February 2,2017
Anne Torres, Director |
Jenna Garland, Press Secretary |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 2, 2017
News Release
Mayor Kasim Reed Delivers Annual State of the City Speech to Business and Civic Leaders in the City of Atlanta
Address highlights new initiatives to fund the arts and homelessness interventions
ATLANTA – Mayor Kasim Reed delivered his seventh annual State of the City address to Atlanta’s business, civic, faith and non-profit leaders today at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. During his address, he highlighted economic development, including business relocation and job creation numbers, the residential building boom, the ongoing success of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and a strong record of reducing crime and improving public safety. The Coca-Cola Company sponsored this year’s breakfast. Sandy Douglas, President of Coca-Cola North America, served as host.
“Atlanta is the most vibrant, culturally significant and international city in the Southeast, the anchor of the ninth-largest metropolitan area in America, centered in the eighth-largest state in the union. We are an emerging global force with a GDP of more than $305 billion – bigger than 30 states,” said Mayor Reed. “Atlanta is ascendant, and we are ascendant because of the people who bring and build their dreams here, in the City of Atlanta.”
In the first eleven months of 2016, the City of Atlanta issued more than double the number of residential building permits than each of the metropolitan region’s fastest growing suburban counties. More than 22 projects are under construction in Midtown Atlanta, with 8,000 new residential units planned for the neighborhood.
Following last year’s State of the City speech, the City of Atlanta adopted an affordable housing ordinance requiring any developer accepting taxpayer incentives to guarantee 10 to 15 percent of units affordable to people with incomes below 60 or 80 percent of the area’s median income. This same policy was recently adopted by the Fulton County Development Authority and Atlanta Public Schools. Since 2010, the City of Atlanta has created more than 2,000 affordable housing units for working families and Millennials.
In November 2016, Atlanta voters overwhelmingly approved the $2.6 billion MARTA expansion and the five-year, $300 million TSPLOST. Combined with the $250 million Renew Atlanta bond program, the TSPLOST will cut the City’s $900 million infrastructure backlog by more than half.
Mayor Reed also announced two important new initiatives:
Other accomplishments highlighted during the State of the City speech include:
“I believe that 2017 will be the culmination of everything we have built over the last seven years. My belief is rooted in the fact that all around the city you see the extraordinary progress, smart growth and economic opportunity that we have built together,” said Mayor Reed. “We still have so much to accomplish, together, and I’m ready to get to work.”
Mayor Reed’s remarks are available at: http://www.atlantaga.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=24193.
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For more information about the City of Atlanta, please visit http://www.atlantaga.gov or watch City Channel 26. Follow the City of Atlanta on Facebook and Twitter @CityofAtlanta. Follow Mayor Reed on Facebook and Twitter @Kasim Reed