CBA & CAP - Seven Key Questions for Candidates

June 15,2009

This summer, the Committee for a Better Atlanta (CBA) and Central Atlanta Progress will ask candidates for mayor and City Council to tell us how they would lead Atlanta in the next four years. When we have completed the interviews in September, we will report what we have learned to you.

In the meantime, candidates are raising money for their campaigns, and many are asking business leaders for support. To help business leaders talk with the candidates, CBA has drafted seven key questions that we think business people should ask candidates for mayor, City Council president and City Council.

These may not be the precise questions CBA will ask candidates this summer, as issues and circumstances change, but they are the ones we would ask at this point.

1. The city government faces a $50 million budget shortfall this fiscal year (through June 30, 2009), due
largely to declining city revenues. How would you close the budget gap?


2. What are some specific ways city government could improve services and save money?


3. Atlanta’s goal should be to become America’s safest big city. How could we achieve that goal in the next
four years?


4. How can we improve mobility for residents, workers and visitors?


5. How can Atlanta be a reliable partner for economic development?


6. How can Atlanta become a leader in regional, state and national decision making?


7. What is the state of Atlanta’s infrastructure – streets, sidewalks, water lines and sewers – and what
would you do to improve it?