Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ reelection bid was on full display Tuesday evening as he used the annual State of the City address to pitch voters on why they should keep him in office until 2030.
Instead of the usual morning event, this year’s speech was held after work hours at the Woodruff Arts Center in an effort to draw more everyday residents.
The mass gathering of the city’s most important political, business and community leaders gave the mayor the opportunity to tout his administration’s successes during his first three years in office, and outline an agenda for a potential second term.
“And I’ve got more fight in me,” he said. “I love this city, and I’ll never stop fighting for it. Not today, not tomorrow, and not when I leave City Hall in 2030.”
Dickens came in to office as the underdog. He squeaked into a runoff for the 2021 mayoral race by less than 600 votes, kicking former Mayor Kasim Reed out of the running. He then went on to win the mayor’s office with 64% of the vote in a race against former Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore.
It was the largest margin for an open mayor’s contest since 1993.
But three years later, he’s far from the lesser-known councilman that caused an upset with his surprising win. And as he entered the final year of his first term, no serious challenger has emerged.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
“Atlanta is the best bet for the future, and everybody knows it,” Dickens said, adding that the city was recently awarded a AAA bond rating for its economic success.
The mayor called back to when he took office, listing a number of threats to Atlanta’s ethos — from high crime numbers and streets littered with potholes to a strained relationship with state leadership and an effort by some residents in Buckhead to secede from the city.
“The city was fractured and in need of some course correction,” he said.
Dickens said when he took office, the top of his to-do list was living up to his lofty campaign promises of tackling crime rates that had spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic and bolstering the city’s affordable housing stock.
He faced heavy criticism over the planned 85-acre public safety training center in unincorporated DeKalb County. It was an inherited project, but also one he voted for as a city councilman.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
With the center open and nearly fully operational, Dickens’ speech was preceded with a video of the sprawling new facility that featured remarks from Atlanta’s police and fire chiefs explaining how it will bolster the police force and expand training.
But the project was marred by violence. It was the source of multiple lawsuits; an unfinished referendum effort; the death of a protester; multiple clashes between protesters and police; and dozens of people facing felony racketeering charges.
Still, Dickens enters the final year of his first term with a significant drop in the crime rate.
“When crime was on the rise in 2021, I promised you safer streets. Another promise kept. Since 2022, homicides in Atlanta are down by 26%,” he said.
The mayor focused on bringing down youth crime and spent a majority of his first term on programs like Midnight Basketball and summer youth employment which handed out 14,000 jobs to young Atlantans throughout his administration.
“It is my north star,” he said. “I promised to make Atlanta the best place in the country to raise a child.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Dickens also made affordable housing a cornerstone of his campaign for office and continued to focus on the issue that plagues thousands of Atlantans and drives the city’s unhoused population numbers up.
He touted $60 million in dedicated affordable housing funding — announced in September — for innovative housing developments like The Melody, a ship-container community nestled in downtown and the city’s new Housing Help Center. Although his housing efforts have been recently scrutinized by the tragic death of an unhoused resident Cornelius Taylor, who died during an encampment clearing last month.
Dickens said the city this year will open the Waterworks — a new 100-unit housing development near the Waterworks Reservoir — and the first new housing project in the Thomasville Heights community that was crippled by the closure of the Forest Cove Apartments.
“I promised to build or retain 20,000 units of affordable housing, and we are well on track to exceed that goal,” he said. “We are building or have families already moved in to over 11,000 units!”
He also announced a new partnership with Savi Provisions to tackle food scarcity by opening two new grocery stores in the city.
The mayor’s focus on development, especially in downtown neighborhoods, will sharpen in the coming months to prepare for an anticipated 300,000 visitors flocking to Atlanta in 2026 for the FIFA World Cup. Dickens has ramped up promotion of a new initiative called “Showcase Atlanta” aimed at connecting local businesses to sports fans.
“I want to ensure that when the World Cup hits Atlanta next year, that it doesn’t just happen to Atlanta, but with Atlanta,” Dickens said.
That means making headway on major projects like Centennial Yards, the new Atlanta Tech Village, the Stitch project, the massive 2 Peachtree office to residential conversion and the updated Civic Center.
The city is also on track to complete the final segment of the Proctor Creek Greenway, he said, which means that residents will be able to take trails from the Beltline all the way to Chattahoochee River.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
But the mayor faces significant infrastructure challenges that, at their worst, could cause major crises like the severe water main breaks that the city suffered in May.
Thousands of Atlantans were without clean drinking water for more than a week when a series of main line breaks ruptured across the city — highlighting the desperate need to replace Atlanta’s outdated water and sewer infrastructure.
And despite creating the first Atlanta Department of Transportation, Dickens — as well as his predecessors — face scrutiny for failing to get voter-approved infrastructure projects off the ground. Although the mayor touted new 30,000 feet of sidewalks and resurfaced roads installed just last year.
Throughout his time in office, and on the stage Tuesday night, the mayor leaned heavily on his favorite slogan that Atlanta is a “group project” that is only successful with everyone at the table.
“But don’t think that the work is over,” Dickens said. “This project’s due date is circled for the year 2030, so be ready to get a few more assignments from me for the next four years.”
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