It was late morning on Friday when Atlanta residents first started noticing their faucets acting strangely — many said they watched as the steady stream of water in their sinks slowed and eventually stopped altogether.
The seemingly small water pressure problem was anything but — a break in a crucial junction of multiple pipes on Joseph E. Boone disrupted the city’s water supply throughout the weekend. Thousands of Atlantans in impacted areas are still under a boil water advisory that was put in place on Saturday.
While many businesses and residents had no water or information about the severity of the breaks Friday, Mayor Andre Dickens was 400 miles away at a campaign fundraiser. Hosted by Memphis Mayor Paul Young and other politicians, attendees paid up to $1,800 for two hours with the mayor at the Hattiloo Theatre.
Checks could be made out to Andre For Atlanta, according to a flyer for the event.
The Tennessee event took place from 6-8 p.m. Central Time Friday night — well after Atlanta’s water breaks had become an obvious crisis.
The mayor’s office said in a statement that Dickens traveled to Memphis at the invitation of the city’s mayor and while there met with local elected, business and community leaders followed by the fundraiser event.
“When Mayor Dickens left Atlanta, the consensus was that the water main break was similar to the roughly 530 breaks or leaks that the City of Atlanta experienced over the last 12 months,” a spokesperson for his office said. “It was not until late Friday evening, after repairs had been attempted, that the City learned the severity of the breaks.”
During a packed press conference on Monday morning at the site of the water break in Midtown, the mayor didn’t provide any more clarity on the timeline of his travel.
After a brief update on the incident that left the buildings immediately surrounding the break without water, Dickens walked off without taking questions. As one angry Midtown resident complained about the city’s lack of timeline, the mayor was quickly ushered away.
Dickens also changed a scheduled event with an AJC reporter at his office Monday afternoon involving college students starting a new internship program. The students were shuttled back to the mayor’s office, but the reporter was denied access after initially being told she would be allowed to cover the meeting.
It’s not uncommon for elected officials to travel out-of-state for campaign events, but the choppy communication from the city on the water issues and lack of visibility of the mayor for the first 24 hours led to intense criticism from residents.
Dickens’ campaign also defended the mayor’s response to the breaks.
“Mayor Dickens rushed back to Atlanta (Saturday morning) soon after realizing the water shutoff issue would not quickly be resolved,” said Howard Franklin, a senior advisor on the mayor’s reelection campaign. “He was on the ground in Memphis for less than 24 hours.”
But as slow and sparing updates rolled out from the city’s Department of Watershed Management, many wondered on social media: where is Mayor Andre Dickens?
During the press conference Saturday, he admitted to the lack of information being provided and apologized for how long it took to alert residents about what was going on.
“We could have done a better job over the past day,” he said on Saturday. “And for that, I apologize in how we have not been able to give you as much up to date information as possible.”
Dickens and his staff have consistently acknowledged the bungled communications response to the water breaks. Top aides for the mayor said that the situation on Joseph E. Boone seemed to be under control on Friday but got worse as crews were unable to control the break.
The Department of Watershed Management has struggled to maintain the city’s watershed infrastructure that dates back to the 1860s. The city’s faulty equipment and system has led to millions in delinquent water bills and massive sewage leakages into the Chattahoochee.
Dickens recently made a significant change-up to his cabinet members which included replacing the city’s watershed commissioner. A seemingly constant string of negative headlines about Atlanta’s water infrastructure played a role in the leadership change.
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