Ep. 17 | Liliana Bakhtiari - Atlanta City Councilmember

Liliana Bakhtiari grew up in a political family that was exiled and blacklisted in both Azerbaijan and Iran. She worked in crisis relief internationally and saw the same issues around poverty, trafficking, and homelessness when she came back to Atlanta. When Trump ran for office in 2016, running for office felt like the only thing she could do to protect her family. She ran in 2017, lost by two percentage points, then won in 2021.

“When Trump ran for office, running for office felt like the only thing that I could do to protect my family.”Liliana Bakhtiari

Liliana Bakhtiari represents District 5, which includes parts of Sweet Auburn, Cabbage Town, Reynolds Town, Grant Park, Ormwood Park, Glenwood Park, Edgewood, East Atlanta, Kirkwood, Lake Claire, Eastlake, Candler Park, and Druid Hills. The district has about 46,000 people, which exceeds the population of 40 independent towns in the metro area.

“That's part of Sweet Auburn, Cabbage Town, Reynolds Town, North Grand Park, North Ormwood Park, Glenwood Park, Edgewood, East Atlanta, Kirkwood, Lake Clair, Eastlake, and now also Kandler Park and Druid Hills.”Liliana Bakhtiari

According to Liliana Bakhtiari, Atlanta city government controls ordinances, the city charter, the budget, watershed, utilities, roads, sidewalks, and infrastructure within city boundaries. The city charter specifically prevents the council from touching health and human services or education. Education is the purview of Atlanta Public Schools, and health, human services, and animal control are county responsibilities.

“City government is preempted by state government. So we can affect ordinances, the charter, the city charter, and things that lay within the city boundaries around the budget, around watershed, around utilities, around your roads, your sidewalks, infrastructure.”Liliana Bakhtiari

Liliana Bakhtiari explains that homelessness is technically Fulton County's responsibility under health and human services, but the city spends 40 to 50 million dollars a year on it because Fulton County does not do the work. The county will not even allocate 2% of its budget, which would be only 20 million dollars, to homeless services, even though it has a much larger tax base than the city.

“We spend approximately 40 to 50 million dollars a year doing Fulton County's job for them. They won't even give 2% of their budget to homeless services, which is only $20 million.”Liliana Bakhtiari

Yes. Liliana Bakhtiari says the state preempts city government on almost everything. The state could tell the city what color to paint bathrooms or even dissolve the city if it wanted to. If Atlanta does something the state does not like, such as trying to ban gas leaf blowers or lower the police budget, the state will pass legislation in response to block it or ban similar actions in the future.

“The state could tell us what color to paint our bathrooms tomorrow. The state could technically dissolve us tomorrow if they wanted to. But we provide over 90% of their income, so they're not going to do that.”Liliana Bakhtiari

No. Liliana Bakhtiari says Atlanta is preempted by the state on rent control. Even though she believes in rent control, the state specifically tells the city it cannot do anything about it. When residents come to City Council asking for rent control, there is nothing the city can do because state law blocks it.

“I believe in rent control. We're preempted by the state on that. We can't do anything around that because the state specifically tells us we cannot.”Liliana Bakhtiari

Liliana Bakhtiari says voters should focus not just on the governor and Senate races, but also on down-ballot statewide seats like Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Insurance Commissioner. These seats form the support structure for the governor and are equally important. She points to the Lieutenant Governor race between Democratic State Senator Josh McLauren and Republican State Senator Greg Dolezal as an example of a critical race people often overlook.

“There are seats that are coming up down ballot that are also statewide that are going to be the support structure for the governor that we should also pay attention to.”Liliana Bakhtiari

Liliana Bakhtiari recommends looking at candidates' voting records, following what local elected officials like Bentley and the state party put out, and paying attention to endorsements from local agencies. She says it is important to know which branch of government can do what, so voters understand what a candidate can and cannot deliver. With candidates who have no voting record, research is harder.

“I would look at their voting records. It's really difficult with Rick Jackson because he doesn't have one.”Liliana Bakhtiari

Liliana Bakhtiari believes elected officials should meet people where they are, not wait for residents to come to them. She says the bar for engagement in Atlanta is low and that waiting until problems collapse before acting is not preventative. Democracy starts at the local level, and if people do not trust local government to fill potholes or pick up trash, they lose faith in democracy altogether.

“I think the way government has become is separate themselves from the public and expect them to meet us where we are, rather than meeting people where they are. That's not preventative. That's not preemptive.”Liliana Bakhtiari

Liliana Bakhtiari says if people do not know which branch of government does what, they cannot advocate for themselves. When residents understand what the city, county, and state control, and which officials can help, they have a greater ability to organize and push for what they need. Without that education, politicians can lie about what they can deliver.

“If you take away education, it's taking away someone's ability to read, to advocate for themselves. It's the same thing with civics education. Make sure you know what your candidate can and cannot do so they can't lie to you.”Liliana Bakhtiari