Coming off a major election year that somehow is still not finished, you’d think 2021 would be relatively quiet, a time to reset and prepare for what should be a hotly contested slate of 2022 elections statewide. But in Atlanta 2021 means we have a mayoral race, where Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is facing harsh criticisms from her own side of the political aisle.
Those criticisms will largely be focused on the huge spike in Atlanta’s murder rate, which currently stands at 154, a stunning 62% increase over 2019’s 95. Shooting incidents in total are up 44%, and the 885 shooting victims in the city in are up from 589 just a year ago. Much has been written about how violent crime has spiked nationwide as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic fallout, but extenuating circumstances in Atlanta, which critics have tied to some of Bottoms’ (in)actions, have vaulted it to near the very top of the list of the nation’s most dangerous cities.
In fairness, crime numbers in other categories, such as rape and robbery, are down in 2020. Similarly traffic arrests and citations are down by massive margins, pointing to the fact that folks stayed home a lot more this year.
But the key number remains that 62% spike in murder rate, which last week prompted Atlanta City Councilman Howard Shook to publicly call out the need for more leadership in the city. Former Mayor Kasim Reed, who has kept a low profile since leaving office, even poked his head up to endorse Shook’s critique. After all, Reed’s brushes with crime were of a notably more white collar variety, having contacts go to prison for bid-rigging or bribery don’t look so bad when compared to eight year old girls being shot by armed mobs that have taken over entire city blocks.
Earlier this year InsiderAdvantage reported that Atlanta Police Department resignations were skyrocketing, with forty-two officers resigning between June 1 and Aug. 21 alone. That was after the fallout from the Summer’s protests, which often turned violent, and the subsequent notion that the APD wasn’t being supported by city officials including Bottoms. Fulton DA Paul Howard lost his re-election bid as a result of his handling of that situation, including immediately charging Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe, involved in the shooting of Rayshard Brooks at a local Wendy’s, with felony murder before a full investigation had even had time to take place.
This week three Atlanta City Council members, J.P. Matzigkeit, Howard Shook, and Matt Westmoreland, took matters in to their own hands by donating $125,000 each from their personal office funds to the Buckhead Security Plan. The plan was enacted to help curb the shootings that have become so common in the wealthy shopping and commercial business district this year, most recently including the 7-year-old girl who died this week after being shot in the head by a stray bullet from a Dec. 21 argument between men outside Buckhead’s Phipps Plaza that erupted into gunfire. Will Atlanta voters, likewise, choose to look elsewhere for leadership in 2021?
