South Metro Advisory Roundtable with Mayor Bianca Motley Broom, City of College Park

Join the Council for Quality Growth's South Metro Advisory Roundtable on February 20th at 11:45 AM in-person at the ATL Airport CIDs to hear an update from Mayor Bianca Motley Broom, City of College Park.

Bianca Motley Broom
Mayor
City of College Park

Bianca Motley Broom was sworn in as the 27th mayor of College Park, Georgia in January 2020. She is the first woman and the first person of color to serve as mayor of College Park. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, she has lived in College Park since 2008. 

Mayor Motley Broom is deeply committed to building the community College Park’s citizens deserve. She is passionate about creating more opportunities for resident engagement and collaboration. Mayor Motley Broom is also working to bolster economic development and embrace fiscally sound and sustainable practices to ensure the city’s continued growth.  

Even with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, under Mayor Motley Broom’s leadership College Park has continued to thrive. Main Street has seen tremendous growth with visitors coming from across the region to dine and shop. The city has embraced innovative strategies such as converting parking spaces along Main Street into parklets for more outdoor seating to support business during the pandemic while also tackling pivotal issues like housing affordability. Mayor Motley Broom has championed new housing developments in areas of the city plagued by a generation of disinvestment. Those efforts have paid off through projects such as South Park Cottages (a tiny home community) and Somersby (a mixed use/mixed income development adjacent to North Clayton Middle School). The Diamond @ College Park, a partnership with the College Park First United Methodist Church, recently broke ground near the College Park MARTA station, which will bring additional residents to a vibrant part of the city, along with an arts campus.

Mayor Motley Broom’s advocacy in the area of housing affordability and access has been recognized both statewide and nationally. In January 2022, she testified before the Georgia House Judiciary Committee regarding House Bill 1093, legislation that would have limited the ability of local governments to regulate build-to-rent subdivisions in their communities. She is a sought-after speaker on institutional investors and their impact on the housing market, having been invited by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National League of Cities (NLC) and others to share her views on the issue.

She has led the city’s efforts for equitable and inclusive development, spearheading the city’s participation in NLC programs such as the Vacant Property Leadership Institute and the Southern Cities Economic Inclusion Initiative. Through these experiences and others, Mayor Motley Broom has been able to bring innovative ideas back to College Park that have improved the level of service for residents, visitors and businesses alike. She regularly interacts with her colleagues in other communities to help improve the quality of life in College Park.

Mayor Motley Broom is the Third Vice President of the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA). She is also chair of GMA’s Member Services Advisory Council.  She previously served as chair of the GMA Municipal Government Policy Committee and is a member of GMA’s Board of Directors, Executive Committee, Legislative Policy Council and Federal Policy Council. In 2021, she was elected Vice President of GMA’s Third District, Southwest and served as its President in 2022. She has served on several other GMA committees, including the Governor’s COVID-19 Advisory Committee, the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, GMA’s Equity and Inclusion Commission and the GMA Hall of Fame selection committee.  With her co-chair, Chief Louis M. Dekmar of the LaGrange Police Department, she led GMA’s Excellence in Policing committee, providing a roadmap for communities across the state to improve public safety outcomes. She is also the Vice President of the South Fulton Municipal Association. Mayor Motley Broom served on NLC’s Community & Economic Development Committee from 2020-2021 and is currently a member of NLC’s Public Safety and Crime Prevention Federal Advocacy Committee.

A conflict resolution specialist, Mayor Motley Broom is a registered arbitrator, civil mediator, and domestic relations mediator in Georgia. She is a full-time neutral with the largest mediation and arbitration firm in the Southeast. From 2017-2019, she served as a part-time judge in Fulton County Magistrate Court. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she was a trial attorney and litigator for nearly fifteen years.  

Mayor Motley Broom earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy Studies and Religion from Duke University. She also minored in African and African-American Studies. She earned her Juris Doctorate at Washington University School of Law, where her commitment to public service was recognized by her designation as a Webster Society Scholar. She received an MBA with honors and earned certificates in Strategy and Execution, Change Management and Management Analytics from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management. 

In 2022, she was named as one of the Top 100 Black Women of Influence by the Atlanta Business League. Mayor Motley Broom has also been recognized by both the 100 Black Men of South Metro Atlanta, Inc. and the College Park Black History Month Committee with their Trailblazer awards. 

An enthusiastic amateur potter, Mayor Motley Broom has sold her work at several local arts festivals. She also enjoys spending time with her family, her three dogs, swimming and reading. She is a lifelong Cleveland Browns fan and the granddaughter of Pro Football Hall of Fame Fullback Marion Motley.