Over the past few days, I asked representatives from the 3 top polled campaigns to submit a 1,000 word essay on why Atlanta voters should vote for them for Atlanta Mayor. I will post the essays as I receive them from the campaigns.
FROM MARY NORWOOD:
To make our city work for you again: that’s why I’m running for Mayor of Atlanta.
For eight years as a citywide councilmember and for years before that as a neighborhood advocate, I have met with Atlantans in every part of our city. The bridges I have built can bring our city together, and keep me informed of the issues and the concerns that really matter to you.
I have heard loud and clear the same message in every neighborhood I visit: you want Atlanta to go in a new direction. You want the city to work for you again. As your mayor, that will be my passion, day in, day out. That’s the job I want to do for you.
To make Atlanta great again, start with public safety, protecting you, your family, and your home. Nothing is more important than keeping you safe. We are in a crisis, with property crimes up 8%, burglaries up 13%, and thefts up 11% last year. As mayor, I will never allow police and fire fighter furloughs to happen again. And I’ll end the fire station brownouts. We must expand the police force, and just as importantly, retain experienced personnel. I will work with Fulton and DeKalb Counties to ensure vigorous prosecution and ensure that repeat offenders are off the street and not terrorizing vulnerable communities. I’ll beef up Code Enforcement so that our neighborhoods aren’t full of abandoned buildings that attract crime.
It continues with financial accountability, bringing transparency to city finances. For years I have fought for a full and complete accounting by independent outside auditors. Nonetheless, bank accounts have gone years without being reconciled, and money has moved from one account to another like a giant shell game. We simply do not know how much money the city really has and how much money the city really owes. We have only just begun to draw back the curtain. Until we get a firm grip on our finances, tax increases are off the table. As we move forward, we must eliminate waste and inefficiency. We must raise revenues by building a stronger tax base, too, and supporting our communities and our neighborhoods are at the heart of our future financial well-being. It’s time to make our tax dollars work for everyday Atlantans, not for politically well-connected business interests.
No less important are jobs and economic growth, and that means building on our community’s strengths. Atlanta can be a great place to do business, and our neighborhoods continue to attract new residents. We are a regional retail, entertainment and cultural destination. For our local economy to live up to its potential, however, the city has to get the basics right: clean and safe streets, financial accountability and stable taxes are all important to a city that is a magnet for human capital and regional leadership. Jobs depend on it. By investing in our neighborhoods, by streamlining the permit process to facilitate redevelopment, by managing traffic to ease the gridlock on our streets, by aiding small businesses and entrepreneurs, and by making vacant or foreclosed homes attractive to first time homebuyers, we can continue to attract new residents, expand our tax base, and put Atlantans back to work building great neighborhoods and the businesses that follow.
Getting the basics right means focusing on city services and city management. I will demand a businesslike culture at city hall: our residents should be treated like valuable customers. For eight years, my council office has functioned as a customer service window, solving problems on a daily basis, so I know how far the city has to go to enforce property codes, deliver quality services, bill accurately for water and sewer, promptly review applications for permits, pick up garbage and sweep streets, replace defective traffic signals, not to mention provide adequate police precinct and fire station staffing and a 911 call center that responds promptly and accurately to every emergency. These things make a city livable, and a well managed city does them well. To run city government so that we meet your highest expectations, I will recruit a proven professional experienced public manager as Chief Operating Officer. Good management will get better value for your tax dollars, too.
No one else in this race brings the combination of bridges built connecting all our communities, a long and successful hands-on career in the business world, and a detailed understanding of the inner workings of city government that I offer to you. No one else brings this level of passion, this commitment and energy to the task. To make our city work for you again: this is the job I will do for you as your next mayor.
Mary Norwood (www.marynorwoodformayor.com)
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