Masters week 2025 is right around the corner, and Augusta is blooming in more ways than one. Augustan’s have one person to thank for that: City Administrator Tameka Allen.
Allen, who grew up in Waynesboro, remembers the days when Augustan’s proudly called their town “the Garden City,” and, in the wake of Hurricane Helene, she was bound and determined to bring back that moniker before the early April crowds came to town.
The difference between Allen and the revolving door of administrators before her is that she grew up here, raised her kids here and stayed in her position in Augusta government when she could have made a lot more money working for a different municipality that valued her skills.
Allen’s love for her hometown became apparent when that devastating storm hit in late September of last year.
If not for Allen, at the last March meeting of the Augusta Commission, there would likely have been commissioners demanding to know why piles of debris still lined the streets, and they would have been treated to a circular firing squad of city department heads all blaming each other for inaction.
Allen did not get the usual honeymoon period after being named administrator. In fact, she barely held the title for 48 hours when the storm hit.
Rather than wait for state and federal authorities to tell her what to do, Allen formed a command center as the hurricane raged outside, making sure emergency services had everything they needed to minimize casualties from the storm.
In the aftermath, Allen’s team went to work on the cleanup, and six-months later, the only real reminder of the storm are the houses that are still waiting on approval from insurance providers to finish work. The city, on the other hand, has largely recovered.
We can use New Orleans as an example of where it has taken decades for a city to bounce back, and some say NOLA will never be the same.
Augusta, on the other hand, had first rate leadership at the helm and the results are apparent.
Allen even went the extra mile and led a crackdown against the illegal signage that pops up every March, making Augusta’s right-of-ways look like the entrance to a seedy trailer park. No other administrator has seen fit to enforce the city’s litter laws and several of the “badge resellers” might get a rude awakening when they get a citation in the mail.
We urge Augustan’s to take a moment and send a quick email to the mayor urging him to designate the Monday of Masters Week 2025, as “Tameka Allen Day in the Garden City” as a thank you to our homegrown administrator for a job well done.
