Downtown Atlanta was a food desert.

No grocery stores downtown.

If you live downtown, or work downtown, or a Georgia State student, that's downtown.

You didn't have a grocery store that you could go to.

You had to catch a couple of busses or train or Uber, Lyft to go to a grocery store.

[music] Hey, Mr.

Mayor!

-Hey, how you doing?

-How are you, sir?

How you doing, Alexander?

-Good to see you.

-Pleasure to be with you today.

-Yeah.

Thank you for coming.

-Thank you.

And thank you for inviting me to The Melody.

Yeah.

The melody is our project that we really put our heart and soul into right here in downtown Atlanta.

I really want everybody to be able to see this beautiful, display of our love and attention to those that were experiencing homelessness.

Okay, let's go see it.

So welcome.

Welcome inside.

This is, The Melody.

As you can see, these are shipping containers.

There's forty of them.

For the residents that live here.

But we also have all the wraparound services.

Laundry, dog washing, a dog walking station.

And of course, we have a lot of, mental health providers, case managers, individuals that are helping them, with workforce development and jobs.

Mayor, you consider this transitional housing, or do you consider it permanent housing?

This is permanent housing.

You can live here for the rest of your life.

We're not kicking anybody out, but we are trying to help people transition into self-sufficiency.

There's individuals that come here down on their luck financially, and we help them get stabilized and get a job.

And then either get reconnected back with family or go on and get an apartment that we help subsidize.

And the hope is that they keep on going till they eventually be able to become a homeowner.

The thing about this is we need The Melody, because Atlanta is a hub for the whole region.

All the way up to Tennessee, and Alabama, and South Carolina, and Florida, and New Orleans.

We have people coming here from all over the place finding themselves down on their luck there.

But they know that Atlanta has a lot of things that we're offering the unsheltered and those that are in need.

First of all, it's the first time I've heard your soothing voice.

Not in the airport and in person, right?

I mean, do you get that a lot?

I got a face for radio.

That's funny.

I mean, I'm grateful for it, but that's what you're performing a service here, Yeah.

-in soothing, people.

-Oh!

And also, it seems to me you're solving a problem, which is the problem that, folks don't find shelters -safe in this country.

-Correct.

This was a parking lot that the city owned.

This was a place where we parked vehicles that were going out doing inspections, etc.. During the pandemic, the way we do things changed.

So this parking lot was probably only used like a third of the space.

So we said, well, we can turn this parking lot, which is just about an acre into housing.

And so we called an architect, we call the developer.

And we said, how can we configure this thing so that it's a quality environment?

As you see, this isn't just beams of steel.

These are, you know, they have nice, comfortable, chairs, and turf, and you know, you try to make sure that you have lights in the nighttime where it feels safe.

This is an environment that you want to be comfortable in.

We're not just throwing you in any old thing.

This is showing that we care.

And so that you can get the quality attention that you need here.

If you so happen to find yourself in need of our assistance.

And so, these are, you know, safe quality, you know, cameras are here to make sure that everyone, knows that they can go about their business safely without anybody harming them.

This is a group project, though.

It takes a lot of people to make these things happen.

We just came up with the idea.

We took these shipping containers that we used during, COVID, and some of them we've constructed ourselves to make sure that people can be on this property safe.

-You said forty.

-Yeah.

Now, in a metropolis of this size, this is a monumental undertaking.

Yeah.

But for it to have proportional impact, you have to address the underlying systemic problem.

And is it, in fact, what I'm describing the insecurity of shelters, that, you know, people don't realize, but that alone can increase, violence and, challenges that, we face in terms of public safety.

For sure.

the access to quality affordable housing, poses all kind of challenges, social challenges where there people, are going to end up living on the street and trying to find a way to afford to be able to pay for their rent or what they have to do to try to stay alive.

And so trying to provide as much housing as possible has been, one of my top two goals, public safety and housing.

Literally the things I do most out of everything else as mayor.

Yes, we pick up garbage.

Yes, we make sure the parks and recreation are thriving, but making sure that in this metropolitan area that we have stable housing and those individuals that are sleeping on the streets, they just need a little help and hopefully what we're doing here by being able to provide this housing, helps them here.

This is like a pilot.

You'll be able to see that we were able to do this in a short amount of time.

And maybe somebody in another county, maybe somebody in another jurisdiction will say, we're going to do that as well, because what happens in Atlanta is, your problem may have started somewhere else, but you come to Atlanta for your solution and we're okay with that.

You've had to get creative with the re-election of President Trump and the defunding of federal initiatives.

Tell me the predicament you're in and how you've tried to extricate yourself from it.

Yeah, it's definitely a challenge, you know, President Trump, has come in with a Project 2025 agenda.

It's literally straight down the line play-by-play, exactly everything in Project 2025.

So what we're looking at is, you know, that cities are under, you know, somewhat under attack, particularly large major cities that are Democrat ran, usually that makes for good news headlines to say they're a problem.

We got to, do something to them or change how they work, where in reality, you know, major cities are the ones that's the catch basin for all the poverty, all the challenges that might have occurred in the suburbs, that might have occurred in the rural areas.

All right.

So I want to make sure that you can see one of the units.

Someone just moved out of this one.

And we're getting it ready for the next person to move in.

So this is an available unit right now.

Come on inside, we got Chatiqua Ellison here, who is the leader on my team to help put all this together with our contractors to make sure that all of these projects, these, affordable, or housing for those experiencing homelessness.

So this is a, you can see that it's a comfortable, quality environment.

They have a bed, that comes with linen and pillows, etc.. Nightstand and storage, and a microwave, a refrigerator that also has a freezer.

Everyone gets, plates and cups, and untensils to be able to make sure that the environment is comfortable.

They have a sink here.

You have TV's connected to Wi-Fi.

And then the bathroom you got, a shower.

And this one, of course, is for those that can be in wheelchairs, ADA compliant.

You can get in there, take a shower, toilet.

Very safe and clean.

And, you know, this is ready for the next person to move in.

Yeah.

Got it.

And each unit is for one individual?

Each unit is for one individual, yes.

So, Alexander, one other thing is we provide laundry support for them.

These are free, washers and dryers for all of the tenants.

The residents here can wash for free, dry free, fold their clothes.

This is an environment that we want them to have dignity.

Especially if they're about to go out on a job interview, or they've been at work.

We want them to be able to wash their clothes and go back to work.

We provide this on site for free at all of our locations.

So we have a housing first model, we believe that people should get housed first and then we can help them treat their drug addiction, their mental health challenges, their chronic pains and anything else that they're dealing with.

It would be best if we have them in one location so that we know where they are so they can get the proper care.

They have a good case manager versus them moving around behind this building or in those woods this week.

And on that street corner two weeks from now, where we got to try to find them.

It's best if we can say, hey, we have you here, now let's help you out.

Six months, three months or so into that process, you built the trust and you started resolving their problems, and then you can get them back on their feet.

If that isn't available for everyone because some people are resistant, we do have shelter solutions that we want to make sure people go into so that they can be out of the cold for that night or out of danger, etc.. We're about to come up on my friend here, George, how are you doing, George?

Yes, sir.

Good to see you, man.

You doing alright?

I'm glad you're back.

Yeah.

Good to see you!

-Good, you got you some, -Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

they got you some, orange juice and a cinnamon roll.

-Yes, sir.

-All right, George.

George was a truck driver that found themselves.

Hey, how are you doing?

Good to see you.

You doing good?

The Beautiful is a great restaurant here in Atlanta, in southwest Atlanta we call it the SWATS, Southwest ATL Too Strong.

A lot of us grew up in this area.

I still live, you know, five minutes from right here.

Went to school here on this same street.

So these are our folks, man.

Get us some soul food.

What's the difference between barbecue and soul?

Barbecue can be cooked anywhere, on a grill, you know, you can do that anywhere in the north.

You can do it out west.

You can do it in the midwest.

But soul food is from the South.

It's from the soul.

You got to do this somewhere where they got some people with a little, a little drawl, and they voice a whole lot of good times in they soul.

So that's soul food.

Sounds good, well I'll let you... I'm going to go with the, let's go to baked chicken today.

Yeah, a thigh and a leg.

And I don't know if you wanted anything else, this is good food, good eatin'.

Yeah.

I'm going to go for the full monty.

I'm gonna... You're going to go for the full monty!

All right, go for it all!

Ah, see, I wasn't going to get dessert, but then you called out the name of some of the dessert, and in my mouth immediately knew what they tasted like.

Let's go with, banana pudding.

I've got a whole day ahead of me.

And, I'm eatin' good.

So I'd like to try a few things, if that's okay.

I hear your fried chicken spectacular.

-And your oxtail.

-Any dessert?

Banana pudding, too.

-Yeah, banana pudding.

-Follow your lead.

I hear that's the specialty of the house.

Oh, you're gonna get a little bit of everything?

Oh, yeah!

Okay.

I like that!

Thank you, sir.

-Did you grow up on soul?

-Mmhm.

-On this type of food?

-I grew up on this type of food.

Luckily for me, I used to play a lot of sports and stuff.

You can't eat this and sit still, -eat this and keep going.

-Yeah.

What sports did you play?

I played baseball, basketball.

I did a little bit of, karate.

My mom put me in every sport I could.

Everything that would keep me busy, keep me out of trouble.

So would you say that politics found you more than you finding politics?

[laughs] No one in my family ever did politics.

I mean, they voted.

But nobody was a politician.

I think I got a calling of some sort.

When I was 16 years old, I knew I wanted to be the mayor of Atlanta, at 16, at my high school, which is right up the road from here.

I knew then and there that I wanted to be the mayor of Atlanta one day.

Wow.

In this community Andrew Young's home is right up the street.

Yeah.

Ambassador slash mayor, Congressman Andrew Young, Shirley Franklin, the first black female mayor in the Deep South right up the road from here.

Kasim Reed, Keisha Lance Bottoms, all the previous mayors literally down this same road.

This is mayoral row.

This is kind of like mayoral, you know, stomping grounds.

And they all have had to get a breakfast or dinner in here, -Yeah.

-lunch, something.

But I knew I wanted to be mayor early watching Ambassador Young.

-You help lead -Yeah.

one of the critical task forces of the US Conference of Mayors.

Notwithstanding the ghost gun epidemic Mmhm!

the ability for anyone to flaunt their gun and then deploy it, inadvertently or with malice.

But, you've kept the homicides down Right.

even in this climate?

That sounds pretty extraordinary.

Yeah.

You have to do it with intentionality.

You can't just hope for it.

Have to really, really focus on it and make it a declarative goal.

I literally said, we're going to be one safe city.

And this is at a time where crime was, you know, high during the pandemic.

When I was running for mayor, it was 2021.

We were still in the pandemic.

I got the ball at the beginning of 2022.

On that very beginning, I said, we're going to be a safe city.

We're going to do it in a balanced way.

Safety and justice can't swing the pendulum too far, too tough on crime and, you know, stop and frisk and all that stuff, taking people's rights.

No, you don't want to go to excessive use of force.

That pendulum swung too far in the previous federal administrations, etc.

that is, leading people to, be subjugated to, you know, martial law authority that we don't need.

We need fairness and equity.

But you also can't let it go swinging too far this way, where your hands off and you want to defund the police.

You want no police.

You want no safety and security.

Both ends are foolish and they will get us all hurt in the end.

So we have to be sensible about safety and justice and use policing and not policing activities to bring down crime in a very short amount of time, we did that.

People are living in this big, beautiful city because of the efforts that we've done.

Folks are not dying at the rate that they were not being killed by their family members, not being killed by some other kid at the park, not being killed by somebody that they're doing a drug transaction with, because we're reducing the need for that kind of activity in our city.

You know, kids aren't looking for how they can come up on $25 to go to the movies, or $100 or some fancy jeans.

We got them summer jobs.

We got them an after school job.

We got programs for them.

Domestic violence, we really have put a crack down on that.

See something, say something.

Here's a hotline.

Phone numbers.

We are doing all we can.

And people can go enjoy nightlife in a city that is known for its nightlife.

We get people coming from all around the world to come to Atlanta for conventions for large sporting events, for festivals, for business, for travel.

And, part of it is good soul food that they want to come to eat.

And in the evening they want to go dance and party a little bit.

Well, you should be able to do that safely.

Every quarter I do a training day with the nightlife community, and say, this is how we keep things safe, in your parking lot, inside of your club, restaurant, bar, lounge, etc.

a skating rink, and it's been working.

It's been working tremendously well.

So, to be able to do that in a state that allows people to just walk around with guns.

I mean, come on, what we're talking about.

Yeah.

I mean, like, how do you do that?

Like anybody around, you can have a gun at this bar, at this, well not in the bar.

Hopefully they pat you down, but in the park, in the street.

But we kind of try to learn de-escalation, teach and help people learn de-escalation tactics and how to resolve conflicts.

Tell me about your family.

So my family is my daughter.

-She's 20 years old.

-No!

No, no, no, no, no.

-She's in college, yeah.

-20!?

Yeah, I got 20 year old daughter, I'm 51 years old.

So, yeah, that's what good soul food does to you.

-Soul food, sweet tea.

-Keeps a baby face.

Yeah.

I would not have guessed it.

Yeah.

But, you know, I'm 51 years old.

I have a daughter, she's 20, she's in college in Alabama at university, and she, you know, my pride and joy, my heart.

I'm divorced, and my, you know, I was married for 18 years, produced this wonderful daughter.

And I have my mother and my sister and my aunts and everybody else.

And then I have all this extended family, the church family, my fraternity, my friends.

So I feel like, you know, because I grew up here, I'm kind of family with a lot of people.

-Yeah.

-And, you know, they might not have the same last name as me or, you know, grew up under the same roof.

But when you live in a city that has raised you, you got kind of people to actually call family.

Yeah.

Well, that was evident at The Melody.

I mean, we were off camera at that point, unfortunately for your re-election prospects, but a gentleman came up to you and said, you're a man of your word.

He repeated it three times.

You're a man of your word.

You're a man of your word.

You said you were going to help people get off the streets.

And there, he was choking up, he was holding back tears.

Yeah.

All right.

I hear the banana pudding is special.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

-Dig into that.

-Time to go into that.

This is the best banana pudding.

It's pie and pudding in one.

It was very good with Governor Cooper in North Carolina a couple of years ago, but I don't know how you could top this one.

-Hey, man.

-Oh, wow.

Whooo.

He needs to come down here and get some of this banana pudding in Atlanta.

Yeah.

Ooo that's good!

Mm!

When you've got a behemoth like Delta do they play nice with the local businesses?

-I mean, even though -Yeah.

they've got huge capital and could basically squash whatever they want to?

Right.

I'm thankful that Mayor Maynard Jackson, first black mayor of this city, became mayor, elected in 1973, started in 1974, the year I was born, he came up with this disadvantaged business program, minority business program, that still stands to this day.

And Delta follows it.

The world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, follows it.

So we do have local businesses that are operating as, vendors inside of the airport.

There are restaurants that are in the world's busiest airport, that also started, and still operate on the streets of Atlanta.

So that's a relationship.

And on Delta planes, certain flights you take, there's some pizzas there... They got that, barbecue joint, the Fox.... Well we got the Fox Brothers barbecue on there and then you got Gio's pizza that's also on there.

And soon, the beautiful banana pudding.

Hopefully we'll get that.

I have to tell Ed Bastian -and Delta Airlines -And please, tell him.

to come check out this banana pudding.

They can put the oxtails on there too.

Yeah!

See how that goes.

So, our next and final stop is a grocery store.

Mmhm.

Tell us about it.

Where are we going?

We are about to go to something that I really wanted to see happen.

And I'm very proud that we made a promise and we kept that promise.

Downtown Atlanta was a food desert.

No grocery stores downtown.

If you live downtown, or work downtown, or a Georgia State student, that's downtown.

You didn't have a grocery store that you could go to.

You had to catch a couple of busses or train or Uber, Lyft to go to a grocery store.

Downtown Atlanta, unfortunately, like many downtowns, aren't as thriving 24 hours a day.

People come in from all over from 7 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

to work, and then they leave.

So it's like a ghost town in the evening.

Unless you have a major event.

We want to change that.

I want our downtown Atlanta to be thriving with residents that live down there, businesses, small and large, and people just filled with life.

So we're brightening it up.

We're adding street lights, we're paving roads, fixing sidewalks, and making sure that small businesses thrive.

One of those things was to also make sure that people can eat healthy and affordable food downtown.

We just opened a new supermarket in downtown Atlanta called Azalea Fresh Market.

This is like Main and Main for Atlanta.

This is Peachtree Street right here, and Marietta Street.

These are, you know, this doesn't get much Atlanta downtown then right here.

And we opened the grocery store and this is backed by the city government.

This is an idea I had that says, hey, if they don't want to build a grocery store downtown.

I'll build one with the help of some good, folks that know how to do things in the grocery space.

This is our opportunity to say, hey, you can live, work and play downtown.

You can go to a great park and get a bite to eat.

You can get some cooked food that's in here.

We got some pre-prepared stuff as well as some regular groceries that you can go home and cook yourself.

So, a cafe is going to be upstairs and a lot more is coming.

Tell me what you feel when you first walk into this, this is a city backed grocery store.

You see people coming in and out.

This is literally the first week we've been open three days, and it's busy and bustling.

It looks polished.

Yeah.

And it also looks like it has a pretty good diversity, I see sodas, sweet teas, coffee looks like you've got most of the kind of produce.

Veggies and fruits.

Yeah, yeah.

And see, we're using Georgia grown.

A lot of these things are grown in this state locally.

So they're kind of fresh, farm-to-table.

People couldn't get a fresh apple, a potato.

Hey, how are you doing?

You couldn't get this kind of stuff in downtown Atlanta.

-So, people... -Why was that?

Grocery stores, in Georgia, like a lot of space they want to take, have a big, huge parking lot.

They want to have a big old place for the trucks to park.

And you just don't have that space downtown.

And also, downtowns don't always have residents.

And to some business bean counters the residents that sometimes are downtown or those less fortunate, those people that are experiencing homelessness or living in our shelters or what have you.

And so, most of the people that are downtown work here, and then they go to somewhere else at night to sleep, the suburbs, etc.. And so grocery store chains don't always think about these as their ideal customer base, but we know people that live, work and play now here get hungry.

Where are they going to eat?

They want a fresh, you know, a vegetable.

You know, how can they you know, they got dorms that they can cook it in.

They got apartments they can cook in, or they can get some pre-prepared food that we put together.

You know, so this is important for the area.

And this ain't your old downtown Atlanta.

This is new.

We got people bustling around here growing.

And so we had this design by some design students at SCAD, Savannah College of Art and Design because we wanted this to feel like, hey, this ain't just a city owned grocery store, that it might feel like, uh, it's city, so they're going to go cheap on the decor.

No, we got quality.

It smells good.

Feels good.

Well, lit.

This is our goal to make sure that people of low income or high income can all come here to shop and feel good.

So if this was your morning or evening run, what kinds of stuff are you going to put in your cart?

So I shopped here literally two days ago when we opened, I grabbed a bunch of apples.

I grabbed these apples here.

So I started with my fruit.

You know, I got my apples, and then I went and got some berries.

I love these, some blueberries.

So you got some cherries?

Yeah, you got some cherries over there.

So here, you got some avocados, right here.

I always find these... Humongous!

-Those you can make.

-You got both varieties.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, I would take three of these and make a guacamole.

Or you can take like one and a half for these big boys right here.

But I also get limes because, you know, you gotta have limes to go inside of your, evening cocktail.

When you go home.

There you go.

Hey, how you doing, man?

Good to see you doing well?

Yeah!

You're welcome.

All right, make sure you tell everybody to get lots of groceries here.

Good deal.

See ya.

So far, I'm seeing everything you would see at a Sprouts, Fries, Albertson's, Whole Foods.

Vons, all that stuff.

Kroger's, yeah.

You got also chopped fruit, too.

So, watermelon, if you wanted some.

Look at that, beautiful fresh watermelon.

I think actually, this is going to be, a little watermelon.

That's going to be good.

Yeah.

It's going to be good.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

You know about Mamdani, and he's pursuing rent controlled housing and, city operated and owned supermarkets.

So is there price control here?

I know what, he's talking about in New York.

For me it's about accessibility making sure that people that need food can get access to food.

So this food here has some products that are placed at a low price.

So some are discounted and controlled and others are just market weight because we need to have people of all income level supporting this store.

So it doesn't go out of business.

So we need to have some products that are at the top shelf, and we need to have some products that are medium shelf, but all of it is quality and it's accessible to you.

So this is how we are making sure that this is going to be profitable and safe and available for you.

We don't want a grand opening and grand closing, all because we had a bad business model that wasn't sustainable.

And this is important here produce.

Because there's been concern in these inflationary times about the cost of beef in particular.

Yeah.

You're in an area where you can get some ground beef to make spaghetti or tacos, but you also know you got students here, so you need to have it already pre-made for burgers, so they know their audience.

And then you got some top sirloin stuff, some butcher's cut.

Because everybody down here, some of these are the folks that are making a bunch of money in finance and lawyers and they want to have this cut.

So for me, that's why we partnered with a grocery chain that knows products and knows customer base to be able to say, I need some ground beef.

Well, no matter who you are, high end, you come up here and get this fancy ground beef here or you're a college student that's just trying to get by.

You get your ground beef right here, or right here.

But you come out of this store with something because it's accessible to you.

So you guys have some, are they considered markets or pantries that are essentially free for elderly folks?

Yeah.

So we have, a few others that I've created, in partnership with a company called Goodr, so these are Goodr grocery stores.

So they supply anywhere from 100 to 200 families a week at their grocery store.

They already have a target list of folks that you come in and you shop.

One is also with the Atlanta Community Food Bank.

And these are places that the city provides, the land and the space and some of the incentives, and then they provide the food.

And so that one is not like you come in there and you have ten varieties of, tomato paste to make spaghetti or to make, tacos.

Those places are, here is the brand that we have.

And it's at no cost or subsidized?

It's at no cost for the seniors that are on that list or the families that are on that list.

So it is basically pure for them.

We did open one just recently that is similar to this.

It's a lot smaller, but it has a variety of anybody can come in here.

Some people pay, for the food just like here.

You might pay $5 or something.

And some people are on a list that you get a certain amount free.

It's just mixing it up and trying to provide people food in these food deserts so you can look up Goodr grocery stores.

We did a Goodr a grocery store in schools, because sometimes these kids, that's the only meal that they're going to get in a day.

So before they leave, they get to grab some groceries and their family can cook it at night.

We did a Goodr grocery store inside of our recreation center.

So after school program, you can have food.

Your family can come in there and go shopping in this room.

And then, we've also done some, just at our, MARTA station, our rapid transit station, where you can get, some groceries there.

Again, limited selection, but still quality product.

So we're just trying to make sure people get fed because, you know, food is the first star to help.

Yeah.

Hey, everybody.

How y'all doing?

Good deal.

Hey, you want my grocery basket?

You need to come on now!

Mr.

Mayor.

Yeah.

It's been a pleasure.

Thanks for the work you're doing -Good, thank you.

-for the people of Atlanta.

I appreciate it.

Thank you for taking your time to come to Atlanta.

I'm just, grateful to be able to show the world what Atlanta does best, which is look after its, people, and, you know, move forward.

What is it that you say in the airport?

In that smooth suave voice of yours?

Whether you call this place home or whether you're passing through.

There you go, thank you sir!

[music] Continuing production of The Open Mind has been made possible by grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Angelson Family Foundation, Robert and Kate Niehaus, Robert S. Kaplan Foundation, Grateful American Foundation, Draper Foundation, and Lawrence B. Benenson.