District 4 Candidates Speak Out on South Cobb Issues

With six candidates vying for election to serve southwest Cobb, the District 4 Commissioner race is certainly one of the hottest in the county.

Here’s one last look at what the candidates have to say on some of the most pressing issues facing South Cobb:

ON TSPLOST

Dr. Michael Rhett, educator: He said he rides MARTA regularly. “I not only talk the talk, but I walk the walk. I ride MARTA…I doubt if much of the TSPLOST money will materialize as jobs in our community. I doubt it. Most of the jobs will probably go to outside out-of-state contractors, but I haven’t seen anything talking about our needs and concerns just like over in Powder Springs when they closed that Number 30 bus.” He said many people lost their jobs after the bus route was cut and others moved.

Incumbent Woody Thompson: “I think we have to remember federal dollars and state dollars are going to get smaller and smaller. We need to think about that when we go into that ballot box…We get around pretty good in South Cobb compared to some places…We’ve got a lot to do with that money when it comes in. I hope it will clean up our traffic mess.” He said he doesn’t agree with projects lined up for the Cumberland area.

Ruth Negron: She did not provide a specific answer about where she stands on TSPLOST, but said, “I am a supporter of improvement for the future. If we don’t think ahead of time for the future, we stay behind.”

Monica Delancey, community volunteer: Although she never answered the question about where she stands on TSPLOST, she did provide an answer. She said the CobbWorks mobile van came to her apartment complex, Kingsley Village, to provide workshops “to encourage residents to go back to school, get retrained, retooled so that when those jobs come to the area, we’re prepared to take those jobs. So therefore that’s what we’re doing also.” She said she is “an avid bus-rider…Hopefully we can bring back the number 70 bus route so our residents can get to and from work.”

Lisa Cupid, law school student and Austell Community Partnership facilitator: "I do support TIA. I do support the referendum because it’s best for the region. We’re losing jobs to Charlotte. We’re losing jobs to Houston. We need to be competitive. We need to take care of our future. We have a reason to be upset here in this part of the county because part of that discussion for TIA was supposed to be a rapid rail line coming through Cobb. Even when they suggested it, it didn’t even touch this part of Cobb. We have a lot of people who need transit. We may not have the highest number of transit, but I bet we have the highest need. And as much as I have enjoyed working with our current commissioner, it hurt my heart when Cobb County had a budget shortfall of $30 million and the first suggestion that came out, came out from my commissioner of this area was we need to look at how we can cut CCT. That tells me you don’t know the needs here…We have opportunity to not only connect people to transit, but to connect people to jobs, to connect people to supermarkets and to connect people to their lives here."

Read more about what the candidates think about TSPLOST in the Marietta Daily Journal.

Their Vision for South Cobb If Elected

Negron: “There’s resources out there that are not being used. And I think the main thing in becoming a commissioner is being cautious, being aware of what you have, making sure you know the needs of the people. You have contact with the people and joining the resources with the people…We have to treat everyone with dignity and with equality and do something.”

Cupid:  “I think we can start with low-hanging fruit. They plan this area to death.” She plans to bring about changes suggested from recent studies that can be implemented quickly and with little funding. She would also clean up South Cobb corridors and make sure the area has sidewalks.

Delancy:  If elected, she plans to partner with community groups and leverage funding for the groups and hold town hall meetings at HOAs and at apartment complexes.

Rhett: He wants to make sure that a dollar spent in this community turns over several times before it leaves the community. He would like to see Tax Allocation Districts and Business Improvement Districts, which can attract businesses, jobs and economic development in South Cobb.

On Code Enforcement, Changes Needed in South Cobb

Thompson: “Code enforcement is more responsive than it’s ever been.” He said he gets a code enforcement report every week. “We’re getting the job done in the departments.”

Rhett: I think we need to hold our elected officials accountable who crafted this and did not think about sensitivity to our community. Like I said earlier, we need to think about who we put in office because we’ve lost a generation just putting in people because we like them or somebody told us to vote for them. We need somebody who’s going to roll up their sleeves and fight for us, finally fight for us. We’ve never had anyone do that.”

Cupid: "First, let’s hold code enforcement accountable…They are proactive in some areas. They are reactive in others, including ours…Nobody speaks up on our behalf.”

You can read more about what the candidates have to say in their candidate profiles here on South Cobb Patch.