Mario Avery, 45, became mayor of Fairburn in south Fulton County on Jan. 11, making him the first African-American mayor in the city’s 156-year history.
"As excited as I am about being the first African-American mayor of Fairburn, I’m more excited about being the mayor of Fairburn," said Avery, an Atlanta native.
A five-year City Council member, he defeated incumbent Betty W. Hannah, who had served for two decades.
His first month at the helm got off to a challenging start, with some residents questioning whether race had a hand in the lack of support Avery found from part of the council on a few of his early appointments.
Avery -- who ran on the platform “One Fairburn One Family” -- talks about plans for the city, which include tackling crime; acquiring Duncan Park to make more recreational and educational opportunities available to Fairburn’s youths and as a way to cut down on crime; creating a community affairs division to help with communication between residents and government; and attracting more commercial business, including restaurants.
Q. What is “One Fairburn One Family”?
A. Regardless of ethnicity, income bracket or religious affiliation, my goal is, if you have a problem, I want you to be treated just like family. My goal is to create an environment where every area of our city feels that government represents them.
Q. One change you’re looking to make is to chief of police. Why is that?
A. I'm looking to help bring our policing to another level as if we're in a big city -- and that's through the creation of special operations: special trafficking-type units, special squads, special burglary-type units. I believe that would contribute to our being able to handle the problem of burglary and crime.
Q. With Fairburn being a small city, some would argue whether the big-city policing is necessary. Is it?
A. Our city has grown substantially. We went from 5,000 people in 1996 to almost 14,000. If you're growing at that type of rate, you have to start looking at changing your operations. I'm not assuming that Fairburn is going to sit still and not grow anymore.
I’m looking at what will we be faced with in the next four or five years if we’re not planning.
Q. Is there a crime problem in Fairburn?
A. Crime is all throughout metro Atlanta, so it's not just a Fairburn issue.
Still, I can’t use that as an excuse as why we’re not trying to do something about it. We’ve had our fair share of burglaries. Crime needs to be addressed. I’m just not convinced that it’s as low as it needs to be.
Q. Is there a race issue in Fairburn?
A. It would be totally unfair for me to sit here and tell you that that's not how sometimes it looks. One of the things I've worked hard on is to ease the race tension in the city.
When I ran [for City Council] five years ago, I ran into a lot of biased responses and negative behaviors toward me when I was knocking on doors. I’ve had people throw eggs all over the house. I spent five years not putting that out in the public. I believed once the people see the character of the person, and my efforts to try to govern in a manner that’s respectable, regardless of ethnicity, perhaps some might have a change of heart and see me in a different light.
Q. Considering all of this, can we say we’ll get to “One Fairburn One Family”?
A. I'm convinced that it's not going to be an overnight thing by no stretch of the imagination. You've got people from all walks of life and people with all types of backgrounds and upbringings. A lot can be achieved in the four years to move us toward "One Fairburn One Family." I have to believe that at least a major starting point or foundation will be established within the four-year period and that will be a great point for us to move forward on.
My goal is to achieve it. You aim high and hope that you hit the target. That’s a tall order I’m willing to try to make happen.
More on Avery
Works as a contract compliance manager for the Fulton County Department of Purchasing and Contract Compliance
Married to wife, Diana, for five years in March
Has lived in Fairburn since 1999
Graduated from the former West Fulton High School and Morris Brown College
Served in the U.S. Army Reserve and was on active duty in the U.S. Army
Often plays basketball with youths at Duncan Park as a way of connecting with them and staying in shape
About the Author
