Atlanta Mayor-elect Andre Dickens will have a lot on his plate when he takes office in January. The city is facing a number of challenges surrounding gun violence, service delivery and the threat of Buckhead cityhood, in addition to longstanding issues like economic inequality, affordable housing and traffic congestion.
Dickens has said his immediate priorities include reopening City Hall to the public, working with police Chief Rodney Bryant to reduce crime, increase community policing and lobbying state officials to prevent Buckhead cityhood.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution revisited some of the specific plans and promises Dickens pitched during his campaign for mayor, providing a look at what he hopes to accomplish over the next four years:
Crime
- Hire 250 officers during his first year in office, and train every police department employee in racial sensitivity and de-escalation techniques.
- Install 10,000 new streetlights, in addition to other tech such as shot-spotters and cameras.
- Create a task forces with the GBI, FBI and ATF to address gun trafficking, and create a task force to hire and deploy specialists to deal with issues like mental health and homelessness.
- Dickens has said he will keep Chief Rodney Bryant on a 100-day contract, and will judge whether to keep him on long-term based on crime and community policing data.
City Hall leadership
- Conduct an audit of all constituent-facing city services.
- Create an Atlanta Department of Labor, which would include a dedicated liaison to organized labor and a watchdog for labor law violations.
- Hire a chief education officer and chief housing officer.
- Commission a study to ensure gender pay equity for city employees.
- Dickens said during a Nov. 16 debate he plans to ask for resignations from a number of top staff members and department heads when he takes office, and “there will be only a few that I know of that I will retain.”
Credit: Tyson Horne / tyson.horne@ajc.com
Credit: Tyson Horne / tyson.horne@ajc.com
Housing
- Build or preserve 20,000 units of affordable housing in eight years.
- Complete and expand the recommendations of HouseATL.
- Allocate $10 million from the annual general fund and $10 million in annual funding from renewable sources to affordable housing.
- Expand the existing inclusionary zoning policy citywide and lower the percentage of affordability to include units affordable to people making 30-50% of the area median income. That policy currently only applies to new developments around the Beltline.
Transportation and infrastructure
- Create a dashboard to keep track of infrastructure projects, both federally and locally funded.
- Streamline the city’s procurement process to speed up infrastructure improvements and resolve the project backlog.
- Revive the “Pothole Posse” program first implemented under Mayor Shirley Franklin’s administration.
- Use federal infrastructure dollars to complete Beltline rail and Campbellton Road transit by 2030.
- By 2030, Dickens hope to make MARTA free for all riders.
Environment
- Continue plan to achieve 100% clean energy by 2035.
- Shepherd the adoption of a new tree protection ordinance.
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