This week on WCLK's The Local Take I asked Independent Journalist George Chidi to join us again to talk about what’s going on. Chidi recently received the Good Trouble Award from the Center for Civic Innovation for his dedicated work covering our community on his Atlanta Objective news platform.
In January 2022, Chidi wrote a social media post about Atlanta’s new Mayor Andre Dickens re-invigorating the Clippers and Cops outreach program. While the mayor has introduced several new initiatives, including the Pothole Posse, Midnight Basketball, and a focus on nightlife crime, I ask Chidi to share his thoughts on Atlanta’s new mayor and what he’s accomplished so far.
Chidi speaks about the complicated and challenging job of being Mayor of Atlanta. He also talks about Dickens, a graduate of Georgia Tech, being systems-oriented and data driven, making plans to fix some of the broken systems. Chidi offers a brief comparison between Dickens and the past two mayoral administrations and closes with the fact that Dickens seems to show up everywhere in the city all the time as he goes into his 5th month as mayor.
If you follow Chidi, you know that he has been covering crime in our city. Mayor Dickens proclaimed that approximately 1,000 people are responsible for most of the violent crimes in the City of Atlanta. Chidi has taken us behind the headlines and has found the connection between extreme poverty, the burgeoning Atlanta “TRAP” music industry, and the local violent criminal gangs identified with the music.
The Georgia General Assembly legislative session recently ended, and when asked about his opinions on the overall session, Chidi exclaims that it could have been so much worse. I ask about the passage of House Bill 1013, The Mental Health Parity Act, a substantial mental health reform package that aims to create parity across treatment and insurance coverage. There were also raises for Georgia’s teachers.
The disconnect between what the public wants and what the legislature passed in the controversial “Constitutional” carry SB 319 is considered by Chidi to be a moral crime. An analysis conducted by GPB News found that most Georgia counties have over a 90% approval rating for concealed carry applications.
Chidi also spoke about the coming November election for governor, which he thinks will come down to incumbent Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams. He said he hopes that with an almost 50/50 split between Democrats and Republicans in Georgia, this election will lead to honest discussions about the future of our state.
For more information about George Chidi and a subscription to the Atlanta Objective