Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has appointed Jon Keen to serve as the City’s Chief Operating Officer. Keen joined the Bottoms Administration in 2018 as Deputy Chief Operating Officer. Before joining the Administration, Keen was a Manager for Deloitte Consulting LLP and IBM Global Services and was a Major in the United States Army. Since joining the City, Keen has led development of the Mayor’s One Atlanta: Economic Mobility, Recovery, and Resiliency plan, focused on opportunity and growth for low-income households and small businesses. He was instrumental in the Mayor’s effort to provide historic pay raises to the Atlanta Police Department and is leading the City’s administration of CARES Act funding to bring relief to Atlantans during the COVID-19 pandemic. The appointment is effective immediately.
A new “Buckhead Security Plan” created by a team of local organizations, officials and residents in response to a rise in some types of crime largely calls for beefing up existing police tactics, laws and policies. A key new feature is coordinating the neighborhood’s myriad private security patrols and enlarging an existing one in the central business district. Spearheaded by the Buckhead Coalition, the Buckhead Community Improvement District and the Atlanta Police Foundation, the plan addresses concerns about shootings, street racing and other crimes on the rise in Buckhead and aims to aid the entire city. But its “zero-tolerance” language has a political side as well, reflecting local unhappiness with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ very different approach to policing in the wake of this year’s Black Lives Matter protests that, in the most extreme form, revived separatist talk of Buckhead becoming its own city. While developed with input from her administration, the plan specifically calls on Bottoms to support the document and make a public anti-crime declaration. Read the full story at Reporter Newspapers.
The City of Atlanta has scored an eighth consecutive perfect score on the 2020 Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Municipal Equality Index (MEI). Atlanta received nine bonus points for additional efforts taken by the city, for a total raw score of 109, and also achieved MEI “All-Star” status for scoring above 85 despite Georgia’s status as a state without non-discrimination statutes that expressly protect LGBTQ people. “Atlanta’s diversity is one of our greatest strengths, and our position as a global leader is due in large part to the invaluable contributions made by generations of LGBTQ residents in our city,” said Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. “While we are proud to receive this honor, our Administration continues to push for more progress and support for our LGBTQ communities so that we are truly One Atlanta.” Bottoms has prioritized LGBTQ affairs, including the appointment of the city’s first Director of LGBTQ Affairs, expanding access to PrEP, the creation of a diverse LGBTQ advisory board, and leveraging resources to provide funding for trans housing. The 2020 Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index can be accessed at hrc.org/resources/municipal-equality-index.