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Speaker 1: We have an opportunity to have a special conversation right

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Speaker 1: now with the chief executive from one of America's great cities.

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Speaker 1: The Mayor of Atlanta is with us from World Headquarters

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Speaker 1: in New York, Andre Dickens, as part of the conversation

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Speaker 1: today on Bloomberg. Mister Mayor, I appreciate your joining us.

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Speaker 1: You should know that we're fans of mayors around here

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Speaker 1: because as we cover Washington in and out every day

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Speaker 1: and the madness that you just heard us talking about,

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Speaker 1: we are well aware that you do not have the

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Speaker 1: luxury that lawmakers in Washington have when it comes to

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Speaker 1: making decisions. And so I'll start by asking you would

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Speaker 1: a government shut down mean anything for the city of Atlanta.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, mayors are just different. I'm a part

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Speaker 2: of the US Conference of Mayors, and we say, you know,

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Speaker 2: no Democrats, Republicans. Mayors got to get the job done

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Speaker 2: on the streets of our cities, and so we could

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Speaker 2: not tolerate a government shut down from a city perspective.

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Speaker 2: You know, the federal government is dealing with that every

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Speaker 2: other quarter or so. It gives us a little heartburn.

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Speaker 2: We're hopeful that they get through this one. As well,

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Speaker 2: but there are federal agencies that are within the city

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Speaker 2: of Atlanta, from TSA to the FAA at the world's

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Speaker 2: busiest airport, to of course, there's some national parks like

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Speaker 2: the King Center is a national park in the city

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Speaker 2: of Atlanta, which is one of the most visited places

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Speaker 2: in the United States, and so many other things that

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Speaker 2: the federal government. Of course, there's federal employees, from the

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Speaker 2: IRS to the various institutions. So a government shut down

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Speaker 2: by the fees affect our cities across America in a

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Speaker 2: major way.

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Speaker 3: We'll get through it, we'll still be able to do

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Speaker 3: what we need to do.

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Speaker 2: But think about all the funding that goes to various

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Speaker 2: households through the federal government. It's just intolerable to see

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Speaker 2: all this wrangling each end every.

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Speaker 1: Time for those watching on YouTube and elsewhere. Right now,

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Speaker 1: clearly the mayor is at home in Atlanta with that

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Speaker 1: beautiful skyline behind you. Mister Mary. Didn't mean to confuse that.

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Speaker 1: I know exactly where you're sitting. As a matter of facts,

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Speaker 1: we've been talking about dysfunction here in Congress for I

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Speaker 1: guess months and months, talking about though one of the

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Speaker 1: biggest bipartisan victories that we've seen in the capital in

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Speaker 1: some time, and that's infrastructure. And you've got your own

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Speaker 1: seven hundred and fifty million dollar infrastructure project that you're

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Speaker 1: talking about in Atlanta. I'd like to hear more about it,

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Speaker 1: beginning with how you're paying for it. Will that be

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Speaker 1: helped by the federal law.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So we are very thankful for the Biden and

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Speaker 2: Harris bipartisan Infrastructure law that really brought a lot of

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Speaker 2: dollars to the city of Atlanta and all the cities

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Speaker 2: across this country. That's been very helpful, as well as

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Speaker 2: the infrastructure, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Chips Act. We're

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Speaker 2: taking it all to be able to help the residents

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Speaker 2: of Atlanta. We also did our own bond last year,

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Speaker 2: which is the Moving Atlanta Forward Bond, because we have

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Speaker 2: this great credit rating, the highest in the city's history.

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Speaker 2: So we're capitalizing on that because of being good stewards

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Speaker 2: of our public trust. The public has said, let's go

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Speaker 2: forward and do all of this new road infrastructure, new

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Speaker 2: parks and recreation centers, new fire stations, as well as

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Speaker 2: a new police station. So we're taking all of this

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Speaker 2: great bond infrastructure that we have and putting it to

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Speaker 2: use for the public. So we're now deploying those resources

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Speaker 2: with contractors to get these things built so that the

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Speaker 2: public can enjoy these new amenities.

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Speaker 1: So you're at the contracting stage already. Do you have

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Speaker 1: the workers to do all those jobs?

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Speaker 2: Well, some of this we're at the procurement stage where

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Speaker 2: we are out there looking for bidders, and you know,

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Speaker 2: some are in the design stage so that we can

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Speaker 2: you know, properly build it to make sure that it

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Speaker 2: is sustainable. But you know, once we are at the

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Speaker 2: contracting stage and some of these we are open for

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Speaker 2: business in Atlanta, and we want to make sure that

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Speaker 2: the contractors have enough staff. So we're utilizing as many

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Speaker 2: incentives as possible to be able to get them to

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Speaker 2: do that. We would love to do more workforce development

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Speaker 2: so that individuals can learn these trades to do more

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Speaker 2: construction jobs so they can have middle income wages. That's

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Speaker 2: part part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was to

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Speaker 2: not only do the construction, but to have workforce development

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Speaker 2: for people to have a skill. And we're you know,

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Speaker 2: we're working on all ends to be able to do that.

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Speaker 1: I'd love to get your view on crime in your city,

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Speaker 1: Mayor Dickens, part of the national conversation. We're hearing a

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Speaker 1: lot about it on the campaign trail. Now is about

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Speaker 1: crime in America's cities. Republicans tend to criticize Democrat run cities.

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Speaker 1: Your office those as you've managed to lower homicides by

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Speaker 1: twenty one percent in the last year.

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Speaker 3: How'd you do it?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we are so thankful that last year we reduced

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Speaker 2: homicides by twenty one percent, the third highest drop across

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Speaker 2: the nation for cities. We're very proud of that. We

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Speaker 2: did it through policing and non policing activities. The policing

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Speaker 2: activities were we went after gangs, guns and drug dealers.

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Speaker 2: We really cracked down on violent crime in that way.

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Speaker 2: Fifty percent reduction in rapes also, as well as reduction

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Speaker 2: in robberies and burglaries were everywhere. With our police force,

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Speaker 2: our great police chief, and our partners at the GBI,

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Speaker 2: the FBI, our District Attorney's office, etc. We worked together

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Speaker 2: on the policing side, but make no mistake about it,

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Speaker 2: we reduced crime before crime even started by working with

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Speaker 2: our youth. I declared last year the Year of the Youth.

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Speaker 2: We had kids. We made investments in midnight basketball where

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Speaker 2: you were able to play basketball from seven pm to midnight,

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Speaker 2: and I got out there a few times. We had

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Speaker 2: the highest summer youth employment ever, five thousand young people

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Speaker 2: between the ages of fourteen and twenty four, making an

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Speaker 2: average of seventeen dollars an hour. They were so busy

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Speaker 2: making money they couldn't be out doing crime or doing

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Speaker 2: any other thing that we wouldn't want them to do.

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Speaker 2: So throughout that year we invested in nonprofits that had

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Speaker 2: a really good hand on our young people to help

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Speaker 2: them with stem with roboties, with sports, with dance, and arts.

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Speaker 3: So we did everything we could to keep youth bing.

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Speaker 2: We brought down youth crime by forty six percent. So

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Speaker 2: when you bring down youth violent crime, you bring down

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Speaker 2: overall crime. And we had an overall message through our

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Speaker 2: violence interrupters. We were going out there talking to grown

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Speaker 2: folks telling them, hey, no retaliation, Let's learn how to

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Speaker 2: de escalate issues because so much of the crime that

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Speaker 2: we saw was intrapersonal people that knew each other.

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Speaker 3: So overall, we're thankful.

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Speaker 2: Now when you get twenty one percent homicide, people are

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Speaker 2: thankful about it. But they're like, let's do it again

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Speaker 2: this year and again and again. So we while you

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Speaker 2: say that Republican's point the Democrat led cities as crime rid,

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Speaker 2: and we don't see it that way. I work very

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Speaker 2: closely with a Republican governor and I'm a Democratic mayor,

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Speaker 2: and we work together to bring down violent crime. And

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Speaker 2: that's true policing and non policing.

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Speaker 1: Efforts as we consider law enforcement. Mister Mayor, I have

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Speaker 1: to ask you about District Attorney Fannie Willis now a

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Speaker 1: household name because of her case against former President Donald Trump.

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Speaker 1: You made a personal appearance in court to support her,

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Speaker 1: lettering the sensitivity in this case. I wonder if you

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Speaker 1: can talk in a remaining couple of minutes about this,

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Speaker 1: why not turn to someone else who is not shrouded

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Speaker 1: in controversy to lead this case.

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Speaker 2: Well, first of all, if we talk about somebody who's

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Speaker 2: shrouded in controversy, that would be the former president Donald J.

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Speaker 3: Trump.

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Speaker 2: So when someone says Fannie's in some controversy, we've literally

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Speaker 2: watched the president that's been in controversy for most of

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Speaker 2: my entire life and definitely my political life. So I

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Speaker 2: wanted to go to court the other day to say

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Speaker 2: that Fannie Willis is actually not on trial. Who is

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Speaker 2: on trial is the former president of the United States

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Speaker 2: who has been accused of trying to steal an election,

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Speaker 2: where four people in his orbit, four people that work

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Speaker 2: with him or for him, have been have played guilty

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Speaker 2: to that in that very same court. And so what

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Speaker 2: we're what I came there to say was Fannie Willis

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Speaker 2: is not on trial. She's standing up here looking like

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Speaker 2: she's on trial, but she's not. And I didn't want

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Speaker 2: her to feel like she was alone. She needs to

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Speaker 2: continue to do the job that she's doing, which is

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Speaker 2: to bring prosecution forth on this case as well as

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Speaker 2: all the other cases. As I mentioned, this is a

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Speaker 2: group project in Atlanta of how we bring down violent crime.

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Speaker 2: Fannie Willis and the DA's office has been very instrumental

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Speaker 2: in our gain charges and our drug dealing, you know,

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Speaker 2: prosecution of drug dealers as well as those gun runners

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Speaker 2: and the various people that do harm in our community.

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Speaker 2: We want her to continue to do that work. Take

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Speaker 2: the spotlight off of her for you know, the things

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Speaker 2: that she's been accused of and the things that are

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Speaker 2: personal her personal life. You know, she can manage that,

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Speaker 2: and others can help her manage that. For me, I

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Speaker 2: need a DA that's going to help bring down violent

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Speaker 2: crime and make sure we have trusted elections in America.

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Speaker 1: The Mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens with us from our

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Speaker 1: bureau in Atlanta. Mister Mayor, I appreciate your joining us

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Speaker 1: to talk. I hope we'll do it in person sometime

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Speaker 1: in your city