Dishman and Fries Have Diverging Views of District 2 [Part 1]

Ken Dishman, the opponent to incumbent Dianne Fries for the District 2 City Council seat, says the northern part of Sandy Springs needs attention and a development plan.

In contrast, Fries told Patch, “I think you’ve got some folks that don’t realize what has been done.  There’s a lot that has happened in District 2 and all without raising our taxes.”

Below are comments from Dishman on the state of the district. See Fries' response in Part two: Dishman and Fries Have Diverging Views.

Ken Dishman has lived in Sandy Springs for 11 years. He is president of Sandy Springs Youth Sports and has served on the board for several years. 

“There is little communication between the incumbent and the citizens of this district. There are no email newsletters. There are no town hall meetings. We are totally disengaged. As a City Council member, I will be very proactive in engaging the citizens of our community. They will have a voice in what is going on with the city.

District 2 is the northern most in the city, and while the rest of the city has really had a lot of attention, and focus, and investment, we’ve declined in the last eight years, in terms of the infrastructure on Roswell Road and business on Roswell Road. And we have a very high concentration of class C multi-family housing that needs to be addressed. It’s impacting our schools, impacting our public safety. That’s why I’m running.

I will develop a vision and a plan for our district. [Sandy Springs’ Comprehensive Plan has] a tremendous amount of focus on developing our city, and I support that. But there needs to be a vision and a plan for our district. And things that we can do to make our district a better place to live, a safer place to live now.

I want to focus in developing that plan, helping to attract higher quality restaurants and retail to our part of town; proactively working with apartment owners to bring the class C apartments to a higher standard or perhaps even look at smart redevelopment projects for some of those properties.

I want to be more active in helping economic development –as we increase our housing stock, and rents go up and we’ll have jobs for our citizens to work in that will enable a higher disposable income...

That’s the plan that I am very committed to."

See also: Fries' response in Part two: Dishman and Fries Have Diverging Views