Issues

We are blessed to live in Atlanta, the cradle of the civil rights movement, home of the 1996 Olympics and a city that combines southern hospitality with economic opportunity.

We also must surpass the pressing challenges our city face and we must unite together as one city harnessing the power of our different ideas and our diversity to succeed.

As a Democratic State Senator representing Atlanta and East Point, I will work to improve our public schools and help create jobs in Georgia that gets our economic back on track. I will help lead efforts to develop our great public transportation in Atlanta and make sure our neighborhoods are safe. And, I will fight for equality for all, ethics in government and environmental protection.

I invite you to take a look at the progressive platform below that was created from ideas heard during community meetings and suggestions from concerned neighbors. If you believe the ideas and solutions presented here can improve our public schools, create jobs in Georgia and strengthen our communities, than I hope you will join our campaign and be the change we seek.

Public Education

As a father and biology teacher at Grady High School, Balch sees the difference an excellent education makes in keeping young people off the streets and giving them a bright future. He also sees how great public education brings businesses and jobs to Georgia. Our public education system is failing, and until we fix that, we are shortchanging all of the problems we are trying to fix: our neighborhoods, our economy and public safety. Everything.

Balch will fight to implement President Obama’s educational reform which includes paying good teachers what they’re worth, supporting charter schools and closing the achievement gap for minority students. Fixing our public schools is how we strengthen our communities and it will be Balch’s first priority as your state senator.

Economic Development

Education and jobs give people the ability to provide for their families. We must strengthen Georgia’s economy by bringing businesses and plants to Georgia, particularly those that will help Georgia be a leader in the emerging green economy. We also must make sure our small businesses can succeed because small businesses create 75% of all jobs in the United States and are an important part of our Georgia economy. Georgia also needs to invest in technologies that drive our economic development by redeveloping Fort McPherson into a life science center and by investing in bringing technologies developed at our research universities like Georgia Tech to market.

Transportation

We need public transportation that allows us to get where we are going quickly and easily. But, our transportation in Atlanta and East Point does not make this possible. We need to invest in MARTA to provide full service and as MARTA is the largest public transportation system in the country without state funding, we must secure state funding for MARTA. We also need to expand our public transportation network by building and connecting a regional transportation system that includes MARTA, the Beltline, CTRAN, Gwinnett County Transit, and Cobb County Transit. Another critical component of our regional transportation we must develop is commuter rail connecting nearby cities like Athens and Macon as well as our suburban communities to Atlanta. And, we need to redesign and rebuild our inadequate highway interchanges between GA 400 and I-85 and between I-20 and the downtown connector as well as strengthen our structurally deficient bridges.

Public Safety

Crime ruins communities, and Georgians deserve to feel safe in their homes, in their neighborhoods and in all neighborhoods. Our firefighters and police work around the clock to protect our communities and they need our support. That’s why Balch proposes, among other things, to keep our kids in school and off the streets, invest in crime fighting resources that help our police solve crimes, and provide top-notch state medical coverage to those injured in the line of duty.

Equality for All

As we fight for full equality for all in our society, we must be united in our efforts remembering Martin Luther King Jr’s quote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” One day, legal inequality will not exist in Georgia and we must march towards that day with determination and vigor. Balch believes in gay marriage and helping Georgia take the steps towards this goal that include adoption, domestic partner benefits and hospital visitation rights.

Environmental Protection

Our human activities are altering the Earth’s climate, polluting our water and air and destroying our natural resources. Our choices at all levels—individual, community, corporate and government—affect our environment and consequently they affect us. The time to protect our environment and conserve our natural resources is not decades from now when it is too late, but now!

Today’s environmental challenges demand new thinking. No longer can environmentalists and business leaders oppose each other, but it is time for our whole society to work together so that all sectors of our society are protecting our environment.

Specifically, we must begin aggressive action to protect our environment by advancing industrial, commercial and residential energy efficiency and conservation practices and rapidly transitioning our energy production from imported oil and coal to locally produced sustainable energy. We must also conserve our water resources, stop urban sprawl and the suburbanization of Georgia, and protect the natural habitats and native species of Georgia. And, we must not allow minority communities to continue to bear a disproportionate burden of pollution from polluting facilities that are frequently located in minority communities leading to higher rates of asthma, lead poisoning and many other pollution related problems.

Ethics

Strong ethics help ensure that our government is for the people and by the people. In Georgia, the greatest ethics concern we face is that our elections are so influenced by special interests and laws that protect political insiders that we the people have effectively lost the ability to choose our elected officials through a fair and democratic electoral process. Balch proposes several reforms to Georgia’s electoral process to address this including reforming campaign finance laws, requiring candidates to adhere to campaign laws in order to be on the ballot, eliminating unfair protections for incumbents on the ballot, providing fair access to the ballot for all candidates and ensuring a fair and non-partisan redistricting process after each census.

Issue Suggestions

Have a comment on Balch’s platform or do you have an idea for how we can help strengthen our communities in Atlanta and East Point? Please share your ideas with us so that our campaign can represent the many great ideas that you have.

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Ethics in Government

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