Atlanta City Council passes mayor’s neighborhood reinvestment plan
After months of debate, behind-the-scenes negotiations and a flurry of last-minute amendments, the Atlanta City Council voted 13-2 on Monday to approve the mayor’s Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative.
Andre Dickens’ ambitious second-term agenda aims to tackle Atlanta’s massive wealth divide and help overcome what he calls the “tale of two cities.”
But his proposal to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure by extending six of the city’s tax allocation districts has been fiercely debated every step of the way.
At Monday’s council meeting, dozens of critics argued the plan does little to address decades of systemic inequality. While some voiced support for the legislation, opponents called it a “scheme” and a “grift” and urged council members to vote against it.
Last week’s tweaks to the legislation require the buy-in of Atlanta’s school board, the Fulton County Commission or both if Atlanta is to bond against 30 years of future property tax increment.
It was among a list of amendments that several council members have said made the legislation more palatable.
Other tweaks give council members more oversight into which projects get approved and how those funds are ultimately spent. New redevelopment plans must be approved for each tax allocation district, or TAD, and the council must sign-off on project lists ahead of time.
“Those things together provide important guardrails and require the city to put in important work on the front-end,” said Council member Matt Westmoreland, who ultimately voted to support the legislation. “That will help us direct funding in ways that will be both effective and impactful for the communities we’re attempting to help.”
Even with the tweaks, not every council member was on board. Council members Kelsea Bond and Liliana Bakhtiari cast the two no-votes at Monday’s meeting, saying they still had serious concerns about green-lighting the proposal.
Bond raised concerns the legislation “is not capable of achieving what people claim it can.”
The first-year council member has also called it “a rushed process” that lacked transparency.
“This is an incredibly big decision and a massive amount of money that needs much more deliberation,” Bond said ahead of the vote.
Bakhtiari raised concerns about the lack of protections for legacy residents, saying she fears even more people in her district could end up losing their homes.
“My concern is for the renters, the people on mortgages,” Bakhtiari said. “I have legacy families coming back to visit because they can’t get homes.”
Council member Eshé Collins said approving the legislation was “just the start.” The former school board chair also said requiring the buy-in of the county, the school system or both entities factored into her decision to vote yes.
Council members who represent some of Atlanta’s poorest neighborhoods argued the legislation was long overdue.
“It will close those gaps that have existed for generations,” Council member Antonio Lewis said.
Supporters of the mayor’s plan say something must be done to address Atlanta’s widening wealth gap, which is the result of decades of redlining and racist development practices.
Dickens has said the money will help develop historically underserved communities, particularly those on the city’s south and west sides. His administration seeks to build more affordable housing while taking steps aimed at keeping legacy residents and business owners in place amid the influx of development.
Critics argue that money could be put to better use in the city’s general fund, and that extending the TADS would siphon billions of much-needed dollars from the county and Atlanta Public Schools over the next three decades.
Julian Bene, who served eight years on Invest Atlanta’s board, has been among the most outspoken opponents of the TAD extensions. Invest Atlanta is the city’s economic development arm.
“The mayor has too much power for them to say no,” Bene said of the administration’s monthslong push to get a majority of council members on board.
If city leaders are going to sign off on Dickens’ plans, Bene said it’s good for the council to have placed checks on the administration, he said.
“Hopefully the council will say no if the mayor is trying to give the money to the Stitch or the Gulch, or any of the other mega-projects which have nothing to do with helping the less fortunate,” Bene said.
At Monday’s meeting, several speakers also blasted the mayor’s administration’s for spending nearly $400,000 on a public-relations campaign drumming up support for the NRI.
The Atlanta Community Press Collective reported last week that some of consultants spoke in favor of the plan at meetings and commented on online posts without disclosing their financial ties.