It was 50 years ago today when Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. shook up the South. At the ripe old age of 35, the Democratic candidate defeated incumbent Sam Massell in a runoff election to become Atlanta’s first Black mayor, receiving 60% of the vote to Massell’s 40%. Jackson’s landmark election ushered in an era of […]
Chauncey Alcorn
Chauncey Alcorn is Capital B Atlanta's state and local politics reporter.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Policing
‘Release the tape!’ Johnny Hollman’s Relatives Bring Emotional Pleas to City Council
The Atlanta City Council on Monday called for police to release body camera video of Johnny Hollman’s fatal encounter with an officer, responding to nearly two months of passionate pleas from the 62-year-old church deacon’s relatives. The council members unanimously approved a resolution urging Mayor Andre Dickens and the Atlanta Police Department to release the […]
Posted inMoney, Wealth Gap
How Guaranteed Income Is Helping Black Women Battle Gentrification
Cepia Harper was already fighting a losing battle to move up Atlanta’s socioeconomic ladder when the manager of her Midtown apartment complex gave her a month to find a new place to live. The property owners had decided not to renew the single mother’s lease without telling her why, Harper said. “She just said she […]
Posted inPolitics
‘People Are Losing Faith’: AUC Students Reflect on Democratic Leadership After VP Visit
Hundreds of Atlanta University Center students cheered with excitement when Vice President Kamala Harris stepped on stage inside the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College on Tuesday. Seeing the Howard University graduate and first Black woman to serve as the nation’s second-in-command, live and in-person, was an inspiration to fellow HBCU attendees […]
Posted inPolitics
Black Atlantans Support Public’s Right To Vote on ‘Cop City’ project
Adamsville resident Crystal Brown is concerned about crime in her west Atlanta neighborhood and believes building the public safety training center, commonly referred to as “Cop City,” will help solve the problem. “We need the cops,” Brown told Capital B Atlanta in June after the Atlanta City Council approved funding for the 85-acre facility in […]
Posted inCop City
Lawmaker Nixes Plan to Introduce ‘Cop City’ Measure After City Attorney Input
The latest effort to let Atlanta voters weigh in on the public safety training center, dubbed “Cop City” by critics, via a ballot referendum was upended by municipal attorneys Monday afternoon, according to a lawmaker. Post 3 At-Large Atlanta City Council member Keisha Sean Waites said she and fellow lawmaker Liliana Bakhtiari had planned to […]
Posted inPublic Services
Elected Leaders Get Earful About I-20 Noise in Mozley Park, Commit to Action
The roar of zooming cars and honking horns on Interstate 20 made it hard for local politicians to hear the complaints of their Mozley Park constituents as they walked through the residential neighborhood on Wednesday. Resident Mia Pennington used a phone app to show the lawmakers just how loud the highway noise can get. It […]
Posted inHousing
City’s ‘Rapid Housing’ for Homeless Proposal Angers Many in Mechanicsville
Mechanicsville resident Maurice Killing has been living on the streets for about three years, a reality he wants and expects Atlanta leaders to help him change in the near future. “I’m just hoping I can get another place to stay,” Killing said Friday while sitting in a lawn chair outside the tent city near Cooper […]
Posted inPublic Services
Why GDOT’s Refusing a Fix For Mozley Park’s I-20 Noise Pollution
Mozley Park residents can hear the annoying hiss of high-speed vehicles driving along the adjacent stretch of Interstate 20 all day and night. Realtor Keith Palmer and his wife, Shelia, have endured the constant sound for about two years. The couple didn’t realize how nonstop the noise was until after they bought their home in […]
Posted inHousing
Why Grove Park Residents Say This Housing Nonprofit Is Hurting Their Neighborhood
Grove Park residents are accusing a faith-based, affordable housing nonprofit of hindering Black homeownership in their community by buying up houses, refusing to sell them, and turning them into substandard apartments for rent. Grove Park Renewal’s stated mission is to “empower neighbors through quality, dignified housing.” Helping renters from the majority-Black, northwest Atlanta neighborhood become […]