This is a column by Charlie Harper, Editor of GeorgiaPol.com and Executive Director of PolicyBEST.
Earlier this month, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced that she would not run for re-election. Note that there will be elections in the city of Atlanta this year. In six months, new city guides will be selected at the ballot box.
It’s important to note that the bipartisanism that will bring national attention and dollars back to Georgia’s November 2022 statewide election is not the same factor in the race that Mayor Bottoms left behind. Although the competition is officially non-partisan, it is a virtual certainty that anyone chosen to replace her will be a highly progressive Democrat.
Why should suburban and rural Georgians – the vast majority of those who will see this column – care about this breed? I refer you back to a question I asked a former European diplomat from Atlanta who invited a small group of media outlets to talk about trade and his answer. After having had an in-depth dialogue about the importance of trade between his country and Georgia, I asked if by “Georgia” he really meant “Atlanta,” as most of his examples appeared to be centered on the Atlanta metro.
He paused, as diplomats do when they are diplomatic, and admitted “yes”. After another pause, he seemed to broaden, if not correct, his answer, adding, “… and Savannah. But yes.”
Atlanta is Georgia’s brand. This is how we are known to the world. Atlanta, Georgia’s brand, hurts.
Like the rest of the world, Atlanta is reopening after over a year of pandemic shutdowns. Atlanta has also been the site of many protests – some peaceful, others not – against high-profile officials who participated in shootings over the past year.
Most relevant to this discussion was the shooting of Rayshard Brooks by an Atlanta police officer when Brooks tried to escape from being arrested in a car park belonging to Wendy in South Atlanta. During the riots that followed, the public requested the sacrifice of a head. Bottoms offered her police chief Erica Shields, who had “resigned” after the shooting at Brooks.
The police officer, who was charged on multiple charges, including murder, has since been reinstated by the Atlanta Police Department. Meanwhile, it took Bottoms nearly a year to officially replace Shields as chief, removing the “temporary” title from Chief Rodney Bryant days before her decision to leave office.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Police Department was struggling to attract and retain officers. According to WSB TV, Atlanta only had 1,451 sworn officers out of over 2,000 authorized positions in early February. Crime and the perception of crime are increasing.
“Perception of Crime” is a relatively new euphemism for Atlanta politicians as the “wrong people” fall victim to crime and thus become aware of what some have admitted is a routine occurrence. Imagine bad things happen in good areas.
It happens in all parts of the city. It even happens on the Atlanta freeways. Weekend shots are now being reported broadly – and in double digits – by the local media, as if Atlanta had suddenly become Chicago.
Last weekend I received a text from a friend to let our group of friends know that his father-in-law had just been shot on Sunday afternoon. A nearby party got out of hand and gunshots were fired, injuring him and others who were shopping at a large retailer who was otherwise running their own business.
A reply to the same stream of text came from another friend telling how his brother-in-law was recently the target of attempted carjacking. That’s two out of five people in a random string of text with an anecdote from a family member that increases the “perception of crime” in our capital. Other friends share similar experiences.
A change in leadership – which goes beyond changing police chiefs as political farmers – can quickly change perceptions. Hopefully the next mayor can work on solutions to the complex problems of public safety, crime and enforcement.
Georgians living outside the area will not be able to have any significant influence on the campaign to succeed Mayor Bottoms. We still have to find a competent successor – one who understands that city and state are more integral and intertwined.
