Find my Atlanta City Council District
Watch for TransFormation Tuesday Candidate Forums
All candidates who qualified to have their name on the City of Atlanta City Council President 2021 Runoff, November 30, ballot are shown below.
Individual candidate responses are listed alphabetically by first name.
Updated: 11/8/2021
Question 1: What is the main way you get around Atlanta on a daily basis?
Candidate |
Response |
| Doug Shipman | Carpool |
| Natalyn Archibong | Drive alone |
Question 2: Please share your vision for transportation and mobility in the city of Atlanta. How would you support transportation options for the 16% of Atlantans who don’t have access to a car, have a disability, and/or prefer to get around by sustainable, healthy modes of transportation such as transit, walking, biking, etc?
Candidate |
Response |
| Doug Shipman | Following Covid- the use of bikes and walking paths has increased significantly despite little new investment from the City of Atlanta. As transit options shutdown during Covid the value and fragility of our network were exposed. I envision an Atlanta that has a clear set of project needs and priorities, with clear funding sources and a prioritization on design and physical initiatives that will improve safety, accessibility and the overall attractiveness of Atlanta for exploration via bike, foot and transit. We need a specific emphasis on investments in historically neglected neighborhoods where infrastructure needs have lagged and neighborhood reliance on non-car transit needs are higher. Specifically I would promote and support additional parking spaces being used for dining or other outdoor business activities, new and expanded crosswalks, additional bus shelters, taking of car lanes for additional bike and pedestrian lanes, and would prioritize design and execution of transit on the Beltline as a vital transit and affordability solution for Atlanta. |
| Natalyn Archibong | My vision for transportation and mobility in Atlanta starts with walkability. I consider having safe and well-maintained sidewalks the responsibility of the city – not the abutting property owner. We must prioritize the repair, maintenance and installation of new sidewalks – especially to connect people to parks, schools and employment centers. My vision also includes fully funding our complete projects such as the one for Dekalb Avenue. We must include bicycle infrastructure in all of our traffic plans to make our roads safer for cyclist. I also look forward to our police being able to enforce the 25 mph vision zero initiative. For the Atlantans who rely upon or chose to use public transit or who use MARTA Mobility or similar transit options, we must advocate for MARTA to be accessible, operate efficiently and be affordable. I strongly support the restoration of the MARTA routes that were discontinued pre-covid, and to ensuring connectivity between MARTA, the Beltline and the Streetcar. We need to increase locations for our city bicycle program and add more electric bicycle options at every location. |
Question 3: The Atlanta Department of Transportation estimates the City has a sidewalk funding gap of close to $1 billion dollars. How would you fund sidewalks and other urgent transportation needs in the city?
Candidate |
Response |
| Doug Shipman | First and foremost, we need a comprehensive review and inventory of our sidewalk needs with a special focus on where accessibility is a high priority for kids, access to key destinations or impacted by climate change. We also need to continue to address the issue of responsibility for sidewalk repair between residents and the city. Various cities across the country have innovative cost-sharing and public/private funding mechanisms- these should be explored by Atlanta. Once we have a comprehensive inventory- we should develop a maintenance plan for areas that are not damaged beyond repair. We should also develop a prioritized list and timeline of repair for the entire sidewalk network including expansion where sidewalks are not in place. It will take a combination of funding sources to fulfill our needs. A key component to successfully adoption funding mechanisms is a focus on ensuring existing TSPLOST and MORE MARTA funds are spent quickly and effectively. Frustration with delayed plans will lower the likelihood of community support for new funding sources. I believe we need greater general fund funding, an extension of the TSPLOST and potentially a dedicated bond issuance to support specifically sidewalk funding. |
| Natalyn Archibong | Atlanta voters made it clear that new dollars are needed to fund transportation and infrastructure improvements through the passage of the 2016 T-SPLOST referenda. To create funds to meet our current sidewalk funding gap, we will need another T-SPLOST. However, to convince the voters that a renewed T-SPLOST should be approved, we need to complete all the projects identified in the previously approved referendum. We must ensure that the new T-SPLOST will include a public-facing, online dashboard to show voters how their funds are being spent and the benchmarks of the projects they are being funded. The City’s T-SPLOST dashboard must be coordinated with similar dashboards maintained by MARTA and the Beltline. |
Question 4: The number of people killed while walking in Georgia increased 22% from 2015 to 2019. Half of those killed were Black, a fatality rate more than twice that of white Georgians. In the city of Atlanta, out of the 16 pedestrians killed so far this year, 15 were Black and 13 were men. This mirrors the national trend of pedestrian fatalities increasing fastest among Black men. What will you do to make streets measurably safer for people biking, walking, and using scooters or wheelchairs? What will you do to address the disparities in whose lives are endangered the most by unsafe streets?
Candidate |
Response |
| Doug Shipman | Unsafe streets are a combination of poor design, fast moving vehicles and a lack of alternatives for pedestrians. We should undertake several measures: - Identify areas where crosswalks are unsafe and/or unavailable and work to improve and expand their use including working with the State of Georgia. - Increase accessibility maintenance of signage, lighting, ramps and signals. We should make sure our basic infrastructure is in good working order. - Increase use of design elements (medians, road painting, stop signs, traffic calming efforts). We have seen adoption of these succeed in Atlanta and we should continue to work with communities and neighborhoods to increase their usage. - Continue to expand 25mph speed limits across the city with special focus on pedestrian heavy areas and consider camera enforcement for violations. We should also continue to gather data on the causes of fatalities to ensure a long term decline/elimination of these deaths. The ongoing data will allow us to address the fundamental causes of fatalities and address them to reach zero. |
| Natalyn Archibong | First, we must take an inventory of the streets in Atlanta where pedestrian fatalities have occurred. Too often the city will determine a street condition unsafe only after there have been a certain percentage of incidents. We need a zero tolerance policy for pedestrian fatalities. We must allocate funds to install sidewalks in high traffic areas – especially in neighborhoods were there are known health, income and other disparities. As Council President, I will aggressively advocate for the allocation of infrastructure funds in a manner that is equitable, transparent, and prioritizes the needs of our most vulnerable communities. To make streets safer for non-car modes of travel, we must enforce vision zero lower speed limits, increase crosswalks at critical intersections, especially near transit stops, in commercial areas and work centers, and near schools, parks and transit stations, and install protected bicycle infrastructure on major corridors and well-traveled bicycle routes. |
Question 5: In 2019, the City of Atlanta announced plans to "more than triple its on-street protected bike network" saying, "by the end of 2021, Atlantans will see more than 20 miles of safer streets.” Many of those projects are not on track to be complete by the end of the year, and while the pandemic challenged project implementation everywhere, building bike lanes and Complete Streets in Atlanta has always been slow. If elected, would you seek to speed up the completion of transportation projects intended to provide safe travel options for people who walk, bike, or have a disability?
Candidate |
Response |
| Doug Shipman | Yes, increasing dedicated lanes and areas for biking and pedestrian activities has been a lost opportunity during Covid and although more difficult as the economy reopens it must remain a top priority for the city. There are several actions I would advocate to speed up the implementation • For existing projects—a focus on speeding up the approval and permitting processes • For projects under consideration- a focus on efficiently moving these projects through the design process with clear timetable oversight from City Council. • Presenting project lists to potential philanthropic sources for additional funding to support rapid completion • Working closely with Federal officials on ensuring key Complete Street projects are included or potentially funded by any federal infrastructure legislation • Work closely with MARTA to maintain and expand accessibility projects related to MARTA |
| Natalyn Archibong | Absolutely. A promise made, must be a promise kept. I am proud to have supported the establishment of the first-ever Atlanta Department of Transportation. AtlDOT is staffed, funded and operational. Now, it is time for that department to fulfill its promise to our citizens, starting with the complete streets. |
Question 6: Communities across the country have found stark racial disparities in enforcement of “jaywalking” and similar laws. In many parts of Atlanta, the nearest crosswalk is over a half-mile away. How would you address the over-policing of walking, biking, and riding transit, including crossing a street outside of a crosswalk?
Candidate |
Response |
| Doug Shipman | First and foremost we have to make sure we have sufficient, well-marked crosswalks and signage and lighting/signaling to match as appropriate. We should then look at key pedestrian areas and increase and improve crosswalk and pedestrian access in those areas as a high priority. I also believe lowering over-policing policies including lowering penalties and working with police departments to more narrowly enforce violations will ultimately increase safety and improve community relationships between police and community members. We should also decrease residential street speed limits in high pedestrian areas and key crosswalk areas and use other traffic calming mechanisms (eg- design elements similar to Irwin/Lake St crossing at the Eastside Trail of the Beltline) |
| Natalyn Archibong | in reinforcing the need to obey traffic laws through the giving of a verbal warning. Our laws are designed to protect health and safety – they are not to be used as an instrument of racial discrimination. While it would be tempting to eliminate jaywalking and similar laws, I am concerned that such an action would make our streets more unsafe. The problem may not in the law, but in how it is being enforced. We need to train our officers to recognize and to avoid select enforcement based upon race. Over-policing is unacceptable. As the next Atlanta City Council President, I will ask the Public Safety Committee members to monitor this situation through its quarterly reports with APD, and to require APD to place its Standard Operating Procedures online so that the public will know the standards for good policing and to report instances where over policing is occurring. The quarterly reports must include crime data by race, so that trends involving potential racial profiling will be more easily discernable and known to the public. When such trends are revealed, immediate corrective action – including the adoption of necessary legislation, must be taken and shared with the public. |
Question 7: The More MARTA tax allocates $2.5 B to expand MARTA in the City of Atlanta over the next 40 years. What do you think the relationship between MARTA and the City of Atlanta should be in implementing this program? What considerations should MARTA be expected to provide for on-street facilities for people getting to and from transit?
Candidate |
Response |
| Doug Shipman | Within the City of Atlanta MARTA should follow the priorities set by City official and city community members—MARTA should be a service provider to the city. Marta should also be expected to provide more and better shelters, ramps, signage and accessibility elements (eg station elevators) for riders. These elements will help increase the rider experience and provide a better overall customer experience. These are investments needed for Atlanta’s needs given high expectations by our residents and visitors alike. The project list as it stands is too short and the timelines way too long. There are ways to accelerate, especially via public/private partnerships. Acceleration also saves money since delays mean that construction cost escalation cuts into the available funding. The current plan needs updating and the City needs to assert itself in ensuring that these funds meet the City’s goals and the promises made to voters. |
| Natalyn Archibong | MARTA must view the city of Atlanta as one of its main partners. That partnership involves the establishment a public facing dashboard to track revenue and expenses. Future transit priorities must be vetted through robust community engagement process and approvals of future MARTA projects must obtained from the City by way of a resolution establishing such priorities. The members of the MARTA board should be required to appear before the City’s Transportation Committee to discuss current and future projects, at least semi-annually. I favor the establishment of a City policy that establishes a set number of MARTA Board members must rely upon public transportation for their transit needs. |