On Friday, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) announced that she would not be competing for reelection this year. Bottoms was an early admirer of President Biden and had been mentioned as a possible running mate.
Keisha Lance Bottoms Its Time to Pass The Baton
Bottoms revealed to reporters in an emotional press conference at Atlanta City Hall that she had been on the fence about running for reelection since her first few months in office. Bottoms also noted that the last year has been a particularly challenging one for municipal leadership, and said it was time to allow the people to choose a new mayor.
Bottoms stated, “It is time to pass the baton on to someone else,” explaining that this is why elections are held every four years. She acknowledged the difficulties the city has faced over the past three years, such as a severe cyberattack and a federal investigation into potential corruption in city government.
This past year has been particularly challenging. We had that last summer. A worldwide epidemic occurred. The concept of social justice was resurrected.
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Bottoms added, “There was a madman in the White House,” referring to previous president Donald Trump and the rioting that occurred in Atlanta and other places after the death of George Floyd.
I’m very pleased with how this city has risen to every challenge and taken advantage of every chance it’s been given. Bottoms is one of a number of African-American women who have made headlines as mayors of major American cities.
Their reaction to the coronavirus outbreak, which has disproportionately affected Black communities, has been widely lauded. Particularly noteworthy was Bottoms’s conflict with Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R), who attempted to override her decision to keep Atlanta businesses closed after Kemp relaxed state coronavirus restrictions earlier than federal health professionals suggested.
However, activists have criticised Bottoms and other mayors, such as Lori Lightfoot (D) of Chicago and Muriel E. Bowser (D) of Washington, DC, for their responses to ongoing incidents of police using lethal force against Black and Latino residents and their refusal to defund their police departments. The increased rate of violent crime in their cities has also put pressure on them to take action.
Bottoms claimed that there was no one particular factor that led her to decide against running for reelection. She mentioned that she had already funded over $500,000 for her campaign and that private polling put her in the forefront of the contest for mayor.
Bottoms remarked, “I can be mayor again,” but she quickly qualified her statement by adding, “just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should do it.” Bottoms, on the other hand, said that “a holy voice inside all of us” helped her make up her mind.
She Emphasised that her decision had not been made “out of the blue” or overnight. For a very long time, this has been a central concern of mine. The incumbent mayor’s decision to not run for reelection on November 2 is likely to attract a slew of new contenders, including Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore.
Bottoms was congratulated for her leadership by Georgia Democratic Party Chair and U.S.
Representative Nikema Williams (D), who also extended her best wishes “as she wraps up her term.” Williams added in his statement that the party is looking forward to “connecting with voters throughout Georgia’s capital and electing another strong Democratic mayor for the city of Atlanta come November.”
In the midst of last year’s upheaval following Floyd’s murder in police custody in Minneapolis, Bottoms, 51, who was elected mayor of Georgia’s capital in 2017, garnered a national profile. She received high appreciation for her direct, passionate address to the demonstrators, some of whom had already began vandalising downtown Atlanta property.
Rather than a peaceful demonstration, this is anarchy. It is for a reason that people demonstrate. A White Atlanta police officer fatally shot a Black man just two weeks after Floyd was killed, and Bottoms was forced to deal with her own police crisis.
Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old Black male, in the Wendy’s parking lot. The incident provoked broad community indignation and fueled the already raging rallies against racial injustice.
Bottoms swiftly accepted the resignation of her police chief and fired the offending officer, Garrett Rolfe. Yet, Atlanta’s police officers were furious over the decision and said they felt abandoned by municipal officials.
This past Wednesday, the Atlanta Civil Service Board reversed their earlier judgement and restored Rolfe, finding that city officials had not provided him with due process. Bottoms’ detractors have seized on the board’s decision as evidence of her shoddy and contradictory leadership.
On Friday, Bottoms defended her actions, saying she had to act quickly to prevent additional societal upheaval last summer.
Bottoms Felt Confident that their Choice was the Best Option.
Recalling the difficulties experienced last summer, the mayor said, “I am convinced that if I had not made this decision, this city would have seen far worse.”
Bottoms, in her Friday speech, promised to do something about the recent crime wave that has even her erstwhile buddy, former mayor Kasim Reed, complaining. Reed did not specifically name Bottoms when he spoke about the “awful” crime rate in the city during a recent radio appearance.
Some political watchers took Reed’s comments as a scathing criticism of Bottoms’ leadership, and his candour shocked the political world. Before becoming mayor, Bottoms served in Reed’s administration, demonstrating the tight political relationship between the two men.
“For Reed to come out as openly as he did about crime and link it to terrible choices or inactivity by the incumbent mayor, it’s fairly amazing,” Michael Leo Owens, an associate professor of political science at Emory University said last week before Bottoms revealed her decision.
abandoned without warning when Bottoms’s choice became known to the public. As of late, Reed’s possible entry into the contest has been rumoured by several Georgia political experts.
Atlanta has seen 44 homicides so far this year, which is 16 more than this time last year, according to police data. Last year was the worst in Atlanta in almost two decades, with 157 people being killed.
Crime figures show an increase of at least 30% from the same time previous year in assaults, burglaries, and auto thefts.
A movement to allow Buckhead, a wealthy majority-White commercial district, to become its own municipality has gained steam in recent months in response to fears of increased crime in northern Atlanta communities.
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On Friday, Bottoms Reaffirmed her Commitment to Reducing Crime as She Nears her January Departure.
Bottoms acknowledged that the city as a whole had experienced a difficult year. The emergence of persons from this pandemic has been a major contributor to the nationwide increase in crime that we have experienced.
Along with [Police Chief Rodney Bryant] and the other men and women of this city, I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure the safety of the residents of this city. And I’m not doing it because I’m the mayor of this city; I’m doing it because I’m a mom here.
Bottoms’ track record on public safety concerns, however, was promised to be a central part of Moore’s campaign as city council president this year.
