Rumblings at Atlanta City Hall over choices for leadership positions

ATLANTA — There are rumblings at Atlanta Metropolis Corridor about management positions.

New committee chairs have been chosen and no African-American ladies have been chosen.

Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston spoke with council members about why this has develop into a difficulty for metropolis leaders.

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“We have been actually, actually shocked that the variety piece was lacking,” council member Andrea Boone mentioned.

Boone is likely one of the senior members on the council, however doesn’t have a management function for 2023.

Council president Doug Shipman, who decides the chairman positions, didn’t choose Boone, Keisha Waites or Marci Overstreet to be committee chairs.

Black ladies make up at 51% of Atlanta’s inhabitants.

“Black ladies ought to at all times be represented, particularly if now we have a seat on the desk,” Overstreet mentioned. “And we truly do.”

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There are seven committees that determine points like public security, finance, and transportation, and what points transfer ahead for approval.

Liliana Bakhtiari, who’s Persian, chairs the committee on council.

Boone sits on the committee and was chair, however was rotated from that management function.

Overstreet and Boone took out a half web page advert within the Atlanta Journal-Structure with the headline, “Almost 4 a long time of Black feminine management ends abruptly beneath Atlanta metropolis council president Doug Shipman.”

“And that may’t be tolerated within the cradle of the civil rights motion,” Boone mentioned.

At Tuesday’s council assembly, members of the general public got here forth and spoke about how the facility of the Black lady vote might be ignored.

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Huddleston spoke with council president Shipman, and Tuesday morning he mentioned in a textual content message, “Given the issues raised throughout the council and throughout the neighborhood, I’m making a change within the committee chair assignments for 2023. Committee member Overstreet will proceed serving as chair of the zoning committee.”

“That is a lot larger than peeling certainly one of us off from the opposite. That is about Black ladies, that is in regards to the metropolis, that is in regards to the well being, equality and vitality of Atlanta, Georgia,” Boone mentioned.

Council president Shipman didn’t clarify to Channel 2 Motion Information why he eliminated the ladies from these positions, however the council president typically rotates the chairs of these committees.

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