Atlanta’s New Mayor Will Be Known Soon

 

Regardless of which woman wins tonight’s election, Keisha Lance Bottoms or Mary Norwood, Atlanta will continue to be a good city. We have the opportunity to make it a great city when more of us regularly participate in meetings, forums, etc. that allow us to be informed and weigh in on decisions being made about our health, housing, safety and economic well being.

Remember:
1) “A closed mouth does not get fed.”
2) Most of what you need to know about city, county and school boards meetings is on public television (also available on your mobile device) and is kept in archives online. Televised meetings are repeated often (for those without a DVR).

3) You have to participate in the well being of your neighborhood.  It does not stay clean and safe by itself.  Good neighbors and productive neighborhood associations and Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) are what controls these things.
4) If you do not understand the connection between your vote and what our elected officials are doing; your vote and your neighborhood crime rate; your vote and your the amount of blight in your neighborhood; then you have a lot you need to “Google”. The answers are all on your mobile device. No mobile device? Try your “free” neighborhood public library. The librarian is waiting to help you find answers to all of your questions.

Did you know that you can tell whether a neighbor has high or low voter turnout by  how it looks?  Case in point:  If you drive through any neighborhood in the U.S. where all the lawns are pristine and there is very little litter (or none at all), with few exceptions, the voter is high.  However, if you drive through a neighborhood and there are lots of unkept yards, lots of blight, and litter; the voter turnout, with few exceptions, is extremely low.  The squeaky wheel always gets the oil.

Now, discuss that on social media and among your circle of friends.

Atlanta Mayoral Forum Packed With Voters

 

Moderator Jocelyn Dorsey started the form with an empty chair on stage for Keisha Lance Bottoms who arrived late and blamed Atlanta’s traffic.  On the other hand, Mary Norwood arrived almost an hour early to mingle with the voters at the reception before the forum.

IMG_1760.JPG

Ms. Dorsey superbly handled the Atlanta Mayoral Forum between runoff candidates Lance Bottoms and Norwood.  Voters packed the Glenn Room Auditorium at the Center for Civil and Human Rights.  The questions from online and from audience members covered a number of hot topics that included:

– education

re-gentrification

– affordable housing

– jobs

– more and better trained police officers

– safety

– senior issues

– lack of economic development on Atlanta’s south and west sides

IMG_1756.JPG

While it was clear that both candidates have fine tuned their messages and programs, nothing new or shocking was revealed.  Ms. Dorsey made it clear that personal attacks would not be allowed. So both candidates were informative and cordial. Several audience members I spoke to are still undecided about whether they will vote for Lance Bottoms or Norwood.

A recent poll of 500 Atlanta voters gives Lance Bottoms a 3% lead over Norwood with a margin of error of 4%. So, both candidates are doing all they can to get their supporters out to vote. Early voting ends tomorrow, Friday, December 1 at 7pm. Or, voters can vote on Election Day on Tuesday, December 5 from 7am-7pm.

 

This forum was sponsored by the League of Women Voters Atlanta-Fulton, The League of Women Voters Georgia, the Nation Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. Megga Chapter, The National Coalition of 100 Black Women Metro Atlanta, The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, and WSB-TV 2.

IMG_1758

If you want to view this informative Mayoral Forum, visit the WSB-TV2 website and click on the link.

Be sure to vote in the runoff election for other important races on Tuesday, December 5 that include:  President of the Atlanta City Council between Felicia Moore and Alex Wan, Fulton County Commission seats, City Council seats, Atlanta School Board seats, and Mayor of East Point;  depending on where you live in the City of Atlanta and/or Fulton County.  Let’s encourage our friends and family to vote to IMG_1768

Let’s encourage our friends and family to vote to make sure we beat the national average of more than 15% voter turnout for Mayoral and municipal elections.  The saying is true, “All politics are local.”

(By the way, I voted early, today, before I went to this informative forum.)