What would a second Dickens term mean for the metro Atlanta region?
Andre Dickens, in a probable second term as Atlanta’s mayor, should use his political heft to improve collaboration among municipalities in tackling the metro area’s biggest challenges, say elected leaders across the region.
Some officials, like Atlanta City Council member Matt Westmoreland, say the change toward a more unified metro Atlanta already is underway.
He pointed to the Atlanta Regional Commission’s unanimous vote, nearly two years ago, to make Dickens the first mayor of Atlanta to chair the ARC — a key planning agency that spearheads development for the 11-county metro area.
“I think it speaks to how the region has changed over the last 20 years,” said Westmoreland, who is the City Council’s representative on the ARC board. “And I think it speaks to the relationships he’s built with folks from around metro Atlanta.”
This month, Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts nominated Dickens for a second term as chair of the ARC. The board will elect the next chair in November for a two-year term that starts Jan. 1.
Several leaders praised Dickens for emphasizing the importance of regional collaboration to address issues like housing and homelessness.
But the approach hasn’t always been put into practice by the mayor.
DeKalb County officials recently criticized the city for failing to seek their input on a controversial plan to “eliminate” homelessness in downtown Atlanta before the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
On the issue of transportation, Dickens has used his position to push an agenda sometimes at odds with MARTA. He has been vocal about his frustrations with MARTA leadership and has made big pronouncements about the transit projects he wants to prioritize, including Southside light rail and four new infill rail stations.
Those announcements have sometimes caught officials and the public by surprise.
Dickens’ office did not respond to multiple interview requests for this story.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in March that documents showed Dickens decided to tie permits for a renovation of the Five Points station to the completion of an audit into MARTA spending, an assertion he has denied.
Dickens also has squabbled with Fulton County in recent years over how much the city should pay the county for animal services, which led the county to stop service to the city for 12 days until an agreement could be reached.
Fulton officials have said those negotiations prompted Atlanta to raise an unrelated issue — the claim that the county owed the city millions of dollars in old water bills.
Gwinnett County Commission Chair Nicole Love Hendrickson said she will support Dickens for a second term as chair of the ARC’s board.
Hendrickson, whom Dickens appointed as treasurer of the ARC’s board, said the mayor brings “broad-based support across the aisle and a great working relationship with the state, with other local jurisdictions.”
She said she appreciated that Dickens supported public transit expansion in Gwinnett and Cobb counties, though both referendums failed last November. Likewise, Henry County Commission Chair Carlotta Harrell said Dickens has been a strong supporter of transportation and infrastructure development in the region’s counties.
“When people are traveling through jurisdictions, whether it’s traveling from Gwinnett to Atlanta to a job, or from Cobb to a job, you’re crossing counties,” Hendrickson said. “Having a regional approach was key to economic opportunity, and he saw that, and he was very supportive.”
Hendrickson added that Dickens, as chair of the ARC board, held the organization’s first regional assembly in June, bringing together elected officials throughout the 11-county region.
Dickens, in remarks during the regional assembly in Cobb County, told attendees that “collaboration isn’t just nice to have, it is a must-have.”
“None of us work in isolation,” the mayor said. “What happens in one part of the region affects the rest of the region, and our biggest challenges are regional in scope.
In addition to transportation and infrastructure issues, Dickens has underscored a need for counties and cities to work together to solve homelessness.
“Everybody that’s homeless in Atlanta didn’t start with Atlanta when they became homeless,” Dickens said in a speech at the Rotary Club of Atlanta in December. “So we have to commit ourselves to helping people around this region solve their problems.”
Referring to homeless people in suburbs, he added: “Let’s not ship them downtown. Let’s try to figure out solutions for them right where they are, near family and near the resources that can help them.”
Meanwhile, some DeKalb officials are concerned about a lack of communication from the city in rolling out its “Downtown Rising” plan, which has a goal of eliminating homelessness and encampments by providing housing and services to about 400 people before next summer’s World Cup tournament.
DeKalb Commissioner Ted Terry, whose Super District 6 includes the parts of the city, has said a regional approach is needed for Downtown Rising to work, given that the county is referring people to temporary shelter in downtown Atlanta.
Some people who leave the downtown shelter after being referred from DeKalb end up staying outside in the city, which is at odds with Downtown Rising’s goal of ending homelessness in that area.
Westmoreland noted that Downtown Rising is only one part of a larger, long-term effort known as “Atlanta Rising” that seeks to “end unsheltered homelessness in Atlanta.”
Pitts, the Fulton County Commission chair, said he also wasn’t briefed on Downtown Rising. Nonetheless, he said the ARC is headed in the right direction under Dickens’ leadership.
“He sees the big picture,” Pitts said. “And he also sees and knows that we all have to work together if we’re going to survive as a region.”
Staff writer Riley Bunch contributed to this article.
With Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens likely to win a second term, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution looks at five topics of importance to the city ... and beyond.
Tuesday: Regionalism
Wednesday: Housing
Thursday: Infrastructure
Friday: Transportation
Saturday: Crime
About the Author
Reed Williams is an enterprise reporter on the Local team at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
