Athens Decides: LaKeisha Gantt

As the only mayoral candidate born and raised in Athens, LaKeisha Gantt believes she knows the city best, including its struggles and successes.

“There were so many positive things about my community, and there were some struggles that at the moment I just did not see as community struggle,” Gantt said. “It shaped me in a lot of positive ways. It strengthened me. I did not realize that I was in poverty, and a large part of that, even with any of the struggles that I encounter, was simply because of the strong sense of community.”

Prior to running for mayor, Gantt had an extensive career in counseling psychology. She also served on the Clarke County School District Board Of Education (District 7), later becoming BOE president. She says these experiences will assist her as mayor. 

“I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having the skill to understand what people need, beyond the behaviors and what we see: what it is that communities and individuals need, but also having the skill set to listen and move a community forward towards a solution. That is work I’ve done both as president of the school board and in my professional world. That is critical in the role of mayor,” Gantt said.

A key factor of Gantt’s campaign is  providing a remedy for homelessness by understanding its underlying causes. Those factors can include economic struggles, drug use, physical disabilities, domestic violence and mental health, which she is familiar with treating. 

“My plan for the homeless is really wrapped up in my community uplift platform. That is to strengthen communities that are unheard by meeting some of those needs. One of the things that I want to do with mental health is be sure that we get information out to the community. I’m going to establish a mobile mental health unit. Will that immediately solve homelessness? No. But with the problem or challenge that is so complex, we have to work to chip away at some of the underlying factors that individuals are experiencing,” Gantt said.

Gantt also intends to address affordability by supporting tiny home and accessory dwelling unit projects, allowing homeowners to construct smaller homes for rent on their property. She also hopes to start a Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (PILOT) program with UGA, which would help fund affordable housing units.

“The mayor and commission does not oversee rent control, that is a state legislature issue. But I do believe that the mayor and commission can be more vocal about advocating to bring that forth as a priority. In order to take some significant steps, we’re going to have to have subsidies. I am advocating very intentionally for our partners to come to the table,” Gantt said. “We can also give more flexibility with zoning, so that people who actually already own their land have the permission to be able to build another structure that might be able to help with more immediate affordability in their family.”

Gantt believes that making Athens more affordable will help prevent crime, another issue with underlying causes.

“I think that people like to hang on to the idea that Athens is unsafe now. We are not crime free, but when you look at a lot of the crimes in Athens, many of them are not egregious occurrences. One of the ways you start to impact crime is that you address the needs that underlie the behavior,” Gantt said. 

Gantt believes something that would make Athens more affordable and liveable for its natives is breaking the cycle of gentrification which favors student housing. Instead, she hopes to prioritize Athens-dwelling families while finding creative ways to build student housing .

“I hear people saying, the more student housing we build, then the more taxes we get. That’s only one part of it. When we start talking about building student housing, and especially in the downtown area, we are only doubling down on gentrification and pushing out families. That has been done for decades. So if we want to do student housing, we need to be looking at a variety of different areas, but certainly not concentrated in the downtown area,” Gantt said.

“I don’t think we can look at expanding public transit without looking at our overall infrastructure. There are still neighborhoods without sidewalks, so we expand public transit, and then the person walks from their home on a shoulder, increasing risks. I was in a neighborhood three weeks ago where a person was telling me that they have to go to work early, but that the bus stations on their side of town are not well lit. When they see stops closer to town, they are well lit and they are more comfortable,” Gantt said.

In order to fund all of her proposed changes, Gantt suggests reevaluating the city government’s budget, a strategy she says worked as school board president.

“We always want to look at areas that we can either cut or that perhaps we overestimated what we may need. We also have the SPLOST projects, I think that those should be tied to the infrastructural needs that we have in the county. That’s not all they have to be put towards, but I do think we need to sort of prioritize that focus with SPLOST,” Gantt said.

What Gantt emphasizes most about her as a mayor is her determination to amplify Athens’ unheard voices and to continuously strive for improvement.

“It’s important that we have a mayor who remains curious about the communities that are here, remains open and has the skill set to listen. There is not one candidate that has a better skill set than I do when it comes to listening, problem-solving and validating the experiences that diverse communities have. That is just important as the skill to govern, and I have both of those,” Gantt said.

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