During his second inauguration, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens looked back at where the city was during his first inauguration — held outdoors at Georgia Tech’s Grant Field on a blustery, cold day.
“Four years ago, Atlanta faced a test unlike any that we had seen before,” Dickens told hundreds of people gathered Jan. 5 at Georgia State University’s Convocation Center as a kickoff for his next four years in office.
“The questions were heavy,” the mayor continued. “How will we recover from a global pandemic? Could we keep our city whole? How would we remove violence from our streets? Could we ensure an affordable place to call home for every Atlantan? How would we care for those struggling to make ends meet? These were not individual questions. They were collective ones, because Atlanta is, and always will be a group project.”
Dickens then listed several successes. Investments in early childhood education. The highest graduation rate for Atlanta Public Schools’ seniors. Better access to parks. Expansion of the Atlanta Beltline. Reduced food deserts. Raising the minimum wage to $17.50 an hour. Ending 2025 with fewer than 100 homicides. Achieving the city’s highest credit rating. And keeping the city intact.
“Today, I am proud with how this city responded,” Dickens said. “We kept our city whole, successfully fighting off a Buckhead city movement. Because of our collective efforts, Atlanta remains one city with one bright future.”
All but one of Atlanta’s former living mayors attended Dickens’ second inauguration – Andrew Young, Bill Campbell, Shirley Franklin and Kasim Reed. Keisha Lance Bottoms did not attend.
In addition to swearing in the mayor for his second term, the event also included the inaugural ceremonies for members of the Atlanta City Council, as well as City Council President Marci Collier Overstreet. Three new council members also were sworn in: Kelsea Bond of District 2, Thomas Worthy of District 7 and Wayne Martin of District 11.
“To the world’s greatest city council, congratulations on the start of a new term,” said Dickens, who was accompanied by his mother, sister and daughter. “I look forward to working together with you all for another four years.”
Dickens also proclaimed that “across every measure, the phoenix of Atlanta continues to rise.”
Then the mayor’s tone changed.
“But I am not satisfied,” he said. “How can we be satisfied when too many of our neighbors still sleep on our streets? How can we be satisfied when poverty and inequality continue to divide our city? How can we be satisfied when too many families live paycheck to paycheck?”
Quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Dickens said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
“Right now in this city, where a child is born still determines how long he or she will live,” the mayor said. “This is unacceptable, and Atlanta’s future hinges on how we confront that truth.”
Dickens then said the defining theme of his next term will be the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, an effort to ensure that every neighborhood in Atlanta is safe, connected, healthy and whole.
“Many of our neighborhoods have been underserved and disinvested without access to food, amenities, jobs and strong educational opportunities,” he said. “As a result, some of them are mostly impacted by violence. Poverty and inequality are our persistent enemies.”
The solution, he said, is adding more affordable housing, investing in neighborhoods, offering opportunities for the city’s youth, keeping residents and visitors safe and prioritizing ethics, financial stewardship and good government.
“We’re not debating whether this approach works. We have seen the results with our own eyes,” Dickens said, comparing the effort to the David versus Goliath tale from the Bible. “Atlanta has never backed down from hard work. In our Atlanta, we are done with managing poverty. We are done with tolerating inequality. We are done with accepting violence as destiny. These forces are not permanent. They are not unbeatable. And they do not get the final word.”
Dickens went on to say Atlanta remains committed to a shared long-term vision for Atlanta to be the best place to raise a child, which he said is not just a slogan, but a promise.
“When we invest in people, families, neighborhoods, we don’t just reduce the harm, we dismantle the conditions that cause the harm to exist in the first place,” Dickens said. “This is how Atlanta defeats its giants.”
Then he ended his inauguration address on an optimistic note.
“Every investment in youth, safety and neighborhoods is a step towards a city where every child has opportunity, every family can prosper, and every community is whole,” Dickens said. “Together, as one indivisible community, we will close the book on a tale of two cities and build a brighter future for all Atlanta.”
