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Patti Garrett
Patti Garrett is running for City Commissioner - Post A.
Personal background
Patti has a bachelor's degree in nutrition from Texas Christian University and a master's degree in nutrition from the University of Tennessee - Knoxville. She has lived in Decatur since 2001. She serves as Chair of the Board of the National Civic League and on the Board of the Georgia Municipal Association where she is a member of the Federal Policy Council and Environmental and Natural Resource Committee. She and her husband live in the Oakhurst neighborhood.
Professional background
Patti is a registered dietician. She teaches nutrition, previously provided nutritional counseling services and worked as a Clinical Dietician at Emory University Health Services and Georgia State University. She previously worked as a clinical assistant professor and the program director for the nutrition program at University of Tennessee - Chattanooga and as a life style trainer under a contract with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Political background
Patti Garrett was elected to the Decatur City Commission in 2009 and has served as mayor of Decatur since 2016.
Public Services
Prioritizes equity, climate change, justice in affordable housing, the Clean Energy Plan and the Climate Action Plan.
Plans to put in place the Downtown Master Plan, which is in development.
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COVID
Plans to continue following CDC recommendations, strongly encouraging vaccinations, requiring masks by local ordinance until the science recommends otherwise.
As mayor, she helped develop DecaturUnited, which helped businesses stay in business during the pandemic by including a community match for donations.
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City Budget
Supports the 2020 Strategic Plan, which calls for diversifying the tax base to reduce the tax burden on homeowners by encouraging redevelopment of commercially zoned properties.
Wants "to see increased participation and input from the public" and is looking in to how to accomplish this.
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Housing & Urban Development
Plans to follow the city's Affordable Housing Task Force's recommendations.
Wants to find funding to maintain naturally occurring affordable housing.
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Public Safety
Wants to continue community policing strategies, anti-bias , cultural awareness, use of force and dealing with mental illness trainings for the police.
Said, "I am pleased with the efforts of our public safety employees, both our Decatur Fire Department employees and our Decatur Police Department.
Plans to get community input and use programs like Coffee with a Cop and Football with the Fuzz to get the police more involved with the community.
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Transportation & Infrastructure
Plans to continue to build bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, including protected bike lanes, new sidewalks and sidewalk repairs.
Wants to continue to look into the possibility of a circulator bus.
As mayor, she worked to install traffic calming measures like protected crosswalks and High Intensity Activated Crosswalk System (HAWK) signals.
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Zoning
Wants to develop new affordable housing units through mandatory inclusionary zoning.
Said, "\[c\]ity ordinances are continuously being evaluated to ensure that zoning allows for appropriate growth and development as well as opportunities for smaller housing units to be built to assist with affordable housing needs."
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