At a press conference on his decision not to run again, Mayor Bottoms expressed regret about his tenure so far.
ATLANTA – Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has about eight months in office.
She has already served over three years, and it has been a period of ups and downs. While the past year in particular has been fraught with challenges with the pandemic, Bottoms said it was the moment she would remember most fondly.
The mayor said she was proud that the city had stood up to so many, providing 119,000 meals, securing $ 88 million in funding from the CARES Act and distributing funds to cosmetologists, barbers, small businesses. businesses and the creative industry.
She is also happy that first responders and public service workers stayed on and continued to work during the pandemic.
For Bottoms, his administration’s accomplishments during the pandemic were the highlights of his service.
“This city has seen the most difficult times and there was no playbook, there was no manual. There was no leader in the White House. We disagreed with it. ‘State, but we stepped up and we did it the Atlanta way, ”she said. said at a press conference discussing his decision not to stand again.
RELATED: Mayor Bottoms: “Don’t Know What’s Next,” But Don’t Go To Walgreens
Mayor Bottoms was also asked if she had any regrets and offered one. This is a time when she would have liked to go faster.
She said she regretted not asking for the resignation of the former administration employees earlier.
It’s something she wished she had done on day one, rather than the first 100 days of her tenure, in order to have a new leadership team at City Hall.
Bottoms said 100 days was not that long, but the challenges she faced when she was sworn in on January 2, 2018 were the same ones she faced on April 9, 2018, when she asked all members of the cabinet to submit their resignation. . RELATED: Atlanta Mayor Calls Georgia Gun Laws “Lax”, Experts Step In
She then went through each letter, looked at their performances and decided which one she would accept.
The move came amid a federal investigation into mayor corruption, dating back to before Bottoms became mayor.
She said her call for resignation letters was not an issue against these employees, just a difference in leadership style.
“Different people need different people to work alongside them and it’s not that a lot of these men and women weren’t strong leaders in their own right, they weren’t the strongest leaders for me and what I needed in terms of a management team. ” she said.
Mayor Bottoms said there was still work to be done. As her term as mayor comes to an end, she will continue to fight until the end of her term, to fight the increase in violent crime, the pressure to create more affordable housing and provide services to the homeless. shelter.
