Longtime Tucker resident and two-term former city council member Anne Lerner announced in an exclusive interview with Rough Draft Atlanta her intention to run for mayor this November.
Frank Auman, who is term-limited, has been Tucker’s only mayor in the city’s nine-year history.
“It’s crucial that our next mayor understands our community, our cityhood journey and the solid foundation our city leadership has built,” Lerner said. “And it’s also crucial our new mayor has a strong sense of Tucker’s potential and the know-how, relationships and determination to get us there.”
Lerner, a 28-year Tucker resident who was instrumental in the push for cityhood, has decades of community experience, serving in multiple capacities, including as a board member for Leadership DeKalb, Tucker-Northlake CID Master Plan Steering Committee, and the Tucker Civic Association.
She is the public affairs director for one of Tucker’s largest employers, Georgia Transmission Corporation, working with elected officials and communities across the state.
During her tenure on the council, Lerner spearheaded efforts to shut down illegal massage businesses, championed a ban on urban camping, helped obtain additional park land for the city, including the bee habitat at Tucker Nature Preserve, the waterfall at Henderson Park, Tucker Town Green, Fitzgerald Field and Church Street Green Space.
Lerner also helped coordinate community education efforts to establish public works and storm water services, and was instrumental in developing the city’s non-discrimination ordinance.
Since leaving the council, Lerner has continued to serve the Tucker community, which she feels is key to making a smooth transition to the mayoral position.
“Tucker has remained my priority,” she said. “I’ve stayed engaged with the community.”
Lerner said she has 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,” she said.
Lerner’s priorities, if elected, include:
- Working closely with DeKalb County to ensure proper 911 response times, as well as ensuring Tucker Precinct police officers are focused within the city’s 20 square miles, “not just the larger footprint the precinct covers;”
- Creating a stronger connection between neighborhoods, the DeKalb Police, and city leadership to maintain safe, vibrant neighborhoods in all parts of Tucker;
- Working directly with the city’s two Community Improvement Districts (Tucker-Northlake and Tucker- Summit) to address car break-ins, loitering and panhandling, and other disturbances;
- Continuing to creating a strong downtown center that attracts quality and self-sustaining businesses;
- Investing in the city’s infrastructure, including roads and stormwater, to ensure proper funding for maintenance;
- Developing a strategy from the city’s housing studies, the current ULI Atlanta Technical Assistance Panel findings, and other available resources, to ensure citizens can grow up and age in-place in Tucker;
- Continuing the work of Tucker Civic Association to incorporate the seven principles of Lifelong Communities into the city studies and plans;
- Evaluating the city’s current parks and recreation system to ensure balanced services and activity opportunities while preserving natural spaces;
- Analyzing current programming housed at Tucker Recreation Center and other locations to make decisions that will serve the community now and into the
- future.
Lerner taught English and social studies for a decade at Stone Mountain Middle School and remains a mentor to former students. She and her husband, Ted, live in the Winding Woods neighborhood. Her campaign website can be found here.