Our Opportunities
Listening. Learning. Delivering.
As we continue this journey together, let’s focus on opportunities that strengthen what makes Tucker special while building a future where families can put down roots, businesses can grow and long-time residents can thrive.
This past year I’ve been conducting a Lerner Listening Tour whether shopping in the grocery aisle, volunteering in our parks, walking on Main Street or gathering in Tucker living rooms, backyards and businesses. I’ll continue using this time on the campaign trail to listen and learn from you, our residents and business community.
The opportunities outlined below capture what I’ve heard from many of you and my experiences as a resident who also works in Tucker, as the sister of a Tucker business owner, as a community volunteer and a former council member. They also align with Tucker’s Comprehensive Plan developed with the community’s input.
This work requires more than just putting words on a website. We need to be intentional, focused and SMART:
Strategy
Having a clear strategy for implementing plans and policy and thinking through possible repercussions. Recognizing and resolving patterns that cause recurring issues, not just reacting to what’s broken.
Measure
Tracking, before and after, the effects of our decisions and policy actions.
Assess
Creating a system of feedback to consistently evaluate what’s working and what’s not.
Reengineer
Being open to adjust our approach when the measurables and assessments demand it.
Take new action
Consistently moving forward and making progress on plans and policy goals. Being careful not to plan ourselves out of making progress.
Public Safety
A safe, clean community is the cornerstone of any thriving city. It’s the basis for everything. Like many communities in DeKalb, we’ve had our share of struggles with crime since the pandemic, especially in relation to staffing levels at the Tucker Precinct by our DeKalb County Police Department (DKPD). Our opportunities include:
- Working closely with DeKalb County to ensure we have proper staffing of 911, and of police officers at the Tucker Precinct, focused within our city’s 20 square miles, not just the larger footprint the precinct covers.
- Improving response times and closely tracking all levels of crime and disturbances. Providing that information to residents and businesses on a regular basis to ensure the statistics are aligning with the true impact on our community and following up where there seems to be any disconnect. Many business crimes go unreported due to concerns about losing insurance, losing customers and due to a history of long hold times for 911 and long police response times. Business owners and employees need to have confidence that when they report crime it will be addressed quickly. They need to see that their safety and the safety of their employees and customers are the highest priority. Interested in their success, we need to be proactively talking with our business owners to know what’s really happening.
- Creating a stronger connection between neighborhoods, DKPD and city leadership to help make sure we’re maintaining safe, vibrant neighborhoods in ALL parts of Tucker.
- Working directly with our two Community Improvement Districts (CIDs) and property owners in our commercial corridors to address car break-ins, loitering and panhandling, and other disturbances so people feel safe working, shopping, eating and staying in Tucker which leads to stronger economic growth for our entire community.
- Making Tucker look and feel like a safe, vibrant city that does not tolerate bad behavior by quickly removing illegal signs in the right-of-way and on poles, erasing graffiti, fixing fallen/damaged road signs and picking up litter and abandoned shopping carts. Let’s set an example for those who visit and drive through Tucker.
- Coordinating with DeKalb County and surrounding cities on an actual plan to address homelessness. The recent retreats for the DeKalb County Mayors and Board of Commissioners called out the need for sustainable, long-term strategies and I look forward to working toward that goal with them while focusing on what Tucker needs to do now.
Economic Growth
A strong city requires healthy economic growth, which in turn requires ensuring that the city is attracting corporate investment as well as entrepreneurial opportunities for small-business growth. Our opportunities include:
- Continuing to work to make sure we’re creating a strong downtown center that attracts businesses that will help provide for the kind of foot traffic we need to make downtown strong and self-sustaining.
- Collaborating with entities like the Georgia Economic Development Association, Atlanta Regional Commission, Metro Atlanta Chamber, Decide DeKalb and the Tucker Development Authority to ensure that Tucker truly understands its competitive advantage in the region, and we are maximizing our opportunities to attract investment, especially in our business and industrial parks.
- Continuing to invest in our infrastructure including roads and stormwater and most importantly making sure we have the proper funding for maintenance.
- Fostering a culture of exceptional customer service, proactive thinking, responsiveness and problem solving in all we do.
Lifelong Community Growth
Growth for a city doesn’t just come from business growth. Making sure that we’re still attracting new residents and helping families decide to put down roots in Tucker is essential. We must also balance that growth with the needs of current and long-time residents. Our opportunities include:
- Developing a housing strategy from the city’s housing studies, the current ULI Atlanta Technical Assistance Panel findings and other available resources so a person can truly live their entire lifetime in Tucker.
- Using all the tools available to make sure we’re strengthening neighborhoods that grow our housing supply in a way that balances safe, quality, affordable housing, including starter homes for young families, down-sizing options for empty-nesters and age-friendly communities for seniors with the homes on the higher-end of the market typically preferred by developers.
- Continuing the work of Tucker Civic Association to incorporate the seven principles of Lifelong Communities into our city studies and plans, so Tucker truly is a place where people of all ages and abilities can thrive. This includes opportunities for healthy living, road and pedestrian safety and convenient access to shopping, services and community spaces for social interaction.
Parks and Greenspaces
Tucker’s parks and greenspace are some of our most prized assets. Preserving, maintaining and enhancing our park space has been one of our top priorities even before Tucker became a city, and since cityhood we’ve been able to create recreational programming for all ages.
- Evaluating our current parks and recreation system to ensure we have balanced services and activity opportunities at our many parks, while preserving the amount of natural space.
- Making sure we engage with neighbors early on to address concerns, including neighborhood parking, foot traffic and noise levels.
- Analyzing current recreation and arts programming housed at Tucker Rec Center and other locations along with future needs to inform decisions about creating a place that will truly serve our community now and into the future.
- Incorporating day-to-day maintenance, long-term upkeep expenses and staffing needs into decisions about parks and recreation capital projects and expansion.