Carl confirms my out of left field guess for the semi-secret candidate who had been considering a run for District 1 commissioner and had yet to announce. Zoning Board of Appeals member and Allstate agent Neil Dobbs has now officially joined the District 1 race that includes incumbent Fred Boykin and James Radford.
Carl notes that Dobbs has the support of Scott Drake and DBA president Ann Berg.
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Great candidate. Thanks for jumping in the race Neil!
Why? He may be a great candidate. But, I need to more about him and his opinions on the issues. What is his record on the Zoning Board.? etc. Especially given what “Mr. Fix it below says.
I am sure he will answer these questions and more. Probably not on this blog, but answer nevertheless in the right place and time.
You ask why, and if I understand your question, may I offer:
Mr. Dobbs is a long time business leader and participant in Decatur. He is educated and has repeatedly exhibited intelligent, thoughtful and measured input when appropriate in past city matters.
BTW, I am not on his bandwagon/committe/etc, but the tone of the thread seemed to be moving a little to the, er, aggressive side. This thread was an announcement of his candidacy by DM, not a forum for engaging a candidate in debate on positions so maybe this will steer it back a little towards that.
SAAC, I was just asking questions. This will be a big issue in this election so I’m interested to know his take. Since what I have heard is “word on the street” it seems only fair to give a candidate a chance to set the record straight if it is incorrect. It sounds like all the other posts on this thread are very friendly. I didn’t mean to be unfriendly – I’m just neutral and trying to find out more b/c I don’t know much about Neil. I was just asking a question and didn’t have much time today so I wasn’t able to embellish it and make it friendly. My apologies if anyone was offended.
This is a pleasant an unexpected surprise. Neil would do a fantastic job for us. Best of luck!
So, Neil, we know that you have school age children but they are not in the CSD system so you are not directly affected by the fate of CSD. Given that, what do you think that the relationship between CSD and the City of Decatur? Do you think that CSD matters? How do you feel about annexation? Word on the street is that you are pro large scale annexation. Please confirm or deny. Thanks!
I appreciate everyone’s interest in my campaign. I guess I will have to start checking in a little more often. I will be putting more information out regarding my positions on my website and my facebook page within the next couple of weeks. I just want to clear up that I will have a child at Clairmont next year, so CSD does matter to me. The relationship between the commission and CSD is about the most important one we have in the City. Annexation is a very detailed issue that can’t be totally addressed as a response here. I have many thoughts on the topic. I intend to look at all sides of the issue and am open to all ideas. It has to work for both the city and CSD, and I believe it can. But not if we don’t see it as a common goal. As a side note, I will not be taking the $4000 a year salary that a commissioner receives. All my community service work through the DBA, Zoning Board and Decatur Tourism Bureau are all volunteer and my tenure as a City Commissioner won’t be any different.
Thanks Neil! I appreciate you letting us know that you are around and giving us what I think was a pretty good answer for this point in the campaign. Again, I wasn’t being ugly. I just wanted to get some confirmation from the source rather than listening to the street talk.
See y’all… I don’t bite.
Yay! Neal! Wish you were in my district. I will spread the good word!
Neil,
I look forward to the campaign. There is certainly a lot to talk about and plenty of points of view. We’re blessed with an interested community that speaks its mind.
See you on the campaign trail
Some of you have already discovered (before its official launch) that the campaign has a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Neil-Dobbs/102476086032
Nice tie.
Oh no, someone else has the affliction I have for noticing bizarre bow ties.
Cheers! and I’m sorry.
I look forward to debates in which all three candidates will have the opportunity to clarify their positions related to voter concerns. For example, it appears that so often the concerns of residents are overlooked in favor of property redevelopment. I am interested in knowing the opinions of our three contenders, Mr. Boykin in particular, related to providing a positive climate for reasonably scaled development and insuring reasonable protection for existing residents and neighborhoods.
Also, Mr. Dobbs may be able to shed some light on the reason zoning ordinances are so weak that variances are a dime a dozen.
I anticipate that Mr. Radford will share his perspective on being a newcomer to Decatur and suggest improvements for our city government.
Good luck to all of us.
What a great candidate! You have my vote!! I look forward to hearing any and all debates. Good luck!!