Committee for a Better Atlanta Releases 2021 Platform

This week, Committee for a Better Atlanta (CBA), a business coalition compromised of over 30 Atlanta businesses and civic organizations, including the Metro Atlanta Chamber, released their 2021 policy platform. The platform serves to inform candidates and voters on the issues important to Atlanta’s business and civic community.

Through the work of the CBA board, the following policy issues were identified as priorities for 2021:

Improving Public Safety Outcomes

• Establish a unified voice on criminal justice and policing reform. Path forward must include actionable and clear prioritization, cross-sector buy-in, and commitment to work alongside interagency judicial partners.
• Thoughtful evaluation of public safety real estate holdings such as the Atlanta City Detention Center
• Establish a clear and fair process for pre-trial detention
• Recommit to a police staffing target to more effectively support daily public safety operations
• Explore public-private partnerships, such as the Institute for Social Justice and Public Safety Training Center, that would strengthen recruitment, leadership development, officer training, and police-community relations within the City of Atlanta

Equitable, Economic Growth to Aid Recovery

• Strengthen economic development tools that catalyze private market investment, attract new jobs, and protect local funding for community development
• Support “hardest hit” industries in a post-COVID environment through innovative relief tools, stimulus funding, and improved communication
• Foster Black and Minority-owned business growth through capital investment and technical resources
• Creation of a cross-sector education taskforce to improve public education outcomes, align curriculums with workforce needs, and diversify Atlanta’s talent pipeline
• Explore innovative partnerships with the Atlanta Technical College and the Center for Workforce innovation to promote economic mobility and remove barriers to education and employment

Housing Affordability for All

• New, dedicated funding source for housing
• Prioritize publicly-owned assets for affordable housing and community development
• Support and protect legacy residents through anti-displacement initiatives
• Creation of a Cabinet-level housing position
• Dedicated resources to preventing and ending homelessness

Pragmatic Leadership Tethered to Collective Vision

• Create a strategic vision for the City that has cross-sector buy-in and a bias for action and which governs all policy decisions
• Focused and intentional collaboration with state and county governmental partners
• Strengthen the City’s customer service function to be reachable, responsive, accountable to its various constituents – particularly around quality of life fundamentals
• Improve Atlanta’s business climate through ethics, transparency, and efficiency
• A focus on Cabinet-level leadership recruitment and retention

Accessible, Connected, and Sustainable City

• Transportation funding as economic stimulus
• Improved transparency, leadership, and prioritization of More MARTA program
• Protection of Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport
• Commitment to sustainable development

To read the complete, in-depth platform that dives into more detail around CBA’s priorities, click here. To keep up with CBA, follow them on Twitter, @CBAtlanta.