In addition to our normal news coverage, What Now Atlanta is tracking ways Atlanta’s businesses are adapting to the novel coronavirus and the challenges it brings to brick-and-mortars.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is no longer suing the City of Atlanta and its Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over a mask mandate and “Phase One” reopening rollback, of which the latter was voluntary, per the Mayor’s office. Kemp made the announcement Thursday via a press release.
“I sued the City of Atlanta to immediately stop the shuttering of local businesses and protect local workers from economic instability,” Kemp said in a prepared statement. “For weeks, we have worked in good faith with Mayor Bottoms, and she agreed to abandon the city’s Phase One roll-back plan, which included business closures and a shelter in place order.”
The Attorney General’s Office filing to withdraw the lawsuit was a trade of sorts for Bottoms’ “concession” regarding the dismissal of the city’s Phase One roll-back plan.
“Unfortunately, the Mayor has made it clear that she will not agree to a settlement that safeguards the rights of private property owners in Georgia,” Kemp said. “Given this stalemate in negotiations, we will address this very issue in the next Executive Order. We will continue to protect the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians.”
The Governor’s current Executive Order expires Saturday, August 15, at which time he will issue a new order with “relevant language,” according to the release.
[Editor’s note: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly evolving as is its effect on Atlanta, and the City’s businesses and its residents. Click here for What Now Atlanta’s ongoing coverage of the crisis. For guidance and updates on the pandemic, please visit the C.D.C. website.]
5 Responses
I thought KLB said Phase One was voluntary.
This guy is just a testosterne-poisioned control freak.
He didn’t sue any other cities in GA that had similar guidelines.
And from my understanding he didn’t sue the COA, he sued KLB, and the City Council.
What a d!ck…
It seems he might have a problem with (Black) women in charge…
Oh hush that’s bogus and assumptive to say the least. This has nothing to do with being a woman of color nor if he has a problem with the later. KLB ( as you all call her) was going to literally break the small business! Which would have put thousands out of work creating a ripple affect from there. So hush! You can’t go backwards to phase 1 and force mask wearing in public ( which doesn’t stop or curve a “virus”). There is something else going on here and the Governor is standing up against it for ALL small business owners of ALL colors again stop trying to play the race card this would have messed everyone up that owns a small business .
Oh please, you told me to hush the last time I mentioned this.
Read the article, the reopening rollback was voluntary. KLB was not shutting small businesses down.
She was trying to make masks mandatory in public spaces (grocery stores etc). What’s the big deal with that?
Kemp didn’t sue the Mayors of Athens and Savannah, which made similar requirements.
Race aside, Kemp is the shake boy for Pence/Trump. And we know how those two think about women. One likes to grab them by the puzzy, and the other calls his wife Mother.
Kemp’s lawsuit was a power play– it’s not about the concern for anybody’s health or small business.
Granted, Kemp wants to keep the Georgia financial engine running, but I think the Mayor and the rest of us want to do that as well– safely.
Kemp’s a big southern macho man wannabe who doesn’t like a woman that appears to override his authority (remember his campaign ads with his guns and pick-em up truck?).
KLB has the balls Kemp wishes he had.
Dingus-ery