Axios Atlanta

February 02, 2022
Okay campers, rise and shine and don't forget your booties because it's coooold out there!
☔ Today's weather: Not actually that cold on this Atlanta Groundhog Day. High of 59 with slight chance of showers.
Situational awareness: A "constitutional carry" bill passed its first vote yesterday, along party lines, in the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee. The measure would allow any “lawful weapons carrier” to carry a concealed handgun without a permit everywhere guns are currently allowed.
Today's newsletter is 944 words — a 3,5-minute read.
1 big thing: ⚔️ Gwinnett County's political clash
The Republican proposal (left) and the Democratic proposal. Images: Courtesy of Rep. Bonnie Rich and the Gwinnett County Commission
Republicans in the Georgia General Assembly are bypassing the traditional local redistricting process to overrule Gwinnett’s Democratic county commissioners and state lawmakers over the county’s commission map.
Democratic lawmakers worry this sets a precedent the Republican-controlled General Assembly could follow in other counties to override Democratic-drawn maps.
What’s happening: Normally, local governments draft and approve district lines with their local lawmakers. Usually, those maps are treated as local legislation and expedited through the Capitol.
- Gwinnett’s 13-member Democratic General Assembly majority followed that process to propose lines approved by the county commission that are similar to the existing map.
Republicans, led by Rep. Bonnie Rich, opposed the Democrats’ map of Gwinnett County and replaced it with their own that draws a new northern district more likely to elect a Republican.
What they’re saying: Rich argued the Democratic map disenfranchises the northern part of the county because it splits the region among three districts.
- Democratic Gwinnett delegation chair Rep. Sam Park countered that Rich’s map demonstrates “racially motivated intent” and is being “forcibly imposed” on Gwinnett’s elected officials by bypassing procedural rules.
- Rich bristled at the characterization and says the northern district she drew is 48% white. Gwinnett County is 54% white.
What’s next: The bill with Rich’s map needs to pass the state House, then the Senate.
- If it becomes law, Park said the map would force Gwinnett “down the path of unnecessary litigation,” suggesting it would violate the Voting Rights Act, an assertion that Rich denies.
Of note: This is not the only intra-Gwinnett fight.
- The State Senate is scheduled to vote on a Republican bill today that would change the Gwinnett Board of Education to a nonpartisan body, over Democratic objections.
2. 🏫 Cobb Republicans work to keep majority on school board
State Rep. Erick Allen's proposed map for the Cobb County Board of Education. Image: Courtesy of Rep. Erick Allen
Democrats and Republicans are competing to redraw district lines for the Board of Education in another suburban Atlanta county that’s flipped to Democratic control in the past few years.
Democratic State Rep. Erick Allen, Cobb’s legislation delegation chair, recently unveiled proposed map changes for the school board, as well as the county commission, that would make minimal changes to existing boundaries.
Last week, however, Republican state Rep. Ginny Ehrhart introduced House Bill 1028, which would implement controversial district boundary changes approved in December by the Republican majority on the school board.

Yes, but: That map, which was approved with a party-line vote, drew Democratic members Jaha Howard and Charisse Davis into Post 6 and left Post 2 vacant. Howard is running for state schools superintendent and Davis has not indicated whether she’ll run for reelection.
What we’re watching: Allen tells Axios he plans to introduce his legislation that redraws district lines for the Cobb school board and county commission later this week.
- Since map redrawing is normally treated as local legislation, Allen says Republicans in Gwinnett and Cobb who are bypassing the process are subverting the “will of the voters.”
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3. 📸 Photo of the day: Our hearts beat for art
Photo: Courtesy of Dustin Chambers/Dash.Studio
Last week, arts co-operative Dash.Studio opened Heartbeat_ATL, an immersive and interactive public art exhibit in the historic heart of the city that combines the ideas of growth, love and progress.
- Located in Downtown’s Centennial Yards — the future home of developer CIM Group’s $5 billion mini-city in The Gulch — the project pays tribute to the city center and Atlanta's ongoing transformation.
More than 30 artists, engineers and creatives teamed up to create the interactive light experience. People can scan QR codes along the viaducts and bridges overlooking the 20-acre site to activate the vivid light display.
- Also on display: a light mural by ARRRTADDICT and Protect Awesome that will beam on passing trains.
Go visit: This free exhibit operates from 7 to 11 every night until March 4.
4. 🥣 Good soup...
My Dad's Turkey Chili has always been there for us. Photo: Thomas Wheatley/Axios
Ah, soup. What a friend you are. Soup warms you up, helps you kick a cold and keeps you company on a quiet night home alone.
- Seemingly every Atlanta restaurant has soup on the menu, and we highly recommend trying every bowl you can before the winter turns warmer.
Here are a few options to get you started on a soup tour.
Tomato: Go for Aviva by Kameel’s creamy tomato with quinoa and goat cheese (served every Tuesday). Also try the tomato basil bisque at Breadwinner’s and the rasam at Mint Leaf.
Matzo: The General Muir’s Great Matzoh Ball Soup — with an asteroid-sized matzoh ball — never disappoints. Don’t miss the delicious soup-and-bread combos at TGM Soup Co. located around the corner from the restaurant's Emory Point location.
Chili: Be sure to try My Dad’s Turkey Chili at Atlanta mainstay Souper Jenny. Keep some of this the no-frills chili — the recipe is actually from founder Jenny Levison’s dad — on standby for Atlanta’s next snow day.
Wonton: Take a trip up Buford Highway to knock Mamak’s Curry Broth Wonton Soup off your list. Then consider Little Bangkok for a cup.
Just go: Muss and Turner’s Yesterday’s Soup, Taqueria del Sol’s shrimp and corn chowder, Gio's zuppa di pollo and Anna Lee’s soup of the day.
5. 🧑🍳 Five-ish Points: A family bakery
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
- A Decatur nurse is bringing rapid COVID tests to Black communities. (Capital B)
- More than 130,000 Georgia homes and businesses could get rural broadband thanks to federal coronavirus relief funds. (AP)
- Antico Pizza’s owner is opening an Italian bakery in Buckhead with his son. (Eater)
- Lawmakers are likely to revisit a medical cannabis system that’s left 20,000 patients empty-handed. (GPB News)
- Sen. Raphael Warnock is holding his first in-person town hall with constituents Friday in Decatur. (Decaturish)
- Georgia still has 285 Confederate memorials, markers, monuments and place names, according to new report. (AJC)
😮 Emma cannot, just cannot, get over this.
🧙 Kristal needs a laundry wizard.
🎙️ Thomas is getting radio-ready to appear on WABE's Morning Edition with Lisa Rayam around 8:30am.
Editor's note: The first story in this newsletter has been corrected to state that the bill with the map had not passed in the House Tuesday.
The third story in this newsletter has been corrected to state that the Heartbeat_ATL exhibit ends on March 4, not March 22.
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