Felicia Moore

What is your plan to control the COVID-19 pandemic in Atlanta? What are your plans to encourage vaccination given that Georgia and Atlanta’s vaccination rates fall far behind the national average? Given that a growing number of Atlanta businesses are opting to implement vaccine mandates, would you support a vaccine mandate for public employees?

I believe in following the science and that it is critical to increase the vaccination rate in our city. As our next Mayor, I will require all city employees to either provide proof of vaccination or to submit to frequent testing, social distance isolation, and mandated mask wearing.

In the event we see another spike in infection rates, or if we face another variant, I will have to make tough decisions on broader mandates.

Unlike the current administration, I am going to invite members of the community, including small business owners, healthcare experts, neighbors, and other stakeholders and officials into the conversation. I believe that consensus begins with communication and providing people the chance to pivot in the event of a public emergency.

COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated economic disparity in Atlanta. What are your plans to promote economic opportunities for all people in our city? How do you plan to ensure this growth is shared by all, especially historically marginalized groups?

The greatness of Atlanta is diminished by our income inequality, which leads to crime, domestic violence, and other social ills. It is unconscionable that our administration was forced to return millions of unused federal funds for workforce development. That is why, in the first 100 days as our next Mayor, I will reform our workforce development agency to address the spectrum of job readiness, training, and placement needs. I will partner with unions, nonprofits, and corporations to provide paid training and apprenticeships programs as well as mentoring. I want to especially emphasize opportunities for single mothers who bear the hardest burdens and least opportunities for above living wage jobs. I will also open up opportunities for first offenders and those who have paid their debt to society. If we don't offer them a chance to participate in society and earn living wages, they're more likely to return to a life of crime. Furthermore, too many teens feel they must help support their families. Our workforce development agency must include paid training and apprenticeships for them.

Atlanta’s population has seen steady growth over the past few years, and many have noted that this growth has pushed members out of their communities. What are your plans to increase affordable housing availability?

The first thing we need to do is get the Atlanta Housing Authority to place the year-long backlog of people below 50% AMI into housing. We also need to immediately renovate existing COA property into no-questions-asked shelters and low-barrier shelters with special emphasis on our homeless seniors, women, and families.

Longer term solutions are to use the over 800 acres of City property and leverage our relationship with the Land Bank to build new affordable housing. My goal is to set aside hundreds of units for service industry workers and city employees so they can live in the city they serve.

Do you support the Atlanta Homeless Union’s 4 demands - for “housing, healthcare, water, and a seat at the table” - and if so, how do you plan to meet these demands as mayor?

They absolutely deserve a seat at the table. As stated above, one of my first initiatives as Mayor will be to convert existing COA buildings into no- to low-barrier shelters to provide those who cannot meet the requirements of other shelters a safe, clean, place to live and connect to the services they need to address their individual cases.

In the wake of all these natural disasters occurring nationwide, what is your plan to make Atlanta more resilient to the effects of climate change? Do you support declaring a climate emergency?

Atlanta, the Phoenix City, needs to reinvent itself again to be a leader in clean energy adoption in the Southeast. Our planet can’t wait. As mayor I will attack this problem head on.

First, our beloved parks and tree canopy are the lungs of our city. I will work tirelessly to protect them and plant more. Under my opponent’s previous administrations Atlanta has lost and estimated 15% of its tree canopy. Not on my watch.

We will accelerate all existing plans to speed up the implementation timeline. The city is often known for being a slow bureaucracy. That’s one of the things I WILL change.

Furthermore, the city government has 7% of all energy usage in city. We must reduce our carbon footprint. I will require all general maintenance to use energy efficient products and devices, and, where possible, renovate or build using sustainable flooring and cabinets. By the end of my first term, my goal is to convert all city operations vehicles to CNG or electric. I also want to convert as many COA rooftops to green roofs that include gardens which can be used to feed our unsheltered residents. Additionally, I want to explore how Atlanta can become a sponge city by converting open spaces so that they can absorb channels, and retain stormwater run-off.

The health of all persons, including immigrants and incarcerated populations, matter. During the pandemic, we’ve witnessed COVID-19 outbreaks in prison and ICE detention facilities. As mayor, how will you ensure that the health of these individuals are maintained and held to the appropriate standards?

The City of Atlanta does not provide ICE detention centers. We are a welcoming city. What we can do is provide multilingual information to community partners so that our immigrants and their families know where to go and how to receive the public health, job, and other resources they need. I also want to provide navigators who can shepherd people through those confusing processes.

The pandemic has further exacerbated the opioid crisis. What measures would you implement to decrease opioid deaths and the spread of infectious disease among people who use drugs in Atlanta? Further, what harm reduction policies would you implement more broadly?

As our next Mayor, I will put significant pressure on our Fulton County peers to provide the human services they are chartered to provide. I will partner with Mercy Care and a variety of non-profits like Positive Impact that are already providing health care services, to explore how we can also work together to curb the opioid crisis.

Racial justice, particularly in the context of the Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate movements, has been central to our city’s discourse in the past year. How would you address hate crimes and discrimination as mayor?

The first thing I will do as our next Mayor is work with law enforcement to make sure that cases are properly coded so that the DA's office can properly prosecute them. I will also invite members of the activist community to the table to educate my cabinet on what is needed at the ground level to stem discrimination and the racial tensions that give rise to hate crimes. And then I will make myself and my team accountable for implementing those programs.

The Atlanta City Council recently voted to move forward with a lease to the Atlanta Policing Foundation for the construction of a police training facility, called “Cop City”. Do you support this move, and what is your stance on public safety and policing more generally?

The entire process was botched, in my opinion. I believe we must engage neighbors at the beginning of all development projects, not when it has effectively become a fait accompli. I am proud that I led the Council to require a 60-day public hearing process because that resulted in a dramatic reduction in the footprint of that facility from 150 acres to 85 acres, and it preserved 215 acres of green space for the neighborhoods to lead on design.