About The champion newspaper. (Decatur, GA) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 2015)
Page 12A LOCAL The Champion, Thursday, April 2 - 8, 2015 Avondale mayor: ‘we have so much potential 9 by Carla Parker carla@dekalbchamp.com Jonathan Elmore was looking for the perfect opportunity to be come involved in his community, and becoming mayor was it. “I really love the community; I think this is a special place,” Elmore said. “[My family and I] met a lot of families [and] made a lot of friends. We intend to stay here a very long time, our kids love it and that’s part of the reason why we wanted to get involved.” Elmore was elected mayor of Avondale Estates March 17 after receiving 45.56 percent of the votes. He was sworn in March 23. “It’s a new thing,” he said about winning the election. “The results were pretty exciting.” Elmore, who grew up in Jeffer sonville and Macon, is a graduate of Georgia Tech and Clemson Uni versity. He is a licensed architect in Georgia and has had his own prac tice since 2000. He and his family moved to Avondale Estates in 2007. Although Elmore does not have previous experience as an elected official, Elmore said as an architect, he sees momentum in growth in the city’s downtown area, and “I would Jonathan Elmore was sworn in as Avondale Estates Mayor March 23. Photo by Carla Parker like to participate and try to con tinue that.” “Hopefully my skills and back ground would help in that regard,” he said. “I’m used to dealing with people and talking to them about real hard decisions. Over time, peo ple have told me that I have good personal skills. I’m a social person; I believe in building relationships and I believe in collaboration. “I’m on a board with four other people and I have to work with them,” Elmore added. “It’s just like me being on a project with a bunch of engineers. We’re working together to produce something, and to me that carries over [to government].” Elmore’s focus points in his cam paign were development, annexa tion and education. He plans to get to work on those areas soon, specifi cally the Foreman Fenner Dunlop property. The site was annexed into the city a few years ago and the city had planned to turn it into a mixed- use development with three to five stories of multifamily and retail wrapping a parking deck. Euramex Management pur chased the 13-acre Fenner Dunlop property in October. “The Fenner Dunlop—that’s a big project and it’s going to require a lot of attention,” Elmore said. “That’s very important to the city and me, and to the board. It’s a big develop ment. It could make a big difference in our city. Annexation will as well,” he added. “I want to make sure that those neighborhoods that we’re try ing to annex are being heard, that their concerns are being addressed.” Elmore is working to put to gether an education committee that can help strengthen the relationship between the city and its schools. “I feel like the better we support the schools in our community, they’ll support us,” he said. He would like to see more busi ness open in the city. “I just want to make sure that our city is seen by entrepreneurs and businesses as a good place to be,” he said, “that we’re business friendly, that we’re a good place to establish a business, because once you get that momentum going it kind of starts to build on itself. I feel like we’ve got it going for the first time in a long time, but we need to make sure we keep nudging that along and doing everything that we can to make sure it doesn’t stop. We have a great city and I want us to have a great down town area.” Elmore said he wants to improve transparency and communication in the city by hosting a town hall meet ing. “There are some concerns. I want to address them,” he said. “I think most people in our commu nity still believe in our commission and our city government, but there are some things that need to be ad dressed. I think we are still a very strong community, very positive community.” r ; n Are you newly engaged or married? Would you like to share your story with readers of The Champion? S end us a shod recap of your engagement/wedding story and we may use if in the newspaper Please include COntaCl information for both bride and groom (names* ages, city of residency, occupation, phone numbers and email address). Atso please send ihree to Five high-resolution photos. Send information and photos 10 FastGaie@hotmai1.com
