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Buckhead City Committee's CEO responds to mayor's press conference

By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Published  August 3, 2021 9:31pm EDT
Buckhead
FOX 5 Atlanta

Atlanta mayor, police chief update on pandemic and crime crime in city

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms discusses the pandemic and crime at a press conference.

ATLANTA - The head of the Buckhead City Committee issued a statement Tuesday evening in reaction to the mayor’s conference earlier in the day.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms addressed two of the city's most prevalent issues during a Tuesday morning press conference: crime and COVID-19.

Bottoms explained the reinstitution of the city's indoor mask mandate and urged Atlantans to get a COVID-19 vaccine. She and Atlanta Police Department officials also provided some details on the fatal stabbing of a woman and her dog in Piedmont Park last week. 

Atlanta mayor discusses reinstatement of mask mandate

Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said the city of Atlanta is reinstituting a mask mandate indoors. She urged Atlanta residents to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

The mayor was joined by Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant and Dr. Carlos del Rio, Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine and Executive Associate Dean for Emory at Grady.

The mayor's office in a release last week said the city was battling "two public health epidemics" being the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the recent crime wave. 

Bill White, the CEO of the Buckhead City Committee released the following statement:

"In today’s press conference, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms once again attempted to deflect blame for the local crime crisis from her weak leadership and anti-police policies to the usual scapegoats – COVID-19 and gun ownership. Referencing last week’s horrific murder in Piedmont Park – another example of how area criminals have been emboldened by unsupported and understaffed policing – the mayor both admitted that security cameras were of little help and, ironically, expressed aspirations to install more. 

"The people of Buckhead consider the quality of city-provided police protection entirely inadequate and reiterate our demand for self-determination as a distinct, incorporated municipality. The leadership of Buckhead City will create a tough-on-crime, pro-police policy that ensures our residents feel safe in their own neighborhood. We urge our state legislators to allow a vote on the formation of Buckhead City on the November 2022 ballot."

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