Our Conversation with Commissioner LaDena Bolton | Super District 7

In this episode of the Stonecrest Podcast, we sit down with LaDena Bolton for a direct conversation about her time in office and the work happening across Super District 7. Commissioner Bolton discusses her priorities, key initiatives, and how her role has evolved since taking office.

The discussion also covers what’s ahead, including upcoming plans and areas of focus for the district. The episode addresses the topic of data centers, where she explains her position, responds to community concerns, and outlines how she is approaching the issue from a policy and development standpoint.

This episode provides listeners with an opportunity to hear directly from Commissioner Bolton on decisions impacting the community.

www.commissionerladenabolton.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

DDD Stone Press Podcast. Hey neighbors. And my guest, I have to let you guys know, she already knew that was the thing. So I felt so warm that she already knew who we were and knew I was gonna come in with the hey neighbor. But we have with us today Commissioner Ladina Bolton of Super District 7. We're so super excited to have this conversation because it's been a long time coming and we have so much to talk about. So I'm not gonna focus it all on me. I would just want to bring it on back in so we can talk to her and get some of that information you all have been looking for. Thank you so much for being here with us.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Absolutely. And I think it's my turn.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Hey neighbors. And we're neighbors. So what city do you actually live in? Uh well, I live in Decatur, but unincorporated Decatur. I don't live in the city. Unincorporated. See.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

This is a crazy town. It's the city. Then it's a city name and it's unincorporated. To cap, or no, I shouldn't say that Georgia is, I didn't know anything about unincorporated anything until I came here. Like every county has all this unincorporated stuff. But you, you know what? I learned a lot from this town. It's been great. Spent, you know, a lot of my adult years here with Well, how long have you been here? I don't like admitting how long I've been here because I still like to consider myself a Californian. But when I tell people I've been here for 19 years, they all say, Oh, you're Georgia Peach now. And I'm like, no, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Basically, yeah, yeah. But we're proud to have you, even though you don't want to claim us. That's okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:47

So when you get better tacos and you get in and out burger, and you get better Chinese food, and uh things stay open later, then I'm then I'm ready. But no matter what, I'm claiming uh Stone Crest till I don't, I can't say till I die, but for a long time coming, because I'm not moving anytime soon. And so I'll rep that. The Cap County, woop-woop, woop-woop, all that good stuff. So anyway, I know that a lot of people should know who you are. And if you live in Stone Crest, you absolutely should know who this beautiful young lady is. So, for those who don't know, can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are, Commissioner Bolton?

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Absolutely. It would be my pleasure to do so. I am Ladena Bolton, affectionately known as Dr. B in the community, but I am the Super District 7 Commissioner right here in DeCap County, which is literally the entire eastern half of the county. So though we are in Stonecrest, which is included in District 7, that's as far north as Doorville, Tucker Stone, Mountain Stonecrest, Lithonia, all the way down to Ellenwood. So that is a huge district to cover, nearly 400,000 people. But because I was raised here, went to Avondale High School, graduated in 2002. Avondale was the first school of the arts. I know we have DSA now. Um but because I was raised here, I'm raising my children here, my husband teaches here. It's um more of passion and purpose work. I love doing it because it gives me an opportunity to achieve some of the things that I wanted for myself or that my parents wanted for me when I was growing up, and obviously that I want for my children as well. But something folks may not know about me, I am a chemist. I have a PhD in chemistry, which is where the doctor comes from, for the folks who do refer to me as Dr. B. And um I've only been in the seat for a year, but proudly this year, 2026, my peers elected me to be deputy presiding officer over the board of commissioners, which is another level of responsibility. So I I think my experience coming from uh serving in the as a forensic chemist for the army, but also corporate experience just really laid the foundation for me to be able to serve the cab the way that I do.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Had no idea about any of those credentials. Girl, I mean, excuse me, doctor, commissioner, bolton. See, I like to. I identify as girl too, but do your thing. You know, sister. No, that is amazing. It is so if anyone is wondering about intellect, about what makes her qualified, about her ability to stay the course, because you I stopped chemistry at chemistry. You know, I was like the third halfway through the first semester, I was like, you know what, I I think this is a C class for me as well. This is the class that I am not gonna put enough effort into because no, I don't want to.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

No, so this is the thing. Most people, when they first learn chemistry, usually like in high school, it's the way it's taught is so abstract, it's hard to grasp the concepts of it. But if, for example, I used to work at Coca-Cola, I was a beverage forensic chemist at Coke. And if you come up to Coca-Cola and you get an opportunity to formulate the beverages, which is um a part of the job of being a scientist, there, like you can smell, taste, feel, hear, because when you open the can, you hear the like all of the five senses are engaged in the science of creating this beverage that everybody loves. If you teach chemistry or any science for that matter, with something that is tangible that people can attach themselves to, you would love it just as much as I do.

SPEAKER_02 5:58

See, now I have to ask you something off camera about Cope. Oh no. All right. You know, we cut that out if we need to.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Everybody asks that. And they need to before it was illegal.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

I know, I know. I think they still do because uh addicts. We some addicts. There are some addicts, uh, full diabetics, you know, giving themselves injections while drinking the Coca-Cola, but I know it's because they have smart people like you, part of it. That is great information. Now I feel like I know you that much more, and I don't even want to ask you about why you're here because I just want to learn more about that super amazing part because it's not very often that you come across a chemist of any particular class of group or folks. So seeing a black woman chemist, I'm feeling super honored. So thank you again for being here for on another level. Also, thank you for your service and time in the military. We appreciate that too. So, with that being said, can you talk to us a little bit about your role and your seat? Like you said, you've only been there for a year, and but I'm sure you came in with a plan. Can you talk to us a bit about that plan, how much you've been able to achieve and your vision going forward for the seat of commissioner for Super District 7?

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Absolutely. Um, because this position was my first time in elected office, I knew that there was going to be a learning curve and that I needed to make sure my team and I were prepared to come in strong and hit the ground running. Because you might remember in 2024, um, several of the commissioners who were interested in running for CEO had to step away from their seats as commissioners. And that put the community in a position where for nearly nine to ten months, something like that, we were unrepresented in districts three and district seven. So coming in, I knew people had real needs, real expectations. There was a sense of urgency. And because it was only two more years left in that term, there wasn't a whole lot of time to uh use to figure things out. You had to be ready on day one. And so I'm proud to say that just starting out, one of the things that my team and I did was to visit every department, division, court, constitutional office. And we didn't get to everybody, but we did meet with a majority of folks and got a lot of great information. Um, uh, got to see where our values aligned. But I think the most important meeting is in January. So I was elected in December 2024. In January, we held three town halls across the district from north to south, as I described earlier. And in those town halls, being a nerdy scientist that I am, we did real-time surveys and evaluations of the community digitally, asking what their expectations were, what their priorities are for the county, for your specific community, really detailed questions so we could see how to prioritize for 2025. What things were we gonna actively work toward, which would be more immediate, which will take a little bit of time. So, of course, I came in wanting to do things, talk to the departments to see what was feasible, but it was more important to address the concerns of the people, and we used uh surveys and real information, real data to do that. And the top priorities were, of course, folks wanted to feel safe. They wanted housing security, um, business growth and development, youth programs, senior programs. So we focused on all of those things last year.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

When you say you focused on all of those things, are there any key things that you pulled from that survey that you can say that you were able to put a check mark next to, like, oh, this has been resolved, or we're really close and there should be a solution coming soon that you could share with us today?

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Oh, absolutely. Uh it's a whole host of things. We'll be here all day if I talk about everything. So a few of the things that I am excited about, um, number one, when it comes to housing, we have some great organizations like House ATL, we have housing roundtables. Uh, CEO recently she appointed Dr. Ferguson as our first chief housing officer. And the board of commissioners, of course, approved a comprehensive housing plan. So we had all these pieces, all these tools in the toolkit. District 7 saw opportunities to do more. So we partnered with a couple organizations. One in particular is NACA, and you guys might be familiar with NACA. They're the organization that helps people get into affordable homes. They give you a tailor-made plan to help you prepare for this new investment and sustain the investment. And so, um, primarily through the CEO's office, but we've been working with some of the partners like Donna Vienne. And in February as well as March, they came and they helped collectively about 12,000 people transition from renters to home ownership. And so we're also working with him to bring another program in September. But the reason this is really exciting for us is because we had already been talking with our Realtors Association, the president, namely Stacey Thibodeau, and we were telling her we want to start tracking the numbers. We know that in DeCab County, only 59% of folks actually own the homes that they live in. We our goal was to help increase that to 75%. Not that we could do it immediately, it's gonna take time. But a plan. But yeah, but we have to track what we're doing in order to know we're moving in that direction. So through conversations with her, we had already identified means to do that. And so the partnership with NACA is one of the most seamless ways to do that. We know how many people are coming in, we know our baseline, our standard for how many folks need homes versus those who need to sustain their homes. And so we have been working with to build a system to track all of this. But it is just so rewarding to see all of those folks coming in, needing help, and leaving with a real plan or a commitment for their first home, their dream home, their starter home, whatever it is. So that that has been a huge thing that we were excited about last year and want to keep moving forward with that initiative.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

I think that's amazing. I have family members who have benefited from NACA, at least three that I was able to think of offhand while you were telling the story, like, oh yes, and friends. So to know that there's a direct link and partnership in the county, I think that's super important and something that needs to be highlighted. So congrats on that for sure. To make it more accessible and also everything is about awareness. Everyone doesn't know about the program. So some of the things that you guys have going on, like that partnership with NAC, is there somewhere that we can go to kind of learn a little bit more about the things that you're currently working on and to get them kind of single source? Like, oh, we know you're working for us, but is there a place where we could say, well, yes, she's doing that, or no, she isn't doing that, or let's ask her if we can get this done. Is there somewhere we can reach you to do that?

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Absolutely. So we try to be as uh conversational, as communicative, and transparent on social media. We try to do all the things, um, especially on Instagram. We get uh a lot more engagement there at Commissioner Ladena Bolton as well as Facebook. But we have a website as well, which is also commissionerladinabolton.com. And while we're talking about the website, I want to share something that we're trying to do different on ours that no other organizations have done yet, but they may have something similar. One of the concerns that we had through our surveys from the community, um, as I discussed, we we survey the community each year, is that there isn't a central location to get information about what all is occurring. So if I'm a mother and I want programming for my children, if I'm a senior and I want to know what's going on for whether it's housing for seniors, activities for seniors, in any group, any community, pets, what have you. Um, so what we've done on our website, we've had our developer build in a calendar where organizations can come in and add their events to our calendar. And then any community member who would like to see if there's something specific to their need can filter their need and identify what is going on over the next couple of weeks. So you don't have to go to each individual organization separately, it's more of a community calendar that everybody can add to.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

I love that idea because that was one of the reasons and inspirations behind us starting the Stonecrest podcast. It was difficult to find information. We needed a permit to build out our basement. We drove to the Cav County. DeCav County said you need to go to Stonecrest. Stonecrest is like, no, go back to DeCav County. Nobody knows how much it costs. You know, so all of those things, that's just a small thing, obviously, but the idea that we can have a single source and it's easy to find on the website. I can understand for the county, there's so much information and you have to weave and go through it, but just to be able to have a place to stay. Like if there's something fun to do, come here. If there's something programmatic and helpful and it's a nonprofit opportunity, look for it here. And I think that that's that's gonna be a great solution.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

So now that's my shameless plug. I need all y'all to actually use the calendar for it to work. You gotta put stuff on it so people can have something to go to.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

Thank you so much for sharing all the stuff. I know we're gonna use the calendar. We better use it. Better use the calendar. But you've talked already about so many things, things I didn't know about you, things that you're doing that I wasn't fully aware of. And a lot of the information I find from you is secondhand, is what other people are sharing on the internet about what is coming from District 7. So, can you talk to us a bit about what's actually happening? There's a quite a bit of, in my opinion, of misinformation and like keyboard warrior type folks. So I don't want to say what I'm gonna say because it may not be politically correct. So I'm gonna give you the floor if you could and um talk a little bit about some of the things that may be misunderstood that's coming from your office.

SPEAKER_01 16:33

Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to do that. Uh I know one of the big topics recently has been about the data centers. Um, and folks are misunderstanding either the county's role or commissioners' positions. Uh, I'm proud to say in every meeting where the data centers have come up, I have had no qualms about being very clear and transparent on what my position is. Um, and you can go to any meeting to see that I've clearly said I do not support data centers and residential communities. And that's the a position I think the county as a whole has taken. So when it comes to data centers in DeCAP County, uh the commissioners don't immediately get informed when there's an interest. It goes to the planning department first because, of course, there are certain applications you have to fill out. There are inquiries, there are requirements, and not everybody wants to do that or pay the fees. So they, if you don't go through the process, then it doesn't get to the commissioners. But immediately upon us being informed that there was interest, uh, one of my colleagues made the motion for a moratorium. I was the one that seconded that motion. Unfortunately, only four of the seven commissioners voted to stop data center development. And that's not to throw any shade on any of the other commissioners. It was a brand new concept. No one uh was really aware or familiar with what could potentially take place, which is why I felt it was important just to stop until we can be educated and understand a bit better. Um and I would venture to say, even um, because there were only four of us to vote for that halt, without any one of us, then there would be no halt on data centers. We were all necessary, all four votes were necessary. And so since then I've voted four times to stop data center development. Um, and it's given us the opportunity to put regulations in place. I think one of the other misnomers is that we've heard folks say, well, why don't you just ban them? Because the state of Georgia says that's not legal. For most businesses, you can't ban them from any community. But what the state says you can do is you can regulate them. You can heavily regulate them. And that's what we've been doing over the past years, strengthening the regulations, looking at what the other jurisdictions have done, where they've succeeded, where the percep perception is that they failed. And we're taking all of that information, comments from the community to make sure where folks want to say yes and it makes sense to say yes, you can. But if your answer is a firm no, then you have the capability to do that, and you're backed by legislation supported by both the county and the state of Georgia. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

You shared a lot, and I feel like it was critical. I do have one follow-up question in regards to that. So you guys are working on legislation, or the legislation is already complete, or it's a breathing document right now for where we stand with data centers. I think that's probably No, that that's a great question.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

And the reason it's so good is because currently in DeCab County's ordinance and DeCab County's law, data center doesn't even exist. It's not a thing. So what the developers were trying to do, because there was no classification for data centers, they were going to try to build under the description of being a storage, like any of the other public storage facilities that you see any and everywhere all over the county. That's immediately deceptive. Because I mean, technically they store data. They store. I'm sh I'm sorry. Look, you almost have me come, I'm losing my religion. Go ahead, please. Yeah, and that and that's what was so concerning. We like, wait a minute, hold on now. This is not traditional storage. Um, so it does not exist at all in DeCab County law. So they could technically build by right because it doesn't exist, but the moratorium has helped us to put the language together. So it's a draft document that we refer to as a text amendment to the county code or the county laws. Okay. But we haven't approved it yet. So it still technically doesn't exist. It's just a proposal or a draft document that we're hoping to approve after the community has confirmed that they're comfortable with it. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

So the community um has the opportunity to come to a commissioner's meeting or are there gonna be town halls? How will they learn more about the key points in the legislation you guys have written?

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Absolutely. So we've had several town halls, um commissioners, CEO, some of our partners, and um they will continue. The majority of folks who do share their concerns, it's either through email and we do read every last one of them. And email is actually very helpful because now we have something tangible to refer back to. I will say that. Thank you for the emails. But we also have folks who come to the Board of Commissioners meetings on Tuesdays at 9 a.m. 178 Sam Street. But they'll come up to the meetings during public comments. And share their concerns with us. And we do have our team members to take notes, go and chat with them, get their information so we can record it. But like I said, I appreciate the emails because I get links to data, comprehensive information that's easy to go back and share with our planning department to say, hey, how can we integrate this into the code? I see.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

I like that. Can I pivot a little bit around? Thank you for clearing that up. Hopefully that helps many of you out there. But you also can go to Commissioner LydinaBolton.com, I'm sure, and learn more. But nonetheless, AI, what is your thought about it? Because that's what the data centers are here for. So just giving us a little bit about your stance and your thoughts around AI and its benefits towards our communities, meaning black communities as well as just small businesses and Super District 7, which is the full gamut of all of those three. We are a mortgage board of incomes, of community demographics. What do you think about AI as a tool? What do you think about the need for data centers to support it going forward?

SPEAKER_01 23:12

I will say first, the idea of data centers is not a new concept. The earlier versions of it were established like in the early 1900s, but they weren't this advanced. They were not by any means.

SPEAKER_02 23:27

When is the early 1900s? Because I got scared. Because I was born in the 1900s.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

I know my husband says that to my children. I was born in 1979. Him, not me. 1979. I said, okay, old man, that does sound really old when you say that.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

I'm an 80s baby.

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Me, girl, me too. We in there together.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Get in there.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

But so of course, as technology has advanced, AI compatible devices have been established. But um it definitely advances quality of life, but we have to be careful with it because with every advancement, there's always the potential to compromise as well. So I love to see students using it in the right way, business owners. I've been trying to encourage the county to use it more, to be quite honest, because residents talk about wanting more efficiency, want processes to be streamlined, just quicker response times, you know, and technology helps you to do that, which AI is a part of the technology or technological upgrade that could help us. But folks are skeptical because it's still, we still really don't know how to use it. Um, but we have worked with lots of partners who are willing to train and have trained. But I I look forward to seeing how we grow intellectually into using AI, but we have to balance how quickly we receive and accept it because we don't want folks who have ill will to misuse the technology and take advantage. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Well said. I do um argue with my husband in regards to creating a dependency on it. So he is a software developer by trade. That's what he went to school to do. So he's like super into AI, and I'm like, I refuse. I will not allow AI to give me the answer to this. I was like, it's gonna be like telephone numbers. No one knows a telephone number anymore.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

I know. Look, I'm still trying to learn my oldest son's telephone number. And he turned happy birthday, Makai Bolton. He turned 20 on Tuesday.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

Oh, look at him. Happy birthday, Mr. Bolton. That is my big baby. You're not a teen anymore. I know, my big baby. I don't know. These kids, they grow up so fast. Mine is 12. I'm trying to hold on to her, but she's she's breaking loose. That's spring by she came downstairs the other day and she had put little curls in her hair. I said, Hey, where'd you get that idea? It was it was just it was just odd. Two little, they're not parted evenly either. But nonetheless, she took I know she took her time and she felt cute when she walked down them stairs. Smiled so big, and then her dad, oh wow, you look pretty, baby. And I'm like, oh, but that that's the only compliment that matters.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Right. It does. And I have three boys, though. I don't have those experiences. It's cool to hear you talk about it though.

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Listen, being a girl mom, I didn't think that was in the cards for me. I knew the Lord was gonna give me a boy. And um I got a girl, you know. He he he he sent her on in. And she's developed me in a way I never imagined. I know that's right. Never imagined, but here I am. Growth. Major growth. Nonetheless, no, she's sweet. She's a sweet. I love that baby. She's bigger, she's almost bigger than me, but it's okay. So I know enough enough on the kids, because we'll start talking mom stuff. The county and your seat and your position. You talked a bit about a need for safety. So can you talk to us a little bit? I know that it's not only in your hand thread. You have colleagues and there also are budget concerns and all that stuff, but have we taken any steps to help feed the need for increased safety in all of the cab north and south?

SPEAKER_01 27:47

We've done a lot. When I say this year has been one, you know, that let me tell you what they say in the county. When you start, they say, is it like drinking from a fire hydrant? Is that what they say? Something like that. I don't know. It's some crazy saying that they have indicating that it's just everything comes at you at one time very quickly, and you you just have to adapt. Um, but any case, I say that just to say among all the amazing things that we have done in the past year, public safety is definitely one of them. And I'm honored to say that I serve and have served over the past year as chair of employee relations and public safety. So a lot of these things, all of these things were done under my leadership, of course. We invested$18.9 million in a real-time crime center for DeCap County. And it's to support not just unincorporated but the cities as well. It allows police officers to use technology in order to help solve crimes more quickly, many of them in real time. So when before you would see all these high-speed chases down the road and we would hear about accidents because folks are colliding with the police vehicles, that's one thing that we may not have to worry about anymore. Um, in fact, we have argued, if you recall Officer David Rose, who was um killed in the line of duty when he went over to support the folks in Emory. If we had the technology at that time, he potentially could still be alive today. Because with that technology, we have access to uh cameras that can see license plates, they can follow vehicles across jurisdictions, um, drones, all of it connects back to a center, the real-time crime center, where you have people in real time following the action. They can see the crime happening at the time that the assailant is there, and if he leaves, they can just watch him through the cameras. When he stops, go get him. So you don't have to chase anybody anymore. Um, and one thing that may seem a little bit minor, but for me it's a big deal because I see tires all the time where I live. And you know, we have a lot of dumping and a bunch of tires everywhere. We use the technology to catch a guy. He is a repeat offender who always dumps tires, and in that space, it was like five tons of tires and a single ditch that I collected. Yes. Yep. Tons. And before the technology, I mean you can never catch them because they might go in the wee hours of the night, any time of day. They just they scope the place out, they know when somebody's gonna be riding by, and they don't go if they know they're gonna get caught. But with the technology, we were able to get him. Oh, well, I say we is the police department, but you were on the scene. Come on, let's see. Yeah, public safety, root team. But yeah, so lots and lots of stories like that where technology has been used to eliminate, mitigate, get rid of or reduce crime in specific areas where it has been a burden. Now, it's not completely built out yet because it was just recently approved, but we're already starting to see the improvements as we continue to build the center out.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

I like from a public safety standpoint, I probably have a bunch of thoughts that will take us down a rabbit hole. So I'm gonna pause, but I do, and I've said this publicly probably four million times. My biggest thing I hate from my neighbors is the dumping and the littering and the idea that those folks are going to get caught is oh, that makes me smile because it really doesn't make any sense at all. I have a neighbor, um, I can't remember his name, and I feel terrible, but he picks up trash every other Saturday. He gets up and drives his car and he picks up trash all the way up and down Turner Hill Boulevard to clean it up, and he's alone. He does it, he waves the cars as they come by, and I'm thinking to myself, that is community service for sure. But the idea that he can have his Saturday mornings back and not feel the need to have to go and clean up that much trash every other Saturday because now we are finding the sources and people are recognizing, like, oh, it's not likely that I can do this without consequence anymore. It could change the community, like change the behavior because it's no longer consequence-free.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

So last Saturday, the beautification department had a tire amnesty day that we all supported. They received about 3,500 tires from the community. They were out there from 9 a.m. until about 2 p.m. Wow. Even the school district, I believe, brought either a U-Haul or a bus full of tires. Wow. I did see U-Hauls, dump trucks, all kind of stuff. But that's the point. Some people they were just riding down the road, saw a couple of tires, picked them up, and brought them in. And there's just so many of them.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

These are things that would be on the calendar at commissionerladenabolton.com. Just go ahead and plug that in there.

SPEAKER_01 33:15

I know that's right. Use the calendar.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

Use it. They're gonna be tracking clicks on the page, guys. We don't want the calendar to go away. So I I think I had in my mind that we were on our way to talk about your programming, which I still want to get to, but you mentioned a school bus and it triggered a thought. And I would like to, if it's okay, if we do have time, to talk about education and if there's anything that you can share about um the potential school closings as well as any improvements in education that you could share. Um DeCav has had a kind of a rocky road here these last few months with changes with the superintendent. There's so many things, and I know there's so much you cannot share publicly, but if there's anything you can share, anything to restore confidence, anything that we need to do as a community to help see um this not be a consistent issue in DeCab. What can we do to make the education piece better? And what should we really be thinking about those potential school closings if we can't talk about it?

SPEAKER_01 34:27

Yeah, absolutely. I have no problem. Remember, I said I was raised in DeCab County, so I didn't seen this before, not to this extent. Um, so I told you I went to Avondale High School, but it was closed in 2011 when there was a sweep of school closures, and then my elementary school, Midway Elementary, closed in 2015 during another sweep. And so I have seen this a couple different times, but what I will say, the best thing that the county and county officials can do for the community when it comes to the schools is implement programming to help stabilize economic development, growth in other areas. Because, of course, you know, the school district and the school board is a different entity. We can't tell them what to do, but the decisions they make impact us and vice versa. Um, and even though there is a consideration for the school closure, some being repurposed, others being mergers, the county is consistent in our efforts. One of the initiatives that just broke ground, well, not broke ground, actually, we had a ribbon cutting in January. Oh my goodness, this is so exciting. So, Georgia Piedmont Technical College, with the support of spearheaded, excuse me, spearheaded by President Holston, uh, we, as in the county and the state and some of our federal partners, federal representatives, all supported the opening of a transportation training center. Guess where?

SPEAKER_02 36:01

It's Stonecrass, right? Look, a lot of people here have mixed reviews about that coming here. I'm not even gonna take us down that path, but people are mad that we gave money to that school right now. During the time, I wasn't in the place to really be thinking about it. So I don't even know if it was good or bad, but it's here, y'all.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

It is, it's officially here, and it's actually the largest in the Southeast region, the largest transportation training center. How many people does it bring to Stonecrest every year? Well, we're still the verdict is still out on that because it just opened in January, but they do have the capacity for hundreds, if not thousands, of students. But you said bring to Stonecrest first. We're trying to take care of the people that's already here. So we're gonna have to redirect that. Um but no, it's a really good program, so good, apparently. My oldest son that we were just chatting about, he started college last year at my alma mater, Savannah State University, and learned about Georgia Piedmont's program and transportation. And guess what he did? What did he do? He transferred to GPTC. Really? He did when he was at Southwest Decap High School. That's the school he graduated from. Um, and other schools have this as well, but the school district has the CTAE program where students can learn or get early education in automotive, in um whether it's E911, which I didn't realize they had, in farming, all these different careers. Many of the training opportunities they get with the school district are transferable to real career options with the county. Nice. So we've been working with the school district to streamline opportunities for students to number one, once they go through those programs while in high school in the summertimes, they can do internships with the county in the area that they've already got a bit of education and familiarity. But ultimately, we see those students as a consistent pool of employees that can come and work for the county because the county has uh quite a few deficits in the different departments. But we got a pool of students already who has the familiarity and we've already been training. But even through Georgia Piedmont's program, our fleet department would love to have those students come in, which is why the county made the investment. And you know, the fleet is like the police vehicles when y'all be like, it takes an hour for the police to get here. We need people to service the vehicles, y'all. So y'all go to Georgia Piedmont, learn automotive, and come service the vehicles. And folks don't think about this either. Who you think service the fire, um, the fire engines? Who do you think service the fire engines? Somebody has to do that.

SPEAKER_02 39:00

Absolutely. Well, I think they probably care about what the salary is to do that.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

Yeah, salary is a thing.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Just a little something. I don't know, food and rent. I don't know. Understanding that GPTC is here, and I know I said I didn't know too much about it, but now I want to learn more. But one question I think you can answer for me is how they work currently with our kids who are in high school, about to graduate, looking for schools to go to. Do they reach back into the schools to recruit? Um, how do the students learn about this program as an option?

SPEAKER_01 39:31

Absolutely, they do. They do have a recruitment strategy. Uh, when I attended the ribbon cutting, one of the things I noticed that they did often was to make sure graduates from the program told their stories of success, how they got an opportunity to participate in the program, any struggles that they had, and then ultimately how they succeeded. But um, what's more notable is after that engagement that we had in January, um, Dr. Holston and I chatted about opportunities to broaden that. The unfortunate part is that the programs are underutilized. The participation is low, but there are about 16 programs that are free to DeCeb County students. That's great that they're free, but for whatever reason, we have difficulty getting our students to participate.

SPEAKER_02 40:22

Do they know about them? Like how do they learn about the programs? Is it an awareness issue or is it a lack of interest issue?

SPEAKER_01 40:29

The verdict is still out on that, but as a result, what is going to occur? Uh, Dr. Holston, President Holston reached out and said, Hey, we want to uh ignite an initiative that we're calling Hustle to Higher Education. Okay. Where it seeks to fill the gap, um, in which whether that's interest, uh, whether that's just folks don't know about the opportunities, but those partnerships where he's leaning on the county as well as the school district, his higher education institution to figure out what the problem is. We all have resources to add to it. And then hopefully over, I would say, the next year or so, we'll start to see the growth in the programming.

SPEAKER_02 41:14

Thank you. That definitely clears it up. And I definitely probably again go to Commissioner Ladina Bolton.gov to learn. Whatever. Or Jacab County G A.gov. Is that right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm sure it's there too. All right. Anyway, so now I want to kind of pivot us back a little bit to the kiddo since we're already talking about the high school group, but bringing it back around, you mentioned that you've been here, you've seen this before, and you've seen some opportunities grow, like the new college here in Stonecrest. But how should we consider these school closures as parents now seeing it? And is there anything that we need to do as a community to make sure that the right decisions are made?

SPEAKER_01 42:02

Yes, absolutely. I I serve on the principal advisory council at Peach Crest Elementary School where my boys go. And one of the concerns there is with any of the changes, whether that's a closure, merger, repurposing, you start to lose the community in that cluster because we built those relationships. We work together to help bring resources to the schools. And now there's a sense of losing that. So it's it is unfortunate that there's a potential that there may be some closures, but I think what we all have to remember and keep in mind is that this has not been confirmed. This is something that a third party proposed based on data that they collected, not that they were in the community talking to folks and really understand the dynamics and culture of DeCab County. It was based strictly on data. Where do we have overpopulation, underpopulation, underutilization? Where do the buildings, you know, they need to be renovated or in some cases demolished? Right now, what the school district is doing is reaching out to the people. They said, okay, this is what the data says. We're gonna be transparent, we're gonna tell you what the data says, but more importantly, we want to know what you say. They're actually in phase two of the survey and actively pushing to get more people to participate. The more people who participate in the survey, give your feedback, tell your experience and what you would like to see, the better the outcome for you, your family, and your community. Take the survey.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

That apathy is the killer of this particular community. So take the survey, folks. Where can we find the survey?

SPEAKER_01 43:45

Just go to decapschoolsga.org and you'll see the link for the student assignment project survey.

SPEAKER_02 43:52

Thank you so much for sharing that because I know that's it's all in the news, it's everywhere. So we really want to make sure that we're Setting everybody up for success. So thank you for giving us the direct link to go over there. And I think when you get on there, the link is it says SAP on there in the second little square box. I want to take a look. All right. So, next thing I want to talk about is you gave us a little bit of some of the things you've achieved, but can you talk to us a little bit about the programming that has, I guess, been successful or that you're just excited to talk about that was initiated or instituted in the past year, and if there's anything new we should be looking out for coming up this summer?

SPEAKER_01 44:32

Yes, of course. Um we in Stonecrest this year in 2025, or last year at this point, we focused on education, talked about the ribbon cutting for the new transportation uh training center that's out here, but we also focused on arts as well. So in October of last year, our office declared October Arts Awareness Month. And we kicked off arts with um Charlotte Kane, Miss Charlotte, who everybody knows with Stonecrest Fest. So we co-sponsored that. And the reason we did it with her in Stonecrest is because this is going to be the hub for arts awareness, arts training, arts careers in the metro area. Stonecrest has all of the ingredients to be that. You have the space, you have the artist. This is a form of art in and of itself. And it aligns directly with the county's mission. Just two weeks ago, we um reinstated our arts council. So you're gonna see pieces of art around the county, namely from local artists. So if you're local to DeCab, local to Stonecrest, this is an opportunity to get your art in the space where you live, work, play, and worship. Coming from DeCab School of the Arts, uh, Avondale High School, it's exciting to see folks just as interested now as they were before. And um, we used to be before Atlanta tried to take the title, DeCab County used to be the Mecca for entertainment, music, and arts in the Southeast region. And we plan to bring that back starting right here in Stonecrest.

SPEAKER_02 46:18

Watch out. Okay, Stone Crest. Look, see, I'm learning so much already. You already, I didn't know that we were about to be the hub. And I was at said event for announcing the arts council, and I heard that every single city is going to get a heifer or a cow. I mean, excuse me, or a bull. Um, I'm hoping we get a bull. I don't know why. And and I promise that um I'm not misogynistic or anything, but I just feel like the horns would just be like really cool to have over here. And I also am a finance person, and that's what I went to school to do. So I just think about you know, Wall Street. Anyway, nonetheless, if we got a heifer, that's cool too. And local artists will make those as well, depending on where they are, they'll be displayed. So Stone Crest is about to be the Mecca. We're gonna have a whole talk about that later. All right, so we're gonna move on because I'm gonna go down that rabbit hole. Thank you for sharing that little tidbit for those of us who didn't know. And thank you so much, Ms. Charlotte Kane, for making art a thing here. Also with your chark art walk, Stone Crest Fest, drone soccer.

SPEAKER_01 47:23

She does the things are all or co-sponsored, excuse me. We co-sponsored all of that last year. So this year, we've already been having conversations about how we're gonna grow the program and make it even better. We want more artists, more opportunities. I mean, it it was amazing last year. It was very exciting, and and we're excited to see where it's gonna go this year.

SPEAKER_02 47:45

It's a beautiful program. All right, so shout out to my neighbor. You already talked about what's coming up kind of like inadvertently. Yeah. Because we're talking about Stonecrest Fest. But what other programming do we have to look forward to, or is there some more that we've already have that you want to talk about?

SPEAKER_01 48:00

Transportation. But let me say this: by no means do county officials step on the toes of the city officials who are responsible for the people that live in that space. And Stone Crest does what they're supposed to do, they're responsive, and we want to be there to support the city officials. But whenever we get an opportunity to support, we're all in. I just want to make that clear. So these are things that I'm excited about, but it does not replace what your city officials are already doing for you. Got you.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

Thank you to our city council and our mayor.

SPEAKER_01 48:36

So, with the transportation, uh, do you did you know that you guys are gonna get a Marta transportation hub here in Stone Crest?

SPEAKER_02 48:44

I don't know. You don't know? All right, well, I I knew, I've heard, I've heard because it's been said boldly and said quietly, but I'm not quite sure how I personally feel about more public transportation. I come from Gwynette, so maybe they brainwash me about public transportation, but I would love to hear about why that's a good thing about it coming here to Stone Crest.

SPEAKER_01 49:12

Okay, I got a couple reasons. Now, by no means do I like more buses on the road. Um, I don't like more traffic, it the congestion, that's a problem. But what makes the hub good, well, first of all, let me tell you about this. Growing up, when I was in high school, it used to take so long to take the bus down Covington Highway from Memorial Drive at the Memorial Covington intersection to get to Stonecrest Mall. I think I was a senior in high school when the mall was built, and we couldn't wait to get here, but it was like the worst thing in the world to try to travel down here. What the hub will do is make transportation accessibility broader. So for the folks who like the more walkable communities, which is a priority for the county. Um, if we make communities more walkable where it's easy for you to get to work, school, church, wherever you need to go, without always having to get into a vehicle, then that simplifies your life. It opens up resources and funding to do other things. And the hub is gonna make uh the hub is gonna add to your position as a leader in the arts, I believe. It hasn't been confirmed, but I believe it. Um, so once we get that hub here, transportation will be easier, shops will come, development will come. It's just gonna be like a seedling in order for you to get all of the other things you have been asking for for so long.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

Okay. So maybe this is strictly my ignorance. When we think transportation hub, I think about a whole bunch of buses and exhaust. That's not what this transportation hub is, or is it?

SPEAKER_01 50:55

Okay. So it's basically an alternative to the train station. How, for example, at five points is easy to get anywhere from there. You can go north, south, east, and west. So as opposed to um building out the train station here, uh a hub will allow for there to be some buses that come more frequently, but also you have smaller units, units for folks who their mobility is limited and makes it easier for them to get around. And we don't always think about them. Like, how do they get to the bus stop, stand there for 45 minutes, get on the bus and get to where they need to go? So it it considers everybody in the community, but it's not gonna be a whole bunch of buses in and out, it's supposed to streamline the buses that are already coming.

SPEAKER_02 51:48

Got you.

SPEAKER_01 51:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 51:49

Streamlining what's already here, kind of giving us an upgrade on the current experience that's here. So, and with buses comes sidewalks for us to have a more walkable community.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

Absolutely. Okay. The streetscaping, it comes with the pretty lights. Let me tell you what I want to see. I want to see the pretty lights all the way down the road. So at Christmas time, we can put all of the Christmas ornaments or whatever it is. We don't have enough of that.

SPEAKER_02 52:20

I'm voting against this bus thing unless you guys promise me that we're gonna get a really nice looking welcome to Stone Crest sign. Ooh, that's what I want to be negotiating. I want it on the freeway. But you hit the first exit, which I think if you are coming from Atlanta. So if you're coming east, I think it's Panola, and I think there's like a bridge somewhere around there, and I want it up there in lights. Welcome to Stone Crest, where we care about our city and no dumping here. Stone Crest Pride.

SPEAKER_01 52:52

I love stuff like that. I love when people from out of town or from other sides of town, when they drive into a space and they know exactly where they are because you've made your mark, whether it's a mural on the wall, whether it's an arch or a sign like you were describing. See, we still in the arts. We still in the art.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

Can we paint? Look, I'm good with the buses. If we could get local artists to be able to mural the side of some of those MARTA buses that still talk about things in the community that are amazing. So Flat Rock Archive, Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area, the mall is being re-energized. Um I want to do all those things.

SPEAKER_01 53:38

So, you know, my office just gave$35,000 to Flat Rock Archive to expand their programming. Awesome. We did, we met with them last year. It took a little bit of time to kind of get it up and running. Um, but we got all the paperwork in place. We got a clear view of what the program's gonna be or what the needs are, because some of it is just um renovations as well. When people come, they get the entire experience. But we gave$50,000 to Lions Farm last year. And that's in Stonecrest 2.

SPEAKER_02 54:11

Yep. That's in Stonecrest 2, the oldest standing building in DeCav County, which is also a plantation. So, you know, there's all those are two um places that are in definitely important places to visit here. They're doing great things. Let's see. What else we got over here? We we have right here in our own city, we talked about AI. We just have great people in this city. We were talking about AI earlier, and the very first black PhD in artificial intelligence in the United States lives right here in Stonecrest.

SPEAKER_01 54:44

Really? Yes. How did I not know that? Who is it?

SPEAKER_02 54:47

And he up, obviously he's in your district because he lives right here in Stonecrest. His name is Dr. Calvin Lawrence.

SPEAKER_01 54:55

Really? Wow. We're gonna we're gonna have to set up another interview so I can come just sit and listen. Yep, look, I'm just talk about the good people here.

SPEAKER_02 55:05

Good people who care and who always are trying to show up and show out. There's there's a lot of concerned folks, but there's way more apathetic folks. And hopefully you coming here today brings those folks out of their complacency and apathy, and they want to stand up and get involved because we have somebody who's trying to do things for us. So, what do we have to look forward to in programming? Is there anything this summer that's gonna happen?

SPEAKER_01 55:29

Yes. Did I not talk about the biggest thing going in District 7? Oh my gosh, I appreciate the opportunity to do this. Did I say anything about an aviation program since we've been sitting here? No, ma'am, but tell me. Oh my goodness, that should have been the first thing that I started to talk about. So remember about two hours ago, because we've been sitting here that long chatting, um, I talked about how when my team and I first got into the office, we visited every court, every division, constitutional office, everybody. That included PDK Airport, which is in Chambly. Now, the airport itself is not in District 7, um, but you know, we vote for the county in its entirety, even though I represent the eastern half. And coming out of that meeting, that tour, and saying hello to everyone at that time, the first thing that crossed my mind was I am 40 years old, and this is the first time I've been to PDK Airport, and I was raised in DeCav County. Wow, I didn't even know it existed when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_02 56:35

When you said that I didn't know it existed, and I've been here for well, not in DeCav County for that long, but for 19 years.

SPEAKER_01 56:42

And PDK Airport is one of the busiest airports in the in the nation. Not commercial because obviously it's not commercial, but um because I know a lot of folks have a similar experience in South DeCab, in the east side of DeCab County, where either they didn't know we had the airport, they've never visited, they've just never had a reason to really engage or even have an interest in its existence. Uh, my team and I decided, like, hey, we have to come up with a reason for folks to come up here. And mind you, they do have events and programming and all that stuff, but for whatever reason, it doesn't reach our side of town. So we decided to create the District 7 Youth Aviation Program, which is a year-long program that starts out with awareness and sharing all aviation careers with the students who participate in the program. But through the end of the program, a handful of students will go through ground school, flight school, they'll take tests, get training, and earn their private pilot's license.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

Really?

SPEAKER_01 57:55

Yes, ma'am. What is the age range for this? So we are limiting it to 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. Okay. We are because of the commitment that is required. Um, as well as, you know, flying and being a pilot looks exciting, but once you get in the air, you there's a level of maturity that you have to have in order to complete the program. And not that a younger student could not, uh, because this is the first of its kind in DeCab County, pilot. You're essentially piloting the aviation program.

SPEAKER_02 58:32

No, that makes sense. And funny enough, um, there was a young man we um have done here where our studio is. They had um for Black History Month, every Wednesday, they were showing a movie, and there was a young man here, and he had a camera, so obviously I was interested in him. I was like, hey, what are you doing with that camera? What's going on? Are you looking for internship? He was like, Yeah, no. He's like, Because I am um gonna be a pilot and I'm spending all my time doing that. I just was this is just a hobby. Oh, I would never do this. I'm I'm gonna fly. I was like, sorry, excuse me, sir. Um go forth.

SPEAKER_01 59:04

I know, do your thing. Right. Oh, wow. So we um actually we sent a message out earlier this week letting uh folks in the community know that the uh website will be launching soon. It's near completion. We want to build up anticipation so that we get an influx of applicants. We don't want this to be something that folks hear about after the fact. So we're gonna continue to send out information to the community, whether by text, email, social media, et cetera, letting people know. Get ready because it is coming soon, and we are so excited.

SPEAKER_02 59:40

We're excited. I think that is amazing. I can't wait to hear the testimonies of all the children who have had the opportunity to participate. That is fantastic, fantastic. And we talked about career opportunities and things that lead to real-world salaries. So that's just another one. That's amazing. Thank you for thinking of that. Yeah, appreciate it. So I've already taken your time, as you mentioned. Two hours. It wasn't that long. What maybe four hours. It's been a while. But I've had such a great time chatting, and we still haven't talked about everything that I really wanted to, probably because I have inserted several um random stories. But nonetheless, I've enjoyed our time here. I've enjoyed what you've shared and learning more about what you've been doing to serve this community. Hopefully, you guys have learned something as well, and you are encouraged to take the time to learn more about Commissioner Bolton, Dr. Commissioner Bolton, Commissioner Dr. Bolton, whichever way is the right way to do it, right? That you're gonna take more time to learn about her initiatives because it's not just incumbent upon her. She's one person serving 400,000. So we are 400,000. We could take the time to learn more about her to make sure that we are getting the bang for our book, if you will, the bang for our vote, if you want to say it that way. But I always see you in the community. You're always very present. I see you and you're very approachable and accessible. So thank you for that as well. So, you know, email her and her team if you have something to say. Go see them 9 a.m. on Tuesdays. That's right, 178 Sam Street. There you go. So you know, you have all of these things that you could do. It's not just for them, there's one of them serving the whole entire community. So they have to serve the community as a whole, not the individual. So theoretically, policing and politicking is to not serve, excuse me, it's not to protect one from the community, it is to protect community from the one. Like all of us generally are living together in harmony, but there's one person that's gonna be outrageous or, you know, a criminal. But the idea is if we join together as a community as a whole and give all the information, people like our commissioners, people who we elect will be more successful. We can't elect them and then say, now it's time for you to do all the work. We have to offer continued support, continued advice, and continued criticism, but not just publicly in a place where no one's gonna do anything about it. Get in their emails, let them know your issue and why, and maybe even pose a solution if you think it's viable. All right, I'm off my white horse. Please, um I don't have a white horse. It was more like a soapbox because I think that Jesus is gonna come back in on a white horse. I'm not comparing myself to that. So, anyway, with that being said, Commissioner Bolton, what would you like to tell the people before you go? You're gonna look directly in that camera and stare them in the eyes and let them know a final statement that they need from you to move into the summertime of this year.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:57

I didn't get to this seat without you, and I can't be successful without you. So just as you were a champion before, I need you to continue to be a champion, engage with our office, show us and tell us, encourage us, let us know what your priorities are so we can work on them together. Because in District 7, we believe strongly in growing businesses and empowering families. And the only way we can do that is if you engage with our office and let us know what your interests and your priorities are. So if you do have any questions or concerns, or if you just want to connect with us, you can email at district seven at decabcountyga.gov. Otherwise, just check us out on Instagram at Commissioner Ladina Bolton. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:48

I thank you so much for your time. And neighbors, see you next time.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:54

Wake up.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:58

Learn about your city from neighbors who actually live there.