The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mayor Dickens keeps low profile at Biden’s Atlanta rally
Mayor Andre Dickens was seen mingling with President Joe Biden in a recent video shot inside the Oval Office, but the first-term mayor stayed behind the scenes on Saturday when the president visited Atlanta.
Biden, along with first lady Dr. Jill Biden, traveled to Atlanta over the weekend for their first campaign stop in Georgia, a crucial swing state in the race to the White House. Just 70 miles away, former president Donald Trump rallied with supporters in Rome.
While both U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock gave impassioned speeches to the crowd gathered at Pullman Yards in the Old Fourth Ward, Atlanta’s mayor wasn’t included in the speaker lineup for the Biden event.
Just before the president came on stage, Dickens was seen mingling with attendees and doing interviews with the press at the back of the event space.
The Atlanta-Journal Constitution caught up with the mayor, who said the event was focused on touting endorsements from minority voter mobilization groups and allowing residents to hear directly from Biden himself.
“Today is a big day in the city of Atlanta given that right now we are a true battleground state — kicking off campaigns with Joe Biden, our president, and our previous president in our state at the same time, both vying for the attention of Georgia,” Dickens told the AJC.
“I think the pathway to the presidency must be won by winning Georgia,” he said. “It happened in 2020 by 11,000, 12,000 votes, so we have to do it again. So this is important.”
The mayor’s low profile may be because he hasn’t always been met with the warmest of welcomes from crowds gathered at presidential campaign events.
Dickens received a rude reception at the last Biden-Harris campaign visit when he spoke ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris during her stop at Morehouse College. A mixture of cheers and boos filled the HBCU auditorium when the first-term mayor took the stage.
It’s not the first time the mayor faced heckling from young voters over his handling of controversial topics like the city’s planned public safety training center.
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Residents in Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhoods are likely familiar with a powdery “snowfall” of white particles that coat their balconies and clog gutters in high-traffic areas of the city.
The phenomenon is known as “Styrofoam snow” and manifests from materials used for construction of new high-rise buildings. City officials say residents who live in plagued areas complain frequently about the irritating substance.
City Council member Amir Farokhi authored and got passed legislation at the end of last year in an effort to cut back on the construction litter that wasn’t always penalized under city code.
“What we saw in Midtown was almost like, you know, snowfall,” he told the AJC last week. “But it wasn’t snow, it was small bits of Styrofoam raining down from high-rise construction.”
The legislation created a new level of enforcement of the city’s litter ordinances that allows a property owner or contractors to be held liable for debris and face a fine.
“The city has to balance the livability and safety of existing residents and visitors with the need for more housing,” Farokhi said. “So when new housing goes up, making sure that it can go up efficiently but also not put residents or visitors at risk — whether that’s environmental risk or safety risk — it’s a balance the city has to strike. Do you struggle with the impact of construction in the Midtown neighborhood? Drop me an email at: riley.bunch@ ajc.com.
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March 10 will now be known as “RuPaul Day” across the city of Atlanta after Council members along with the Mayor’s Division of LGBTQ Affairs honored the iconic drag entertainer RuPaul Andre Charles.
The Emmy award-winning reality TV show host of RuPaul’s Drag Race was an Atlanta Public Schools graduate who rose to fame by performing at some of Atlanta’s most bustling nightclubs throughout the 1980s.
RuPaul made a stop in Atlanta with the Rainbow Book Bus, the entertainer’s charitable program that promotes books with LGBTQ representation, as many Republican-led states have cracked down on the content of school libraries.
“Atlanta cradled me in its loving arms during my formative years, so it is with great honor that I return to accept even more love from the city that made me who I am today,” RuPaul said of the visit.