I learned that Mayor Andre Dickens had gotten himself in a pickle with this water debacle while I was sitting at a table Saturday night on the town square of Petersburg, Illinois, population 2,300.
A woman at our table said, “I see your mayor is catching heat for disappearing while the city is out of water.”
You know things are bad when Middle America is talking about you.
The city’s disruptive water main breaks have somewhat ruptured the mayor’s image as an Atlanta-born public official who is out there everywhere, all the time, in touch with the constituency.
As repair crews were considering the magnitude of the break at Joseph E. Boone Boulevard near J.P. Brawley Drive on Friday, Dickens was boarding a flight to Memphis where he was to appear at a fundraiser. For his own re-election. It was about 2 p.m. Friday. Water had been gushing for more than two hours at that point.
“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,” the mayor’s office said on Monday.
But more than two hours before he flew off, the city’s Watershed Department posted on social media — at 11:52 a.m. Friday — a short statement saying, “Water main break causes water outage throughout downtown service area.”
Credit: John Spink/AJC
Credit: John Spink/AJC
At about the same time, the city’s 311 service posted an “URGENT NOTICE saying: “A water main break is impacting water service for customers across the City of Atlanta.”
So the mayor had a pretty good inkling before boarding the plane that this one was pretty bad, not just one of 530.
(The Watershed’s tweet also said, “For more information, please visit” a website that had a news release. That site was down, a resident responding to that social media post complained. It was still down when I tried to access it Monday.)
I can feel for the mayor standing at the airport gate, having to decide whether to head to Memphis or put on a hard hat and a windbreaker with one of those mayoral seals and head to the street geyser.
He chose the former, where Memphians (yes, that’s what they are called) were paying up to $1,800 to support the candidacy of the mayor of another town.
The mayor’s office says Dickens also attended another non-fundraising event where he “met with members of the Memphis City Council, state reps, and other business and community leaders.”
Dickens’ communications director, Allison J. Fouché, worked for the former Memphis mayor and came to Atlanta in January. She, too, attended the fundraiser.
Dickens’ office said “he remained in constant communication with his leadership team while crews continued the repairs of our water system.” His spokesman also said he didn’t learn how bad it was until late Friday after repair crews dug into the site.
He returned Saturday about 1 p.m., donned a hardhat and vest with the mayoral seal and held a press conference an hour or so later.
“We could have done a better job over the past day,” he admitted Saturday. “And for that, I apologize in how we have not been able to give you as much up to date information as possible.”
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC
The self-inflicted communications wound reminded me of former Mayor Kasim Reed in January 2014 during Snowmageddon, when a coating of ice froze the city in place. Reed and his security team drove on the shoulder of the impassible interstate — past thousands of stalled vehicles — to get to an interview at the Weather Channel in Cobb County.
At least Hizzoner wasn’t headed to a fundraiser.
Dickens finally broke his silence and tweeted about the issue late Saturday morning — presumably as he was heading back. This, of course, drew the ire of many Atlantans who wondered where he had been and bashed his communications skills.
Now, Dickens has Watergeddeon on his hands.
The mayor was no doubt smarting a bit from the backlash (backsplash?) but he seemed not to absorb his lesson. On NBC News Monday morning he noted, “I was indeed out of town for only 23 hours. I came back and addressed the public directly.”
“Only” 23 hours?
Credit: Special
Credit: Special
Later on Monday morning the mayor and some department heads held a press conference to discuss another big break at West Peachtree Street and 11th Street. The officials spoke and then opened it up for questions. Watershed Commissioner Al Wiggins, who has been on the job for just a month, answered a couple of reporters’ queries before a frustrated resident shouted out the question everyone wants to know: “When will the water be back on?!?”
Dickens whispered to Wiggins, “Let him know it’ll be back once we finish the repair.” (The mic picked it up.) The aide passed on the mayor’s non-answer.
Unsatisfied by the non-response, the man demanded more specific information. At that, the mayor tapped Wiggins and the press conference suddenly ended.
Communications 101 says you quickly, and humbly, own missteps and vow to do better in the near future.
The City of Atlanta has teams of well-compensated communications folks.
Consider this a free tip as the re-election campaign begins.
