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Speaker 1: Everybody votes.

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Speaker 2: In an episode of Button Nomics, I'm your whole friendly

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Speaker 2: Butler fantasy butter atl And today.

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Speaker 1: That's somebody special in the building, man, the one, the only.

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Speaker 2: Mister Cordy English aka sorry she for staff for the

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Speaker 2: City of Atlanta and maryored Andre Dickens Court English.

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Speaker 1: Brother. How you doing, man?

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Speaker 3: Good man? How are you?

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Speaker 4: Man?

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Speaker 2: If I was any better, I'd be you broh Man,

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Speaker 2: I can't call it now look YouTube now, look, look,

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Speaker 2: I know everybody else. Can you call you by your

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Speaker 2: full name like a tribe called quest You know, I

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Speaker 2: call you bro because you know we also one hundred

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Speaker 2: black men in Atlanta. You know, so we go a

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Speaker 2: little bit, we go to your classmates. Were going a

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Speaker 2: little bit deeper than that. Man.

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Speaker 1: It's good to have you out here.

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Speaker 3: Man.

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Speaker 1: How you feeling.

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Speaker 3: I'm good, man, everything's going well, everything's going well. So far,

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Speaker 3: so good. Just trying to stay warm.

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Speaker 2: Hey man, we're all trying to do that right now, man,

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Speaker 2: And so I appreciate you taking a step down from

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Speaker 2: helping run this amazing city called Atlanta.

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Speaker 3: Man. Of course, Man, what had to come pull up

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Speaker 3: on you?

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Speaker 4: Man? See, you know, chat with the people. Man, You've

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Speaker 4: got a wide reach. Man had to come check you out.

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Speaker 4: I see I see it online, and you know, there's

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Speaker 4: a lot of things going on in the city right now,

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Speaker 4: so I just wanted to stop by.

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Speaker 2: Hey, man, let me ask you a question. Man, how

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Speaker 2: do you feel about it Land? I mean, we're gonna

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Speaker 2: get into this whole thing in a second, but like,

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Speaker 2: how do you feel about Atlanta?

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Speaker 4: Man?

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Speaker 2: Right now, you're a guy from the atl Now you're

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Speaker 2: sitting in some of the highest levels, some of the

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Speaker 2: most important rooms. Like, just what's your perspective on the

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Speaker 2: city of Atlanta right now?

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Speaker 3: At this minute?

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Speaker 4: I think we are in a place of both tremendous

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Speaker 4: opportunity and simultaneously tremendous peril. Actually, we're sitting at the

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Speaker 4: precipice of what could be a really transformational period for

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Speaker 4: the city. And we've got to make decisions right now

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Speaker 4: about how we're going to grow, how we're gonna make

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Speaker 4: the city work for everybody, how we're going to accommodate

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Speaker 4: the almost two million people that are gonna moved to

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Speaker 4: the metro area by twenty fifty. And if we don't

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Speaker 4: do that right, what will happen is that the people

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Speaker 4: who are born and raised here. The people who have

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Speaker 4: helped build this city into what it is today candidly

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Speaker 4: won't be here, and so we've got to seize on

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Speaker 4: that opportunity, right and so fundamentally believe that we've got

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Speaker 4: some challenges before us. I'm incredibly proud of the mayor's

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Speaker 4: first term. We've built a whole lot of affordable housing.

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Speaker 4: Crime is down, affordable housing is up, aps graduation rates

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Speaker 4: are up. We've made the largest investment in homelessness in

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Speaker 4: the city's history. And now it's trying to double down

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Speaker 4: on all of that work and ensure that we can't

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Speaker 4: create affordable Atlanta in Atlanta that works for everybody.

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Speaker 3: Man.

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Speaker 2: Look, we don't get into this thing, but first, you know,

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Speaker 2: suppose don't know. I always like to introduce our guests officially. Now,

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Speaker 2: I'm sure some people out here to know you, but

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Speaker 2: there's some people that double. What I do is I

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Speaker 2: asked Chet Gibt to write a bio for all our guests.

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Speaker 1: Have you ever chat GPT yourself before?

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Speaker 3: Brother?

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Speaker 4: I have not. Actually you probably should, Okay, yeah, probably

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Speaker 4: check that out. Yeah, now you chat GBT a lot.

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Speaker 4: I have never asked it to. I've actually to clean

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Speaker 4: up my bio. So yeah, I don't know a super

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Speaker 4: curious here.

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Speaker 1: Let me tell you what chat GIPT said about you,

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Speaker 1: all right, all right. Cordy English is the chief of

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Speaker 1: staff the Mayor Andre Dickens.

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Speaker 2: He also serves as Chief Policy Officer, where helped lead

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Speaker 2: national policy development and implementation across the Mayor's key priorities,

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Speaker 2: including the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative, Affordable Housing Expansion, and youth

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Speaker 2: development programs. As Atlanta native, English has made history as

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Speaker 2: the youngest person ever to be elected citywide to citywide

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Speaker 2: office when he want a seat on the Atlanta Board

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Speaker 2: of Education at age twenty four. At twenty eight, he

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Speaker 2: was unanimously elected chair, the youngest in the distric's history.

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Speaker 2: During his tenure, Graduation wrote graduation rates rose from fifty

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Speaker 2: one percent to seventy nine percent and teacher salaries increased.

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Speaker 2: Before joining the Mayor's administration, English served as the Director

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Speaker 2: of Community Development for Star C where he raised eleven

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Speaker 2: million dollars to preserve a vordable housing and prevent this placement.

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Speaker 2: In city Hall, he plays a key role in advancing

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Speaker 2: Atlanta's housing and infrastructure investments, shaping initiatives aimed at expanding

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Speaker 2: economic mobility, improving food access, and strengthening underserved communities. He

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Speaker 2: enter his bachelor from Morehouse College and his master's from

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Speaker 2: Columbia University. That's what chat gipt had to say about you.

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Speaker 2: What you said, that's a that's a mouthful.

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Speaker 4: I mean, look, I think I'm born and raised instead

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Speaker 4: of Atlanta, A prior graduate of Douglas High School and

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Speaker 4: I went to moor House. It's really all folks need

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Speaker 4: to do. All that other stuff sounds good, all of

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Speaker 4: the West.

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Speaker 2: Side Z there we go, there we go. We're gonna

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Speaker 2: make sure we click that part right there. That's really it.

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Speaker 2: So look, man, we'll get into this for a second.

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Speaker 2: And but yeah, to that point, you know what I mean. Like,

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Speaker 2: you've growed up in the city, you build a school board,

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Speaker 2: you worked in housing, now you're the chief of staff. Like,

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Speaker 2: what is what has changed the most about Atlanta during

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Speaker 2: your lifetime?

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Speaker 3: Well, look, Atlanta continues to be a tremendous place. We have.

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Speaker 4: Rich in arts and culture and history, with the cradle

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Speaker 4: of the modern civil rights movement. We have the eighth

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Speaker 4: highest concentration of fortune five hundred companies the world's business

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Speaker 4: and most efficient airport, home to amazing events like the

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Speaker 4: Olympics and now FIFA World Cup, and all of that

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Speaker 4: stuff is great. And simultaneously, I have grown up in

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Speaker 4: a city where the folks who made all of that

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Speaker 4: cool stuff happened, in some cases can't afford to stay here.

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Speaker 3: And so Atlanta is very much changed. And we welcome growth.

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Speaker 4: We welcome anybody from anywhere who wants to put the

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Speaker 4: A on their chest, and we love folks moving to

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Speaker 4: the city, but we can't we have to do it

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Speaker 4: in any way that it's just that accommodates legacy residents.

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Speaker 4: And so the city is changing, and we're working every

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Speaker 4: day at City Hall to ensure that as those changes happened,

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Speaker 4: they happen with people instead of two people. And so

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Speaker 4: you know, I've seen I went to Austin see Wall

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Speaker 4: in middle school, and which is no longer there.

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Speaker 3: It's actually a play field right now Old Fourth Ward.

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Speaker 4: And I'll till your Old fourth Ward looks very different,

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Speaker 4: very different. There's a fundamentally different place, uh than it was.

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Speaker 3: You know, I walk around like, man, if you only knew, like.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, so yeah, exactly. It's funny we had Haen

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Speaker 4: in office this week. Actually who was in whose gym

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Speaker 4: was in?

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Speaker 2: Uh?

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Speaker 3: City Hall? Ease back in the day. But but yeah,

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Speaker 3: I mean, so Atlanta is changing, and we've got to.

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Speaker 4: Make sure that again, uh, it changes with people, and

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Speaker 4: those changes don't displaced people, and that people can afford

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Speaker 4: to live in this city, to work and play in

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Speaker 4: this city because it has so much to offer, and

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Speaker 4: so you know, I love it. I love it enough

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Speaker 4: to be honest about the challenges that we face simply

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Speaker 4: because there's nothing wrong with the City of Atlanta.

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Speaker 3: They can't be solved by what's right with the city

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Speaker 3: of Atlanta. Yeah. Absolutely.

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Speaker 2: Now, when people hear chief of staff, I'm sure they

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Speaker 2: have lots of different ideas. They might think it's just

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Speaker 2: you know, meetings and memos like tell people like, what

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Speaker 2: does the chief of staff for the mayor do?

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Speaker 3: Man, I meant I run meetings for a living.

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Speaker 4: Look, the primary job of the chief of staff is

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Speaker 4: to enact the mayor's agenda. There are essentially two major

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Speaker 4: pillars of city government. You have the operations side. That's

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Speaker 4: the day to day basics. Somebody is filling potholes and

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Speaker 4: pavement sidewalks and fixing roads. Somebody's chasing bad guys, ensuring

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Speaker 4: that fire department is up the snuff, that we're procuring

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Speaker 4: things correctly.

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Speaker 3: Just the basics of city government. We have to do

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Speaker 3: that well.

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Speaker 4: The chief the chief of staff's role is specific to

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Speaker 4: that particular mayor. So I lead the executive offices of

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Speaker 4: the mayor. It's of four hundred or so some odd people,

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Speaker 4: tens of millions of dollars, and our job is to

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Speaker 4: bring the mayor's vision, this specific mayor's vision to life.

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Speaker 4: And so we've got a mayor who is dead set

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Speaker 4: on building twenty thousand units of affordable housing about twenty

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Speaker 4: thirty and so I helped lead those efforts. We've got

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Speaker 4: a mayor who's dead set on bringing our unsheltered neighbors.

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Speaker 3: In out of the cold.

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Speaker 4: So I help lead and put together those major initiatives

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Speaker 4: on his behalf.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So not to oversimplified, but again, we got people of

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Speaker 2: all walks at all times. Listeners, Are you basically like

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Speaker 2: number two in charge of the city man?

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Speaker 4: I wouldn't say it like I wouldn't say it like that.

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Speaker 4: I say that I work on behalf of the mayor

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Speaker 4: to make sure with his vision. I helped bring his

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Speaker 4: vision to life.

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Speaker 3: And it's real. So I don't think about it like

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Speaker 3: number or not. It's just I wake up every single.

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Speaker 4: Day try to make sure that we're building more affordable housing,

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Speaker 4: that we are serving our young people, that we are

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Speaker 4: creating economic opportunity for folks in neighborhoods that haven't had

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Speaker 4: it in a long time, because that's what's near Deardy

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Speaker 4: Mary's heart.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Now, how does a person end up in that kind

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Speaker 2: of role? Because again, I know you've worked with the

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Speaker 2: mayor for years, even before it was the mayor. When

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Speaker 2: you get a counsel and everything else, like what's you

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Speaker 2: kind of like connected? That's looking backwards right, like, how

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Speaker 2: does a person kind of end up.

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Speaker 3: At that type of man?

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Speaker 4: A lot of look and Frank grandmother, look, I saw.

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Speaker 4: I graduated from Morehouse College. While I was at Morehouse,

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Speaker 4: had the opportunity to work for a program that prepared

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Speaker 4: African American man for college open.

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Speaker 3: What that experience taught me is that candidly, there.

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Speaker 4: Are a lot of brothers who didn't who had a

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Speaker 4: hard time getting to school, whether it's more House or

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Speaker 4: Ivy League, wherever they wanted to go, everywhere in between.

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Speaker 4: And so I thought I was on the one way

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Speaker 4: track to law school, decided to teach. Ended up teaching

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Speaker 4: seventh grade social studies right here in the city of Atlanta,

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Speaker 4: in the exact same room I took seventh grade socialst uh.

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Speaker 4: And the deeper I got into the education space, the

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Speaker 4: more I realized that the things that hold kids back

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Speaker 4: the most are actually things that happen outside of the classroom.

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Speaker 4: So it's harder to focus on one plus one and

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Speaker 4: two plus two if you've got home with belly. It's

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Speaker 4: hard to think about all the algebra and the scientific

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Speaker 4: method h if you don't know where you're going to

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Speaker 4: sleep at night. It's hard for your parents to be

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Speaker 4: involved if they're working two or three odd jobs, none

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Speaker 4: of which pay a living wage, right, And so I

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Speaker 4: wanted to fix that, and so I got it. You know,

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Speaker 4: I ran for school board. UH did some cool stuff

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Speaker 4: which you talked about on the on the board. And

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Speaker 4: then I wanted to ensure that we were building healthy,

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Speaker 4: whole communities. And so I worked for a nonprofit that

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Speaker 4: was designed to do just that. And the mayor and

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Speaker 4: I have been been friends for a long time. He's,

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Speaker 4: you know, my number one partner and partnering good if

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Speaker 4: you will.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 4: And so we had the opportunity to work while I

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Speaker 4: was on the school board and he was on the council.

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Speaker 4: We created that APS Affordable Housing Commission, which was designed

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Speaker 4: to turn vacant school buildings into affordable housing units. And

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Speaker 4: we did a lot of good work there and the

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Speaker 4: rest is history. So he called and when he wanted

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Speaker 4: to set help, I said sure.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And it said, like I said in the bio,

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Speaker 2: you know, you were on the youngest people ever elected,

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Speaker 2: you know, city wede long time ago, long time ago

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Speaker 2: for you know, for the school board. Like what did

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Speaker 2: getting exposed to kind of power in that role teach

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Speaker 2: you about how cities worked? That a lot of people

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Speaker 2: don't understand because the school board is very influential board.

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Speaker 4: Sure, well, the school board is in credibly influential. They

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Speaker 4: have more of your tax dollars than the city does

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Speaker 4: and the county. The school board is one point eight

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Speaker 4: billion dollar organization. And so I had the fortunate experience

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Speaker 4: of being a student, a teacher, and a board member

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Speaker 4: in the Atlanta Public school system, all within it, all

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Speaker 4: within a ten year period.

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Speaker 3: And so I showed up with that experience. And I will.

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Speaker 4: Tell you that there are a whole lot of folks

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Speaker 4: who were making decisions at that time who were disconnected

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Speaker 4: from what was actually happening in the classroom. And there

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Speaker 4: a whole lot of folks who make decisions across government

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Speaker 4: right where's city, county, state, federal, who are disconnected from

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Speaker 4: what's actually happening to people on a daily basis. And

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Speaker 4: so I've always tried to find ways to remain close,

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Speaker 4: remember where I come from, to stay connected to the

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Speaker 4: neighborhoods and the people in which we are trying to serve,

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Speaker 4: to walk in their shoes and see the world through

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Speaker 4: through their eyes, because.

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Speaker 3: It'll get good to you, right, And so when we talk.

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Speaker 4: About lessons learning, it got good to a lot of folks,

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Speaker 4: a whole lot of folks can get real comfortable, right,

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Speaker 4: as my grandma would say, like it'll get don't they

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Speaker 4: it's down now. And so I've always tried to stay humble,

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Speaker 4: and that humility comes from that degree of connectedness. So,

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Speaker 4: long story short, I think it's incredibly important for leaders

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Speaker 4: of all shapes, sizes, and stripes to remain close to

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Speaker 4: the folks that they're trying to serve, and just in

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Speaker 4: doing that, in doing that, you'll end up with better results.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you gotta stay connected.

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Speaker 3: You know.

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Speaker 2: Again, it's very easy when you get in some of

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Speaker 2: these rooms and you get away from the day to day's, right,

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Speaker 2: you start thinking everybody operates like this. Yeah, you know,

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Speaker 2: I tell people, like even just something simple as you know,

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Speaker 2: a computer, Like I said, a lot of people the

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Speaker 2: only access they have to computer is their phone, and

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Speaker 2: the only time they have free Wi fis that they're

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Speaker 2: you know, at Starbucks or something like that, or at

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Speaker 2: a coffee shop it's available. So like, you got to

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Speaker 2: understand that there's all kinds of people in this world

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Speaker 2: with all different types of experiences, right, exactly, right, So

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Speaker 2: let me ask you man, like you said that, you know,

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Speaker 2: going to the second term for the mayor, there's a

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Speaker 2: lot of big initiatives. Affordable housing is always kind of

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Speaker 2: a big topic. Like in plain English, what is the

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Speaker 2: neighborhood reinvestment initiative?

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so, a neighborhood reinvestment initiative is an effort to

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Speaker 4: invest in neighborhoods throughout the city.

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Speaker 3: That have been underserved for too long.

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Speaker 4: Neighborhoods that need access to affordable housing and fresh food,

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Speaker 4: need access to greater transit opportunities, high quality educational opportunities.

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Speaker 4: If you were to draw a dotted line from northwest

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Speaker 4: Atlanta to southeast Atlanta, and then you were to put

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Speaker 4: stats on that line on that map rather, you will

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Speaker 4: very quickly begin to see a tail of two cities.

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Speaker 4: The folks who live above that line make higher wages,

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Speaker 4: they graduate from school at higher rates, they have more

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Speaker 4: access to fresh food, they have more access to health

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Speaker 4: insurance than the folks who live below that line. And

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Speaker 4: this is the result of years of bad, malicious policy

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Speaker 4: decision decisions.

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Speaker 3: That were designed to separate people based on racing class.

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Speaker 4: And if you do that over one hundred year period,

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Speaker 4: you're gonna end up with some pretty dramatic results, the

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Speaker 4: biggest of which is that there's a twenty year life

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Speaker 4: expectancy gap between people who live in three or three

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Speaker 4: one eight. Now, just for folks who might not know,

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Speaker 4: three three one eight is as Kyllie Heights. That's Southwest Atlanta,

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Speaker 4: Northwest Atlanta. That is where Douglas High School is. Where

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Speaker 4: I grew up, is where I live. Today's where the

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Speaker 4: mayor lives. There's a twenty year life expectancy gap between

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Speaker 4: three or three, one, eight and three on three oh five.

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Speaker 3: It's what the governor's mansion is.

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Speaker 4: And so twenty years can separate lives in neighborhoods that

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Speaker 4: are just seven miles apart. And that's the result again

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Speaker 4: of those bad policy decisions. And so the Mayor's Neighborhood

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Speaker 4: Reinvestment Initiative is designed to close a book on the

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Speaker 4: tail of two cities and build a neighborhood.

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Speaker 3: Build neighborhoods that.

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Speaker 4: Work for everybody, that are safe, that a hole where

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Speaker 4: people can work their way up to economic ladder and

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Speaker 4: ultimately live a choice failed life.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, man, I mean, you know, I know, growing up

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Speaker 2: out here for me, you know, places like Buckheads, seen

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Speaker 2: the million miles away, get you know, in some areas

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Speaker 2: like growing up writers just don't you get me, starting

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Speaker 2: like Alfaretta and like others even further north right, like

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Speaker 2: I still do.

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Speaker 1: Not get it right, But you know what I mean,

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Speaker 1: like my group on the east side.

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Speaker 2: So I mean, all this stuff sounds so far like

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Speaker 2: you know, but for you personally, it sounds like you know,

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Speaker 2: you only not only see this as a policy maker,

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Speaker 2: but you want to be experienced as a resident growing

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Speaker 2: up right, man?

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Speaker 3: It was it was.

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Speaker 4: When I think about the world, right, I'm thinking about

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Speaker 4: my former students, I'm thinking about my friends who are

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Speaker 4: still in Oakland City today. In a lot of cases,

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Speaker 4: I'm thinking about folks like my mom, who I could

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Speaker 4: I didn't.

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Speaker 3: She wasn't gonna send me.

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Speaker 4: To the neighborhood school because it was one of the

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Speaker 4: lowest performing schools in the entire state of Georgia.

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Speaker 3: And so we did their dress hustle.

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Speaker 4: Eventually, and dress hustle, you know, for polite company, is

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Speaker 4: where you write down on a sheet of paper that

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Speaker 4: you live with friends and family across town so you can.

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Speaker 3: Go to better schools across town. So she did that.

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Speaker 3: I end up going to Coye Heights and graduating from DOUG.

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Speaker 4: But I watched my mom fight with city government to

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Speaker 4: do that, and so when I think about this work,

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Speaker 4: I think about people like her. She's no longer with us,

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Speaker 4: But I think about people like my former students who

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Speaker 4: were who grew up on Bankhead Is on one in

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Speaker 4: their neighborhoods, didn't have all the things that they needed,

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Speaker 4: and they were dealing with concentrated poverty, and concentrated poverty

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Speaker 4: at least to violence in a lot of cases. And

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Speaker 4: so I'm deeply, deeply connected because I don't see the statistics.

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Speaker 4: I see the faces and the names of folks that

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Speaker 4: I grew up with or my family members who are

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Speaker 4: in these neighborhoods today. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So you know, I'm not going to say if, but

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Speaker 2: when the NRI succeeds and it starts working, like, what

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Speaker 2: differences are people that live on the South side of

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Speaker 2: the West Side going to really kind of feel in

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Speaker 2: their lives?

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Speaker 3: Sure? Well, well, one, I hope that folks are feeling

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Speaker 3: those differences today. All right.

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Speaker 4: So the mayor took office in twenty twenty two, we

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Speaker 4: were in the middle of a crime wave.

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Speaker 3: Crime.

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Speaker 4: Violent crime was surgeon. We had one hundred and seventy

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Speaker 4: five homicides that year. Homicides are now, for the first

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Speaker 4: time in years, we had less than one hundred homicides.

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Speaker 4: Violent crime is down in the city of Atlanta by

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Speaker 4: right around thirty four percent. Homicides are down right by

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Speaker 4: forty four percent since the mayor has taken office.

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Speaker 3: Youth crime is down by fifty six percent.

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Speaker 4: Atlanta has had one of the biggest drops in violent crime,

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Speaker 4: the third highest dropping violent crime in any other major

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Speaker 4: city in America. I say, I'll like to say that

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Speaker 4: happened as a result of us investing in neighborhoods. Yes,

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Speaker 4: we invested in police and fire and our e now

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Speaker 4: on one, we grew our police force and did things

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Speaker 4: like that. But what you also did is we hired

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Speaker 4: seventeen thousand young people and pay them all a living wage.

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Speaker 4: What we also did was spend three million dollars in

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Speaker 4: investing youth serving programs, programs like communities and schools and

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Speaker 4: Big Brothers, Big Sisters programs that connected people to resources

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Speaker 4: like the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation. What we also did

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Speaker 4: was spend money to prevent evictions and keep people in

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Speaker 4: their homes. In addition to us building was right now

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Speaker 4: thirteen thousand units of affordable house And that's a long

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Speaker 4: winded way of saying, when we invest in people, when

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Speaker 4: we invest in neighborhoods, crime goes down, economic mobility goes up,

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Speaker 4: and so ultimately folks who are living in these neighborhoods

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Speaker 4: will see, first and foremost are going to be safer.

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Speaker 4: They will have access to things like grocery stores because,

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Speaker 4: believe it or not, well, you know you're from Atlanta Man,

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Speaker 4: there is there's an entire council district now, a council

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Speaker 4: district just keeping it playing, represents anywhere between thirty five

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Speaker 4: thousand and fifty thousand or so people. There's an entire

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Speaker 4: council district in the city of Atlanta today in twenty

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Speaker 4: twenty six that does not have a single decent grocery store.

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Speaker 3: I believe it.

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Speaker 4: And so when we think about those kinds of disparities,

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Speaker 4: we are pledging that on the other end of this initiative,

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Speaker 4: while we do this work, every single neighborhood will have

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Speaker 4: access to everything that people need to live.

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Speaker 3: Choice fell lives that.

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Speaker 4: Have the basics like food, that have access to high

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Speaker 4: quality healthcare, that have access to after school program for

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Speaker 4: their young people, that have access to affordable house and

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Speaker 4: they'll basically have access to more opportunity.

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Speaker 1: I mean, all this.

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Speaker 2: Stuff seems like common sense. I just got to ask, like,

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Speaker 2: what stops some of these things from happening in the past.

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Speaker 4: Well, I think, Look, I think people meet the world

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Speaker 4: in their own way, and we've had a history of

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Speaker 4: mayors that have tackled tremendous challenges. Right, Mayor Jackson taught

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Speaker 4: us how to integrate the city, built wars business and

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Speaker 4: most efficient airport.

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Speaker 3: And did it in a way that created a generation

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Speaker 3: of millionaires.

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Speaker 4: We have the one of the highest concentrations and not

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Speaker 4: the highest concentration of black businesses and black millionaires because

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Speaker 4: of the efforts of a mayor Jackson and Bassat Young

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Speaker 4: opened up the city and turned Atlanta into an international

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Speaker 4: UH in international city. Mayor Campbell did a whole lot

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Speaker 4: of work to transform how we thought about housing. Mayor

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Speaker 4: Reid uh did a tremendous work in tackling our issues

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Speaker 4: like pension and infrastructure.

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Speaker 3: Mayor Franklin kept us from being Flint Michigan. This is

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Speaker 3: the sewer mayor, right.

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Speaker 4: But but but that that that work is important and

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Speaker 4: it takes it takes billions of dollars and a lot

442
00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:53,920
Speaker 4: of times. This is a long window way of saying,

443
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,800
Speaker 4: we've had a history of having mayors who've tackled the

444
00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:02,119
Speaker 4: world UH and tackled tremendous challenges. And so Mayor Bottoms

445
00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,200
Speaker 4: let us through the pandemic, let us through a cyber attack,

446
00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:07,720
Speaker 4: and so I say, I say, I'll let to say

447
00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,080
Speaker 4: this is our opportunity. Right, And so when we think

448
00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:14,320
Speaker 4: about economic mobility. This is just the challenge of today

449
00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,720
Speaker 4: and right now we've got to face it head on

450
00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:21,399
Speaker 4: or the city is just going to be fundamental, fundamentally different,

451
00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,520
Speaker 4: and folks like us who grew up in whose families

452
00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:25,440
Speaker 4: are likely still.

453
00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:27,439
Speaker 3: Here, won't be here.

454
00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:30,920
Speaker 4: And that's unjust and the righteous thing to do is

455
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:34,320
Speaker 4: to tackle this challenge head on and build a city.

456
00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:34,960
Speaker 3: That works for everyone.

457
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:37,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, I think I remember I was talking to

458
00:20:37,160 --> 00:20:40,000
Speaker 2: Milton Little, CEO of United Way about this greater Atlanta.

459
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:40,520
Speaker 1: I think you said that.

460
00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:43,119
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think economic mobility in Atlanta's like at ninety

461
00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:46,600
Speaker 2: or something like that. Well, yeah, hopefully going down. But

462
00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:48,000
Speaker 2: I mean tell people what that means.

463
00:20:48,119 --> 00:20:51,080
Speaker 4: Yeah, so so so basically, the stack that people mostly

464
00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,879
Speaker 4: throughout is that, you know, a kid born in a

465
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,000
Speaker 4: private in the city of Atlanta has a ninety six

466
00:20:58,119 --> 00:21:02,000
Speaker 4: percent chance of dying empire in the city of Atlanta,

467
00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:04,760
Speaker 4: or to flip it right, you've got about a four

468
00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 4: percent chance of making it to the upper middle class

469
00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:10,480
Speaker 4: in the city of Atlanta, right, And so what that

470
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,159
Speaker 4: means is, chances are if you were born in.

471
00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:17,159
Speaker 3: Poverty, you're going to remain in poverty the duration of

472
00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:18,399
Speaker 3: your life. In the City of Atlanta.

473
00:21:18,480 --> 00:21:22,320
Speaker 4: That's the worst economic mobility score in the entire country.

474
00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:25,440
Speaker 4: In fact, we rank folks have ranked the fifty largest

475
00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:28,199
Speaker 4: cities in the entire country. Atlanta is literally fifty out

476
00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:30,440
Speaker 4: of fifty in terms of our ability to move people

477
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,600
Speaker 4: up that economic ladder. And so there are a few

478
00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:34,760
Speaker 4: things that we have to There are a lot of

479
00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:36,159
Speaker 4: things that we have to do to change it right.

480
00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:38,000
Speaker 4: So we've got to invest in place. We've got to

481
00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:39,440
Speaker 4: build more affordable housing.

482
00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:39,879
Speaker 3: We've got to.

483
00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:43,520
Speaker 4: Increase access to transit in neighborhoods that haven't had access

484
00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:44,000
Speaker 4: to transit.

485
00:21:44,040 --> 00:21:46,400
Speaker 3: We've got to ensure that people have access to fresh food.

486
00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:48,800
Speaker 4: We've got to ensure that we are investing in our

487
00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,600
Speaker 4: schools and then we have high quality education. We got

488
00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,320
Speaker 4: to invest in early childhood education. And that's a lot

489
00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:57,159
Speaker 4: of the work that the mayors trying to get done now.

490
00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:01,000
Speaker 4: Atlanta has one of the widest wage gaps in the

491
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:03,640
Speaker 4: entire country. To average white family in this city makes

492
00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,520
Speaker 4: right around eighty five to eighty seven thousand dollars a year.

493
00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:08,640
Speaker 4: The average black family in the city makes right around

494
00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 4: twenty seven thousand dollars in any given year. We can

495
00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,920
Speaker 4: fix that but it's going to take a degree of intention.

496
00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:19,960
Speaker 4: The thing that I always say to folks is that

497
00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,159
Speaker 4: the system isn't broken. This was a system that was

498
00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:26,800
Speaker 4: created to produce that kind of inequality, right, and it

499
00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:30,240
Speaker 4: was set up almost one hundred years ago, and so

500
00:22:30,520 --> 00:22:33,600
Speaker 4: in order for us to fix that system, it will

501
00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:37,359
Speaker 4: require intention. The system doesn't require candidly I say, how

502
00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:39,399
Speaker 4: I want to say that, the system doesn't require anybody

503
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:42,439
Speaker 4: to be actively racist, for example, It just requires us

504
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:47,280
Speaker 4: silence because it's already working how it was intended to work.

505
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:51,120
Speaker 4: And so we've got to have government leaders at the city,

506
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,159
Speaker 4: at the county, at school board stay and well, I

507
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:57,520
Speaker 4: can't speak to the federal government, but you've got to

508
00:22:57,560 --> 00:23:01,000
Speaker 4: have leaders who care about those out and ensuring that

509
00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:02,480
Speaker 4: everybody everywhere can thrive.

510
00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:05,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I mean I love that point too, of

511
00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:08,640
Speaker 2: just these are things that have been you know, integrated

512
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,600
Speaker 2: into the system for decades and decades and decades. And

513
00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:13,240
Speaker 2: I mean, I know we talked about Atlanta's had a

514
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:15,600
Speaker 2: history of black mayor smy years, but again, like there's

515
00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:17,399
Speaker 2: a lot of the systems that even superseded that, right,

516
00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:20,080
Speaker 2: So a lot of this work that people are seeing

517
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:21,760
Speaker 2: now is just kind of the untangling of some of

518
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:22,640
Speaker 2: these things, right.

519
00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:25,840
Speaker 4: Yes, yeah, you can't fix Let me let me be

520
00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:28,399
Speaker 4: really clear about that, because because people will say that

521
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,440
Speaker 4: and say, well, y'all, y'all should have fixed you know

522
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:32,479
Speaker 4: this in Atlanta.

523
00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 3: If you can't solve four hundred years of problems in fifty.

524
00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:40,480
Speaker 2: Right, that's not that's nonsense, right, Like, that's that while

525
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:42,920
Speaker 2: people are actively still trying to keep some of those sames.

526
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,440
Speaker 4: Exact place, while people are actively trying to keep some

527
00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:48,879
Speaker 4: of those same systems in place. I mean, Mayor Jackson

528
00:23:48,960 --> 00:23:53,840
Speaker 4: went to war for minority participation literally, I mean threatening

529
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,560
Speaker 4: to shut down the airport. Yeah, and and I mean

530
00:23:57,640 --> 00:23:59,679
Speaker 4: and it took that kind of courageous leadership. I mean

531
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:02,040
Speaker 4: you could you will hear, you will hear horror stories

532
00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,560
Speaker 4: if you acts, Ambassador Young, how hard some of the

533
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,119
Speaker 4: stuff he was trying to do to open up different

534
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:10,280
Speaker 4: parts of the city that were underserved.

535
00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:12,720
Speaker 3: So none of this stuff was easy. These people went to.

536
00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:17,200
Speaker 4: War on behalf of underserved folks in the city of Atlanta.

537
00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 4: And and so you know, you're not gonna solve again

538
00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:22,800
Speaker 4: four hundred years or problems or one hundred years of

539
00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:26,280
Speaker 4: malicious policy decisions in fifty you got to keep trying.

540
00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:29,159
Speaker 4: And every you know, doctor King always talks about that

541
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 4: the arc of the moral arc of the universe is long,

542
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:33,840
Speaker 4: but it bends towards justice.

543
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 3: It does.

544
00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:38,280
Speaker 1: If you bend it, you have to build it.

545
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:39,560
Speaker 3: You got to bend it. You got to bend it.

546
00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:41,480
Speaker 3: And so that's that's that's our job. We got to

547
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 3: keep bending it.

548
00:24:42,280 --> 00:24:44,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, And so look y'all, look, we're gonna work

549
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,920
Speaker 2: on Martyr. Okay, but like we can't, well, everybody wants

550
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,240
Speaker 2: Martr to just expand like there's a lot of there's

551
00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:50,600
Speaker 2: a lot of things you got to kind of move for.

552
00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,080
Speaker 2: Like how do y'all kind of prioritize and figure out

553
00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:55,200
Speaker 2: like what dominoes need to fall first when it comes

554
00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:59,280
Speaker 2: to things like you know, housing, food access, affordability, transportation.

555
00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,600
Speaker 3: Like how do y'all map that stuff out? So I

556
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 3: think a few things.

557
00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:07,320
Speaker 4: One is we follow the data first and foremost right

558
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:09,720
Speaker 4: before we get into job creation.

559
00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:13,080
Speaker 3: We got to ensure that people have a roof over

560
00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:13,399
Speaker 3: the hit.

561
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,480
Speaker 4: We got to ensure that we have a stable housing

562
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:19,840
Speaker 4: market and people have access to affordable housing, and we're

563
00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:24,000
Speaker 4: building enough enough units because the housing piece is foundational

564
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:26,800
Speaker 4: to a healthy whole neighborhood. If you don't get that, right,

565
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,240
Speaker 4: it doesn't matter how good the school is, because I

566
00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:32,920
Speaker 4: can't stay in the neighborhood, right right. It doesn't matter

567
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:35,640
Speaker 4: whether or not the job We got a job center

568
00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:37,560
Speaker 4: all right here, because I can't stay in the neighborhood.

569
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 4: And so the housing piece is going to be is

570
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:43,359
Speaker 4: and has been foundational to us. Second is we got

571
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:45,760
Speaker 4: to always invest in our young people and so we

572
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,080
Speaker 4: get more. You know, an ounce of prevention is better

573
00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:51,080
Speaker 4: than a pound of cure. And so when we invest

574
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:53,879
Speaker 4: in things like early childhood education, when we invest in

575
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,080
Speaker 4: workforce pathways, when we pay our young people a living wage,

576
00:25:57,160 --> 00:25:59,880
Speaker 4: those investments pay dividends long term.

577
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 3: And then the third thing is it's just what I

578
00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:06,000
Speaker 3: would just call is the basics. Right. People Literally, they

579
00:26:06,119 --> 00:26:11,440
Speaker 3: need guess what food and stuff on the is this

580
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,800
Speaker 3: a long time ago? Right? So you got to house them,

581
00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:14,959
Speaker 3: you gotta feed them, uh.

582
00:26:15,119 --> 00:26:17,359
Speaker 4: And and so we've got to ensure that all of

583
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:20,280
Speaker 4: our neighborhoods have access to things like fresh food. And

584
00:26:20,359 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 4: then we get into things like increasing transit and connecting

585
00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 4: communities because these communities were intentionally disconnected.

586
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,199
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. I mean people don't know, man, do your history. Man,

587
00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:33,320
Speaker 2: you know what they call the Berlin Wall of Atlanta,

588
00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,159
Speaker 2: Like there was even how I twenty was designed, and

589
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,360
Speaker 2: a lot of these freeways were specifically designed through black

590
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:40,640
Speaker 2: neighborhoods over here is to kind of keep them segregated

591
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:41,080
Speaker 2: and separate.

592
00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:48,399
Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely, man, even how Marda was was originally designed.

593
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:51,280
Speaker 4: There's a reason why. You know, you've got a lot

594
00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,000
Speaker 4: of stops in certain parts of the city and then

595
00:26:53,080 --> 00:26:54,600
Speaker 4: you move to the northern part of the city and

596
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,240
Speaker 4: there you know, one, two, three, or four stops. It

597
00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,159
Speaker 4: was designed to get day workers into a certain art

598
00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:02,800
Speaker 4: the city and then out on that part of the

599
00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:05,800
Speaker 4: city as fast as humanly possible. And so those are

600
00:27:05,840 --> 00:27:09,920
Speaker 4: the kinds of conditions that we are trying to unwind.

601
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 4: Those are the kinds of challenges that you know, government,

602
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 4: in a lot of cases created these problems. It was

603
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:20,199
Speaker 4: malicious policy decisions that created these outcomes, and it's going

604
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,520
Speaker 4: to require government being intentional and courageous to fix them.

605
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:23,880
Speaker 3: Yeah.

606
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:25,960
Speaker 2: When y'all talk about affordable housings again, I hear that

607
00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:28,360
Speaker 2: we're thrown around a lot like one, what does affordable

608
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:30,200
Speaker 2: housing mean, because I think right now a lot of

609
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,520
Speaker 2: people are get in just saying my rent's high and

610
00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:34,880
Speaker 2: things are expensive. But can you like quantify the idea

611
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:35,680
Speaker 2: of what affordable housing?

612
00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,680
Speaker 4: So here's here's the way I'll explain it without getting

613
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 4: too fancy. Uh, numbers are jargon. We are trying to

614
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:45,639
Speaker 4: build communities where the principal, teacher and bus driver can

615
00:27:45,680 --> 00:27:49,040
Speaker 4: all live. And it's really that simple, and so up

616
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:51,480
Speaker 4: and down those income bands. We want to create home

617
00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:56,119
Speaker 4: ownership opportunities, we want to create affordable renter opportunities. We

618
00:27:56,240 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 4: want to create enough housing in a place with those

619
00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:01,879
Speaker 4: three people can all live in the same neighborhood.

620
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:04,679
Speaker 2: And I think again, like even for those neighborhoods too,

621
00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:07,439
Speaker 2: it's important that you know, I think there's like I say,

622
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:09,240
Speaker 2: even having like police that like live in some of.

623
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,200
Speaker 1: Those neighborhoods and living in neighborhoods.

624
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:12,840
Speaker 2: They're a part of right I think, you know, I'll

625
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:15,040
Speaker 2: give Abd some credit. Man, you know, Abded be kind

626
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:17,520
Speaker 2: of chills sometimes, you know, you know, like and I

627
00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:19,200
Speaker 2: think that's but I think that's important in the city

628
00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:20,919
Speaker 2: like Atlanta, right, Like some of those things just kind

629
00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,320
Speaker 2: of like built into that you know, how can people

630
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:25,520
Speaker 2: learn more and can I take advantage of this stuff?

631
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:27,000
Speaker 2: Because again I think they hear these and I think

632
00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:29,720
Speaker 2: for our community too, we don't always do a great

633
00:28:29,840 --> 00:28:32,440
Speaker 2: job of getting access to the information we need to

634
00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,040
Speaker 2: make better decisions, Like when people hear about affordable housing

635
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,000
Speaker 2: and hear about these things, like where are the resources

636
00:28:37,040 --> 00:28:38,760
Speaker 2: and places they can go to actually take advantage of

637
00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:39,680
Speaker 2: these things y'all are doing.

638
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:40,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we.

639
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:45,640
Speaker 4: Number one, I'll give you two places. Number one is

640
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:47,320
Speaker 4: gonna be what we call the Housing Help Center. Now,

641
00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 4: we're really bad at anythings.

642
00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:49,840
Speaker 3: We call things what it is.

643
00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:52,080
Speaker 4: We don't want folks to be confused, right, So nobody

644
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:53,800
Speaker 4: should be confused about the Housing Help Center.

645
00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:55,720
Speaker 3: Right. You go online, go to the House and Help

646
00:28:55,760 --> 00:28:58,720
Speaker 3: Center and get help with housing, whether whether you.

647
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 4: Are trying to find a place to live where you're

648
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 4: trying to get access to some of the resources of

649
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 4: subsidy that the that the city provides or that the

650
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:11,880
Speaker 4: city's partners provides you. You can tap in with the

651
00:29:11,920 --> 00:29:15,240
Speaker 4: Housing Help Center and get connected to those resources and

652
00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:17,680
Speaker 4: then invest Atlanta. And so if you are a small business,

653
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 4: invest Atlanta has a ton of programs dedicated to invest

654
00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,600
Speaker 4: in small businesses, to invest in entrepreneurs from the Women's

655
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:31,440
Speaker 4: Entrepreneurship Initiative to small business grants that provide technical assistance

656
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:34,480
Speaker 4: aside improvement. We can help you build out your box

657
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,280
Speaker 4: even in as well as ongoing operational support in some cases.

658
00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:40,200
Speaker 4: And so I would check out the Housing Help Center

659
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 4: and invest Atlanta. Those are two phenomenal resources to get

660
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:48,040
Speaker 4: access again all the tools that can help with the

661
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 4: home ownership down payment assistance.

662
00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 3: We did a cool thing where we did a few

663
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:55,200
Speaker 3: cool things.

664
00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:56,640
Speaker 4: One of the first things that Mayor did when he

665
00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,160
Speaker 4: got in office is he partner with Tyler Perry to

666
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,880
Speaker 4: pay off all the taxes throughout the city of seniors

667
00:30:03,040 --> 00:30:05,760
Speaker 4: who who because they hadn't paid these tax bills. They

668
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:10,200
Speaker 4: were they were based with the idea of potentially losing

669
00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 4: their homes. So we raise a whole bunch of money,

670
00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 4: putting money, a little bit of money with Tyler Peri's

671
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:17,480
Speaker 4: money and paid off all those taxes so they wouldn't

672
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 4: have to worry about that. Then we moved to launch

673
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 4: what we call, or expand rather what we call the

674
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:24,360
Speaker 4: Anti Displacement Tax Fund.

675
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:28,360
Speaker 3: The Anti Displacement Tax Fund. Again it bad naming it

676
00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,400
Speaker 3: is what it sounds like. Sounds like to stop the displacement.

677
00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,920
Speaker 4: And we do that by h freezing your tax your

678
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:38,000
Speaker 4: tax rate at a certain place wherever it is today

679
00:30:38,400 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 4: for legacy residents, and then your taxes won't go up

680
00:30:41,480 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 4: for twenty years, will pay off whatever that difference is.

681
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,240
Speaker 4: And so we've got four hundred and fifty five people

682
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 4: who have applied to be in that program. We've worked

683
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:51,920
Speaker 4: really really hard again on programs like aviction relief and

684
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 4: down payment assistance and eleven million dollars on the Occupyer Rehab.

685
00:30:55,400 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 4: All of those are programs on again another night on

686
00:30:57,880 --> 00:30:58,720
Speaker 4: the Occupy Rehab.

687
00:30:58,960 --> 00:30:59,760
Speaker 3: Own it you live in it.

688
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 4: The legacy residents, we can give you some money to

689
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,480
Speaker 4: fix up your house. All of those programs came to

690
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 4: invest Atlanta. So it's a really phenomenal resource. Check out

691
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,440
Speaker 4: the website and you can get you can get plugged in.

692
00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what, I got some of mention experiences

693
00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 2: with invested lant. I'm not to go over there with

694
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:18,200
Speaker 2: chive someone these days, and you know, I know, I

695
00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 2: know the money is in there.

696
00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:24,600
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to get something, you know, we're trying

697
00:31:24,640 --> 00:31:26,480
Speaker 1: to unlock it. But no, they got a lot of.

698
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:28,000
Speaker 2: Good stuff, man, So let me ask you this. Now,

699
00:31:28,480 --> 00:31:30,280
Speaker 2: the big thing on everybody's mind right now is World

700
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:32,880
Speaker 2: Cup and all these things going on, like a lot

701
00:31:32,920 --> 00:31:35,120
Speaker 2: of people see you know, opportunities like what should what

702
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 2: should people be paying attention to? Because I think for

703
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 2: a lot of folks, especially folks that I talk to,

704
00:31:39,520 --> 00:31:41,960
Speaker 2: kind of the concern is the only opportunity they're going

705
00:31:42,040 --> 00:31:44,760
Speaker 2: to have is to sell water and T shirts out here, right, So, like,

706
00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 2: where are the opportunities at for small businesses.

707
00:31:47,160 --> 00:31:49,840
Speaker 1: Entrepreneurs that are in our communities like benefit off.

708
00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 3: The World Cup.

709
00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:55,360
Speaker 4: So we launched an organization called Showcase Atlanta, which is

710
00:31:55,440 --> 00:32:00,800
Speaker 4: designed to again showcase Atlanta and particularly from a small

711
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:03,400
Speaker 4: business perspective, and so you could tap in with the

712
00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:07,959
Speaker 4: good folks at Showcase Atlanta. We have a ton of resources,

713
00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 4: everything from grants to technical assistance. They're trying to figure

714
00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 4: out a way to help businesses connect with each other

715
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 4: so that increases.

716
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:16,600
Speaker 3: Their buying power.

717
00:32:17,720 --> 00:32:21,640
Speaker 4: We're doling out cash because we know oftentimes small businesses,

718
00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:25,560
Speaker 4: particularly in the African American community, are under capitalized, and

719
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:28,080
Speaker 4: so we're trying to help give them the resources they

720
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:30,520
Speaker 4: need to be prepared not just for the World Cup.

721
00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:32,800
Speaker 4: The World Cup's a moment in time, but Atlanta will

722
00:32:32,880 --> 00:32:36,440
Speaker 4: exist after the World Cup, right, And so I think

723
00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:38,360
Speaker 4: what we have tried to do is approach the World

724
00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:41,120
Speaker 4: Cup candidly, and we use the World Cup as an

725
00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,480
Speaker 4: excuse to do things faster, right, so everybody else is

726
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:45,680
Speaker 4: concerned about.

727
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 3: The work the events. We are trying to ensure through

728
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:53,440
Speaker 3: Showcase that people that the businesses who.

729
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,160
Speaker 4: Were born and raised here, who are growing here, who

730
00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:01,000
Speaker 4: have made intentional decisions to grow here or had access

731
00:33:01,360 --> 00:33:03,840
Speaker 4: to the resources, and we're connecting them in a variety

732
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,479
Speaker 4: ways with each other, with the city with dollars uh,

733
00:33:07,600 --> 00:33:09,480
Speaker 4: and then we're gonna make sure that they're.

734
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,000
Speaker 3: Well positioned for the advantage.

735
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 4: So Showcase Atlanta is a one stop shop for all

736
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:15,920
Speaker 4: things World Cup and a small business.

737
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, man, I mean there's a lot of big events

738
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:19,520
Speaker 2: is gonna come to Atlanta for the next couple of years.

739
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:21,120
Speaker 2: I mean the Super Bowl think is back in twenty eight.

740
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:22,800
Speaker 2: Like I said, we got the World Cup coming this year.

741
00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,440
Speaker 2: I mean obviously every year you got the SEC Championship

742
00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 2: and all these things like like.

743
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:27,800
Speaker 3: What is it?

744
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:29,400
Speaker 1: What is what is Atlanta turning into?

745
00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 4: So well, so Atlanta, I don't know that we're I'm

746
00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 4: gonna answer it in two ways. One, I'm gonna start

747
00:33:36,040 --> 00:33:38,320
Speaker 4: with the event. So Atlanta's bread and butter candidate has

748
00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:42,000
Speaker 4: always been hospitality and tourism. Yeah, and that is in

749
00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 4: part has been because of just where Atlanta is located.

750
00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:47,560
Speaker 3: You know, we got we got good weather. We'll know

751
00:33:47,600 --> 00:33:48,080
Speaker 3: how to deal with.

752
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:51,240
Speaker 4: But for the most part, for the most part, you know,

753
00:33:51,320 --> 00:33:54,760
Speaker 4: our weather is our weather is good. And you know,

754
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:56,600
Speaker 4: we got the world's business and most efficient airport, and

755
00:33:56,640 --> 00:33:58,880
Speaker 4: so they degenerates a lot of commerce. We've got the

756
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 4: third highest port, third biggest port in the entire country,

757
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:05,400
Speaker 4: in the Savannah Port right down the way, And so

758
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:10,319
Speaker 4: we have always been a magnet, if you will, for people.

759
00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 4: In fact, the you know, on any given year, we're

760
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:17,360
Speaker 4: either third or fourth in terms of our convention business.

761
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:19,640
Speaker 4: And the first two cities don't count because the first

762
00:34:19,680 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 4: two cities are.

763
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:24,359
Speaker 3: Las Vegas and Orlando. Yeah, they ain't not real cities.

764
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,600
Speaker 4: Sorry, Like I get it. You know, there are two playgrounds.

765
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:30,880
Speaker 4: I love finding no disrespect to folks from Orlando or Vegas,

766
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:34,280
Speaker 4: but they are different in terms of what their economy

767
00:34:34,760 --> 00:34:37,520
Speaker 4: is actually built around, but Atlanta's always in the top five,

768
00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:41,400
Speaker 4: and so we have always been a place to do

769
00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 4: uh to do these large events.

770
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:45,560
Speaker 3: We've always been attracted for that reason.

771
00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:49,160
Speaker 4: We landed the ninety six Olympics, the one hundredth Olympiad

772
00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:51,640
Speaker 4: over Athens, Greece, right, and so you know.

773
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:56,080
Speaker 3: We we we've always been. We've always been that now.

774
00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:00,200
Speaker 4: And when you say what Atlanta is turning into, I

775
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:02,200
Speaker 4: think the thing we have to be cognizant of is

776
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:05,960
Speaker 4: because of that tremendous success, people have noticed.

777
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,279
Speaker 3: The world has noticed, and they're like, what are y'all

778
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:10,000
Speaker 3: doing down there?

779
00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:13,560
Speaker 4: Like we know we heard somebody say, somebody told us

780
00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:15,040
Speaker 4: that the South had something to say a long time,

781
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,680
Speaker 4: and people are starting to believe it, right, and they're

782
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:21,319
Speaker 4: starting to move here in droves. And again, two million

783
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:23,239
Speaker 4: people are going to move to the city by twenty fifty,

784
00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:26,120
Speaker 4: or the Metro Atlanta by twenty fifty. Two hundred thousand

785
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,719
Speaker 4: people that moved to the city proper over the next

786
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:32,640
Speaker 4: decade or so, and so we're growing at a rapid rate.

787
00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:37,120
Speaker 4: They're coming because of opportunity. Atlanta has been named the

788
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,400
Speaker 4: best place to start a business, has been named the

789
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:44,040
Speaker 4: best place. I think Bloomberg magazine said we have more

790
00:35:44,080 --> 00:35:46,600
Speaker 4: going for us than any other region in the entire country.

791
00:35:46,600 --> 00:35:47,920
Speaker 3: We've been named the best place to live.

792
00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:51,920
Speaker 4: We've been when magazine has said again we're one of

793
00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:53,640
Speaker 4: the best places for entrepreneurs.

794
00:35:53,719 --> 00:35:55,239
Speaker 3: Black enterprises said the same things.

795
00:35:55,280 --> 00:35:59,239
Speaker 4: Forbes says, all those accolades are cool, but we have

796
00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:01,640
Speaker 4: to ensure you or that we don't rest on those

797
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:05,520
Speaker 4: laurels and that we recognize that candidly, the city has

798
00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:09,520
Speaker 4: not worked for everyone because of those policies, those malicious

799
00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:11,759
Speaker 4: policy decisions that we have talked about earlier, and so

800
00:36:11,920 --> 00:36:13,960
Speaker 4: that that kind of you know, brings it back to

801
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:15,319
Speaker 4: your first question.

802
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:18,960
Speaker 3: We got a choice. We can decide what Atlanta wants

803
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,959
Speaker 3: to be. Will we continue to be an inclusive place.

804
00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:24,279
Speaker 4: Will we continue to be a place where black, black

805
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:28,120
Speaker 4: people and black businesses can thrive? Or will we be

806
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:30,879
Speaker 4: a transient community where the folks who are thriving here

807
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 4: mostly move here.

808
00:36:31,680 --> 00:36:33,719
Speaker 3: And it's no disrespect to them. We love growth, We

809
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,120
Speaker 3: want growth. Come move, put your flag, put the air

810
00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:38,799
Speaker 3: on your chest. Baby. That's all great.

811
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 4: While you do that, we have to make sure that

812
00:36:42,200 --> 00:36:44,680
Speaker 4: we create the conditions for people who are born and

813
00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:45,239
Speaker 4: raised here.

814
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:45,799
Speaker 3: To thrive as well.

815
00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:48,879
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know something I always kind of want about

816
00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:50,560
Speaker 2: to because again I look and I see, you know

817
00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:52,680
Speaker 2: what's happening with the Stitch, with you all on anails,

818
00:36:52,719 --> 00:36:54,440
Speaker 2: which is that new green space that's going to be

819
00:36:54,480 --> 00:36:57,040
Speaker 2: covering over you know, parts of the seventy five connector

820
00:36:57,719 --> 00:37:00,680
Speaker 2: look at some ten yards you know out here, all

821
00:37:00,680 --> 00:37:02,560
Speaker 2: these people that knew what is it called Cosmo or

822
00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:05,840
Speaker 2: whatever the new place is Cosm, These things are happening

823
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:08,520
Speaker 2: right Like I almost feel like, yeah, Atlanta's really almost

824
00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:10,880
Speaker 2: kind of turning into that, I don't want to call

825
00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:13,200
Speaker 2: it like Las Vegas, but it's definitely bringing those peat

826
00:37:13,239 --> 00:37:15,279
Speaker 2: those pieces in those bigger pieces that really kind of

827
00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:16,160
Speaker 2: bring people back to the city.

828
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:16,840
Speaker 1: Is that accurate?

829
00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:17,719
Speaker 3: Yeah? So I think.

830
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:20,880
Speaker 4: I think again, that's that's us trying to accommodate for

831
00:37:21,040 --> 00:37:24,040
Speaker 4: the inevitable growth that will happen. One of the exciting

832
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:26,239
Speaker 4: things about the Stitch and you You talked about this

833
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:30,160
Speaker 4: earlier about how our freeways were designed to intentionally, candidly

834
00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:34,239
Speaker 4: cut off war in some cases, destroy black communities. I mean,

835
00:37:34,440 --> 00:37:36,920
Speaker 4: seventy five eighty five cuts through the heart of the

836
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:41,640
Speaker 4: Sweet Auburn District. Which was basically Black Wall Street, and

837
00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:45,680
Speaker 4: and you know, we can see what happens after that.

838
00:37:46,160 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 4: They cut through Buttermilk Bottom for folk, fancy folks. But

839
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:52,359
Speaker 4: milk Bottom that's by the civic center, y'all, folk, that's

840
00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:56,440
Speaker 4: by the civic center. And so what the stitch actually represents, though,

841
00:37:56,680 --> 00:38:01,400
Speaker 4: is that it caps the freeway one of its eyes again,

842
00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:04,120
Speaker 4: or whether one of his intentions is to undo that

843
00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:07,799
Speaker 4: harm and reconnect the communities.

844
00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:07,800
Speaker 3: And we could do that.

845
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:11,520
Speaker 4: You know, it's pretty it's pretty expansive, and so you'll

846
00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:14,960
Speaker 4: continue to see us move on projects projects like that.

847
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:19,080
Speaker 4: I don't think that, you know, we can turn into

848
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:21,960
Speaker 4: Disney World, right or or or Vegas if we are

849
00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:25,720
Speaker 4: not intentional. Our goal should be to create again healthy,

850
00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:29,960
Speaker 4: whole neighborhoods where people can live and thrive. They don't

851
00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,880
Speaker 4: just they're not just destinations to come to during the

852
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,160
Speaker 4: day or move through their destinations where you live and

853
00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,200
Speaker 4: you plant your flag and you can you can buy

854
00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:42,920
Speaker 4: a home and grow up with or raise your family.

855
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,480
Speaker 4: And so that's what we are trying to do through

856
00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:48,440
Speaker 4: efforts like the Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative. And so if we

857
00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:51,920
Speaker 4: don't do that, yeah, you'll have these big, huge centers

858
00:38:51,960 --> 00:38:55,160
Speaker 4: of entertainment that some people can access and some people

859
00:38:55,200 --> 00:38:56,960
Speaker 4: can and they'll just be things over there.

860
00:38:58,040 --> 00:38:59,719
Speaker 3: They'll be you know, like you you.

861
00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:02,840
Speaker 4: Talked about, you know, whether it's Alphareda, yeah, Sandy's Brains

862
00:39:03,239 --> 00:39:05,240
Speaker 4: or whatever. I mean, their kids who go to Washington

863
00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:10,160
Speaker 4: High School today that the East Side Trail or Punt

864
00:39:10,200 --> 00:39:12,440
Speaker 4: City Market might as well be light years.

865
00:39:12,520 --> 00:39:13,440
Speaker 2: Million miles away from them.

866
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,200
Speaker 4: It's a million miles, you know, it doesn't matter. It

867
00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:20,080
Speaker 4: could be as you know, they're folks who and that's unfortunate,

868
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:23,120
Speaker 4: and so we can change that. But it requires a

869
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:24,400
Speaker 4: great deal of intention to do that.

870
00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:26,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think they're getting there's a lot

871
00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:27,960
Speaker 2: of intention on you going on, and that's why it's

872
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:29,319
Speaker 2: important that you know.

873
00:39:29,400 --> 00:39:30,320
Speaker 1: People get involved.

874
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:32,160
Speaker 2: And one thing, the last thing I'll say too, again,

875
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:34,440
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to make this about overly politics, and

876
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:35,600
Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of times, a lot of

877
00:39:35,719 --> 00:39:37,879
Speaker 2: you know, disconnection with people. They say, you know, I'm

878
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:39,320
Speaker 2: not going to vote, I'm not gonna do this like

879
00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:41,640
Speaker 2: this is why it's important to make sure you're being

880
00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:43,720
Speaker 2: active right to put the people in place that represent

881
00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:46,359
Speaker 2: your interests because if you don't the other side's gonna

882
00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:48,160
Speaker 2: show up, right, And one of the best ways to

883
00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 2: when the election is just not to get people to

884
00:39:49,560 --> 00:39:51,840
Speaker 2: take action at all. Right, And so like, what do

885
00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:55,359
Speaker 2: you all do to help, you know, keep those people

886
00:39:55,960 --> 00:39:59,160
Speaker 2: engaged and involved, especially to make sure that even beyond

887
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:01,439
Speaker 2: mere a gend that we can kind of keep pushing

888
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:03,400
Speaker 2: these agendas really matter back to the people in the culture.

889
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:06,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we the few things.

890
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:08,600
Speaker 4: One is, if you're not at the table, you are

891
00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:14,640
Speaker 4: on the menu, and squeaky wheels get oil. And so

892
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:18,680
Speaker 4: folks who show up and beat on the table, you know,

893
00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:23,280
Speaker 4: they get their way a lot. And so our first

894
00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:27,480
Speaker 4: job has to be to deliver. We have to make

895
00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:30,440
Speaker 4: sure that we are keeping people safe. We have to

896
00:40:30,480 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 4: make sure that we are delivering on our promises. We

897
00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:35,280
Speaker 4: have to make sure that the basics of city government

898
00:40:36,040 --> 00:40:38,680
Speaker 4: are taken care of. And then we have to ensure

899
00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:42,320
Speaker 4: that we are speaking to the issues. You know, this

900
00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:45,760
Speaker 4: work government or politics shouldn't be about the person in office.

901
00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:48,000
Speaker 4: It's about the person you're trying to serve. And so one,

902
00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:50,719
Speaker 4: you got to listen and stay connected to understand what

903
00:40:50,880 --> 00:40:52,759
Speaker 4: those issues are.

904
00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:55,000
Speaker 3: And then you've got to deliver got to you got

905
00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 3: to get out of the office.

906
00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:58,960
Speaker 4: And so folks need access to food, and we haven't

907
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:02,520
Speaker 4: done anything to deliver fresh food. Then why should they

908
00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,680
Speaker 4: believe us? Right, Like, why should they show up and vote?

909
00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:08,040
Speaker 4: And so we're proud of the fact that we opened

910
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:11,480
Speaker 4: the city's second municipal market last year's Eli Market in

911
00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,279
Speaker 4: the heart of downtown Atlanta. And so when we start

912
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:17,439
Speaker 4: when we move into other neighborhoods and we start talking about, yeah,

913
00:41:17,600 --> 00:41:19,840
Speaker 4: we know you need a grocery store, it's not just

914
00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:22,680
Speaker 4: we know you need a grocery store, it's we know

915
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 4: you need a grocery store. We're gonna build you that

916
00:41:25,239 --> 00:41:28,120
Speaker 4: grocery store because we just look at the one he

917
00:41:28,360 --> 00:41:31,239
Speaker 4: just built down the street, right, And so that's how

918
00:41:31,280 --> 00:41:33,800
Speaker 4: we've tried to we've tried to move like and so

919
00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:37,239
Speaker 4: if you talk about our affordable housing efforts, we know

920
00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:39,960
Speaker 4: you need more affordable housing, which is exactly why we

921
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:42,759
Speaker 4: we we did innovative projects like the Melody where we're

922
00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:47,239
Speaker 4: turning shipping containers into affordable housing. While we've did we're

923
00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:50,760
Speaker 4: trying to turn office buildings into affordable housing downtown Atlanta.

924
00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:54,080
Speaker 4: We're building housing on top of a fire station. We're

925
00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:56,759
Speaker 4: building housing all throughout the city because it's important that

926
00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,560
Speaker 4: people not only hear it, but they see it and

927
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:01,720
Speaker 4: they can feel it. Uh. And we got to speak

928
00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:05,279
Speaker 4: directly to issues uh that impact the most amount of people.

929
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:09,040
Speaker 4: And when you deliver for people, when you speak to

930
00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:13,400
Speaker 4: people uh in that way, UH, that's what gets them

931
00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:15,839
Speaker 4: to turn up. That's how you get to You gotta

932
00:42:15,960 --> 00:42:17,480
Speaker 4: you gotta preach to the choir in order to get

933
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:20,080
Speaker 4: them the same and so that's that's what gets them

934
00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:20,560
Speaker 4: fired up.

935
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:21,680
Speaker 3: And so that's what we've tried to do.

936
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,000
Speaker 2: Man, you kind of sit right in the middle of

937
00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:26,440
Speaker 2: everything till many game you're literally, you know, right next

938
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:28,920
Speaker 2: to the mayor executing this agenda. You know, right where

939
00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:31,799
Speaker 2: kind of the center of city power is. Like, what's

940
00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:34,160
Speaker 2: what's the hardest thing about your role and what you

941
00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:35,120
Speaker 2: do that people don't see.

942
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:41,320
Speaker 3: I think that it's a big city, and it is,

943
00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:45,400
Speaker 3: and we move across the city all.

944
00:42:45,320 --> 00:42:48,320
Speaker 4: Of the time, and so we're in communities all of

945
00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:52,480
Speaker 4: the time, and I think what happens is that there

946
00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:56,840
Speaker 4: might be a desire or belief in one part of

947
00:42:56,880 --> 00:43:00,719
Speaker 4: the city that that, hey, we want this thing right,

948
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:02,560
Speaker 4: Like we want this bottle of water. And this bottle

949
00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:05,600
Speaker 4: of water is the greatest bottle of water in history

950
00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:09,439
Speaker 4: of history of waters. And everybody across the city wants

951
00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:13,200
Speaker 4: this bottle of water. Meanwhile, you go to neighborhood why,

952
00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:15,160
Speaker 4: and they're like, we don't even like water.

953
00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:19,200
Speaker 3: We want coke. We want some coca cola, you know.

954
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:21,080
Speaker 4: And then you go to a different part of the

955
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:24,239
Speaker 4: city and it's like, well, we like green tea, right

956
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:30,000
Speaker 4: and so and so what is hard sometimes is dealing

957
00:43:30,120 --> 00:43:35,719
Speaker 4: with those very different issues because people people don't see

958
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:38,879
Speaker 4: and hear what their neighbors across town all the time

959
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,839
Speaker 4: thinking about. And so what it's easy to fall into

960
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:45,680
Speaker 4: is this notion that because all you're hearing in your

961
00:43:45,760 --> 00:43:50,040
Speaker 4: echo chamber is we want this bottle of water. And meanwhile,

962
00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:51,879
Speaker 4: again it's a whole group of folks who want something

963
00:43:52,760 --> 00:43:57,680
Speaker 4: very different. It's hard to balance those those oftentimes competing issues.

964
00:43:57,719 --> 00:44:00,279
Speaker 4: And so what we've tried to do again is listen

965
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:05,120
Speaker 4: to everybody, be honest about where we stand, be grounded

966
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:08,720
Speaker 4: in data, and do things that help the most amount

967
00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:13,080
Speaker 4: of people the fastest and will That is and has

968
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:16,400
Speaker 4: been our guiding ethos since the marriage taken office.

969
00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:17,080
Speaker 3: So absolutely.

970
00:44:17,480 --> 00:44:19,120
Speaker 1: Look, man, we're getting ready to wrap this up. This

971
00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:19,600
Speaker 1: has been good.

972
00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:21,000
Speaker 2: On last question I have for you is just what

973
00:44:21,080 --> 00:44:23,759
Speaker 2: are you most optimistic about for Atlanta right now?

974
00:44:24,239 --> 00:44:28,520
Speaker 4: Oh man, I'm incredibly optimistic about a lot. We have

975
00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:32,280
Speaker 4: so much going forward, so much potential, and our challenge

976
00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:36,440
Speaker 4: is to leverage that potential, to ensure that everybody can

977
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:40,120
Speaker 4: take it, take advantage of it, and everybody can live, thrive,

978
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:43,279
Speaker 4: and grow in the city of Atlanta. And so I'm

979
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:47,440
Speaker 4: incredibly about, incredibly excited about that opportunity. I'm incredibly excited

980
00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:51,800
Speaker 4: about our work to reinvest in neighborhoods. I'm incredibly excited

981
00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:55,920
Speaker 4: about our progress on affordable housing. I'm incredibly excited about

982
00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:58,919
Speaker 4: all of the investments that we've made through our youth

983
00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:04,239
Speaker 4: development programs. I'm incredibly proud of the hard working men

984
00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:06,880
Speaker 4: and women inside the city Hall, whether you are a

985
00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:09,839
Speaker 4: firefighter or whether you're a police officer, whether you are

986
00:45:09,960 --> 00:45:11,839
Speaker 4: on the back of a garbage truck, like folks come

987
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:16,279
Speaker 4: to city Hall and and kill it right, like bend

988
00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:19,759
Speaker 4: over backwards for UH to serve this city. And so

989
00:45:20,640 --> 00:45:24,360
Speaker 4: watching those folks work every single day UH is inspiring.

990
00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:27,920
Speaker 4: And so I think we have incredible leadership. We've got

991
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:30,680
Speaker 4: a strong UH City council who wants to get stuff

992
00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:33,680
Speaker 4: done and not just talk about it. We've got a

993
00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:37,759
Speaker 4: very active UH citizenry. The marriages got re elected with

994
00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:42,240
Speaker 4: eighty eighty six percent of the vote, but nobody's counting

995
00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:45,320
Speaker 4: and so and so. What that What that says is

996
00:45:45,400 --> 00:45:48,200
Speaker 4: that you've got the opportunity, You've got people with you,

997
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:50,879
Speaker 4: you have the opportunity to do something good.

998
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:52,640
Speaker 3: UH. With that opportunity comes in.

999
00:45:52,600 --> 00:45:57,480
Speaker 4: Awesome responsibility to keep listenings, stay connected and ultimately delivering.

1000
00:45:57,520 --> 00:45:59,239
Speaker 3: I'm excited about that about that chance.

1001
00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:02,200
Speaker 2: Absolutely well, if this has been a great conversation, Chief

1002
00:46:02,239 --> 00:46:05,520
Speaker 2: of staff, according english Man, we appreciate you coming. Pulling

1003
00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:07,359
Speaker 2: up before we get out of here, man, how can

1004
00:46:07,440 --> 00:46:09,279
Speaker 2: people you know get more involved with the city. How

1005
00:46:09,320 --> 00:46:11,040
Speaker 2: can I sink avenure of opportunities? Just you know, give

1006
00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:13,200
Speaker 2: people some places they can go to make sure they're

1007
00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:14,839
Speaker 2: learning and getting some of these things you're talking about.

1008
00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:17,879
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely, listen. Affordable housing is always top of mind.

1009
00:46:17,920 --> 00:46:19,840
Speaker 4: So we talked about the Housing Help Center. You can

1010
00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:22,480
Speaker 4: google the Housing Help Center and tap in UH there

1011
00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:24,840
Speaker 4: to get access to resources. If you're a small business,

1012
00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:27,120
Speaker 4: owner and best. Atlanta is always a great place for

1013
00:46:27,160 --> 00:46:27,840
Speaker 4: you to tap in me in.

1014
00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:29,400
Speaker 3: You can go to Dennert. I'll show up with you

1015
00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:32,200
Speaker 3: and walk there, which we will unstick whatever you do.

1016
00:46:33,680 --> 00:46:34,480
Speaker 3: Try to figure it out.

1017
00:46:34,960 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 4: If you've got issues connecting with the city and just

1018
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:41,960
Speaker 4: trying to figure out everything from permitting questions to.

1019
00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:44,960
Speaker 3: Trying to get this pothole field.

1020
00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:47,759
Speaker 4: Three to one one is always at your disposion called

1021
00:46:47,800 --> 00:46:51,960
Speaker 4: three one one literally and deal with issues that our

1022
00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,319
Speaker 4: day to day will get you to where you need

1023
00:46:54,920 --> 00:46:58,319
Speaker 4: need to be. Follow us on social media. City of Atlanta. Uh,

1024
00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:01,560
Speaker 4: the Mayor's got his own Proagram account. I'm coordinating with

1025
00:47:01,719 --> 00:47:05,399
Speaker 4: the number four at l can always tap in there.

1026
00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:05,840
Speaker 4: You know.

1027
00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:07,280
Speaker 3: We'll always be in community.

1028
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:11,000
Speaker 4: And so one of the things that I'm actively trying

1029
00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:13,040
Speaker 4: to do since taking this job is to bring government

1030
00:47:13,080 --> 00:47:13,520
Speaker 4: two people.

1031
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:16,480
Speaker 3: The city Hall is great and be and benn City Hall.

1032
00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:18,920
Speaker 3: Come on down. We'd love to have you, but we're

1033
00:47:18,920 --> 00:47:21,600
Speaker 3: gonna come see you where you are and.

1034
00:47:21,840 --> 00:47:23,400
Speaker 4: Stand in front of you and and and try to

1035
00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:25,560
Speaker 4: ensure your issues get addressed.

1036
00:47:25,640 --> 00:47:27,240
Speaker 3: So we're gonna be outside.

1037
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:29,560
Speaker 2: Absolutely well, man, thank you again for all the stuff

1038
00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:32,359
Speaker 2: y'all doing. We we see the work. And again it's

1039
00:47:32,360 --> 00:47:34,920
Speaker 2: important that we have people in these spaces that you know,

1040
00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:37,759
Speaker 2: again represent the communities they come from. And I don't

1041
00:47:37,760 --> 00:47:39,360
Speaker 2: think I don't think too many people represent it more

1042
00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:40,080
Speaker 2: more like you do.

1043
00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:40,359
Speaker 3: Man.

1044
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:42,760
Speaker 1: So I'm just saying thanks, thanks for keeping one hundred

1045
00:47:42,800 --> 00:47:43,040
Speaker 1: with us.

1046
00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 3: No, I appreciate it, brother, man, Thank you so much

1047
00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:45,840
Speaker 3: for everything that you do.

1048
00:47:46,560 --> 00:47:48,680
Speaker 4: Again, you know, there's nothing wrong with the city that

1049
00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:51,879
Speaker 4: can't be solved by what's right with the city. People

1050
00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:56,719
Speaker 4: like you, your platform, your your leadership are absolutely what's

1051
00:47:56,760 --> 00:47:57,359
Speaker 4: right with the city.

1052
00:47:57,840 --> 00:47:58,920
Speaker 3: Man. Well, I appreciate it. Man.

1053
00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:01,640
Speaker 1: With that said, that's well we ot the honest pot Peace.