Another candidate announces a run for Loganville City Council

Loganville businessman Branden Whitfield released the following statement after announcing his candidacy for Loganville City Council on June 10, 2021, at the end of the June Loganville City Council meeting.

I’m Branden Whitfield and I’m announcing my intent to run for Loganville city council.

I’m a local businessman who owns and operates 3 local businesses, the current vice-chairman of the Loganville development authority, and a vice president of the Loganville Legacy Lions Club. I’m an eagle scout and a graduate of Kennesaw State University with a B.B.A. in business management.

I owe the City of Loganville a great debt for raising me to be who I am and for what I’ve accomplished in my life, and I want to do my civic duty to use my talents to lead Loganville into the future with the hard work ethic instilled in me from a young age. I’m a third-generation Loganvillian with deep ties to the area. I take great pride in being from Loganville the city where I’ve grown up, I’ve met and married my wife Rebecca Whitfield in and where I’m raising my 3-year-old daughter.

I want to keep Loganville a great place for her to grow up in and a place she would be proud to stay in. I don’t want Loganville to turn into a pass-through city without a soul and lacking a proper downtown like other cities on 78 have become. I helped organize the 1st annual Loganville Battle of the Bands, along with organizing the upcoming business summit for the city of Loganville businesses to take place this fall/winter within my role on the LDA. The city of Loganville events team put on great events and I love adding to the event calendar and helping when needed because without the events our local businesses would struggle and no life would be found on our main street. I decided to run for council to help local businesses be more successful and to aid in turning Main Street into a viable destination area to live, work, play.

We need development on Main Street for the future of Loganville. It hasn’t improved in a long time, and I’m not saying I want 800 apartments, but some downtown loft-style apartment condos above shops/boutiques would be good with me because that makes downtown more viable to get the shops/restaurants we all want. We need to make sure the buildings look attractive with brickwork/stone and keep them relatively low so they don’t tower high in the sky. I think parking on Main Street for people coming to shops/events needs to be addressed as well, that’s one of the other complaints I get when I talk with business owners who are considering opening businesses downtown. I also would support more sidewalk construction and upgrading our parks. I’ve looked at the survey results of the citizens, the Haddow report, and spoke with multiple developers about what it takes to take on a project like ours and I know we can make something work for the citizens of Loganville. Most citizens believe our downtown main street is unattractive and voting for me we can get a better main street and still keep a small-town feel and I’ll work my hardest in helping local business succeed.

Thank you, I can be reached via email at branden4council@gmail.com for any questions or comments.