Surrounded by her family, Keisha Lance-Bottoms is sworn in as Atlanta’s 60th mayor Tuesday, January 2, 2018, at Martin Luther King Jr. “I wish I didn’t have to fight so much inside of City Hall,” she said. Others, if you didn’t completely subscribe to her point of view, she would work with you less so.”įor her part, Bottoms acknowledged that working with the council could be trying. “Some members of City Council she was working with very closely. “I think there’s always going to be this lingering there that her local performance never matched the celebrity image,” Bond said. He said one example is Buckhead, where “the seeds” of the mayor’s lack of involvement “have now ended up blossoming into the Buckhead cityhood movement.” Michael Julian Bond, a longtime councilman and son of Civil Rights icon Julian Bond, has known Bottoms since childhood and attended Frederick Douglass High School with her.īond says he is proud of Bottoms’ accomplishments but that she would sometimes not work with people or groups who disagreed with her. She had two vetoes overturned by the council - something that hadn’t happened to any mayor in more than a decade. Some accused Bottoms of being more interested in her courtship with the Biden administration than the day-to-day business of running the city. (Jenni Girtman for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)Ĭouncil members haven’t always thought highly of the administration’s work. “We’ve been great stewards of taxpayer money,” Bottoms said.Īfter the approval vote of the Public Safety Training Center this week, Mayor Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant, Chief Rod Smith of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department and Dave Wilkinson of the Atlanta Police Foundation address questions about the facility, it's location and the concerns of the community Thursday, Sept 9, 2021. She invested $50 million to begin building hundreds of permanent housing units for the homeless.Īnd her administration also leaves behind a $181 million rainy day fund in the bank. She successfully advocated for legislation that eliminated cash bond at the city’s municipal court for some low-level offenders. Bottoms placed more than half of that in the affordable housing trust fund established by her administration.īottoms managed substantial pay raises for police officers and firefighters.
The developers have agreed to invest $42 million into affordable housing units and workforce training. She negotiated with city council to approve massive developer incentives for the $5 billion Centennial Yards deal that has the potential of redrawing the downtown skyline.
The mayor’s list of accomplishments stretches to all corners of the city.
Brian Kemp over whether she could institute a mask mandate in the city. But 70% disapproved of her handling of crime and 62% disapproved of her administration’s work on affordable housing - the two biggest issues facing the city, according to the AJC polls.Ī whopping 59% said the city was on the right track in handling coronavirus, an issue on which Bottoms fought with Gov. “We are leaving this city intact for the next administration.” Explore When will Andre Dickens begin his term as Atlanta mayor?īottoms leaves as a popular mayor, although she didn’t get buy-in on all of her policies.ĪJC polls of likely registered voters in the mayor’s race from September and October found that 57% approved of her performance as mayor. “We have faced so many challenges and were able to get through it,” Bottoms said. In an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bottoms said she is leaving the city in a stronger position than when she took over four years ago.