General Qualifications

• Vision: What were the candidates' visions for Atlanta? What did they want to do in their years in office, and what problems must be addressed in order to accomplish those things?
• Qualifications and experiences: Why were they running for elected office? What qualifications did they have that would make them good officeholders? Who was supporting their campaigns?
• Ability to implement initiatives: Having a clear vision of the future is important, but it means nothing if the candidate can't accomplish anything. How would the candidates tackle the problems they identified as critical for the city? What opportunities does the candidate see in working with other cities and counties in the Metro area? And how do they define their roles in city government?

Issues

• Economic Development: What can the City of Atlanta do to attract more jobs and investment? Do candidates understand what businesses look for in choosing a location? Do the candidates understand the tax digest?
• Infrastructure: The city has developed a plan to address the court-ordered sanctions that require immediate aggressive action to clean up the water. The city also must address what to do with solid waste. Transportation issues are a major deterrent in attracting people and jobs. What can the city do to move forward on these issues?
• Management: Basically, this means delivering high-quality public services at the lowest possible cost to taxpayers. What new management practices would the candidate support to improve the operations of government?
• Public Safety: Citizens deserve a safe city. Businesses, particularly the tourism industry, need a safe environment to attract good events, good clientele and good employees. What can City Council do to help?
• Diversity: Atlanta, the city to busy to hate, has seen growth in all types of race, creed, culture and socioeconomic groups in the past 20 years. How can City Council build on the differences for a stronger Atlanta?