Warner Robins City Councilman Larry Curtis held a town hall meeting for his district Post 6, Monday.
Post 6 covers parts of Watson Boulevard and Russell Parkway heading north, as well as parts of Corder and Leverett Roads, and more. Curtis said he plans to hold the town hall meetings every quarter, but after Monday’s meeting he may possibly consider once a month.
“This is a time for the citizens of Post 6 to come out and voice their concerns,” Curtis said. “I am simply here to listen and then take back their concerns and bring them back to city hall before the rest of the council and mayor.”
Another reason why Curtis decided to hold these meetings is because of the post not getting enough attention.
“Post 6 is the foundation of the city,” Curtis said. “Most like to refer to it as the northside of town, but I like to refer to it as the old Warner Robins. At one point in time that side of town was very nice, clean and businesses were thriving. Unfortunately it has gone down and other sides of the town are developing faster.”
Warner Robins resident, Rick Haswell moved to Warner Robins in 1994 with his wife and said it was very nice.
“I have to say now it’s not the best,” Haswell said. “My main concern is what is going on in the city. We have got to come together. As they say, united we stand, divided we fall. Along with our elected officials, the community needs to come together and help one another. And I know that everyone has concerns for their area, but Post 6, is literally an area that is dying and needs help.”
With Haswell were several others in attendance who agreed with him, but also had concerns of the rising of crime in the area. Louise McBride said one area of concern for her is Walker’s Pond.
“There are too many people there are night past park hours,” McBride said. “I have gone through during the day and have found so much trash and even bullet shell casings. It is such a nice park, and I don’t want to see it trashed. I have spoken with Warner Robins Police Chief John Wagner about this and hopefully we can start tackling the issue.”
Curtis said he too has been talking with Wagner about the rise of crime and they are looking at different ways to address the matter. He also shared that the Warner Robins Police Department is down to only having six police officer positions that need to be filled to have the department at full force.
“After tonight’s meeting we all have agreed to make a list of priorities and put them in order of what we would like to see get accomplished first,” Curtis said. “Me personally, I want to focus on cleaning up the area, tackling blight, because once you do that—making the area more attractive—then developers will want to invest.”
Curtis said the next meeting will probably take place in March, but to keep up with when meetings are being held, he said it will be posted on his Facebook page: Larry Curtis WR City Council Post 6.
