Atlanta Election 2025: Q&As with Mayoral and City Council President candidates

Rough Draft sent questionnaires to all the candidates who officially qualified for the City of Atlanta municipal electoral contest on Nov These are the responses we have received so far from the candidates running for Mayor and City Council President This post will be updated if when we receive additional responses Early voting begins Oct and closes Oct See a list of early voting locations in both Fulton and DeKalb counties here To check your voter registration visit the GA My Voter Page City Council President Rohit Malhotra rohitforatlanta com What immediate actions can the City Council take to aid in curbing gun violence in Atlanta Gun violence in a society physical condition predicament and it necessities to be treated exactly like that This instant the City Council must Invest in community-based violence interruption and prevention programs In Atlanta like multiple other cities there are existing organizations on the ground that are trained in violence interruption when there are escalating instances that often product in gun violence This model called CBVI Community-Based Violence Intervention is used in peer cities that have seen crucial reductions in gun violence over the past inadequate years We need to partner and work directly with Grady Memorial Hospital Specific of the best CBVI work happens through Hospital-Based Violence Intervention HAVI where the hospital works with city agents county executives institution providers alternative programs and nonprofits to create an ecosystem approach to solving gun violence and we must create a dedicated funding source to sponsorship the underlying propellants and the rippling impacts of gun violence This means investing in programs that divert young people from harmful violent activity and provide an alternative pathway to economic and social wellbeing Additionally it means making sure families who are impacted by gun violence directly have the financial information to get encouragement from funeral services to therapy to access to legal counsel All of this can be done directly and with urgency This issue is a top priority for me and is an issue I have been focused on addressing for the past years of my career I led a gun violence reduction plan that supported over a dozen community-based organizations developed a curriculum that has been used nationally and earned recognition by the Biden Administration and their Office of Ending Gun Violence I will be a champion on this issue and hope to work with the mayor to prioritize this issue across the city Transit especially on the Beltline remains a top concern for a multitude of voters How can the City Council help to fast-track these projects We must deliver on transit in this term even if it s a modest start Residents trust in the city s ability to build transit is at an all-time low and that s because empty promises have outpaced results Of the projects voters approved under More MARTA in only one has meaningfully advanced In fact MARTA has scaled the venture back to nine projects by and only one is slated to be rail We can no longer wait on master plans or vague dreams To fast-track transit council must promptly commit existing funds including Beltline TAD increments and Moving Atlanta Forward dollars to specific corridors In the Beltline TAD alone collected over million that otherwise would have flowed to schools counties and general revenues a pool we should be mobilizing for transit We must push one segment for example the Eastside Trail corridor which already has percent engineering toward full design and procurement then hold city staff accountable to set milestones To bring the full -mile Beltline corridor to percent design would cost about million so starting with what s already advanced is smart We stop treating transit as a debate and start treating it as an execution challenge Once we build one visible segment we restore credibility and unlock momentum for the rest Gentrification remains an issue for various historic neighborhoods and the longtime homeowners living there What is your remedy to reviving neighborhoods without losing these legacy residents Atlanta s neighborhoods are the soul of our city The definition of gentrification is the process of making something more refined polite or respectable Every neighborhood wants and deserves that But revitalization cannot mean displacement So I believe we should invest in better infrastructure sidewalks and greenspaces in historic neighborhoods but we should also make sure that the people who are already in those neighborhoods nowadays can see themselves in those neighborhoods the next morning My answer is to expand tools that help longtime residents stay like property tax relief for seniors stronger protections for renters and investments in affordable housing on publicly owned land We must also prioritize region land trusts down-payment assistance for first-time buyers and home repair programs for legacy residents Reviving neighborhoods should mean strengthening them not pushing out the people who built them Atlanta s streets continue to be filled with potholes and plates With more advance and hundreds of thousands of visitors expected for the FIFA World Cup what is your method to fixing our streets The money exists we just aren t spending it wisely Atlanta voters have approved multiple infrastructure bonds and sales tax initiatives but residents don t see results rapidly enough My explanation is to streamline project delivery require accountability dashboards so the community can track repairs and prioritize coordination between utilities and the City so streets aren t constantly being reopened We also need to consider working more directly with CIDs and help establish them where they do not at the moment exist to get the work done more efficiently and expeditiously We need to move from a reactive patchwork approach to a proactive long-term maintenance plan that ensures our streets are safe for residents After last year s catastrophic water main breaks what can the city council do to make sure the estimated billion in water infrastructure replacements and repairs is expedited as fast as workable Last year s water predicament manifested us what happens when we underinvest and delay City Council must move from reacting to emergencies to executing a clear transparent plan First we need to establish a dedicated project management office to oversee water infrastructure upgrades with strict timelines and quarterly progress reports to the society Second we must align bond dollars and federal infrastructure funds so projects aren t stalled for lack of coordination Third Council must insist on transparency an online dashboard tracking projects costs and deadlines so residents know where their dollars are going Expediting billion in repairs is doable but only if Council prioritizes accountability cuts red tape and ensures our city s basic infrastructure is treated as the populace safety issue it is Mayor Dr Helmut Lucero-Domagalski Love helmutlovesatlanta com helmutlovesatl What are your plans for addressing the homeless residents of Downtown Atlanta ahead of the FIFA World Cup How do you plan to ensure these Atlantans are not displaced or harmed by the increase in tourism to the area I will have six months to address this issue but my strategy is very much about engaging both traditional and non-traditional mechanisms Naturally engaging leading non-profits in the strategy is essential but I have a sincere desire to see if we can make the investments that accelerate progress forward to more permanent solutions through these actions This is why I am assigning a One Humanity executive a single executive over non-profit and coaching for the city to seek streamlining of services outcomes and new investments Depending on their evaluation I may create a single leader completely for homelessness and they would lead this effort A few of my creative concepts include House of worship partnership can we work across the broader Atlanta region and expansive Georgia to house certain of our homeless for a time and use this opportunity to better access their demands and connect them with new relationships The greatest challenge to our homeless besides housing is their relational poverty Secondly I d like to explore threshold in other cities within Georgia to see what options might be available I d also exhaust the possibility of any city or state property availability It would be a stretch but I would really love to have recover-live-work contracts developed with the private sector to already start enrolling those homeless that are capable of working into such programs Offerings for the mentally ill or drug addicted homeless will take longer to develop and execute but these efforts are key to my passion for our homeless and will get a lot of my attention together with the One Humanity non-profit leader I will announce by October Transit especially on the Beltline remains a top concern for multiple voters What will your transit-related priorities be if elected First I want to combat congestion without delay with a RideShare App from the city I will create a joint venture to innovate an application to ensure that car-pooling efforts are maximized across the region Secondly I would keep the commitments our present mayor broke to complete the Beltline rail with the original east-side plan saving millions I also believe we need to explore a private populace partnership with Marta and rebrand it and position it as a broader Atlanta Metro approach The forthcoming economic problem and raising prices are demanding a better north-south corridor response It is ridiculous that we do not have a world-class north-south strategy I am fine with local-station jurisdiction over inbound traffic controls to ensure local preferences for non-local resident traffic and pre-authorization mechanisms be constructed if that is what is required We can use new transportation to run a Come to Georgia corporate attraction strategy and develop work-live-play centers along new stops to encourage families to thrive and revitalize development throughout the State Completely I want to make the driveability of our local streets a high-visibility priority I will create opportunities for investors and corporations to sponsor the renaming and revitalization of our streets to address potholes thereby forever memorializing their names in assistance of our transition through this period of history I will also evaluate Atlanta s infrastructure medical comprehensively and leverage new revenues and bond projects for infrastructure If elected how will you utilize your office to empower Atlanta s LGBTQ area specifically moving forward with the LGBTQ Locality Center I would empower our group with a different strategy in this season and table the center for a later time I have not formed this position lightly but this comes from the heart of a loving gay father of three daughters who for three years funded The Gayly Dose podcast to elevate our LGBTQ public and saved the lives of several gay men across the south in our work I ve also spent countless hours and key personal dollars to create The Gayly Impact as a non-partisan nonprofit for personal and economic evolution from gay people to all people Firstly we are stepping into one of the bulk challenging economic times of our city and I find it hard pressing to spend money on a building to make a scarce people in this city s establishment a lot of profit in building it instead of investing money directly in our LGBTQ citizens I would expect nothing less of our existing city establishment Follow the money and you will find motivation I would encourage the group to consider the tremendous economic disparity between white gay men and Black and Hispanic trans women We are building a house before the work in the family is done If donors struggle to give to invest in our people I would encourage you to consider your legacy will be far greater than memorializing your name We can do that at a later time As mayor I will provide the LGBTQ public dedicated space to enshrine their history until a better time comes I will also offer up plenty of city spaces for curriculum work activity and connection that are safe perhaps even space at the Atlanta Populace Safety Center I am certain we can also find additional spaces in churches and synagogues throughout the city for the abundance of exercises desired I would instead spend the dollars on three key efforts instead Coaching of all on financial literacy venture in raising up LGBTQ entrepreneurs especially in the lesbian and female trans population and ultimately work to expand in-person personal maturation opportunities with the existing non-profit and region spaces we have Our LGBTQ dollars are needed for the protection of our people right now- and especially women lesbian and trans of all ages and especially our seniors who will be majority vulnerable in this time How will you bolster affordable housing in the city while protecting Atlanta s tree canopy and environmental safety As further outlined in my six-point plan on my website we need to fast-track progress of publicly owned housing projects that are in process to bring more housing online An additional tactic I will pursue is incentivizing fractional ownership equipment solutions in Atlanta so more renters can be building equity I will continue efforts in zoning for mixed-use and multi-family in single-family neighborhoods with bonuses for build-to-rent housing and building up which is key to canopy preservation Definitively I will work with the state to advance movement on rent control just-cause eviction terms and increase the enforceability of Section vouchers which the city alone cannot impact How will you balance inhabitants safety with citizen concerns regarding police accountability I am a big believer that we need to hire sponsorship and promote a police force that can keep our citizens safe With economic challenges forthcoming this will be very essential for our city The Atlanta Society Safety Center is an significant area of opportunity to ensure that we develop and utilize the best policies for accountability I am excited to work with our police chief on this and also look to create private-public joint ventures to pioneer this field further with experts in the field The post Atlanta Ballot Q As with Mayoral and City Council President candidates appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta