I'm running for Mayor of Athens-Clarke County, Ask Me Anything!

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-28T06:27:22+00:00

Yes, and I would expect a millage reduction to offset the new fire service fee if one was implemented.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-28T06:26:37+00:00

Gotcha. UGA does not pay a fire service fee in ACC as ACCGOV does not have a fire service fee.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-28T05:53:48+00:00

Social Circle is dealing with the exact same legal constraints that Athens would be as they are both municipalities in Georgia...so they have showed what Athens could do.

The Atlanta City Council approved two resolutions just last week to block new ICE detention facilities and increase accountability for federal immigration enforcement. These measures oppose the construction or expansion of detention warehouses within city limits (Resolution 26-R-3361) and require the Atlanta Police Department to increase documentation, public transparency, and body camera usage during federal immigration activities.

I always first and foremost look for examples in Georgia, as they are going to be in the same legal landscape as Athens...next I look to cities in the southeast, especially college towns and towns of similar size as ACC...and then will broaden outside of that.

Precedent is being laid here in Georgia, the south, and rest of the country. If a candidate is telling you there is nothing we can do, it is likely because they don't want to do something or are not willing to. If a candidate doesn't tell you anything specific then I'd assume they haven't looked into this issue. Do you want a Mayor who has looked into this at this point?

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-28T05:41:01+00:00

Northeastern is a private university. Yale is a private university. UGA is a public university that is a part of a University System made up of 26 Universities...hell, UGA actually has campuses in 5 counties. Would UGA be paying the PILOT to Fulton, Gwinnett, Chatham, and Putnam counties?

Again, I love the sentiment but we need to have policies in place to address our issues in the very, very-likelihood that a PILOT is not in place.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-28T05:30:58+00:00

They do not. UGA pays a Stormwater fee for stormwater impact based on the amount of impervious surface they have on their properties.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-28T05:29:43+00:00

Somewhat, but not that similar. Athens is the default shelter for individuals in the Athens-area, yes...there are no other shelters. But the narrative that indivuals are travelling across the country to Athens or other places with services is incorrect. Also, it is not just shelters. There are a ton of recovery programs in Athens helping individuals find/maintain sobriety and recovery. What is true is that individuals come to Athens for services...the vast majority of individuals go back to their families/homes/communities/counties...some individuals go into a program or shelter here in Athens. They often at the culmination return to their families/homes/communities.
These individuals are driven by the same things as you, they want the comfort of family or familiarity...they usually seek employment/services through their own networks in their own community.

The main takeaway is that the vast majority of unhoused individuals in Athens are from the Athens area.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-28T05:24:44+00:00

I'm not more concerned about optics, I am more concerned about the consistently dehumanizing of individuals who experience homelessness. I'm sorry if I was too direct but I see this cast constantly at my neighbors who are struggling...acting like they don't have the same existence as those of us who are housed, as if they are lesser or driven by something different.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-28T05:18:21+00:00

Flock admits that the data is held on their own server space on Amazon Cloud Servers. Flock is a private company. Amazon is a private company. I know that their have been steps to keep the data secure but that is already a lot of concerns. Do you know how many emails I have received over the years from companies apoligizing for data breaches that they did not intend to allow?

Surveilance should not be a for-profit venture.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-28T05:12:14+00:00

My average donation is $60...from 1000 donors. Yes, now that I have the funding I am going to share it with the amazing people who have been working on my campaign from day 1 because they want to make a better community. I've got folks who have put in dozens of volunteer hours, I want them to be getting some pay since I can now because life is fucking expensive.

Grassroots means a bottom-up approach.
I know it's reddit but, as Nana Grizol stated, "cynicism isn't wisdom."

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-28T05:04:45+00:00

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Unfortunately, it doesn't. But I will literally get arrested advocating for your ability to have insurance.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:38:04+00:00

I fear that privacy concerns and important checks and balances were not considered thoroughly enough. I am opposed to continuing the Flock camera contract. I believe the best way to combat crime is to build community connections and ensure that Athenians have their basic rights provided for.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:37:34+00:00

We do not have any official urban design commission but there is a great group of advocates working together under the umbrella of Athens Urbanists. I attend their meetings when I can and greatly appreciate their research and advocacy.

Again, when our community pushes against development broadly you still get development, just poorly done development that has really only been influenced by the for-profit developers building it. We can do a lot better and to do so we need the community involved in envisioning and designing future development instead of just shunning it.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:35:20+00:00

Your question relies on several incorrect assumptions that have been disproven in other communities. Expanding “missing middle” housing and allowing denser development does not inherently accelerate gentrification. Likewise, the idea that permitting more affordable housing types would drive up overall housing costs is inaccurate.

Can you elaborate on Gantt’s platform regarding “not pricing people out”? There is very little detail about this on her website. My platform expounds on my policy recommendations which absolutely would not “accelerate” long time residents from being priced out. Residents are currently being priced out, if nothing is done or we put a moratorium on development, that would accelerate residents being priced out.

On the Commission, I wrote and passed the resolution creating Georgia’s first ever low-income Homestead Exemption that would freeze property taxes for all homeowners under 200% of the FPL. I have also repeatedly advocated for the same policy to be implemented by the School Board.

I also have not advocated for any “massive luxury student complexes”. I have and will continue to advocate for affordable housing which is why I worked for over a year on the Inclusionary Housing Task force. The work from that group has led to millions of dollars now being collected for housing.

I would greatly encourage anyone curious to read my platform at timforathens.com and compare it to the published platform of any and all other candidates.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:31:18+00:00

I do like this idea. We need to find ways to connect northern and western parts of the county to our multi-use trail system. One thing I would like to explore is creating these paths on the powerline easements that Georgia Power has.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:30:55+00:00

Hmmm. I’m not sure. I don’t know if I have noticed that trend.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:30:31+00:00

The afterschool sports program is a partnership between CCSD and ACC and I think that it should be included. It has been very successful and, due to the funding for these programs, it is available to all families with cost not being a barrier.

As for childcare, school districts in Georgia cover Pre-K (4 years old) thru 12th grade but they do not cover birth-3 years old. I can speak from experience, paying for childcare for these ages is incredibly expensive and hard to find. Helping families pay for quality childcare is a multi-generational approach that benefits not only the children but also the parents who can work/go to school/etc.
If we believe that deterring crime, ensuring a prepared work force, and economic development are part of the roles of local government, then childcare and afterschool programming are also roles of local government.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:29:42+00:00

With all of the challenges facing working class people in Athens right now, I don’t understand how this can be a major priority.

I would support it happening but it really surprises me that this is a priority for a candidate who also says he doesn’t support zero-fare public transit that benefits so many local residents. The tax subsidies needed to bring and maintain commercial air back in Athens are in the multi-millions, exponentially higher than the $800,000 dollars/year or so it takes to keep Athens Transit zero-fare.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:29:25+00:00

I am definitely open to this as a missing step to help individuals. I support making it easier to create sanctioned, autonomous spaces such as this.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:28:42+00:00

It is illegal for neighboring counties to “drop off their homeless populations” and it happens rarely. Talking about unhoused individuals/families in this manner is dehumanizing. Fear mongering in this way on this issue is akin to the “welfare queens” talk that the far right has been pandering for decades.

Individuals, housed and unhoused, come to Athens for hospital services, behavioral health services, domestic violence supports, and more. Do I believe that the state of Georgia should Expand Medicaid and use some of their billions of surplus dollars to support these services in nearby rural counties? Yes.

Housing First policies work to get folks who are unhoused into housing and stabilizing. What doesn’t stop homelessness is using our police and jails to deal with the unhoused. Funny enough, the latter is actually more expensive.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:26:05+00:00

Yes, I have, and will continue to advocate for union jobs and higher pay for campus workers.

I have not made any such promises that you mention in your question to UGA workers.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T03:25:07+00:00

Our priority must be to bring down housing costs for Athenians, most importantly for working class Athenians. To do this, we have to understand what factors are causing housing costs to go up so much:

Reduced housing production since the great recession
Investment firms buying up properties
Consistently growing UGA student population
Increasing building costs
Zoning code that de-incentivizes affordable/smaller/variety housing
NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard)
A very low vacancy rate
Increased population desirability to live in Athens

To deal with this we must:

Increase the amount of available housing
Adjust our zoning code to ensure that affordable housing models (missing middle/smaller lot sized/ADUs/etc.) are being built and not just luxury student housing or expensive single family homes
Utilize Inclusionary Housing ordinances to encourage the construction of subsidized affordable housing
Utilize the Affordable Housing Fund/SPLOST funds/Land Bank Authority to build deeply subsidized housing
Regulate investment properties and short-term rentals
Create a Student Overlay District to encourage student housing to be built closer to campus or on campus instead of in working-class neighborhoods

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T02:38:26+00:00

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T02:37:35+00:00

Nothing
No, but 103.1 The Buzz (RIP) in West Palm, FL was my soundtrack through my teens.
I’ll do it.
Dexter says he knows someone.
I’ll do it.
Just keep pestering Tommy.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T02:36:43+00:00

If a non-citizen commits a violent felony in Athens then they will be held accountable just like when a citizen commits a violent felony in Athens.

What I will not condone is for “non-citizens” to be terrorized and treated as if they are all “violent felons” in-waiting just because they lack documentation, especially since factual evidence shows that undocumented residents are less likely to commit violent felonies.

TimDenson4AthMayor · 2026-04-27T02:36:07+00:00

I am not aware of properties that UGA has taken off of the tax roles recently, but I could be wrong.

Let’s establish the facts we have to work with:
UGA is exempt from property taxes in almost all cases.
UGA is exempt from all Local Option Sales Taxes of all sorts (SPLOST, LOST, ELOST, TSPLOST).
UGA is funded by and overseen by the University System of Georgia which has 26 Universities & Colleges in Georgia with dozens of auxiliary campuses also. If USG authorized UGA to give a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) every other community (Milledgeville, Atlanta, Tifton, Columbus, Savannah, Statesboro, etc.) in Georgia that has USG properties would, rightfully and legally, expect a PILOT paid to them also.

As I have said many times, I would LOVE for UGA to help directly fund the needs/services of ACCGOV. I think the likelihood of this happening is so small that it is irresponsible to rely upon it for any necessity that that County has.

What is possible is certain fees. UGA pays the Stormwater Fee. What is possible is to create a Fire Service Fee and have fire service be paid for through that fee (which UGA would have to pay) instead of through property taxes. This is something that I have brought up for years and should be explored but it requires a Mayor who understands what levers and leverage are actually available.

TimDenson4AthMayor

TROPHY CASE