Meet the Candidates: Diana Preston

This is the last in a series profiling all candidates of local political offices on Lilburn-Mountain Park Patch.

If you live in Lilburn, chances are you don't need an introduction to Diana Preston. She's served on city council for 22 years and as mayor for the past four.

Or you may have had her as a teacher at one of the schools where she taught Spanish and English before retiring: Berkmar, Brookwood and Norcross.

More than a few retirees seize the extra time to pursue hobbies, but Preston speaks of her leisure activities pretty much in the past tense: hiking, playing tennis and gardening. She’s in her office at city hall four to five days a week, and when not, she’s out pressing the flesh, attending meetings and working business contacts, all for the city.

“I meet, meet, meet,” she says. “And that’s ok. I’ve got the time.”

And most of that time is spent on trying to redevelop the city right now. “We’ve got a window of time for redevelopment,” Preston said. “It’s not healthy that real estate is going for the prices it is. “

Originally from Charleston, S.C., Preston moved to the Lilburn area in 1970 for her husband’s job, and they moved into the city in 1975. Reading Henry David Thoreau’s Walden gave her a hankering to get back to nature, and so the Prestons bought four acres on Hood Road, with 30 acres of farmland behind their house.

"It's a lot of up-keep," which her husband generally takes care of, she said. "He allows me to do what I do."

Of course, the farmland was eventually sold off and a little subdivision appeared in its place, as happened all around Lilburn over the years.

Preston remarks on another change that’s taken place in Lilburn: a shift in demographics that’s made the city into a multicultural melting pot of white, Hispanic, Asian and African Americans. 

“The world has come to Lilburn,” Preston likes to say.

An avid international traveler - she usually spends one to two weeks a year outside the U.S. - with fluency in Spanish, Preston says she doesn't draw back from contact with cultures different from her own.

“I’m comfortable in international situations," Preston said. "I’d say that’s what Lilburn needs, someone to bridge the different cultures.”

Preston said she always makes a point of welcoming international dignitaries who visit the Hindu temple.

“That may attract business to Lilburn,“ she says. "I see myself as Lilburn's ambassador."

And then there’s the task of helping Lilburnites get their heads around the fact that it’s no longer a totally homogeneous town.

“I also want to help long-time residents get used to the changes,” she said. “A lot of people may not have noticed how diverse we’ve become.”

Part of doing that is what Preston calls community building: Organizing events such as Lilburn Idol, the relay rally and the centennial celebration -  that bring the city together.

"Community is important to me," she said. "And one way you get community is putting together these low-cost community events."

As a teacher, Preston said she got to school before the kids arrived, and she took work home with her. And that's pretty much the way she approaches the job as mayor.

"I'm really passionate about Lilburn," she said. "When you feel you're needed in an area, you work really hard."

Articles published in this series so far: