When Keisha Lance Bottoms first ran for mayor of Atlanta in 2018, part of her campaign’s appeal was that she was deeply rooted in Black Atlanta. Supporters loved to wear T-shirts emblazoned with “My mayor’s name is Keisha” from the barbershop to the neighborhood BBQ. Proudly repping the city’s southwest side, she declared victory after […]
Cop City
Posted inCity Politics, Politics & Policy
Is a Second Andre Dickens Term Inevitable?
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens officially launched his reelection bid on Tuesday, but even he’s not sure who’s running against him. “Without any opponents yet, is this all for show?” Dickens told hundreds of supporters early Tuesday evening at a campaign kickoff party inside the Monday Night Brewing location in the West End. The 50-year-old former […]
Posted inCity Politics, Politics & Policy
Dickens Champions ‘Cop City,’ Crime Drop, and Housing Gains
The anticipated spring opening of the facility commonly referred to as “Cop City” was one of the highlights of Mayor Andre Dickens’ Tuesday night State of the City Address during a speech that felt like both a victory lap and a kickoff for his reelection campaign. The Atlanta Police Department’s Facebook page announced the Public […]
Posted inCop City, Courts, Politics & Policy, Public Safety
Family of Slain ‘Stop Cop City’ Activist Sues in Pursuit of Answers
The parents of an activist fatally shot by the Georgia State Patrol SWAT team in 2023 have filed a lawsuit against three law enforcement officers that they say violated their child’s First and Fourth Amendment rights. Manuel Esteban Paez Terán — better known as Tortuguita — was a 26-year-old nonbinary environmental activist who was protesting the […]
Posted inCity Politics, Politics & Policy
Atlanta Lost Its Black Majority in 2020. Post 3 Candidates Discuss Solutions.
Battling gentrification was a key topic of discussion Tuesday night for the two runoff race candidates vying to fill Atlanta City Council’s Post 3 at-large vacancy, a race likely to impact affordability standards for Black Atlanta residents. Business owner Nicole Evans Jones, a former Atlanta Public Schools principal, and civil rights attorney Eshé Collins, who […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
‘Cop City’ Judge Calls Mishandled Evidence by State AG ‘Gross Negligence’
Prosecutors from the state attorney general’s office got a tongue-lashing from Fulton Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams on Wednesday for saying it was a mistake that they mishandled privileged attorney-client emails that were collected as evidence in the case against activists opposed to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known as “Cop City.” […]
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City Council OK’s Referendum Law. For Some, There’s Still a Problem.
Atlanta lawmakers approved an ordinance on Monday outlining how citizen-driven ballot referendum petitions must be processed moving forward. But voting rights advocates say they’re disappointed in the new law’s signature verification requirement, which they believe could circumvent the will of voters in a city known for Black civil rights leaders who were champions of voting […]
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‘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 […]
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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 inCity Politics
Two City Council Members Will Push to Put ‘Cop City’ on the Ballot
Two Atlanta City Council members are drafting legislation that would put plans to build the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, dubbed “Cop City,” up for a ballot referendum in November. Their efforts come in the aftermath of the city attorney announcing on Monday that officials would not begin to verify the 116,000 signatures collected by […]