In November 2025, I put together Smart Safety and Strong Futures, a proposal for South Fulton that connected response times, neighborhood lighting and paid opportunities for young people. The plan named possible locations, laid out steps and proposed measures the public could follow. Where would a safety post go? What work would come first? What would residents see change? I want those ideas to remain part of the conversation.
I developed the plan during my historical mayoral campaign. It was a proposal; the records reviewed do not establish City adoption, and the figures below were targets rather than completed work. The practical questions still matter: what would it take to carry an idea from paper to a service people can use, and how would the public know whether it worked?
Faster help, closer to home
When someone needs help, the distance to a response and the time spent moving through intersections both matter. My memo proposed three neighborhood safety posts at existing facilities: Welcome All, the Roosevelt Highway area and Cedar Grove. The idea was to examine whether local space could support walk-in reporting, a community-policing desk and emergency-services staging, with hours and staffing that residents could actually understand.
I also proposed studying emergency signal preemption on two corridors: Old National and Welcome All, and Roosevelt Highway. The memo envisioned roughly 18 to 22 intersections and about 20 priority vehicles. An emergency vehicle could request a temporary signal change, but a responsible pilot would need safety safeguards, equipment that works across agencies and coordination with the state transportation department where state roads are involved.
That is a different question from simply buying equipment. Who owns each signal? Who maintains it? How are crews trained, and how do we measure an improvement without overlooking risks to other road users? A useful answer starts with a baseline, a real cost and the responsible agencies at the same table.
Brighter places and paid opportunities
The proposal also identified ten possible lighting sites, including areas around Old National Park, Creel Park and Welcome All. The idea was to focus on places where people walk or wait and pair lighting with maintenance, clear sightlines and attention to glare. A light that is installed but does not stay on is not a finished service. The plan therefore proposed monitoring uptime and reporting outages.
Lighting alone cannot solve every safety problem. I wanted it considered alongside access to public services and the opportunities available to young people. The Earn and Learn portion proposed 60 paid, mentored placements across City departments, with work appropriate to each setting. A young person should leave a placement with a paycheck, useful experience and someone who can speak to the work they did.
Those placements would require wages, supervision, insurance, safe assignments and reliable partners. The number 60 was a proposed pilot size, not a claim that positions were funded or filled. Before anyone repeats a number like that as a commitment, I want to see the resources and people responsible for carrying it out.
What accountability would require
The memo called for regular public measures: response times, conditions at lighting sites and participation in youth placements. It included proposed performance targets, but a target is not a measured result. Before judging a change, the City would need an agreed starting point, a consistent method and enough context to understand what the numbers do and do not show.
Public reporting should also protect privacy. A community can learn whether a program is operating without exposing an individual young person's information. If a measure misses its goal, that should be visible too, along with an explanation of what will be examined or changed next.
If I revisited this plan today, I would begin by checking current facilities, staffing, road ownership, procurement requirements and costs. The 2025 memo offered initial ideas and ranges; it did not substitute for current bids, agency decisions or community review. The City's responsible officials and agencies—not this website—would decide whether to take any part forward.
About the proposal
The November 1, 2025 implementation memo and companion public-safety explanation outlined the posts, corridors, lighting sites, youth placements and reporting ideas summarized here. This page is an excerpt and explanation of that historical proposal; it does not establish City adoption, delivery or safety outcomes.
Read the policy recordThe memo proposed “three satellite safety posts operating with extended hours” and “sixty paid youth placements across City departments with on the job mentors.”