When you listen to Nick Ferrante describe his city, you instantly get the feeling that he’s just a guy that loves his hometown and believes that decency shouldn’t be the goal but the least we can do.
“When I was a kid growing up in Peachtree City during the ‘80s, it was not uncommon to see families out together picnicking on one of the cart paths. It is that kind of stopping, resting, and gathering that I miss.” Out, together is the charm and magic that Peachtree City offers.
Charted in 1959 and now home to over 35,000 people, Peachtree City is nestled in the lower southwest corner from Atlanta and is the largest city in Fayette County, Georgia. It is widely known for its charming village-style residential developments (five villages that contain its shopping area, recreational facilities, and elementary school). It is these little villages of magic create the city’s charm.
Even though Peachtree City is a melting pot of diversity, it lacks diverse expression, a critical ingredient needed to maintain the magic. “To some people who live here, diversity is a net-negative. I view it differently. It is the Hispanic families that get it right. They are the ones seen mostly out, together stopping, resting, and gathering.”
According to the website datausa.io, the five largest ethnic groups in Peachtree City are White (Non-Hispanic) (76%), Black or African American (Non-Hispanic) (6.36%), White (Hispanic) (6.28%), Asian (Non-Hispanic) (5.82%) and Two+ (Non-Hispanic) (3.36%).
The key to our best future is conserving the unique and beautiful identity of the city.
Nick Ferrante
As a mayoral candidate, Ferrante’s top priority is Conserving the magic of Peachtree City. “The key to our best future is conserving the unique and beautiful identity of the city.” Working to restore any lost charm by highlighting the magical foundations that bring us together is a critical component of his campaign.
Nick plans to designate art and entertainment districts that will empower Peachtree City’s aging development village model. Shopping centers in each newly designated district will have the power to rebrand themselves as Community Gathering Village Centers (the original concept for the centers). Community Gathering Village Centers are where residents celebrate, share their art, enjoy a meal, learn, work, or recharge.
To accomplish his goal of becoming mayor, Ferrante has been reaching out to disenfranchised residents. “It’s how Trump won, and then the democrats took Georgia. People want to be heard and feel recognized. There is a population of people right here in Peachtree City that I plan on reaching. I want them to know that I am here and that I won’t do it without them.”
10 Comments
Shirley Williams
We all know you can please some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time. With that in mind, I will support a candidate who considers not just ethnicity but also every age bracket. Think about it….Seniors pour a lot of money into the PTC economy. They need to be considered as an asset and not just discussed in regards to housing. People who lived here when you were a little guy…many of those are still here. It is home to them…many for 50 years. They were the pioneers, the visionaries, who made it the amazing town it is. I hope they will be considered when revamping things “in the name of progress.” Too often they are the forgotten….the very ones who made the community what it is.
People want to live here NOW for a reason. They like the present lifestyle or they most likely wouldn’t be here. SO SOMETHING I WORKING. I will not vote for anyone who wants to make overnight, radical changes to PTC just because it is a “cool concept”. Baby steps are much more palitable for many people. Positive and meaningful change comes in stages. I look forward to reading the platform of each candidate.
Finally, I want a city council who listens to the people. Seriously listens. And please…..who in the world wants more traffic on 54??? I cannot believe someone had the idea of building a bunch of apts, condos, etc (housing ) near Aberdeen. Traffic is already backed up from 54/74 intersection to the library!!!!! Who in their right mind would add more housing in that area????????? And please…can we get a better police presence on the paths, especially Battery Park and Drake Field? Can we do something about the fact that PTC residents pay taxes in order to give us these wonderful spots yet on the weekends parking is filled with cars from out of county, so much that there arent enough spaces for PTC residents?
Every community has it’s inherent issues. PTC is no different but none have what we have here. We are unique. Let’s keep it nice, clean, green, safe, and fun!!!! It is (still) magic, like the sign in my yard says. 🙂 I’m proud to live here.
Don Haddix
Having lived in Peachtree City for 34 years, been a councilman, Mayor and state arbitrator, I am very concerned for the direction Peachtree City is heading.
Considering all the issues confronting PTC, I am declaring for Mayor of Peachtree City.
Our priorities should be:
1. Police and fire: safety.
2. Streets and paths: every day driving, golf carts, walking, running, cycling, and related activities.
3. Spending: what we spend, where the money comes from and is it being spent efficiently. Needs versus wants.
4. Village concept, not LCI.
5. Preservation of green space and city planning.
6. Restoration of the planning commission.
7. Removal of city employees from the CVB.
8. Rewrite the WASA charter and remove elected from the board.
9. Review and rewrite zoning ordinances to eliminate precedence that allows developers to force unwanted development.
10. Defend First Amendment rights.
11. Understand state law forbids city government from performing economic development.
12. Traffic: the unfortunate reality is that we have no real solution to traffic congestion. Tyrone wants nothing to do with routing traffic through their city. Coweta has never been willing to assist Peachtree City. They have always wanted to dump their traffic through us. GDOT is not going to take any measures for us.
Many changes to 74/54 have been proposed. But none of them do anything to reduce traffic through Peachtree City. In fact, they make it worse. One proposal that will help somewhat is to connect Fischer Road to 85, but Coweta is not interested, leaving building a skyway from the east side of the city into Coweta with no ramps. Ambitious yet unattainable.
After all the issues we have seen over the last eight years we can no longer afford apathy or more of the same. Peachtree City is not a resort city, it is our home. It is time to defend it and return it to the vision that made PTC such a success, not an extension of Atlanta.
donhaddix.com
donhaddix@donhaddix.com
Nick Ferrante
Hi Jill,
The overwhelming majority of Peachtree City is not being heard, just look at the turnout for the General Election last November vs. the turnout for the last municipal race.
Now to be fair, that’s kind of our own fault for not voting but all things considered, why bother to vote if none of the candidates is even trying to represent you.
My goal is to dramatically increase turnout by inviting all of our potential electorate to participate in the process, asking them to vote for me for a better future and giving them opportunities to engage in our local political process.
On to the topic of apartments,
I grew up in Peachtree City’s multi family housing; first in what was then called Gables Court and then Cobblestone Condominiums once my single mom could afford it.
You see l, we lived in Van Ness of of Battery Way until my parents divorced but my mom wanted to keep us in “the bubble” so she did what she had to do to make that happen. That included living in multi family housing so I’m not going to belittle her efforts or my own upbringing because some people think anything other than single family detached homes are filled with transients or whatever other adjective they deem appropriate.
On my policy position, I’m not in favor of large footprint, high volume apartment complexes. Not because of the “type of people” who live there but simply because the scaled economics required for upkeep and upgrades becomes a massive fiscal hurdle that is hard to get over.
I am however in favor of appropriately built and priced housing that gives both;
– the people currently commuting into this city for work a place they can afford to live. This accomplishes a few things.
1. This will reduce traffic from those commuting into the city.
2. It will increase our tax revenue through property taxes, splost and other sources of revenue.
– the older generation of people currently living in this city a reasonable step down from their large footprint homes while also allowing them an opportunity to stay in the city they clearly love.
This accomplishes a few things;
1. It allows our senior residents a chance to stay in the city they’ve invested their lives in.
2. It allows our senior residents to make good financial decisions regarding their housing situation; whereby they might not see wisdom in selling their 3,200 square foot home for $500k just to turn around and buy a 1,500 square foot home for $400k+ in places like Cresswind.
3. It gets those senior residents who are taking the senior tax abatement out of high priced homes where the reduction in our school boards budget is most impacted per household.
4. It provides an opportunity for young families to buy a home they can grow into AND also pay the full rate thereby ensuring funding for one of our top local attractions, our school system.
I hope this gives you some greater clarity on my stance.
Feel free to shoot me a message on Facebook or a text so we can talk further if you’d like.
470-399-0300
Nick Ferrante
@Andrew
Thank you for your gracious words, it’s my hope to do just that, restore Peachtree City’s identity, bringing back and empowering the Villages to evolve into modern day community gathering spaces!
Suzanne N
Just stop.
Andrew Krause
Nick has the right vision for this town. We’ve had 10 years of failed ideas from the same group of political retreads who are simply out of touch with the past and present of the people here. We need to restore the Villages Concept that Joel Cowan put in place at the beginning. We need to encourage organic civic participation like there used to be. We need to revitalize the robust small business culture that once drove this community. That’s why I’m voting for Nick.
Jill Clark
Who in PTC is not being heard? Also, earlier in your campaign, weren’t you supporting building apartments/“affordable” housing? That would get ZERO support from me and many others I know. Comment?
Nick Ferrante
I’m so sorry you’ve experienced that!
Everything rises and falls based on leadership, and that includes tone.
I promise, when I win, to set a new tone for out city’s future.
Peachtree City Resident
I am happy to know that a young person is competing for this seat. They need some young people and people of color to help show diversity and equality. Good luck to him.
Stefany Lui
I thought only racists live in that city. I won’t go there after dark. It is a very scary place for Asian Americans. Good Luck to the candidate.