GET TO KNOW JUAN

PLATFORM & ISSUES

My campaign is about re-centering residents and small-business owners in Atlanta. It’s about helping try to create a more equitable and affordable place where everyone can thrive. Here are some of the key areas I will focus on once in office to try and achieve that goal:

TRANSPORTATION

Nothing can bring Atlantans together more than talking about their frustrations with the city’s transportation infrastructure. Traffic grinds to a halt at certain times of the day, reliability issues with bus schedules, bus and train routes that don’t reach nearly enough of our neighborhoods, and an inadequate bike route system are just a few of the issues residents list off when talking about the changes they want to see in the city. I sympathize with many of these issues, and so am committed to the following issues:

Working with ATLDOT and the Mayor’s office to make sure we’re pushing through the projects in the “Moving Atlanta Forward” transportation plan as quickly as possible. As of April 2025, 116 of 219 projects have still not progressed past the planning/scoping phase, and only 10% of the funds allocated have been paid out and only $136M of $750M funds earmarked for the plan have been committed. We can and should do better to get more of these projects moving forward and funds literally out on the streets.
When it comes to the Beltline, ensuring that this ambitious project, that is on its way to being a crown jewel of the city, lives up to its intended dreams by providing real connective tissue and transportation options to more corners of the city, especially the Southside and Westside sections that are behind the Eastside sections of the loop.
Ensuring that we are providing real, reliable transportation options and improvements to our chronically under-resourced communities in South and West Atlanta.
Working with ATLDOT and the Mayor’s office to focus on improving the walkability of our growing, developing neighborhoods and rethinking the bike-lane infrastructure of the city to truly help pull more cars off of our over congested streets.

AFFORDABILITY

It’s no secret to say that the cost of living in the city has climbed steadily over the past decade. Housing costs are just part of the equation that has seen it harder for middle-class and working-class families, seniors, young adults, and other residents to afford to live and work in Atlanta. As we continue to grow our density with mixed-use/multi-family developments around the city including the catalytic 22 mile-loop that is the Beltline and Beltline overlay, we need to continue to ensure that zoning legislation advocates for residential affordability AND commercial
affordability (There has never been any commercial affordable zoning legislation introduced). When it comes to affordability in Atlanta, my focus will include the following issues:

A big challenge to achieving affordability is that currently developers have the option tofollow the zoning legislation and include affordable housing in their developments or pay a penalty fee. Many pay the penalty fee creating a continued lack of affordable housing. In my perspective that option from the legislation should be removed. All of our new developments MUST include affordable units.
We need to also add commercial zoning affordable legislation, as entrepreneurship is becoming more and more unattainable. Commercial affordable legislation will advocate for small local businesses to be able to still thrive and be created by the current and next generation.
We need to ensure that the developments that are being approved have a holistic approach to the community’s challenges, especially the West and Southside. These projects need to have medical services, education services, greenspaces, grocery, placemaking etc, and not just the same typical beverage, food, and retail units.
Additionally, we need to provide real advocacy and support for our legacy and senior residents. The continued uncapped increase in property taxes creates a quality of life where our senior community has to choose between buying groceries/paying for transportation or paying their tax bill.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Like many cities in the aftermath of the pandemic, Atlanta has seen its violent crime rates slowly decreasing, and the city and Mayor should be applauded for the focus on saving the lives and improving the quality of life of more Atlantans. That being said, though violent crime is down, we still have a lot of work to do. In our more resourced neighborhoods, violent crime is not as likely. They are dealing more so with non-violent crimes, which includes: theft, car break-ins and home break-ins. Our under-resourced communities still have the highest percentage of violent crimes. In our more dense areas, the unsheltered challenges are a major public safety concern. With those challenges in mind, I would prioritize the following issues:

Ensuring that the city is working with organizations like PAD and Mercy Care to provide wrap-around services to our unhoused population, helping to tackle their issues and needs more holistically than just putting money into free-housing projects.
Making sure we’re funding Public Safety units at adequate levels, while ensuring that we’re looking at the entire picture of “crime” in our city, and not just focused on homicides and other “top-line” violent crimes.
Dedication to the idea that Public Safety funding must be distributed across the city in ways that ensures all of our neighborhoods are respected and prioritized.

LEARN ABOUT OUR

CAMPAIGN FOCUS

Here are just a few more ideas I’ll be focused on during this campaign:

Financial Health and Capacity of Atlanta

The city is in the middle of a 30% budget shortage, and the only solution provided was for 5% cuts across all departments. Are we truly tackling the issue with simple cuts? What are we doing to focus on ensuring we’re tapping all potential revenue sources for the city. Are we truly getting the best deals on all vendor contracts in the city? Are we sacrificing revenue to attract businesses that don’t truly deliver on promised monetary and job flow into the city?

Empowering NPUs and Small Business Associations

My years of work in the Small Business Association and NPU networks of the city has been some of the most important and gratifying work of my career. It has also given me an understanding of where we have room for improvement and empowerment. Our NPU hasn’t been truly reassessed in over 40 years! What could we be doing better to empower and invest in these organizations to allow them to truly thrive and put more resources into their communities? Grants, budgetary allotments, paid positions, these are just some of the ideas I think about when I think about how to better leverage one of Atlanta’s key systems.

The Equity Gap in Atlanta

Atlanta is a tale of two cities. Many of the equity challenges are rooted in the dark history of Atlanta as Atlanta’s infrastructure was used to systemically segregate communities. This foundation contributes much to such inequality challenges. As Atlanta continues to be an economic powerhouse for the country, it is easily lost on how extreme our inequalities are. There are literally geographical parts of Atlanta that are living in a different world. The northeast part of the city lives in a world of extreme prosperity which includes high income, higher life expectancy, better transportation, better access to fresh food and more entrepreneurship. Wealth in Atlanta is heavily concentrated in the northern neighborhoods, while the southern and western parts of the city face stark economic challenges. These disparities show up not just in bank accounts, but in lifespans—where life expectancy can differ by as much as 20 years depending on where you live. In a city where 18% of the population lives below the poverty line, the chances of rising out of poverty are slim—just 4%. Food insecurity also affects 13% of Atlantans. These hardships fall hardest on communities of color, especially Black neighborhoods. Building a more equitable Atlanta means bridging these gaps—so that every neighborhood, every resident, and every part of the city has a real chance to prosper.