(upbeat music) - Good afternoon, I'm Emil Moffitt, a reporter with W A B E 90.1.

Welcome to the Atlanta press club, Loudermilk Young debate series.

This is the runoff debate among candidates for city council post three at large.

Let's meet the candidates, they are in alphabetical order.

Jacki Labat is the president and CEO of a business management consulting firm.

Kesha Waits represented district 60 in the state house of representatives from 2012 through 2016.

And now let's meet our panelists.

Sean Keenan reports on housing affordability for the Atlanta civic circle.

And Dawn Montgomery is a reporter with the Atlanta Voice.

For complete rules on today's debate, please visit the Atlanta press club website, atlantapressclub.org.

To start the debate, each candidate will be asked two questions by the panelists.

Candidates have 60 seconds to answer each question, Dawn Montgomery, you get the first question to Jacki Labat.

- Good evening, good afternoon.

You've made it to the runoff, so just really express again what qualities you have that will make you an effective council member, even though you do lack experience.

- Yes, I lack experience in politics, but I don't lack experience in public service.

And I have an extensive resume in corporate America as an executive assistant and chief of staff to many of Atlanta's fortune 500 executives.

I spent a number of years as a senior staffer to Coretta Scott King.

So I also engaged in public service in that way.

I believe that I bring a unifying spirit to the city of Atlanta.

I believe that I can bring people from all sides.

One of the things that appealed to me about this race was that it is a bi-partisan, or non-partisan position.

And I have bipartisan support from a vast diverse group of people from across the city.

So I do believe that I can bring intellectually honest, decision-making to city hall at a time when Atlanta is at a pivotal, divided juncture, thank you.

- And Sean Keenan, please ask your question to Kesha Waits.

- Miss Waits, thank you for being with us.

You've run for political office successfully and unsuccessfully for years, holding positions at the state, county, and city level.

Recently you fell short in a bid for Georgia's fifth congressional district, edged out by Robert Franklin, and the ultimate winner Kwanza Hall.

Now that was only about a year ago.

Can you tell us why you chose to run for this seat in particular, and why voters should believe your campaign is about more than just finding an open political post?

- Thank you so much for the question.

My record of service speaks for itself, the same things that raised, issues that I raised on the fifth congressional race are the same issues that we're having a conversation about today.

And that is how do we streamline and leverage the resources that we have at the local, county, and state level to address issues of public safety.

You and I are intimately aware of the challenges that we're facing.

And I just simply believe, given my record of service at the Georgia house of representatives, having served three terms, that experience will be critical in terms of addressing the issues we're facing and the challenges.

Secondly, that was a special election for a brief period of time.

All of us were inspired by the late Congressman John Lewis, and I believe that I embody his spirit of service and his spirit of commitment to underserved communities.

- Thanks, all right, we stay with Sean, please ask your next question for Jacki Labat.

- Miss Labat, thank you for being with us.

- Thank you.

- You've been called the first lady of the city's department of corrections, something you note on your campaign website.

So while maintaining consciousness of the need to fight crime, how can you ensure voters, you'll be just as tough on police misconduct as on criminals?

- Thank you, that's a wonderful question.

And that title was something that had to grow on me to be quite honest.

Coming from a corporate America background, I was quite unclear when I married my husband, of the role and responsibility that rest upon my shoulders.

And while I shunned it at first, it was quite disrespectful to the men and women of the department.

And they looked up to me and admired me and held me in great esteem, and I did have a great responsibility.

So I feel that my responsibility is not only to serve them and to be there for them in that capacity, but it's also to make the department better and to move Atlanta forward.

And in this case, I am now the first lady of the Fulton county Sheriff's office.

And I believe that I have a unique ability to engage in tough discussions.

I hold everyone accountable that I know from a law enforcement standpoint, and I feel that I can bring people to the table to bridge the gap and repair those broken relationships.

- Thank you, and Dawn, you get the final question in this round for Kesha Waits.

- Thank you, Miss Waits, so will you make affordable housing a priority of your term on the council and what actions need to be taken to ensure meeting the goal of 20,000 affordable homes by 2026?

- Absolutely, thank you for the question.

And I reference again, the work that I've already started when I was in the Georgia general assembly.

We were pivotal in terms of providing CIDs and tax credits to developers and individuals who chose to build in the city.

But more importantly, many, many years ago, we closed multiple housing projects throughout our city, with the promise that we will bring those facilities back online for working families, and that simply has not happened.

I think that's an area where there's a massive failure.

So it is my hope to leverage those relationships, given that the city of Atlanta is one of the largest property owners in the region.

And so I would like to work with developers as well as investors to provide real affordable housing for our public service workers, for teachers, and for individuals who truly desire to live in the city.

In addition to addressing the issue of homelessness, which doesn't come up very often in this dialogue.

- And that concludes the first round of the debate.

The candidates will now ask questions to their opponent.

Candidates will have 30 seconds to ask the questions, 60 seconds for the response, and the candidate who asks the question will have 30 seconds for a rebuttal.

By random selection, Kesha Waits, you may ask the first question to your opponent.

- Sure, Mrs. Labat, given the challenges that we're facing right now in the city of Atlanta surrounding transparency in the issue of ethics, what policy would you support, or would you author, to address conflicts of interest when it comes to city and elected officials who utilize campaign workers during political campaigns?

- Oh, I do believe that we need to engage our ethics department.

And I believe it was a new ethics division that Mayor Bottoms put in place.

I think that, from the prior administration through now, accountability and transparency in the workplace, especially with respect to campaigns, is paramount.

And in my case, I have a great deal of support from both the city of Atlanta, Fulton county Sheriff's office, and we like to ensure that we have documented paid leave slips on file prior to any service on a campaign.

But I think that it should be very transparent as well.

- Miss Waits, you have 30 seconds to respond if you'd like.

- I do not wish to respond.

- All right, very good, Jacki Labat, it is your turn to ask a question.

- Yes, so former representative Waits, much respect to you for your commitment to serve and your tenacity in running.

And as our moderator, Mr. Keenan mentioned, you run several times and you've spoken of the relationships on a state level.

Can you speak to relationships that you have on a city level, on a municipal level, because we have to be able to work with our colleagues in order to affect change.

- All right, thank you so much for the question.

I'm extremely proud of the work that I had the opportunity to do with APS.

During my tenure in the Georgia house of representatives, many of us are intimately aware of the cheating scandal.

And after that, in that aftermath, we had some serious issues because nine of the schools in my state house districts were failing schools.

And so we were looking for someone to lead us out of that mess.

So I worked intimately with, at that time, the superintendent Maria Carstarphen, in terms of working to get the resources to those schools that were failing and falling behind.

Secondly, I'm extremely proud of the relationships that I have with existing members of the city council.

As many of you are aware, we will have eight new members of council.

And I think for that reason, it is critical, given the challenges, given that the stakes are so high, that we have individuals who have some level of legislative and policy-making experience at this time.

- And Miss Labat, if you have a chance to respond if you'd like.

- The only response I have is that I have been endorsed by at least nine of the sitting council members.

And I do believe that relationships matter as you get into government in terms of moving legislation and moving Atlanta forward.

- And that concludes our second round.

And for those just joining us, this is the runoff debate between candidates for Atlanta city council, post three at large.

We'll now go back to the panel to ask questions of the candidates of their choice until we run out of time.

And as a point of moderator privilege, I may also ask questions of the candidates and I'll determine when a rebuttal is appropriate.

Dawn Montgomery, you get the first question in this round, Dawn?

- Thank you, if either of you are elected to this position, how will you address homelessness?

I know Miss Waits just touched on it, and you guys don't get an opportunity to discuss this, but let's be more specific as the weather is changing and cold weather, what's a good alternative in housing people that really need it right now?

- What?

- Thank you so much.

Okay, so many of you are very familiar with the Bedford and Pine location that an Enide Batey headed for many, many years, where she received funding from the city of Atlanta for the Atlanta homeless task force.

So I was extremely proud to work in advocate on her behalf when they were dealing with issues such as water bill, as well as Blyton and complaints in that area of the city.

So I say to you that, this is not a conversation that I've just started.

I've been a part of this conversation for several decades.

Couple of things I'd like to see, and that is we have a number of multi-family housing units throughout the city of Atlanta that I'd like to bring back online.

Many of them have high water bills.

Many of them are condemned due to dilapidated conditions.

And so it is my hope to work with investors and developers and bring them back online, seeking funding from both the state, where I have existing relationships, as well as HUD.

Thank you.

- Miss Labat.

- Thank you, and that's been a popular question throughout this election cycle.

I don't want to overlook any work that is being done.

Oftentimes we get into campaign mode and we feel that we're reinventing the wheel.

So I want to applaud the efforts that the city has made, but I do think that much work is to be done.

When you talk about affordable housing, oftentimes people loop in the homeless, but that to me is a whole nother conversation.

You've got to talk about transitional housing and then you've got to talk about resources.

So you have to house and you have to be able to safely get people off the street, right?

You don't want them in unsafe, unclean, deteriorating environments, but you don't want to jail them.

Being homeless or being mentally ill is not a crime.

So I think it's twofold in terms of the transitional housing, you've got to tackle the mentally ill and you've got to tackle those who just need a resting spot and someplace to pivot.

But then you've got a partner all the people that come into the city who serve our folks, our homeless folks on the weekends and put our resources together so that it's better utilized and people are better served.

- Sean Keenan, you had the next question.

- All right, Miss Labat, so in many ways, you're right, that there are different conversations regarding housing and homelessness and how to tackle those, but there are intersections as well.

So keeping in the vein of housing security, let's talk a little bit about gentrification.

It's something that affects every corner of the city.

Although some communities are being affected faster and more severely.

So as a council member, would you prioritize specific areas for affordable housing initiatives, a targeted approach, like our inclusionary zoning policies, or are there city-wide policies that could be enacted to reign in the tentacles of gentrification in a way that affects everyone?

- Great question, again, I think that we are not just reinventing the wheel here.

There are some great projects in place.

Terry Lee, who left Atlanta as the chief housing officer and is now with H A, is doing great work.

I think we need to take a different approach.

When you look at AMI area median income versus zip code based affordable housing.

When you're talking about percentages, you end up with a larger number when you talk about 30% of 80,000 versus 30% of 30,000, which would be that median income.

I do believe we have to look at neighborhoods in Atlanta.

When you talk about Atlanta, we have over 200, some odd neighborhoods.

Density may work in some, but it may not work in others.

And we've got to work with our MPUs to address housing in a meaningful way that actually benefits the communities in which they're serving.

- And Miss Waits?

- Thank you so much, so, as I indicated earlier, there were a number of housing, public housing units that we closed, many, many years ago with the promise that we will bring those back online.

And unfortunately that has not happened.

Many that we did bring back online, there were community benefit agreements that only benefited investors and developers.

And so one of the things that I think we also must do is when we're looking at public dollars and taxpayer dollars, is ensure that when we create these public benefit agreements, that they actually benefit taxpayers and the individuals that they were set in place to serve.

The second thing is that we must invest south of I 20.

There is a huge opportunity of vacant land there where we can meet with developers.

Again, land swaps is something that other communities in cities have, did use successfully.

And so I think that there are several different options that we have not necessarily looked into.

Finally, I'd love to partner with invest Atlanta to, okay, I'd love to partner with invest Atlanta, to utilize (mumbles) on the state, as well as the city level to ensure that we're getting the maximum benefit for individuals who, to attract the types of developers and investors that we need.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Dawn, next question?

- Thank you, do either of you support the efforts of the neighborhood planning units in the city?

If so, how and why, if not, please explain.

- Sure, so over the years I've noticed that the MPU process has lost his teeth.

This was something that was created many, many years ago by, I believe Maynard Jackson, who was our former mayor.

And so I believe that, in fact, with the public safety training facility, I think that's one example where the will of the MPU system was not looked at.

And so I believe that we have to bring them more into the conversation.

I think that anytime that you're gonna take a very serious, but we have to look at impact statements from the community, as well as just strengthen the MPU process.

And so I would be fully in support of any policy or legislation that was strengthen that process.

- And Miss Labat?

- Yes, thank you.

I actually have a great deal of respect for NPU leaders and people who step up in unpaid ways to lead in their community.

I do feel as though COVID-19 has cast a shadow on that process of input, when you have 17 hours of public comment at city hall, and you end up with people calling in from Texas and Washington state and so forth and so on, that local voice actually gets muffled.

And so sometimes it becomes the loudest voice in the room, but it may not automatically, or be the majority.

But I do think as a city-wide city council person, it is incumbent upon me.

Although we have to live in nine, 10, 11, or 12 to qualify if I'm on your ballot, I'm accountable to you.

And I feel that as a citywide council person, I need a footprint across all 12 districts throughout all of the NPUs, it's 52 weeks in a year, 26 NPUs.

Why can't I be there at least twice?

- All right, Sean, you have the next question.

- All right, so some of these responses were good segues into this, and this is sort of an open-ended question that you can address by discussing the NPU system or housing, or, I mean, it's open to your interpretation, but I want to start by talking about Tim Keens and the planning department's ongoing zoning code rewrite.

It strives for affordability and accessibility by way of increased density.

Some residents, namely those who are participants in the NPU system have voiced opposition with what they consider a threat to their way of life.

If the city is to become welcoming and affordable, does that require some disruption to the quote unquote, way things are?

And are there policies, housing or otherwise, that will be tough pills to swallow, but that must pass?

- Start with Miss Waits.

- Sure, so we're a city of 600,000 people.

And more people are moving here every single day.

COVID has changed the way that we live and work and play.

On it's face, I like councilman member, Amir Farokhi's bill.

I think that it creates a density that we need in terms of intent.

The concern that I have, however, is for seniors and legacy residents in terms of tripling, probably, their property taxes over the next 10 years, and potentially forcing them out of the city.

So what I'd like to see is that we do some tweaks to that piece of legislation, to ensure that we're protecting seniors, as well as legacy residents, from spiking property taxes.

In addition to the fact that we are creating affordable housing near transit centers, which is exactly where I think we need to place them.

- Thanks a lot.

- Yes, thank you.

I do believe that a council member Farokhi's intent, and the potential outcome are juxtaposed.

And I think that that's the pin point for folks in various communities who have pushed back.

I do understand that he has gone back to the table, and there have been compromises.

I do believe that, just like with anything that's come up today or anything we talk about, so many issues are very polarized and people feel very strongly.

You talk about our daytime population at 500,000, I'm sorry, million, and then 1 million or so, but in the night, you know, the people who live in Atlanta, it's 500,000, so Atlanta is growing.

And what we need to realize is that the growth is necessary, but it needs to be smart growth.

And we do need to have solid input from communities and our MPUs in terms of what that growth looks like and to make Atlanta a successful city and keep us best in class and top tier.

- All right, Dawn, you have the next question.

- All right, let's talk about the nighttime.

So we all know that Farokhi proposed the new nighttime mayor position, and basically this person would advise leaders on issues that affect the city at night, like the bars, nightclubs, hotels, and restaurants.

Do you support this initiative?

And if not, what's an alternative for this particular position that's been proposed?

- Sure, so far for those of us who were not here, in 2001 is when we actually started closing our bars at an earlier hour due to a shooting that happened in Buckhead.

And one of the things that I want to remind you of, in 2001, during the election cycle, the number one issue that we were facing back then was public safety.

And guess what?

We're still having the same conversation 20 years later.

So frankly, I don't believe that more government is the issue at all.

I think the issue is, is to address the real public safety issues that we're having.

And that's going to be attrition, retention, and recruiting and hiring individuals because we constantly lose our officers all the time to neighboring cities and counties.

The other piece is the perception of feeling safe.

I'm 49 years of age.

There has never been a time in my life where I've ever felt a fear in terms of getting fuel or going to an ATM machine in the evenings.

And today my entire lifestyle has changed, given that dynamic.

So what I believe we need to do is expand our Camber network to ensure that they're fully integrated and connected to the 9 1 1 system, and to also increase and build upon morale and put officers in the city of Atlanta through affordable housing initiatives.

- Miss Labat.

- Yes, thank you, great question, because I did have to have a little bit of a pause when I read that and I first heard about it.

I just feel it's a little duplicative, in terms of our police chief.

And it put me in the mindset of the director of public safety, I think, or another position that seemingly would not be needed if you had a police chief and a police force in place, doing the things that you need them do in terms of setting the tone for what's acceptable within the city limits of Atlanta.

And so with that, I think we have to look holistically at reshaping and rebuilding the Atlanta police department.

I think we need to not only recruit and retain, but we need to have engaging relationships as the convention and visitors bureau season picks up in the first of the year.

Right now we're tending to a lot in Buckhead, but we've got to come back downtown, and we really have to give some thought to it.

But I just don't think, when you hire someone to do a job, it's not really in my mindset, wise to hire someone else to do it as well.

It's sort of a duplication of efforts.

- So to both of you, do you feel as if this is a micro-managing type of position that would be created for that?

- I do.

- Okay.

- I think this is a another knee jerk reaction to a problem that we have, and we've seen that dynamic play out in the city of Atlanta for many decades.

- Okay, right, thanks.

- And Sean, we have time for one more question for both candidates, Sean?

- Sure, so I find it interesting that that question kind of organically drifted into a conversation about crime and policing.

And it's no secret that the conversation of all Atlanta politics lately has been dominated by crime.

So I want to hear what you two think are issues that have been overshadowed by these discussions of crime and policing, what needs the spotlight more?

- Hmm.

- Miss Waits.

- Thank you, so I believe that crime is a symptom of poverty.

I think there's a direct relationship between your educational level and poverty.

And so I think that we have to create opportunities for people to thrive.

I believe that affordable housing is a large part of this conversation, which oftentimes drifts over to homelessness.

And so I think that we've got to have a holistic approach in terms of how we manage these issues.

Again, as you said, hiring more officers certainly is not going to fix the issue of people not being able to afford to live in the housing that they need to live in.

And so again, I'd like to streamline resources, that is tapping into state as well as federal resources, so that we're not all duplicating what we've been doing before.

And finally, I think my time is up, okay, okay.

- Miss Labat?

- Yes, thank you for that question.

And I want to start by saying, in shaping my platform, I really want it to speak with people and citizens throughout all 12 districts of Atlanta.

Simply being married to law enforcement, I did not want to make crime and public safety, the number one issue, but legitimately it has been.

However, I do feel like our COVID recovery planning has taken a back seat.

I'm not hearing anyone in the race at this point on a mayoral level or otherwise, talk about getting people in city hall back to work, who needs to come back into the office, who can work remotely, how do we get those efficiencies going to deliver city services?

I think this time last year, we all sort of felt as though COVID-19 would be over and we'd be post pandemic.

And we're not, we're still in thick of it.

I heard today that the cases are rising, but we need to have short and long-term COVID recovery plans for small business owners, for workers, for the city, for the government, in order to not just survive this, so that we can also thrive.

- All right Miss Labat, thank you very much.

That's all the time we have for questions this afternoon, each candidate will now have 60 seconds for a closing statement.

And Jacki Labat, you get the first closing statement.

- Thank you, and I want to thank our moderator and our panelists for having us today and all the organizers at Loudermilk young debate series.

I'm Jacki Labat and I am running for Atlanta city council post three at large, because I have a heart to serve.

This is all about public service for me.

You will not get a politician.

You will get someone who is intentional, who has integrity, and who is independent in terms of her thinking and who will be transparent and accessible at city hall.

I will be on the ballot on November the 30th, early voting begins this Wednesday through next Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

So elections are determined by the people who show up.

So please show up and make your voice heard.

Thank you so much.

- And thank you, and the Kesha Waits, it's now your turn.

- Thank you, again, thank you to the Atlanta press club, as well as GPB for hosting us this afternoon.

I come to this conversation at not as someone that has offered myself, when a seat came available, I come to you as someone who's done this work for over two decades.

I've spent 19 years serving at the local state as well as federal levels of government.

So I'm not new to this process.

I can assure you, if you're going to land a plane in the Hudson, there's only one pilot that you want to land that plane, and that's Captain Sully.

I do believe that legislative experience will be necessary given the critical issues that we're facing here in the city of Atlanta, the stakes are simply too high.

We've had a conversation for almost four decades surrounding affordable housing.

We've talked about and tiptoed around the issue of homelessness.

And my colleague talked about the fact that it's time to get people back to work at city hall.

But when we send them back to work, we need people who will answer the phones.

We need a level of competency, and I believe that that's what I bring to this conversation and I'm excited to serve.

And I thank the voters who supported me, thank you again.

- Thank you, that concludes our debate.

We'd like to remind voters that the runoff election is Tuesday, November 30th.

Please check with your voting precinct to determine early voting hours and days.

Our thanks to the candidates and to our panel of journalists.

We'd also like to thank the Atlanta press club for arranging today's debate.

For more information about the debates they will host this election season, you can visit atlantapressclub.org.

I am a Emil Moffett, thanks for joining us for the Atlanta press club at Loudermilk young debate series.

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