BikeAthens has compiled extemporaneous transportation-related quotes made by the candidates running for mayor and commission seats, drawing from the AthChat podcast, candidate forums, public comment, Athens Politics Nerd interviews, and Flagpole Magazine interviews. We apologize for any errors in audio transcriptions, but we have provided links to each source so that you can listen, watch, or read the full context for yourself. Candidates are listed in alphabetical order.
As of May 2, this page is still in development and we will add new quotes as we find them.
Candidates for Mayor
Tim Denson
AthChat Episode 36 Mayoral Debate (2/8/26)
(26:26) Host: “Mr. Denson, no matter whether you walk, ride a bike, or drive a car, we all want the same thing. Fewer cars on the road. How would you make road safety a priority as mayor?
Denson: “Yeah, we need to expand it. And as I question, Mara brought up good statements. We need funding as a priority, but we’re not going to raise taxes. So how are we going to do it? How? Well, we got to find new revenue then, right? We have to find a way to pay for it. That’s why I’m actually working, not just saying, hey, this problem, what are we going to do?
I’m bringing you a solution that we can do. We create an inclusionary parking policy that I’m talking about, in which we have developers who are building developments instead of building unnecessary parking spots that aren’t going to be utilized. They can bank that money and put it into a fund that will actually pay for a multi-modal system, our trains, not trains, well, I like trains, too.”
“Athens Transit buses, crosswalks, sidewalks, bike lanes, but we actually have a new revenue source specifically dedicated to these things that we’re talking about that are drastically underfunded. We have to find a way to do this. And it’s true, we haven’t done enough, but we are doing things.
Again, I campaigned on getting zero fare transit in place so that our low income folks who rely on the bus can get by work. We have zero fare transit now in place. And I worked with people that actually got TSPLOST projects for Jefferson Road, Lavender Road, Vincent Drive, and Jefferson River Road that have funding now, but we need to find a way to actually get them implemented.”
Dexter Fisher
AthChat Episode 36 Mayoral Debate (2/8/26)
(21:26) Host: Next question goes to Mr. Fisher. Road safety, 14 deaths on Athens roads last year. 32 the year before. We have a road safety problem in this community. … How would you make road safety a priority as mayor?
Fisher: “First of all, this community has grown tremendously, Russell, over the last 30 years. When I moved in 1988, there was 25,000 students at UGA, 7,000 people in this community. It has doubled now. We got 130,000 people in this community, 40,000 students at UGA. So in order for us to deal with it again, and we gotta understand, and I’ve said this before, we’re the smallest geographical area in the state of Georgia out of 159 counties. But we gotta figure out how do we make roads and bike safety and pedestrian safety work together.
We got narrow roads, we don’t have opportunities to build those things because how we do our TSPLOST projects and our SPLOST project is terrible, and we can’t get things done because we don’t do them in the right way. So it’s important that we study what we got, take a look at what we got to make sure that we put the right infrastructure in place where cars, bikes, and pedestrians can work together in order to get through town, because it’s difficult. And one thing I want to mention, I have talked to UGA about eliminating cars for freshmen.”
AthChat Episode 29
(1:15:35) “First of all, I’m not against bike lanes or walking trails and those things. I’m going to be real clear. For me, I’m a data guy, though. Help me understand the impact that those trails, those bike lanes will have, and how we get around this community. Now, speaking of Prince Avenue, I’m a little disappointed. We really, we need to go ahead and complete that project. I’m disappointed that we have not completed Prince Avenue. You know, when I got on there, that was the vote I supported it. But we didn’t do nothing with it. And that’s part of the problem too. And I’m not sure we got time to talk about how we do our, how we do our SPLOST project. It’s all wrong.
(1:18:13) “There needs to be a connection with a bike path from Barber Street all the way out to Newton Bridge. I support that 100 percent, because that area is growing. So we need to, yeah. So I think we have to, same thing with housing. When we do those things, we need to make sure we put them in the places where we really need them. So yeah, so I want to, whoever hears this, I’m not against bike lanes. I’m not against trails. Matter of fact, I got one now on one of our TSPLOST projects that with the Middle Oconee on the Beechwood stuff, it got cut off the TSPLOST. Most of the TSPLOST stuff is going on the East side.”
AthChat Episode 10
(33:00) Host: Where do we go from here? I mean, we’ve got some dangerous roads here in Athens, Georgia.”
Fisher: “Now, bike lanes and trails are good, but I think it’s got to be a mixture. And then you got to look at where those I call hot spots. And then where do you put those traffic calmings?”
(39:49 – Response to question from board president Jason Perry)
LaKeisha Gantt
AthChat Episode 24
(6:10) “And so there were a few different things that sealed the deal. But I remember one morning, like I was really sort of on the fence and like, you know, I should, maybe I shouldn’t. And I remember riding from my practice on Lexington Road.
And I remember seeing this young, maybe a young man, he was walking. And I can’t remember if it was either really early or really late, but we all know, like transportation on Lexington Road is really sort of a risk anytime you, you know. And I remember feeling, I don’t know, so compelled by the situation that I was observing, that he was walking and there were no sidewalks.”
“And it looked like, and I don’t know any of this, but it looked like he was like really trying to get somewhere in a hurry, but it looked like he may have been going to work or from work. And then I became so concerned, like, oh gosh, I hope no one hits him or, my God, you know, like we are way beyond the time of needing basic like infrastructure and basic needs. And I remember that sticking with me, and it’s so many situations like that, that I don’t know why that moment stuck out to me for some reason.
But I was like, you know, I feel that way sometimes too. It’s almost like, you know, I’m in, usually when I’m in a car, I’m in my car, I’m safe, I’m moving, I’m getting to where I’m going. I look out and it’s sort of a stark observation to see somebody.
Maybe it’s raining, maybe there’s no sidewalk. Maybe they’re trying to run across a road that has no crosswalk anywhere near. And you’re just like, damn, that person is kind of suffering under this current system.”
Sharon Miller
Flagpole – Q&A With Mayoral Candidate Sharon Miller on Housing, Bike Lanes and More (4/8/26)
“FP: Seems like we’ve had a lot of wrecks lately. I think we had our fourth traffic fatality [of the year] just a few days ago. What are your views on traffic safety, things like Vision Zero, sidewalks, bike lanes?
SM: As I’ve stood on the corner around the city with my signs, I’ve seen a lot of mishaps. And so I would certainly look at it, with the planning department and commissioners—there may be some things already in place that I don’t know about on this side of the seat—but be able to see if there is going to be some need to modify some traffic directions, or curate some things that can lessen these people getting killed, signage, make sure people don’t go to one way the wrong way on the highway.
Some parts of the community want more bike lanes. Others said, we need infrastructure. So you’re going to always have this balance in city life and urban development and growing cities that you’re going to have to be able to meet the needs of all constituents, no matter what their preferences are, but I would want to make sure that stat goes down.”
Mara Zuniga
Athens Mayoral Candidate Debate Hosted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (4/16/26)
(1:09:37)“But when you look at stats like 63% of those living with food insecurity are below the SNAP threshold, and yet we’re building trails and bikes and we have enough money for other things. So my question is why do we have money for some things and not for others? Food is very important especially to our children. So do we have a problem with prioritizing what we should be having at the top which is the welfare of our people? Yes, we have a problem. That’s why we need new leadership. Someone who’s going to look at the situation in a different way and be an immigrant that has seen such problems in her own personal life and among her own community. We really do need to prioritize because we do have money in that place. It’s just being misallocated and misappropriated.”
Flagpole – Q&A With Mara Zuniga on Banking, Redeveloping the Mall and Her Political Affiliation
Mara Zuniga: “I’m not saying that I’m against everything that we’re doing. I’m just saying we have too much on our plate. We really need to address those things that everybody pays to get covered. We start off with those things—garbage pickup, recycling, firefighters, police, safety, all those things. And then we go to the next tier. What’s the next tier? Well, the things that we need, that may be pretty, right? Bike trails or whatever. But that’s not how we’re operating. The way that I see it is, some people get what they want, and other people don’t get their necessities. Like street lights, sidewalks, in certain neighborhoods—which, I didn’t know about those neighborhoods, by the way, until I ran the first time.”
District 1 Candidates
Patrick Davenport
AthChat Episode 22
(19:18 – Long discussion on Firefly Trail re-route)
(50:45) Host: “I’m sure two lane roads, you know, a lot of head-on collisions, et cetera. Also, this is a world clearly within the authority of the County Commission to create road safety infrastructure. So how do you think we’re doing on road safety?
Davenport: I think once we get Vision Zero underway, which has been five years, four years, a lot of years, a lot of years, I believe we’re heading in the right direction. It just, we need to make sure we have a commission that’s focused on road safety. Vision Zero is, it is an idea, but it’s a position as well, an idea that we’re going to design roads that optimize safety.”
(52 mins) Host: “So what’s the hangup? I mean, Prince Avenue bike lane, 23 years, Greenway connection through the cemetery, 17 years, North Avenue, God only knows. I mean, where are we getting hung up on this?”
Davenport: “Hung up on it is one simple word, GDOT. These are state roads. So we got to go through a different entity to get things done.”
Terry Johnson
[Still looking]
District 3 Candidates
Tammie Foote
Flagpole – Crowded Field of Commission Candidates Share Views at Forum (March 18, 2026)
“Asked about “popular but unsustainable” budget items they would cut, District 3 candidate Tammie Foote called walking and biking trails “ridiculous” and “very unnecessary,” and said that money should be routed toward affordable housing.”
Tiffany Taylor
[Still looking]
District 5 Candidates
Kimberly Bennett
Districts 5 and 7 Candidates Debate 4/16/26
(1:21:25) “I’ve heard great things about the trails, about all that sounds so good, but, the reality is I will take a stance and say let’s re-evaluate the dollars. Only because there’s needs. When I was at the doors in district 5, they’re saying that we need sidewalks, we need additional bus routes for people to get there, talking about biking safe, we need those biking lanes, and so I would say to expand to expand and to get to the real needs of our community.”
Zander Mason
District 5 and 7 Commission Candidates Debate (4/16/26)
AthChat Episode 34
(05:10) Mason: “Another example is taking Prince Avenue from a two lane to a one lane. That was part of my commute for a little bit of time. And I’ll tell you that one grinded my gears a little bit. I see more people on foot using those bike lanes than I do bikers. So that was one thing that I thought could have been fleshed out or at least talked over a little bit more, among others.”
(07:54) Host: “What’s your vision that you bring to the table that runs perhaps counter to what happened on Prince Avenue? And how do you see our county addressing road safety?
Zander: Yeah, great question. First off, to address the fatalities that happened on the road, that’s something preventable. And really, it’s a tragedy every time you hear something like that happening.
And as someone that commutes to work most days, that’s something that, you know, you take a risk driving every single day. So I would love to see safer roads. How to exactly do that? I’m not an expert on traffic patterns, but we do have experts in town that work very diligently and hard on, you know, the number of people going through certain roads and whatnot. And they have good opinions that I’ve talked to them on. You know, to address the Prince Avenue road thing, I don’t think that condensing roads down to a single lane is going to enhance traffic patterns.
I think if anything, expanding them would probably solve that. Again, I’m not an expert. I’ll defer to them.”
(09:30) Mason: “And then just being smart about our expansion and infrastructure around traffic light patterns and various intersections that I’ve seen, a couple of people have raised specific intersections to me that I need to look into a little bit more. But again, I’m no expert on traffic patterns, but I want to listen to the experts and make sure we’re taking their opinions into account.”
Host: “So you mentioned the Prince Avenue two lane and now one lane transition, and there’s bike lanes there. That’s why they did that, protected bike lanes. And the assumption is people would then start using those bike lanes with bicycles. And I’ve heard, and you said it, and that’s totally cool, because that’s your observation, and that’s what you see is like, well, there’s more people walking on these bike lanes and riding their bikes. And I just kind of wonder, did it just fail, in your opinion, or because I use those bike lanes all the time. To commute to work, right? And the assumption from a bicyclist, who wants safer lanes for myself, so I don’t die, is the safer these become, we’ll see more cyclists. That’s my assumption.But then people observe, I rarely see cyclists, so then they make the argument that this is a failure, right? What do you think about those ideas?”
Mason: “Yeah, it’s hard to just make something black and white, this is a failure, this was a success. For you personally, you probably view it as a success, you can now bike to work, and it’s a safer commute and whatnot. That’s why opinions are just that, right? I’ll say, I have a lot of friends who are competitive cyclists, they like to compete in Twilight, for example, and some other races. And from what I’ve talked with them, they said they don’t use it. It’s really nice to meet someone who actually uses the bike lanes. I did not know that.”
“That’s wonderful. But you know, they say they don’t really use it a lot. They say that the routes they do take are still pretty unsafe in terms of for the bike, you know, you fear for your life when you’re on a road that people are going 45, 50 miles an hour past you and you’re on a bike only fast as you can pedal, right? Yeah. So first off, I’m a friend of the bikers. I have friends who bike and definitely want to make sure that they feel safe and are able to do their hobby or commute to work if it’s practical, right? That being said, I just don’t know if the Prince Avenue Road going to two lanes while it was convenient for you, like a lot of people are inconvenienced by it as well. So, you know, there’s a cost benefit to everything. Someone’s going to be unhappy about a decision somewhere. So I wouldn’t necessarily outright call it a failure. I would say that maybe there could have been something a little bit more efficient about it.”
Richard Stanziale
District 5 and 7 Commission Candidates Debate (4/14/26)
(35:38) “Yes please, on May 19 please support the TSPLOST that we get to vote on…”
AthChat Episode 41
(6:00) “But now, to see that we finally have established a greenway and trail network in Clark County, it makes me happy and I want to see it grow. I was fortunate enough to be on the TSPLOST Advisory Committee and we moved forward the Middle Oconee Greenway Project.”
(9:18) Stanziale: “Yeah, the incredible economic impact that a greenway system has is a huge benefit to Clarke County. And I’ll point to the skateboard park that I was heavily involved in, that that’s been a major asset for Leisure Services. And we have events there. When it first opened, Tony Hawk came through and put on an event, and we had 5,000 people turn out.
So it’s awesome. People came in from miles and states around and spent tax dollars here. So features like the greenway and our parks and recreational facilities do have a huge economic impact that many people may overlook.”
Host: “That’s positive. That’s a positive impact, right? It’s not just, why are we spending all this money on bike lanes? Like, rawr.”
Stanziale: “Yeah, and I’ve really had to battle that over the past year and a half here with the TSPLOST Advisory Committee, trying to hash out projects, spending money on the greenway, as opposed to spending it on sidewalks, expanding the bus service, bus stops. There was a lot of resistance on the committee to spending money on the greenway and bike trails, bike facilities, as opposed to that. And I finally came up with the argument with one of my fellow committee members that, you know, I care about your granddaughter. I want her to be able to bike to school safely. I want her to be able to bike to the library safely, to bike to employment when she’s 15, 16 years old. To get around safely and not have to worry about getting hit by a car. It’s so much more than just recreational facilities. Its economic impact is huge.”
Craig Topple
Commission Districts 5 and 7 Candidates Debate (4/16/26)
(40:38) “I’m a biker …”
AthChat Episode 37
(27:17) Host: “And then we talk about road safety, you know, which maybe comes to your mind as a bicyclist, bus commuter.”
Topple: “Five years on AIM. I remember one of my first commutes from at that time, Chase Street. And I had a cargo bike. And so both my girls fit on the back of it. And I was going, I picked them up at school on the bicycle and had to go to Bishop Park for gymnastics and navigating that commute was, I mean, it was really hairy. I mean, cars just, they didn’t care that I had two kids on the back of that bike. And, and you would think that’s like less than a mile to get there. And you would think that that would be something that a town like Athens would have accommodated, addressed long ago.”
Host: “Yeah, maybe like in, you know, a couple of decades, we’ll get to that.”
“I hope not. You know, because working on AIM, I was on AIM for five years. That was Athens in Motion Commission.mIt was, it was great to be on that. I mean, it’s wonderful people. Carol was our first chair of that commission, Carol Myers.
Host: Lots of big ideas.
Topple: Lots of big ideas. But it was also, I think, the frustration that’s been named, as I’ve tried to pay more attention to the nitty-gritty, the nuts and bolts of things, of the process that makes things very arduous to get through. You know, like, and I think, you know, that was what was interesting is how Ezra Klein talked about that when it came to implementation of the infrastructure bill, like the massive infrastructure.”
District 7 Candidates
Bennie Coleman III
Districts 5 and 7 Candidates Debate 4/16/26
(1:21:25) “Yes, I’m a grumpy old man. I do not support the Greenway or the Firefly Trail…”
Public input, 1/10/26 Mayor and Commission Meeting
(1:02:18) “I’m going to stand boldly in front of everyone, I’m totally against anything when it comes to bikes unless you treat you treat them as an automobile, a truck, a plane, they have to have a license, tag, registration, like everyone else that pays taxes, and that money can be used on something else if you wanna feel like you have to give them that privilege to give them more paths, make them pay for it with the money they pay on their tax, the tags, and the license fee. Thank you.”
Edward Tolley
Districts 5 and 7 Candidates Debate (4/16/26)
AthChat Episode 35
(31:50) Host: “You know, roads, sidewalks, that’s clearly within your authority as well. 14 road deaths last year, about 30 the year before. You mentioned murders that we’ve had in town. We’ve had about four times the amount of people dying on the roads, fatalities on the roads. What’s your approach as a commissioner to slow people down and save lives?
Tolley: “Well, my neighbor, Alan, who ran for the commission and didn’t win, but my neighbor was very, very, and he’s a good friend of mine, was very active in trying to slow people down on Timothy Road. And got the speed limit reduced from 55 to 35. I haven’t noticed it’s made any difference other than the fact that the sign says, you know, but to answer your question though, this may hopefully be a good analogy. Probably 20 years ago, I tried a case in St. Paul, Minnesota. And in Minnesota, all the sidewalks are this wide, whatever this wide is, six feet. You’ve got a pedestrian walking lane. You’ve got a bicycle lane. You’ve got a skateboard lane. All their sidewalks in that city are all designated that way.” I would love that in this community. I would love it. I would like to see our sidewalks on Timothy to be wider, because that’s my district. Because my wife and I walk that sidewalk. I mean, it’s barely big enough for two of us.
In terms of the number of pedestrian deaths, I couldn’t agree with you more. I ride a bicycle, but not on the streets of Athens anymore. I’m not that brave.” …
District 9 Candidates
Barry Irwin
[Still looking]
Tracy Smith
[Still looking]
Ovita Thornton
10/8/24 Work Session (North Ave RAISE Grant)
(54:40) “I’m a firm believer, build it and they come. So if you build bike lanes, they’re going to come, so I ain’t trying to invite the bikes.”
12/3/24 Mayor and Commission Regular Session (Comments before Prince Ave reconfiguration vote)
(2:39:05) “I do want to thank everybody um for coming out speaking tonight. I always get a little stressed when I see almost a thousand people on two issues or three issues, but it does show um community engagement and interest, and I don’t get bored. I don’t go to sleep. I I make notes and I do appreciate this. Um I have no strong one-way feeling or sense about Prince Avenue like like you do. I’m not invested like that. But I do think that um I do think that as we move forward with safety, I I get the feeling sometimes that the North Avenue vote, it was being interpreted that folk on the north side did not want safety. And that is not the case. And what I’m saying is a lot of these plans that were presented, it was even before I came on this commission. And I think it is up to staff and AIM or anyone else as we move through all of these um new configurations.
Let’s go back to the community and say this is what we’re recommending. Is there a change here and is there a change there? So, I really am a little bit uncomfortable when folk think, ‘Oh, well, North Avenue doesn’t want safety.’ Yes, we do. Just like you do, or anybody does. Safety is not an issue, Alan. It is a way that we all should be engaged.
And I hope we have those opportunities to do exactly what you did on Prince Avenue. May not look like Prince Avenue, but it will have the same intent. So, I’m glad to support the CDO. I’m so glad to um support the folk in that area that took time out and come to speak. And um let’s try to I want to go into the next year with us working together, not against each other. Thank you.”
