Inside City Hall: Our takeaways from Andre Dickens’ first state of the city
Three months into his tenure as mayor, what is Andre Dickens’ assessment of where things stand in Atlanta? Of course, while speaking to a packed ballroom of civic and business leaders early Monday, the Atlanta native delivered the classic line: “The state of our city is strong.”
We expected Dickens to present a positive report during his first State of the City address. He highlighted progress in his goal of hiring 250 police officers this year. He also unveiled new public safety efforts, such as the creation of a “Nightlife Division” to focus on bars and clubs with a history of high crime.
That announcement was just one of several from Dickens, who said he “put the city into overdrive” and proactively listened to residents and businesses to develop new plans, ahead of the city’s budget season. Here’s what else we learned from the mayor, who also made it clear he hopes to serve eight years as mayor.
A new focus on youth engagement
The mayor announced the city’s goal of putting $20 million towards closing the equity gap in early childhood education. He said the city has never made an investment into early childhood education, so he plans to invest $5 million in early childhood education. His administration is also committing $1 million to assist nonprofits that help young people. He urged Atlanta’s business and civic leaders to follow suit — one of several nods the mayor made to public-private partnerships.
Leaning in on public safety
Dickens made public safety a central part of his speech — marked most notably by the pitch to create a new “nightlife division” — amid a continued rise in violent crime.
Speaking about the need to also address the root causes of crime, Dickens said his administration hopes to put an additional $4.5 million into the Atlanta Policing Alternatives and Diversion initiative, to have the program operate 24/7. And he said Microsoft is giving the city $260,000 to support the buildout of a diversion center to help people with behavioral health issues instead of putting them behind bars.
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We recently reported on the delayed upkeep of the city website that tracks how Atlanta spends your tax dollars. Our coverage caught the eye of City Councilman Jason Dozier, who asked Chief Procurement Officer Martin Clarke last week to explain why the holdup occurred in the first place.
“Honestly, it just kind of slipped through the cracks of things,” said Kevin Floyd, the city’s innovation resources director and Clarke’s subordinate.
Clarke’s department has to update the Purchase Order and Contracts databases in the “Open Checkbook” on a monthly and quarterly basis. But the data was six months old. The portal was updated after we asked about the site’s maintenance last month.
During the committee meeting, Floyd said the city now has a data management process to prevent future delays. Chief Financial Officer Mohamed Balla correctly noted the expense data was up to date. Balla promised the council that his team will work with procurement to manually uploading the data — which he said takes an hour — in a timely fashion.
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The Atlanta Police Department, in partnership with Fulton County law enforcement officials, is launching a new unit focused on identifying and penalizing repeat offenders, defined as people who have been convicted of three or more felonies. Our colleague Shaddi Abusaid was at the press conference, where Dickens said just 1,000 people are committing an estimated 40% of Atlanta’s crime.
Dickens has also said he hopes to tackle the root causes of crime by increasing community policing and engagement. That includes relaunching the “Midnight Basketball” program Dickens first started a few years ago.
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The city is one step closer to purchasing the land that was once home to a brick company that used brutal convict labor practices. A City Council committee on Tuesday resoundingly advanced legislation allowing the city to purchase the land, which is currently owned by Lincoln Energy Solutions.
The South Carolina-based company had planned to lease the land to Norfolk Southern for the construction of a fuel terminal before pressure from Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ administration, Councilman Dustin Hillis and local residents led them to abandon their plans.
The city is now working with The Conservation Fund to purchase the land for a total of $27 million, which includes $1 million for closing costs and $4 million coming from philanthropic contributions.
Check out this rendering of what the future “Chattahoochee Riverlands” could look like, as presented by the city planning department:
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The mayor’s office has a new director of communications.
Bryan Thomas, whose first day is Monday, replaces Elise Durham, who had stayed on from the Bottoms administration. Durham will become assistant general manager of the Airport Business Diversity division at the airport.
Thomas most recently led external relations at Habitat for Humanity International, and before that worked for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration under the Obama administration.
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The Atlanta City Council is on recess for the next two weeks. They’ll return to the council chambers for a full meeting on Monday, April 18.
Wilborn P. Nobles III covers the Atlanta mayor's policies for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Wil (not "Willie" or "William") previously covered Baltimore County government at The Baltimore Sun, but he never finished "The Wire." He also covered education for the Times-Picayune in his hometown of New Orleans, so he tries to avoid discussions about football. Wil used to play tuba for his high school marching band, but he eventually put down his horn to intern at The Washington Post. The Louisiana State University graduate enjoys gardening, comedy, and music.
J.D. Capelouto is a local news reporter covering City Hall and all things intown Atlanta for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His work focuses the City Council, neighborhood issues, public safety, housing and transportation. J.D. was born and raised in Atlanta and has lived in the city all his life, except for four years at Boston University, where he studied journalism and learned how to dress for cold weather. He’s been with the AJC since 2018, and has previously written for The Boston Globe and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. When he’s not reporting or scrolling through Twitter, J.D. enjoys pop culture podcasts, “Survivor” and visiting various pools around Atlanta.
About the Authors
J.D. is a local news reporter covering intown Atlanta and Atlanta City Hall for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Wilborn P. Nobles III covers Atlanta City Hall for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He began covering DeKalb County Schools for The AJC in November 2020. He previously covered Baltimore County for The Baltimore Sun and education for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans. He interned at the Washington Post. He graduated from Louisiana State University.
