Packaged by JOHN HUBBARD – Sports Writer
MARY MERRITT – Features Writer
NICHOLAS BYRNE – Broadcast Staff
On May 20, you are going to see two Densons on the ballot, surprisingly. Tim Denson, the bearded non-Athens-native and Nancy Denson the, uh, “Democrat.”
There’s a reason Democrat is spoken with a tone of sarcasm in regards to Nancy. She runs on the platform, but even taking the slightest look at her policies and accomplishments since 2010, it’s clear she’s a moderate conservative.
The two candidates couldn’t be more different. Tim Denson is a far left-leaning liberal employed at Barnes & Noble, and reminds most people of your friendly hipster barista at your neighborhood coffee shop. Tim is a self-described activist, and supporter of the arts, and wants to “attack inequality.”
So looking at these two possible leaders of the Athens community, which one best fits the position? To answer that question, you have to look at what Athens needs, and determine what’s just political mumbo-jumbo.
Start out with the incumbent, Nancy. She’s packed quite a resumé while in office, bringing jobs to Athens, and quite a bit of financial growth. Looking at her accomplishments thus far in her term, it seems she focuses most on economic infrastructure. According to her website, unemployment in the Athens area was at 8.1% when she entered office, it is now at 5.1%. Not too shabby. Companies and developments have sprung up around the Athens area since 2010, but what about those that left?
The Epps Bridge “Centre,” as it’s called, was built near the Oconee Connection last summer, and opened in the Fall. Several Businesses left the Athens area, (SPLOST pennies folks, SPLOST pennies) and relocated in the shopping “centre,” which means we’re getting fewer tax dollars for things like public transportation, public safety, public schools, public everything.
You get the idea.
But that being said, jobs have come to Athens, and in quite large quantities as well. Caterpillar, the construction vehicle corporation, already having employed 300, and is projected to employ over 900 people by 2015.
Tim has different ideas for Athens. He wants jobs, but he’d rather encourage those that pay substantially over minimum wage. As he cannot increase minimum wage due to state legislation, he is going to try and implement a “Mayor’s Living Wage Award.” I guess he’s going to slap some bumper-sticker on the window of every business that pays around $10 an hour. He has other plans, besides this elaborate bumper-sticker scheme, he wants to make the local bus system free. Not only make it free, but also join it with the UGA bus system.
In an interview with ODTV, Tim said, “The biggest thing we want to be tackling is the poverty rate. We have a 38% poverty rate, which is just incredible. We have to be dealing with this, it’s one of the highest in the nation.”
The man is bold, he’s got some far-fetched goals and he seems pretty positive they’re going to be accomplished. On Tim’s website, he’s making it a top priority to “cut poverty in half by 2025.” How is he going to do it? I don’t know. He’s never fought poverty with politics before, he’s never done anything in politics before.
That leads us to our largest problem. It’s hard to invest assurance in someone who’s lacking experience. Looking at Tim Denson’s website and his policies, it seems like he’s got some ideas that would be appealing to the Athenians, but there doesn’t seem to be any real step by step process to get there. Tim Denson has never been involved in politics. Like never, ever been involved in politics. The closest he ever got to the City Hall was protesting on the steps. There’s just no substantial proof that he’s going to be able to accomplish anything worth-while.
Nancy has the experience and accomplishments that really solidify her as a valid candidate. The decrease in unemployment and the developments she has kickstarted around town (read here), make it the most logical choice. Tim seems like a nice guy, but I’m just not buying into the fantasy that someone with no political experience could handle the heat.
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