VP Kamala Harris kicks off ‘Economic Opportunity Tour’ in Atlanta

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Vice President Kamala Harris was in Atlanta on Monday, kicking off her “Economic Opportunity Tour” of the nation.

It was Harris’ third trip to the Peach State this year alone, and her third since taking office.

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Harris brought with her a rosy message about the direction of the country’s economy but said more work had to be done to make sure it reached all citizens.

“We are in the process of putting a lot of money in the streets of America for this growth and we want to make sure that everyone has access to the opportunity to take advantage of the kind of contracts and the work that is being generated by this policy push,” Harris said, speaking to a crowd at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park.

Harris, the first woman and first person of color to hold America’s second-highest office, emphasized efforts by the White House to even the playing field for Atlanta’s Black residents and business owners. The Biden-Harris administration is in the middle of increasing the number of federal contracts that go to minority-owned businesses by 50% and implementing $400 a month tax credits for qualifying low-income mortgage payers.

After a recent study conducted by Moody Analytics showed that Atlanta’s commercial real estate vacancy rate was 18.8% — just under the national average of 19% — Harris also expressed a desire to reform federal zoning statutes to make it easier for developers to turn vacant properties into affordable housing.

“Part of the reason that everything is so expensive is because we don’t have enough supply on the market, and this is a national problem,” Harris said. “So our investments are also about what we need to do to build affordable housing. I’m looking at some issues around how we can look at vacant commercial real estate and conversion.”

The vice president also addressed Atlanta’s new “Stitch” project, the first phase of which is set to run from 2026-2029 in the city. During the construction of the I-75 and I-85 highways through the city, many of Atlanta’s historically Black neighborhoods were cut off from downtown, severing access to housing, business and economy for the people who lived there. The 14-acre Stitch project will literally cover the highway with green space, transit and business so neighborhoods that have been divided by highways in the past can reunite with the city again.

“It ended up decimating these communities for years,” said Harris. “What we need to do is reconnect by creating basically pathways over that include over that pathway, creating parks but literally the infrastructure, and recreating that infrastructure so we can reconnect communities.”

The project just received a $158 million grant from the federal government in March.

Harris did not address recent protests on Georgia college campuses tied to the White House’s handling of the conflict in Gaza.