Atlanta Mayoral Candidate: Cathy Woolard

Southeast Green - Speaking of Green

The Atlanta Mayoral race is heading into the home stretch. With nine candidates, it's a large field of many ideas and voices. The question that needs to be asked by the Atlanta sustainability community is who has the best vision for the leadership Atlanta has had nationally? We all know that without a full commitment to the legacy created by the last two administrations that we could fall behind. Today we are speaking with former Atlanta City Council President, Cathy Woolard. As President of the Atlanta City Council, the first woman to hold that position, Cathy championed the Atlanta BeltLine, a project transforming abandoned rail-corridors circling the city into mixed-use recreational trails. She founded the “Dirty Dozen,” a pilot program to fix the worst code violations in the city to improve neglected neighborhoods. She also made sustainability a priority, and her Energy Conservation Program cut emissions while saving the city’s facilities more than $800,000 in a single year. As a City Council member for District 6, she increased funding for sidewalks and, as Chair of the Transportation Committee, she oversaw the expansion of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, which had just become the busiest airport in the world. Cathy also personally led the Atlanta City Council to pass what is still the ONLY comprehensive civil rights bill in the state of Georgia, protecting hundreds of thousands of Atlantans from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. As a non-profit organization executive, Cathy has continued to serve others with organizations like CARE, League of Conservation Voters, and the Human Rights Campaign. Cathy is dedicated to Atlanta, committed to honesty and transparency, and diligent in making sure jobs are done right the first time. CathyForAtlanta.com