Garland Has Responsible, Stable Leadership on the City Council

Garland voters in District 1 had a clear choice in the 2006 city election whether to elect a representative that had a proven record fighting for citizen rights or to allow the continuance of those that had opposed elections and debate. You chose to elect Douglas Athas as your Representative.

Mr. Athas has represented Garland on the Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition since assuming office and also serves as Garland's alternate member on the Regional Transportation Council. For 2007-2008, he was chosen by his colleagues to serve as Mayor Pro Tem.

Prior to serving on the Council, Doug was a Garland Plan Commissioner and active in the community for many years. He has been involved with smart development along SH-190 since most of that frontage was still open space, and he has worked to bring quality development to other areas of Garland, including our Downtown. He attended many of the conferences and seminars necessary to learn more about planning and development, and spent much time working with others to advance quality development for Garland.

Those years of experience have served Mr. Athas well as a council member. He is still very involved with planning and development, serving on the board of the Greater Dallas Planning Council and is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. He is also a member of the Congress of New Urbanism.

He has a long record of community involvement with homeowner and neighborhood associations, regularing meeting with statewide association members, and leads Texas Neighborhoods Together, the statewide group that represents homeowner and neighborhood associations before the Texas Legislature. His local involvement includes being one of the initial organizers of the Neighborhood Leadership Summit presented in Garland each fall.

Nationally, Mr. Athas was appointed to the steering committee of the National League of Cities' First-Tier Suburbs Council and was recently named vice-chair.

Garland’s future requires leadership with vision and a proven record of tackling projects that benefit the community. Garland now has someone on the council that does that and is ethical, experienced, and effective.

Mr. Athas serves with an outstanding group of council members that look to the advancement of Garland regionally and to improving the quality of life locally. Garland is fortunate to now have a City Council that can work together for the betterment of the city.