Voters in the mood for a new slate of city leaders

EAST POINT  - The dust is settling after the city election.

Four incumbents ran. None of them won.

Mayor Earnestine Pittman Jannquall Peters

Ward A Sharonda Hubbard  Sharon Shropshire

Ward C Marcell Reed Nanette Saucier

Ward D J. Slaughter-Gibbons Dina H. Ingraham

 

Hubbard, a one-term incumbent, sent out this news release:

Good Evening,

Please allow me to thank each and every one of you that voted for me and supported my campaign this year. I have often said that having the opportunity to represent you on Council has been both humbling and one of the greatest honors of my life. Over the past four years I have come in contact with exceptional citizens in our Great City, many of whom I now proudly call friends.

I have always put my faith and trust in God and look forward to continuing my journey in life and living according to his plan. I will always look back on my tenure on Council with pride and warm thoughts knowing I did my best to represent the interests of East Point's citizens.

I congratulate all of East Point's newly elected Council Members and Mayor and wish them the best. I, along with you, seek the success of every member of Council, as the success of East Point depends on it. I remain ever optimistic that East Point will continue to move forward and will reach its full potential in the coming years.

Thank you and God bless!

Councilwoman Sharonda Hubbard

And from the outgoing mayor, Pittman

THE ELECTION THAT MONEY DID NOT BUY!!!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!

Although the voters’ turnout was low it was more than enough to end an eight year stranglehold on the Council and the City. The residents swept out all the incumbents including me and I am very happy! Now is the time to end the campaigning and talking about the misdeeds of those who will no longer be on the Council after December 31, 2013. It is time for a new beginning for the residents, the Council and the City. What can we expect from the new Council?

Before anyone attempts to answer that question, we should let the Council of 2014 know that they have the support of the residents as well as the support of the former Council Members who can still serve the City that we love by leaving the newly elected Mayor and Council Members alone unless they seek us out. I do know that the Council of 2014 is faced with a challenging Budget and financial woes that will require a lot of time and effort as well as assimilating a lot of information in order to make the best informed decisions.

I am not going to discuss the 2014 Budget tonight because I do not want to put a damper on one of the best election results in the forty years that I have lived in the City. Again, congratulations to all the newly elected Members of the East Point City Council. I pray that your tenure will be successful and rewarding to you and the City. God bless all of you!
EAST POINT CITY COUNCIL OF 2014
Mayor-Elect----------------------- Janquelle Peters
Ward A at-Large- Elect— Sharon Shropshire
Ward B at-Large- Elect-------------- Karen Rene
Ward C at-Large Elect -------- Nanette Soucier
Ward D at-Large Elect--- Dena Holiday-Ingram
To the residents of the City of East Point, I want to thank you again for the privilege of serving you for the past ten years. Now I bid you Happy Holidays and on December 31, 2013, a fond and prosperous farewell!

Sincerely,
Earnestine D. Pittman
Mayor of the City of East Point, GA

Voters overwhelmingly choose Peters as East Point mayor, along with two new council members

East Point Election Results

Awaiting official election results.

 

Help turn those campaign signs to art

Tired of looking at campaign signs? Wondering what to do with those campaign signs you posted in your lawn?  Well, the East Point Preservation Alliance has a message for people:

Attention candidates and residents: We want your used campaign signs!! The East Point Preservation Alliance will be accepting any and all campaign signs (with permission) that are otherwise headed for the landfill. The EPPA will be painting over whatever image is presently on the sign, and using Banksy style stencils to turn the signs into an advocacy campaign to help the EPPA save East Point's historic buildings, and return them to practical use by the people of East Point, for whom they were built. Help us to get a little more use out of each sign before it heads off into the abyss. We greatly appreciate any help we can get.

What is a Banksy style stencil you ask? Like this:



 

Voters support new leadership in East Point

Residents will decide who will serve as the the city of East Point's mayor in the December run-off election.

Jannquell Peters and Clyde Mitchell will be vying for votes. Incumbent Mayor Earnestine Pittman lost her seat when she came in third.



Two city council seats are also remain a toss up.

In Ward A, the race is between Shardona Hubbard, the incumbent, and Sharon Shropshire.

In Ward B, it's between incumbent councilwoman Jackie Slaughter-Gibbons and Deana Holiday-Ingraham

 

East Point mayor ousted at the polls.

You can find all the final, unofficial results for the city election here.

 

 

Election Day blog

I'l be posting update throughout the day and evening as voters in East Point cast ballots and decide the city's future.

Mayoral hopefuls interviewed by Neighbor Newspaper

The Oct. 4 issue of the Neighbor Newspaper ran a 400 word story about the four residents who want to lead East Point as its mayor.

Each of them talked about their priorities:

• Andrew Korta: "Korta said if elected, his main priorities would be to hire a skilled city manager and improve public safety.


• Clyde Mitchell: "Mitchell said financial stability and improved public safety are two of his priorities if elected."


• Jannquell Peters: "Peters said if elected, her priorities include community growth through small business incentives and lowering crime."


• Earnestine Pittman: "Pittman said her priorities if re-elected include expanding the city’s property tax base and downtown development."

You can read the full story here.

Here's a word cloud from the news story.



 

Two candidates aiming to oust the incumbent mayor talk about East Point's future

Mayoral hopefuls Andrew Korta and Jannquell Peters came out to a candidate forum hosted by the Jefferson Park Neighbors Association in early October.

Here are two reports, a Tweeter feed and at the bottom, a recording posted on Youtube.

 

 

There's a four-part video about the event. Please watch all of the forum here.

Here's the first 15 minutes of the event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quxMVB3IdcI

A voter guide to help residents make the decision at the polls

Residents can check through a voters' guide prepared by The League of Women's Voters for November's municipal elections.

Reports around metro Atlanta suggest turnout will be lackluster on Nov. 5. Informed voters casting ballots will be important as the city of East Point sets a direction for itself.

Learn how candidates for city offices lay out their vision for the future. Please click here to go to the another site and learn.

Election tab organizes East Point voting information

There's a new organizational tool above the header. Click the tap to see the election information on The Jefferson Park Hub.

What's the East Point ballot look like?

Here's what you'll see when you grab your ballot at the polls on Nov. 5.

Sample balllot for the City of East Point

Election forum on Tuesday

From the Jefferson Park Neighbors Association:

JPNA is proud to sponsor the 2013 Mayoral Debate Tuesday October 15th at Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church.

The event, a debate/forum hybrid will commence promptly at 7:15 PM.  The incumbent mayor has declined to participate.

Also check out the League of Women Voters site for a side-by-side comparison of candidates in a voter's guide.

Here's a map for Tuesday's forum: [mappress mapid="80"].

 

 

 

East Point's form of government

East Point voters in November will decide who sits on the city council.

The community is run in a city council-city manager form of government. In short, the council is to make policy and the professional city manager is to implement those decisions.

This Youtube video explains the whole situation. (Start at the 3:10 minute mark and go to about six minutes to understand that form for government. If you are feeling wonky, watch the whole thing. It was created in Michigan, so all the material may not be relevant to Georgia cities.)

http://youtu.be/kbZlrXW2BJg?t=3m10s

Closing the book on 2009 election

After long last, here are the vote results from the December run-off.

Mayor-elect Ernestine Pittman won six of the districts, winning by some 300 votes: 2,013 to 1,749, according to Fulton County.   

Jefferson Park is EP10 and had the highest voter turnout with 32 percent.  (Boolah! Boolah! for JP voters.) The overall turn out was some 20 percent.


The new city council takes office on January 4th.

    
                                  Voter                % for          % for    
Voting District        Turnout %          Macon      Pittman
EP1                            30                        29           71
           
EP3                           16                         61           39
           
EP4                            29                       70             30
           
EP5                            13                       56            44
           
EP6                            22                       32             68
           
EP7                            19                         62           38
           
EP8                             7                          40           60
                                    9                         51            49

EP9                             27                        34           66
           
EP10                           32                        42           58
           
EP11                          30                        42             58
           
Total                          20                      

Votes point toward new mayor in East Point

Voters appeared to oust Mayor Joe Macon and replaced him with critic Earnestine Pittman, a council member who resigned her seat to take on the one-term incumbent.

Pittman received some 57 percent of the 2,876 votes cast in the special election.  By 8:35 p.m., 11 of 12 precincts had been counted.

Pittman, an educator, said on her campaign Website: "I will be the City’s chief Ambassador."

In the Ward A race, challenger Sharonda Hubbard was favored by voters when she earned some 60 percent of the 2,746 votes. She appeared to defeat the incumbent Greg Fann.

The results are "unofficial and incomplete" from Fulton County.

Vote Tallies

East Point Mayor   votes counted  33%  50%   66%

                                                        

Joe Macon                                      667  753   869

Earnestine Pittman                    879  998   1093

Ward A

Greg Fann                                     577  660    746

Sharonda Hubbard                   905  1017 1136

Election Results

UPDATE: Mayor Macon supporters are at Oz Pizza shop awaiting results.


Polls should be closed now.  Check The Jefferson Park Hub for East Point run-off election results.

Around 5 pm, close to 290 people had voted at Tri-Cities High School, which may suggest a strong voter interest in the race.

East Point Mayor   votes counted  33%

Joe Macon                                      667

Earnestine Pittman                    879

Ward A

Greg Fann                                     577

Sharonda Hubbard                   905

Vote tomorrow

 

 

Residents tomorrow decide who will be mayor and fill a seat on the city council.

Running to be mayor for the next four years are former council member Earnestine Pittman and incumbent Joe Macon. If you are still weighing who to vote for, this voter guide may help.

The Ward A city-wide seat is between challenger Sharonda Hubbard and incumbent Greg Fann.

If you are registered to vote, you can cast a ballot, even if you didn't vote in November. To vote in Jefferson Park, head to Tri-Cities High School. You can cast your ballot starting  at 7 a.m. and polls close at 7 a.m.

Polls open a week from tomorrow

Voters return to the polls a week from tomorrow to choose the city's next mayor and decide a seat on the city council.

In the race for mayor, the incumbent Mayor Joe Macon faces former council member Earnestine Pittman, the top vote winner during a four-way race in November. She received nearly 40 percent of the votes. Here is a voter guide to be informed about the candidates.

The other race is for the Ward A at-large seat between Sharonda Hubbard  and council member Greg Fann.

An issue for candidates is getting supporters back to the polls when many people have Christmas shopping on their minds, not politics. 

In 2005, the voter turnout for the mayoral runoff election was just 18 percent. The win gave Mayor Joe Macon his first term. This past November race, the turn out was about 22 percent. (One thing about run off elections, if you are an eligible voter, you can cast a ballot even if you did not vote in November.)

In an effort to rally their faithful, the candidates have a final push to reach supporters. Pittman posted a "final campaign flyer" on her Web site. Macon recently organized a phone bank to reach out to residents. 

If you don't want to vote next Tuesday, early voting is taking place on Nov 23, 24 and 25^th from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.: 

City of College Park
3631 Main Street
College Park, GA 30337

Adamsville Recreational Center
3201 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive SW
Atlanta, GA 30311
(404) 505-3181

South Service Center
5600 Stonewall Tell Road, Room 105
(404) 612-3050

Fulton County Government Center (Downtown)
141 Pryor Street, Suite 4064
(404) 612-7060