Meet Fabian Velazquez: Mayoral candidate for the city of Warner Robins

Fabian Velazquez recently announced he is running for Mayor of Warner Robins against current Mayor LaRhonda Patrick. We sat down with Velazquez to discuss his campaign, priorities and what he will do for citizens if elected Mayor.

Sandra Hernandez: First off, tell me a little bit about yourself.

Fabian Velazquez: Well, I was born here in Perry, actually, and I was raised in Warner Robins my whole life. I graduated from Warner Robins High School and, after that, I started a career in barbering. It led me to start a landscaping company, which now I run with 130 properties that I service. I have experience keeping track of balance sheets and making sure that things are orderly and getting things done on time.

Hernandez: Going off that, what inspired you to run for Mayor?

Velazquez: There’s not just one thing. One of the first things that really intrigued me in the crime issue was one of my clients. At the time, he was 17 and his younger brother was 14. He got mugged and they had pointed a gun to his little brother’s head; they stole his wallet and his phone. I heard about these things happening more and more often. Not just on the news, but I started hearing things from people I knew and that made me pay more attention. As I paid attention, I saw that there were a lot of pretty obvious issues that nobody was really looking at. 

Hernandez: When exactly did you announce you were running for Mayor?

Velazquez: I did about a month ago.

Hernandez: So, how has it been going so far?

Velazquez: A lot of interviews and just getting used to it. Right now, I’m not done establishing my full-on campaign with signs and things like that. But I’m hoping to get started with that in the summer.

Hernandez: If you are elected, what would be your top priorities and how do you hope to achieve them?

Velazquez: First, what I’m usually upset about with politicians is that they make promises about the things they’re going to do. I think there are some very clear things I can do on week one; looking at the DNA of the city, the municipal code. There’s things that are really holding back development, especially since we’re a growing city and growth is inevitable. But, there are things stunting our growth, like minimum setbacks, parking minimums and minimum lot sizes. 

Right now, the only sort of development that we’re seeing is from these big people that are moving in and then they build these giant apartment complexes but the money that you pay them goes out of the city and we’re not going to see that again.

We’re not really generating jobs or commercial spaces other than what the big people can do. I think if we’re going to have a successful city, we need to find a way to put money in the pockets of our residents.

I have a three-part plan for that which would be getting control of the crime. You’re not going to see any development if there’s no fixing that issue. I think it’s getting worse, they say otherwise. I don’t know many people that believe that, especially when even in the recreation department they keep getting broken into, when that’s something that has never happened before.

Then I have an issue with the north side, it’s not really being developed properly. We just see apartment complexes being thrown into it, but [with] more people moving in, where are the jobs? And then with housing issues, they’re increasing the supply, but it’s only for a specific set of people. What we could’ve done is change the zoning codes and allow for more people to start developing and that wouldn’t have cost the city a dime. It would have been natural growth.

Hernandez: The city is working on downtown development with Operation Reawaken. What are your thoughts on that, and how would you promote Economic Development in the city?

Velazquez: We spent $5.4 million on that. Right now, we’re really just buying land and tearing down buildings. That money could’ve been very much used in the neighborhoods surrounding that area, making it walkable [for] those people that live in these neighborhoods around it. First, it’s a nicer neighborhood, getting street lights up there, fixing the roads, adding sidewalks towards the downtown area. Once you do stuff like that, it’s more inviting for businesses to come in and then if we really wanted to try to speed up the process of businesses coming in, you create tax incentives. 

Right now there’s not a lot of revenue cost coming in from these areas just because there’s no businesses there. So, giving tax incentives, it doesn’t cost us anything; it really just invites more business. If we would’ve done that, we wouldn’t have had to spend a dime on Commercial Circle, we would have been able to spend that around the city, improving the lives of people directly and immediately. That would cause a cascading effect.

We have to look at [Economic Development] in a holistic approach. The hospital [Houston Healthcare of Warner Robins] was under threat of being shut down. That’s not really a good sign for the community. If that hospital were to shut down, the north side would have been devastated. It’s probably one of the few things that protects the property values of the homes around the area, considering it’s in a less desirable area of town. Especially with the schools that are getting put on lists of the 50 worst schools in Georgia in that area. 

If we’re not fixing this stuff, we need a holistic approach to do it and really, we got to look at the individual level; giving freedom and liberty towards our property owners so that they can decide what’s best for them and then try to figure out ways to put money in their pockets because right now, we’re not doing that.

Hernandez: Another initiative is Haven Hope House, which brings discussion of homelessness and community housing. How would you ensure residents have access to affordable housing?

Velazquez: Well, first, by loosening up the zoning restrictions. We’ll notice that they could drop an apartment complex, but specifically, if it’s government-subsidized housing, it typically raises the cost of living around the areas around it just because we’re having our residents competing with the government at that point for rent prices. 

If we were to loosen up restrictions and increase the housing stock in that manner, prices would naturally drop. Our local economy has its own way of developing. There is a federal economy or a national economy and there’s a state economy; our city has that too. If we focus on bettering that, you’ll notice, at least in our situation, things won’t get so bad when the rest of the world is burning.

Hernandez: Moving on to Public Safety, Mayor Patrick says the crime rate is down. What do you think of the city’s crime rate, and how will you enhance public safety while ensuring fairness and equality?

Velazquez: If crime is down, we’re seeing more kids getting murdered. We’re seeing gang violence amongst our youth. Specifically, in the north side of town and that’s really going to drive away the middle class; they’re already pushing their way south. 

We’re seeing that Veterans Middle School is being developed. That’s because of the desire for the middle class to move south; that’s happening. As that happens, the mayor herself said the reason that crime happens is because of the economic struggles people face. 

If we’re not really bettering that, it’s going to get worse. If it gets worse in the next four years, I don’t think that the north side of town has a chance at revitalizing itself. 

If we’re going to do an immediate fix, other than the economic stuff, things like policing. Right now, we have a shortage; it’s not as bad as it was, but we still have a shortage. What we could do is offer more pay for officers so that we can incentivize more people to want to join. Then, when we have more pay, we can expect a higher quality of officers, which, right now, Warner Robins has been great. The Police Department has been phenomenal. I haven’t heard any complaints, but if we’re going to do these immediate fixes like paying them more, getting more, and then moving our police force from traffic, and then shifting them to where the crime is happening as a deterrent. 

Right now you see a lot of police officers handing out tickets. I think there could be a better use of our resources.

Hernandez: Warner Robins has a rich military history. How would you ensure that Warner Robins continues to support the military, past and present?

Velazquez: The military base – that’s a fountain of money for our city, and we’re not really using it properly. Right now, if we could have offered a place for our servicemen to live closer to the base, I’m sure they would take it. But, as soon as they get in and they’re briefed, they’re told to avoid the north side. 

So right now we’re really neglecting our servicemen. We’re not doing a good job of maintaining a space for them to want to live near where they work. If they live near where they work, we see things like traffic get better, they wouldn’t have to cross all the way to Perry, Bonaire, and Kathleen just to drive back to work every day. If you’re on the road from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., it’s horrible. It’s not desirable for them to move there.

I think the city already has the brand of a military town or an Air Force town. That’s fine, but it’s just a name at that point. They don’t want to live there. I think if we make it so that they want to live there, we can really embrace our patriotism in these areas.

Hernandez: Warner Robins has plenty of engaged citizens, rightfully concerned about their city and who strive to make their voices heard. In your administration, how would you ensure the voices of all city residents are properly represented?

Velazquez: Well, first, they have to be informed. I don’t think this administration has been very transparent. I still don’t know of a plan for the downtown; all I see are pictures. I don’t see any honesty with the crime issue, and how many gangs are there in the city. I know there are a few; they’re not national gangs, but they’re local gangs. Why don’t we know about that? If our residents were informed on these topics, I think the engagement could be a lot more productive. 

We have our town hall meetings and things like that, but I think that we should be using social media to post more information so that everybody can know what’s going on. Whether they go to the town hall meetings or not, read the comments, I think you’ll be surprised with what most people have to say about what’s going on in their community.

Hernandez: Overall, looking at your campaign, what would you like to say to the community?

Velazquez: I’m self-funded. I do take grassroots donations, I have it on my website, but when you donate there, you’ll see exactly who donated [and] how much. I’m not trying to give anyone any favors. What I’m doing, I’m doing because I think that there’s a problem, and I’ve heard other people think the same thing. I’m doing this to see if people agree with me, and I think that a lot of people will. I just hope that we can have an adult conversation about the issues facing the city. 

If you’re interested, go to my website and check out the donation page if you can; if you can’t, I’ve got it. I came into this knowing that I was going to spend my money on this. I’m not doing any events where people are giving me big checks and thinking that they’re going to get something out of me.

To keep up with Velazquez’s campaign, visit his website. The Municipal General election is on Nov. 4.