ATLANTA — The Atlanta City Council on Monday voted to override Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' veto over a contentious deal proposed between members of the council and the state of Georgia to exchange control of a city block next to the State Capitol for improvements to Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway.
It is believed to be the first time the council has voted to override a mayoral veto in a number of years, and the first time it has done so with Mayor Bottoms.
The deal essentially hands over Capitol Square SW, a one-block portion of Mitchell Street next to the Capitol Building downtown, to the state of Georgia. The Associated Press reported last week the state plans to permanently close the block as a security measure.
In exchange, the Georgia Department of Transportation in theory would prioritize long-sought improvements to Hollowell Parkway, the often-dangerous westside roadway that connects downtown Atlanta to Cobb County.
Hollowell Parkway runs through a number of predominantly Black neighborhoods, and the victims of the roadway's conditions are members of some of Atlanta's most underserved and vulnerable communities.
In Monday's Council meeting, the vote to override reached a supermajority on a 10-4 count. Mayor Bottoms, in a blistering statement, said the Council had "violated the law" and said she would "explore all legal options pertaining to today’s action."
Bottoms had previously argued city ordinances prohibited council members from negotiating with the state for such a deal, according to the AP.
"Members of City Council have either willingly, or ignorantly, violated the law. I am disappointed in my colleagues on the City Council, who should know the separation of powers outlined in our City’s Charter, as well as the appropriate public process related to this matter," Bottoms' statement said.
The mayor also said the Council had been "duped" and that there is "no agreement or articulation from the State outlining any commitment to improving Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway."
The language of the ordinance originally passed by the Council and vetoed last week by the mayor did not outline details for any improvements, noting only that, "the State of Georgia has agreed to cooperate with the City concerning the proposed substantial improvements to Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway contemplated by the City in the near future, due to the high number of pedestrian deaths."
The AP reported the improvements amount to $6 million, and that Bottoms had been working to raise the money from private donors.
"The Georgia Department of Transportation has been derelict in their duty to repair that road - which is owned by the State," Bottoms said of Hollowell Parkway. "Mitchell Street should not be used as an incentive for the State to do their job."
Bottoms' chief of staff, Carmen Chubb, also said during Monday's meeting that the mayor had "enlisted the support" of Microsoft in the effort to improve Hollowell Parkway. The tech company last week announced plans to build a future campus in Grove Park, which Hollowell Parkway runs through.
Councilman Michael Julian Bond, one of the ordinances sponsors, said during the meeting that he has heard increasing pleas from Atlanta residents along Hollowell Parkway to see fixes made. Bond said that when tax-paying citizens look to government for solutions, they don't distinguish between city, county and state governments, "they say y'all need to get something done."
"Collectively we need to respond to the constituency, and I think that this legislation is the response to that," he said. He added that he took "no pleasure in making the motion to override the mayor's veto."
Bond spoke of the "citizens who live, traverse, travel, use, walk alongside, and who have lost loved ones on Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway" and last week told the AP those communities are "suffering over these endless arguments about technicalities and ego.”
A portion of the meeting was also animated by public comments from residents of the neighborhoods around Hollowell Parkway who believed overriding the mayor's veto would nix a plan to actually expand the roadway, from a four-lane to five-lane highway.
Chubb, the mayor's chief of staff, said that was a misconception, and that "the mayor has no proposal nor any intent to increase the number of lanes from four to five."