Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms tied the Buckhead City movement to former President Donald Trump and his divisive politics during a media roundtable on Monday at city hall. According to the AJC, Bottoms said she believed the cityhood movement was an effort to divide the city and discredit her administration. “It’s no secret that I was very vocal on how I felt about Donald Trump and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the man who is leading this movement is new to Atlanta and was a very big Trump supporter,” Bottoms said. “I think the two are very much related.” In a press release, the man leading the Buckhead City movement, Bill White, lashed back at Bottoms. “Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will go down as the most ineffective, unqualified, and yes, most dangerous mayor in City of Atlanta history,” White said. “Support for Buckhead City continues to surge because of Mayor Bottoms’ failed policies and unkept promises. I’m not surprised that on her way out the door she’s more focused on herself and taking cheap shots at me instead of doing the job she was elected to do.”
The City of Atlanta has officially launched its Light Up the Night streetlight project. In June, the city and Georgia Power entered a partnership to increase the city’s street lighting footprint by 10,000 energy-efficient LED lights. According to the city, the additional lighting could reduce crime by as much as 20 percent in some areas, while upgrading right-of-way lighting on more than 3,100 roads in more than 100 neighborhoods. Additionally, the upgraded LED lights could provide a 40 percent reduction in the city’s energy usage and lower its annual carbon footprint by approximately 2,000 tons. The Atlanta Department of Transportation and Georgia Power are partnering to deliver the lighting installation project for substantial completion by the end of 2022.
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation will give a $4 million gift to the Atlanta Humane Society over the next three years. The capital grant will support the expansion of Atlanta Humane’s new Westside campus and animal care center set to open in 2022. The five-acre campus will be located on Perry Boulevard, adjacent to the new westside Quarry Yards development. The campus will include an adoption, behavior and medical facility, landscaped walking trails, a memory garden and educational spaces for the community to gather. Blank also recently opened a new satellite location of The Arthur M. Blank Center for Stuttering Education and Research.
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