the additional light on Hwy. 54 knowing it would only make traffic worse. GDOT wrote council and agreed. My opponent, and others who just lost re-election attempts, voted “Yes” and allowed developers to walk away with millions while we got more horrible traffic issues.
I have low-cost ideas to improve traffic flow, especially during rush hour on Hwy. 54. See my website, www.ericimker4ptc.com, for these ideas plus more. My opponent has presented nothing for immediate relief and only talks about a future bypass. That’s nice but it won’t happen for at least 15-20 years. What about the current congestion getting worse by the day? My opponent and I are miles apart with traffic solutions.
Lower Taxes: It is well known I have the knowledge to implement a successful budget. I brought our city out of a $22M hole in 2010 to a balanced budget in 2015. But all we have seen for three years straight, except of course, this election year, are tax increases. With my budget solutions I can provide pay increases for our deserving Police, Firefighters and other First Responders, lower our stormwater bills, and still have enough for tax cuts.
I realize a lot of folks in PTC are rather affluent and don’t mind paying “a little extra.” But many others are living paycheck to paycheck. They need these tax cuts. And here’s the part most forget about. Industries see how easily PTC has raised taxes and so they simply stop looking here. Lower the taxes and they’ll start investing in PTC again. This brings more jobs and more revenue. Win-win.
This is a pivotal moment for the future of our city. Do we want to become a bustling Atlanta suburb? Or do we want to maintain the family oriented and unique feel of Peachtree City? Do we want to continue to see over-budget projects and higher taxes, or lower taxes with improved (!) services due to experienced budget knowhow?
Make no mistake. My opponent and I had a positive working relationship while serving together on council. But when you vote in this upcoming runoff, consider the issues first and foremost. And consider which candidate’s voting record and plans align with what’s in the best interest of Peachtree City.
Eric Imker, Candidate for Mayor
www.ericimker4ptc.com
Peachtree City, Ga.
I posted on this before. Folks, get out your past property tax bills and look at five important sections: your home’s Fair Market Value, PTC Bond ($0 since 2018), Peachtree City Millage Rate, Peachtree City Sales Tax Credit Millage Rate, and do some math, and you’ll find Mr. Imker is making a big deal about nothing. Per Zillow, I could sell my 2200 sq. ft. home today for $400k; it has an adjusted FMV of $353k, and I pay $854 in net taxes to PTC this year. In 2019 it was less, but has been within $40 of this amount for the past four years. Mr. Imker’s 0.5 mill promised reduction would save me $72 this year. As a person who grew up in a family living paycheck to paycheck, our problem was not city property taxes (we didn’t own our home!). Our budget was pretty solid; we had an income problem. It’s insulting for Mr. Imker to think that a $72 reduction that happens once per year is actually a meaningful amount given how much other things cost- health insurance, medical care, even groceries.
Take a look at how Mr. Imker writes: everything is “I”, “I”, and “I”- never “we.” It takes two other votes on council to enact proposals- what’s the plan there?
Finally, there has been a citizens committee working on the multi-use path system to make recommendations about safety and other aspects. Ms. Learnard has attended at least one session and so have Ms. Caola and Dr. Crane (got the Dr. that time!), but Mr. Imker hasn’t attended once. The path system is integral to the village concept (without the paths taking cars off the streets our traffic problems would be even worse!), and path safety has been a huge deal this election cycle for good reasons. Is Mr. Imker paying attention to this? Does he care?
Paul Schultz
I like Eric’s points:
We moved here for the golf carts, village feel and the safety of PTC.
Raising wages for the police the fireman and keeping the sense of Village community are all solid.
Over populating Huddleston may give you the odd nice shop/ restaurant but at what traffic cost?
The traffic is already solid at certain times of the day. No need to say where we all know.
Eric is an intelligent man, who has the financial background to crunch the numbers and put the $ where they need to go.
He gets our vote and hopefully lowers taxes for those that desperately need it, keeps this adorable town safe with a village feel that the golf carts embody and hopefully like us it has become a place where ‘we plan to stay’!
Good luck to both candidates!
“Do we want to become a bustling Atlanta suburb? Or do we want to maintain the family oriented and unique feel of Peachtree City?”
You’re saying I can’t have both? Fayetteville seems to have both. Alpharetta seems to have both. Do you need others? Smyrna and Roswell and Buford and Tucker and Marietta.
So, your position is that Peachtree City is for white, Christian, dad-at-work, mom-at-home families? That we’re dog lovers, not cat lovers? That chain restaurants are welcome here, but new ideas should be shunned? There’s no space for Fox News and OAN? That the only good thing to happen in Peachtree City was the golf cart paths from 60 years ago, and anything resembling progress or change should stop?
“How can the citizens of Peachtree City support a candidate that supports organizations that want to burn the American flag, defund the police and think rioting, burning and looting is justified for social equality?”
I prefer my candidates understand that the First Amendment demands that all speech is protected speech. Why don’t you stand for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?
“Nix any plan to have MARTA (mass transit to/from Atlanta) coming to PTC”
We have traffic problems. If you are as good an engineer as you claim, why aren’t you looking at all possible solutions to improve traffic problems? Why do you have a problem with MARTA customers?
“Stop the cost overruns on projects”
Do you have a magic wand on cost-plus contracts? Why do you want fewer services and a lower quality of life?
“You don’t know about this because the city council doesn’t want you to know. I have done literally dozens of open records requests to find out the true story. It is not a pretty picture. Indeed, it is outright disastrous.”
Are you asking me to believe your unsubstantiated claims that things are so bad? That you’re the only one who can fix it? But, of course, “I can’t tell you why they’re so bad because there isn’t enough space on my webpage to list the issues.”
EI is the smartest guy in the room, just ask him.
I’d really like ideas to solve our problems, and there are some differences, but broad and unsubstantiated claims that “I’m the only guy that can fix them” sounds like every bad project manager I’ve ever worked with, who quickly moves on or gets reassigned so that others can do the hard work of cleaning things up.
Totally agree with your platform and think you’re the best candidate for the job of Mayor . I also do respect Kim Learnard but agree that your platform is more inline with how I view Peachtree City and the needs of its citizens.