welcome to the peach buzz brought to you by Tidwell's Strimban injury lawyers. Woodstock's full service, personal injury law firm. The peach buzz is a podcast dedicated to showcasing people, having a positive impact in our local communities and Woodstock Cherokee County and all of North Georgia today. We're excited to have with us, Mr. Donnie Enriques, Donnie has been the mayor of the city of Woodstock for the past 16 years. Uh, mayor, thank you so much for being with us today and welcome to the peach buzz.
Mayor Henriques:Robert, thank you for having me. It's a pleasure.
Robert Tidwell:You first ran for city council nearly 20 years ago. Is that right?
Mayor Henriques:It was actually 1999 was the election.
Robert Tidwell:Okay. what were some of the reasons that you decided to get involved with city council?
Mayor Henriques:funny story, uh, the mayor at the time, David Rogers was looking for someone to fill a new ward that was. Uh, dictated by the 2000 census. And I saw him at a charity function. I had known him a little bit, uh, through like the chamber and things like that, but he approaches me and he says, you know, what'd you, what would you think about your wife running for the city council? And at the time we had our private practice audiology and she was getting her doctorate. So she was pretty busy and I told him that and said that that wouldn't be possible. And she laughed when I told her, but anyway, um, he said, well, why don't you try to recruit somebody? I said, okay. I know a lot of people in the community. And it was, the ward was basically deer run, um, and park view, which is next door, but it's a small development. So I knew a lot of people. So I started this recruiting process and everybody kept saying, no, finally, after a few weeks of doing this, uh, several people came to me and said, why don't you do it? So I thought about it, talked to Jan and decided I'll go ahead and do it. I called the mayor, David and said I would do it. And he says, fantastic. So he started meeting with me, showing. What the city does and what, what, they're, what they're trying to do. And, uh, I ran and two folks ran against me, but they were not involved in the community as much as I was. So I, one sick about 68% of the vote against two individuals, which is pretty hard to do. So I took office in January of 2000 and. I always kid, uh, David's widow, David wound up dying, uh, about nine months after I took office of cancer. And I always kid his widow that it's all his fault.
Robert Tidwell:Oh, my word. Well, I imagine Woodstock looked a lot different in 2000 when you first, uh, became a city council member.
Mayor Henriques:Yeah, it did. We had about five businesses plus one restaurant, um, which was the 1904 house, which is now the hips. And that was about it. Uh, the businesses closed their doors at five o'clock each day and didn't want to stay open at night. So that's what it was until 2006, when I took over as mayor and, uh, we developed a. An idea with Billy peppers was the, Canton city manager. Now he was our economic development director and between the two of us, we came up with this idea of what's called Friday night live and we went and convinced, each business to stay open one Friday night, a month, invite customers in. Feed them snacks and drinks and hopefully their shop. And what was the five businesses. And the restaurant of course stayed. Opening, did specials. It took a lot of convincing to keep it going. You could shoot a shotgun off for six months and not hit a person down on main street, but eventually people started coming and. It started getting better when pure and canyons, hamburgers moved in, people started coming and more importantly, more businesses started coming because we had all those buildings built by Hedgewood, in place, but they were all vacant. But once, Friday night live started really coming alive. That's when all the growth started, what's happening
Robert Tidwell:now, you first got on city council in 2000, but you moved here to Woodstock back in 93. Is that right?
Mayor Henriques:Yes.
Robert Tidwell:Okay. And what brought you to Woodstock
Mayor Henriques:housing, we were looking for a house. We lived in Roswell and first we started looking in Marietta where my, one of my brothers lived. And we quickly found that we could not afford anything, not anything livable. Let's put it that way. So my cousin was our realtor and we kept moving out further and further away from Marietta. And we stumbled on Woodstock. Found a house, in the outskirts of town Lake, moved in in 93. Was it there for three years. And then we moved into deer run where I eventually ran for city council. So, uh, we've enjoyed our time here. Sure. How,
Robert Tidwell:No, I shared with you earlier that that's very similar to our story, how my wife and I got here, uh, I had just finished law school and I had accepted a job at the Marietta square law firm down there. And so we were looking for a place we could afford. And we just sort of drew some concentric circles around the Marietta square and started backing away from it and each direction. And the houses up here were just so much more affordable and it was an easy commute down five 75 to get to the Mariettasquare. And so that's how we ended up here in 2002. Very similar. Yeah. Now a funny story I want to tell is in 2002, I had just finished law school and I was. Driving into Midtown each morning to take a, uh, bar review class to help you prepare to take the bar exam. And so I go into a coffee shop. It was a caribou coffee shop right there in Midtown, and I'm all excited to be there. And so I'm getting some coffee and I'm talking to the lady making the coffee and I tell her I'm new in town, new in the area. And she asks, where, where do you live? And I tell her, I live in Woodstock and she looks at me and says, where's that? Okay. Okay. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. And my wife and I are over in Oxford, Mississippi moving our daughter out of her dorm room at the end of the day for freshman year. And we decided to go to the baseball game. Ole miss was playing LSU. And so we're sitting at the game and there's a guy sitting next to me and we start chatting and he was, uh, he is from Hattiesburg and he went to Ole miss graduated a few years ago and now lives in Jonesborough, Arkansas. And he asks me where we live. And I tell him, we live in Woodstock, Georgia. And he says, Oh, my word, I wasn't Atlanta about a month ago. And some people told me I needed to go check out Woodstock. So I drove up there and that town was out. He said it was amazing. He said, I think he was here on a Friday night and people are out and about, and just, you know, he couldn't believe that there was so much going on in Woodstock. So how does a town in 20 years go from not being known in Atlanta to. Running into people who live in Arkansas who know about it and actually went out of their way to come visit Woodstock.
Mayor Henriques:Yeah. It's, it's quite a story. Um, first of all, we, I mentioned Hedgewood earlier, uh, they were the corporate partner that came to the city council. I believe it was Oh three. Uh, with a plan because it was nothing but vacant land right across the street, on the East side, from the five businesses I mentioned earlier. Um, and they, they had a great plan. Of course the plan went through a lot of reviews and changes as, as all plans do when it come to a city. But, um, they had a vision and to me it was a fantastic vision. It's something that I thought. Downtown Woodstock needed to become a destination. And as I mentioned earlier, when we started Friday night live and all the businesses started coming to where they are today, it was an easy sell let's put it that way. Our, our goal was to become a destination city, We get a lot of out of towners. Uh, when I say that I, you can look at the, license plates when you walk downtown and you'll see Cobb Fulton, you know, they really outweigh the Cherokee license plates, um, when you're walking. So we know we're a destination city so much, so we've made national lists of places to be. even recently, we were named the third, best non big city community to move to.
Robert Tidwell:I saw that, I think they called it the, uh, it was housing.com or something like that. Like that third rated suburb in the U S to live in.
Mayor Henriques:Exactly.
Robert Tidwell:That's pretty outstanding.
Mayor Henriques:It is, uh, we, we take those things seriously, uh, and we appreciate them. The national notoriety. And, money magazines put us on two of their lists, uh, over the years. So, uh, we're very proud of what we've become.
Robert Tidwell:I think that most of the people who live here in Woodstock as well is proud of that. I know that we all share and talk about being ranked 17th in the nation, as far as cities to live in by money magazine. Uh, the quality of life is pretty outstanding. But, uh, one thing I wanted to ask you is you grew up in new Orleans, right?
Mayor Henriques:Yes.
Robert Tidwell:Did growing up in new Orleans have any influence on your vision for Woodstock once you got involved in local government?
Mayor Henriques:Yeah, it did. I lived in inner city of new Orleans. Houses were very, very close together. The architecture, everybody knows is fantastic. And when Hedgewood came forth with their project, um, I saw the same type of architecture that reminded me of new Orleans, uh, houses were fairly close together. Some were shared driveways, and that's kind of the way new Orleans was still is. But, uh, it's a difference
Robert Tidwell:during your time as mayor. Um, and, and let me preface this by saying, you know, when we moved here and my wife and I in 2002, this was a pretty sleepy community. Yes. And I have never been involved in local government. I have no experience or training in city planning or anything like that, but never in a hundred years, would I have ever imagined. That Woodstock would grow from what it was when I moved here in 2002, to what it is today. At what point during your involvement as either a city, Councilman, or as a mayor of Woodstock, at what point during your time did you think to yourself, this is going to happen? This is a place where this can really happen.
Mayor Henriques:I think, it actually started when the recession hit Oh eight, we. Needed a new city manager and we hired Jeff Moon. Who's still, our city manager sat down with Jeff and talked about the vision we had for the city. He got it, he knew it. And he brought all of his expertise with him and that's when things started really taking off. Uh, sat down with him in Preston poos or who became our parks and rec director, by the way, it was our first parks and rec director. We never really had a parks department and sat down with him at lunch one day. And I, I explained to both of them. I said, I want three things. I want trails. I want more parks. And I want an amphitheater. And. In 10 years they delivered. The trail system is way ahead of schedule. It's a 60 mile trail system. We've got probably over 30,000, 30,000, 30 miles of trails right now. So we are ahead of the game. This was a 20 to 30 year project. hopefully be completed long after I'm gone. But, that's when it started actually, you know, sounds kind of funny in a recession to get that type of, movement. And, we took the opportunity because real estate prices, as everyone knows, just fell through the floor. And Jeff and I talked about it and he, he actually came up with the idea that we need to start buying stuff. And so we did, we bought the, where it is now in the city council chambers and the Elm street theater and the parking lot behind it, which is on the corner of town Lake and, uh, main street. That's one of the purchases we made. We purchased Woofstock park, which is today. That was an apartment complex that continually flooded. So we got that for a song. We had to tear down the existing apartment complex because it was condemned by the federal government. And we made a deal with them. We bought that property for$60,000, but again, like I said, we had to tear it down, which nominal fee, when you look at it, So those are some of the things that, we did during the recession. Yes. We had to do some bonds. We did not have much of a reserve to speak of. That's a lot different today, but we felt like we were getting things for a song and we went out on limb and, did those things, the other thing was, I think the big. Um, and you know, as well as I do is our city hall, the city hall we had back then was a sick building, had a lot of mold and mildew and people were getting sick. So we knew we had to find something else. So as soon as the recession hit, Robert Harris homes had a three story building on Trickum in 92. And. We bought that it's a$10 million building. Even at the time we got it for 5.2 and it included all the furnishings and, and even the telephones and fax machines. So, we feel like we got a really good deal there too. We could probably sell it today if we wanted to for 10 million, but we tore down the old city hall in which that, and land became the amphitheater, the amphitheater. So we did a lot during tough times. Uh, I think we made the right moves.
Robert Tidwell:You talked about the Hedgewood property that came in in downtown, and there was nothing in this area that I can think of that even was close to the size and the magnitude of that project. I think a lot of folks probably go back there. A lot of people live there. They see, you know, just how neat of a, of, of a development it is. But it almost didn't happen. Isn't that, right?
Mayor Henriques:They kinda got frustrated as a lot of developers do when you're dealing with a city and the planning department, our planning department, even back then was top notch. Uh, they knew what we could have. And what we should have. And so they stuck their feet to the fire and held it there. And finally Hedgewood agreed to the changes. It almost didn't happen. Yes. And then when they went out of business, everything that they had built, including the commercial sat vacant. Nobody was moving in the residential. So it almost didn't happen even after it happened. Yeah, there were two stumbling blocks there.
Robert Tidwell:Now once a hedge would close their doors and the property sat vacant for a little while. Was it, it was John Wieland, right. That reached out to the city about finishing that project.
Mayor Henriques:Yes. John actually called himself to our chief planner. And said, I'd like to look at finishing that project. It was about 60% at the time. So he sat down, he and his team with our planners and, came up with the plan, which is there. Now he continued the vision that Hedgewood ad and the council, uh, and the city and completed it. And probably four years ago, five years ago, something like that. And he got so excited about being in Woodstock. He bought almost a hundred acres and which is now called South on main and another development similar to the downtown project. Uh, housing is almost identical. It's a great piece of land. It's rolling Hills. Um, and. Backs up on the, a new day Creek. So those people will have a great view that, uh, buy houses on that water.
Robert Tidwell:That is a real nice development. Uh, I I've looked at some places in there and it is, it's really nice. Also. I have a couple of friends who live back there. Yeah. That's a great area. Great walkable area.
Mayor Henriques:Yes, it is. It's walkable to the downtown corridor too.
Robert Tidwell:So when John Wieland came in to finish the downtown development project, that was right about the same time the Friday night lives started to take off. Is that right?
Mayor Henriques:Yes. It took us about a year to get Friday night live off the ground. Uh, and it took a lot of arm twisting of the existing businesses, but once it did, um, other businesses saw what. We could have in downtown Woodstock and they started flocking in even to this day, as soon as somebody either moves or unfortunately doesn't make it in business and goes vacant in that property. Our DDA, uh, Bryan Stockton is the director of that. He gets calls all the time. I'm looking for property. I want to open a business in downtown Woodstock. It's it's phenomenal. It really is.
Robert Tidwell:And just, just in case we have a listener or two that is not familiar with Friday night, live Friday night live is a themed party. If you will, that we have one Friday per month in downtown Woodstock. Is that right?
Mayor Henriques:Yes.
Robert Tidwell:Sometimes it might be an 80theme. Sometimes it might be a college tailgate theme, depending on what time of year it is. Um, who, who came up with that idea?
Mayor Henriques:Well, it was a combination of Billy peppers and myself, as I said, uh, Billy peppers is the city manager of Canton now, but at the time he was our economic development director and between us, uh, we, we just spit balled actually. And, he, he mostly said, why don't we do something special? Get the merchants to stay open. And see what we can come up with, uh, draw people to downtown Woodstock. So, it is what it is today. It's it's like you said, it's a party. It is. It's a lot of fun. It really is. Yeah.
Robert Tidwell:Now the amphitheater, that was one of the projects. That was kind of personal and important to you. You wanted to see an amphitheater in downtown Woodstock, right?
Mayor Henriques:Yeah. I think the name Woodstock lends itself to a music venue. Even though we're in Georgia, we call it what Georgia's Woodstock that's right. And, you know, like I said, I talked to Jeff Moon and Preston poos and, uh, they came up with the actual plan. I mean, I'm not a planner, I'm an idea guy. And they they're the detail guys. So they came up with the plan. And it took about a year and a half, we moved the, concerts back up to the upper park where the gazebo is where they started 23 years ago or something like that. And, of course we had to reduce the number of crowds. So we brought in just local bands, uh, just to provide a music, concert for the month and we constructed the amphitheater. And the neat part about the amphitheater is we paid cash for it. 3.2 million, if I remember. Right. So that was pretty cool.
Robert Tidwell:That is wow. And that has become just a great entertainment source over the years. We've had a lot of national bands come through and play in these free concerts during the summer. We'll have some more of those.
Mayor Henriques:Yes, we will. We, of course, suspended the concerts last year because of COVID, but we're committed to doing them this year and we just. Basically resigned all the bands from last year that were canceled. Uh, Christopher Cross is the big one for the year. We usually have one big name and, he, was supposed to be in may. He had contracted COVID himself and he was in bad shape. Um, but he recovered and said. To us, can we move the may concert back? Cause I've still got band members that are, you know, head Cove and they're just starting to recover. So we said, sure. So we're going to have two concerts the month of September, there'll be a week apart. So, uh, the other, I think a band that I'm excited about is a queen cover band. Now I was never a queen. Fan back in the seventies and eighties. But, I saw the movie Bohemian Rhapsody and it was fantastic. Uh, and the person that did some of the vocals in that movie is the lead singer for the queen cover band.
Robert Tidwell:Oh, wow. I did not realize that.
Mayor Henriques:Yeah. So I'm excited about that. I think we'll draw a big crowd people. Have said that they know about that. Uh, so I think we'll have a big crowd and talking about crowds, the amphitheater was built for 7,500 people, but we've had probably up to 10,000 so far in some of the bigger concerts. So it's the upper park people are all the way back, past the fountain almost to main street. Uh, they take their lawn chairs and we put speakers up there so they can hear it really well. So, uh, it's been a tremendous success. The merchants are extremely happy because especially the restaurants, people will come early, have a meal or pick up to go items and bring it out to the park. So they're very excited about the concert series when it comes.
Robert Tidwell:I'm personally excited about the steep Canyon Rangers. There you go. That's a band I'm looking forward to seeing this summer and I've got my fingers crossed at a Steve Martin is going to show up and play banjo with him. Yeah. I kid that, uh, he may show up. I, I doubt it, but if he does, we're not going to pay him extra. So that's right. He wasn't part of the contract. No, he wasn't. Wow. All right. So 16 years as the mayor, and you've decided that this is going to be your final term. Correct. Uh, what were some of the influences on you that led to your decision that this is it I'm, I'm, I'm ready to walk away.
Mayor Henriques:You know, I took about six months of talking to friends and family about it, especially in my wife. And, at first I was pretty much decided I was gonna run it one more time, mainly for the Morgans ACE hardware site. Uh, as people probably know, Morgan is one of the move to a new building. And so we bought that property and our plan is to build a parking deck, a boutique hotel and some more retail and restaurant. And, I said, I was going to stay for that to at least see it, come on to the ground, start to come out of the ground. And then I decided, you know, what. If I stayed on every term for another big project, I'd be here forever because there's always going to be another project. So I talked to my wife and when she finally said, Oh, this was in February, I believe, uh, she said, you know what? It's probably time you hang it up. You need a break. And the other thing was, our family dynamics have changed. Or an NR going to change? Uh, my daughter got married a year ago and during COVID, there were 10 people there instead of 185. But anyway, um, she's pregnant and I've got my son and daughter-in-law who have. My existing three grandchildren. They're moving here. She she's a teacher and, uh, got hired by Carmel L elementary where my daughter went to school. Wonderful. How about that? So they're moving here. My mother-in-law just moved in. We built her a cottage on my property. Uh, she needs assistance. She's 88. So all these family dynamics coming together, Kind of weighed in on my decision. And, my wife's happy. I think, uh, I get people all the time saying, no, you need to run it, run some more. And I said, no, it's time for a break. You know, I'm on a lot of boards, uh, for Anna Crawford and things like that. I've been asked to serve on the education foundation. Bored, but I've told them no. I said, I need a break. I've got all these family people moving here. I bought a bigger car because I know I'm going to be the school bus, you know? Uh, so I felt like I wouldn't have as much time to devote to the job. So I decided not to do it.
Robert Tidwell:Well, it sounds like you have some pretty wonderful things waiting for you in life after serving on. City government.
Mayor Henriques:Yes, I do. Yeah.
Robert Tidwell:So looking back on the 20 years that you've served, what are some of the, what are some of the things you look back at and remember fondly as highlights as compared to some of the things you look back and think, man, that was a difficult time that we had to get through.
Mayor Henriques:Yeah, like I mentioned before, and it, it, it falls into both categories, the difficult and the fondness, was the recession. It was very difficult. I worked very closely with Jeff Moon. One of the first things we did was we sat down with the police and fire because the rumor was that we were gonna lay some people off. Jeff and I talked about it and said, we're not going to do that. If at all possible. So we, Rested their fears. And we stayed true to our promise. So that made me feel good. But it was a difficult time. But as I mentioned before, it was a time that we could go ahead and spend some money and get real value for our dollar in property and buildings. So that was very pleasing. Other difficult times was when COVID hit. It was, something that nobody had anticipated and nobody had dealt with anything like it, in over a hundred years, at least governments hadn't. So, it was a learning process. But my part-time mayor's job became full time for about six months. Luckily, I was retired from my full-time job that I had with Northside hospital and I had the time to devote and help Jeff. We had to make a lot of decisions, for the city. And, it was very trying but it got a little easier once. I think we got used to the, the things that were happening. I had. Allowed myself to back off a little bit. I'm not a guy that needs to have his finger in every pie that exists in city government. I let people do their job. I trust them until they can't do the job and then I will get involved. Uh, and of course include counsel on that. But, Jeff did a fantastic job managing things, as we see we're coming out of the pandemic, so things get back to normal hopefully very quickly.
Robert Tidwell:I'm fascinated at the different ways that the COVID 19 pandemic affected different. Industries, if you will. And if you consider city government as an industry, um, you know, the, the challenges you guys faced were unique to running a city. I know that for us in the legal profession, it has been a very difficult year. My law partner and I we tried one of the last jury trials in the state of Georgia before the courts shut down. In fact, Uh, I contracted COVID during that trial in my fever, hit me in the middle of my closing argument. Oh, wow. It was, uh, it was an interesting hour and a half, uh, standing up there, staying focused while I could feel myself getting hotter and hotter. Uh, fortunately it went well. But you know, the courts have been shut down for 14 months and they're just now reopening for jury trials. So it was, it's been a very challenging year for folks trying to manage court dockets. You have constitutional protections for people who are charged with criminal offenses and when, when are they going to have their day in court? And then you have people who are involved in civil suits, waiting for their opportunity to have their day in court. So it's been quite a mess for that industry. What were some of the major challenges that you guys faced running a city government? During the shutdown.
Mayor Henriques:Yeah. First of all, my philosophy on city government is just like, it would be in the business world. You treat city government as a business. The residents and business owners are your customers. And as being in a business, your customers come first. So that's one thing. Um, it became difficult for instance, in the planning department. We couldn't let anybody in the building that was bringing plans to develop land or, you know, renovate a building or whatever the case may be. So that was difficult. We had to learn how to do everything electronically, which we had really, we did very little of that. I like most other people had no idea what zoom was. But we came very familiar with it very quickly. So to this day we still have our staff and agenda meetings on Monday mornings via zoom, where we used to do it with all the directors in one room, but we're still, trying to stay safe. I also had COVID funny story about that. Is, uh, I had brought my mother-in-law was with us from Thanksgiving through new year's. So I drove back to new Orleans to bring her home. That was on the 3rd of January. I went to lunch with some friends, uh, at noon on the fourth and came home to my mother-in-law's house. I said, you know, I'm tired. So I went and took a nap, woke up. I said, you know, I feel like I have a fever. So I took my temperature. It was 103, and I knew I was in trouble. I was scheduled to come back to Woodstock the next day, which is, uh, even when you're feeling good is a long drive. Right. So I did the drive with a 103 fever. Luckily I made it on one tank of gas, so I didn't have to stop and, you know, intermingle with people and got back. And I had a fever for eight days. My whole family got COVID. But everybody else had, it was a breeze, you know, very little symptom, not me. I had to do it the hard way he took one for the team I did. I did. So, during that time I couldn't do any zoom meetings or anything. I just, you know, felt like everybody else did when they got sick with it. But, Jeff had to. Muscle on and, take care of business with the city. So luckily, you know, he's the type that doesn't need any supervision. And I knew that from the beginning. I mean, you know, Jeff. Yeah. Uh, he knows his business. He really does. Yeah. He has been quite the asset for the city. Yeah. But that was some of the challenges we had. Having to do zoom meetings, even among the teams, apartments is it was, was different. Uh, but we've learned we've gotten most things done electronically now, and we're even adding more services like, you know, the developers can send in their plans electronically. And staff can review them, send back comments or approve it or what ever the case may be. So that's, that's a benefit. We've learned to be a little bit more streamlined.
Robert Tidwell:Well, that's got to help. That's got to save a lot of time as far as getting in, going through the plans. If you can submit them online, that's outstanding. So when you look back at the 16 years that you have served the city as the mayor, What do you think your legacy is?
Mayor Henriques:Well probably two things. One is physical, you know, physical. You see the amphitheater, uh, you see the city hall, you see the property, the parks. I think that's all a legacy for not just me, but for the councils we've had and Jeff and his staff, it's. Top-notch the other thing is I think people look at Woodstock as welcoming. We welcome everybody with open arms. Hopefully they had the same vision we have. So that to me is a legacy. I like to tell this story. When I worked for Northside hospital, my boss was the CEO of Billy Hayes. Well known in the community, but North side, my job was to go out and sell North side to the community. It was an easy sell, just like Woodstock is, but all the years I did that for North side seven to be exact. I never had any complaints except twice, and it was not on the quality of care. It was on billing. Which I have problems with it too. I mean, I'm a former employee. I retired, but I always tell people the quality of care that exists in that system come from Billy Hayes. Because the last thing he'll say to you, even outside of the hospital is what can I do for you? That's the same philosophy I had working with the city. And I think I helped instill that Jeff Moon is the same way. Very customer oriented just as Billy Hayes
Robert Tidwell:is not in the business of writing a narrative for you or anyone else, but having lived here for 19 years, one of the things that I, or a few of the things that I see that I attribute to you, your leadership is. One, like you said, a very welcoming place. But two, there is a certain kind of pride that people in Woodstock have about Woodstock. And I think that that sort of feeds into the friendliness because I think so many of the people here are so proud of this town, what it is, the people who work here live here, enjoy time here. Um, that sort of pride in the community. You know, that's one of the things that I attribute to the leadership you've had because when we first moved here, there just wasn't much here. And then the way things were developed, it transitioned from a sleepy bedroom town of 30 year old, new parents looking for an affordable house into a place where 20 something year old professionals live here, where they would have never lived in a place like Woodstock 15 years ago. And you have such a wide variety of people here. You have people who are retired living within a hundred yards of people who are just starting out out of college. And that vibrance that exists here in Woodstock is one of the things I think is a legacy of yours, just because of the way you saw what Woodstock could become. And then putting people around you to make it happen, which, uh, I thank you for,
Mayor Henriques:well, thank you for the kind words. Uh, I appreciate it, but yes, uh, there is a sense of pride, uh, among the residents and the businesses. I think 99.9% of the people that live here are happy with what's happened. I mean, I've had some really long-term residents come to me and said, why did you let this happen? And I said, I will say to them, are your property taxes low? Well, yeah, I said, well, there's, there was a reason. So, but you can't please, everybody, no net for years. So yeah, there is pride, I think so. Yeah.
Robert Tidwell:All right. Well, mayor, I thank you so very much for joining us today. Thank you for the insight. Thank you for your leadership here in Woodstock, and I wish you nothing but the very best, and I hope you have so much fun with your family and driving that big car around full of kids over the next few years.
Mayor Henriques:Thank you, Robert. I appreciate you having me.
Robert Tidwell:All right. This has been the peach buzz brought to you by Tidwell Strimban injury lawyers. We'll see you next time.