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Listen: Former Mayor Reed on crime in Atlanta, whether he’ll run again

Speaking with The Frank Ski Show on KISS 104.1 FM Wednesday morning, former Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said he is not planning to run again for his old job this year.

Reed also expressed his concern about crime in Atlanta: “The level of crime and violence is just at unacceptable levels and it’s fracturing our city in a way I haven’t seen in our lifetime.”

Reed served as Atlanta’s 59th mayor from 2010 to 2018.

Confirming that he is not planning to run against incumbent Keisha Lance Bottoms, or endorse any candidate at this point, Reed stressed that he was commenting as a private citizen.

So far, Atlanta City Council President Felicia Moore and attorney Sharon A. Gay have entered the 2021 mayor’s race.

“I spend a lot of my time fielding telephone calls about running for mayor, but that’s not something that’s a part of my plans,” Reed said, adding that he thinks “there’s one mayor at a time” and he did not want to attack anyone on air.

Reed went on to say that when he left office at the beginning of 2018, “crime was at its lowest level in 40 years.” He added, “The city of Atlanta was safer than it had been in a generation.

“When I was mayor I had a pager on my hip that let me know any time a crime was committed in the city of Atlanta. If a woman got her door kicked in, it was on my phone.”

Reed pointed specifically to Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza: “Are you kidding me? You have the Buckhead community wanting to split off from the city. We’ve never seen this. This is not a game.”

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