Former Atlanta City Council member C.T. Martin is being remembered for his legacy of service to the City of Atlanta and for being a champion for minority business. According to a statement from Martin's family, he died Saturday at his home in Southwest Atlanta. He was 84 years old.
In December 2017, the City of Atlanta renamed the $27 Million Dollar Adamsville Recreation Center to the C.T. Martin Natatorium and Recreation Center as a tribute to his many decades of service. Martin was known as the "Dean" of the City Council because he was one of the longest-serving Council members at one time.
Councilman C.T. Martin is shown during a Souls to the Polls event with rapper 2Chainz in 2016. The event was held at the Adamsville Rec Center, later named for Martin.The Family
Elected to the Council in 1990, Martin had a number of priorites, yet according to a family statement, none were more pressing than "public safety, economic stimulus, and providing programs and resources for seniors and youth. He saw great success in pushing initiatives to serve the youth in the city of Atlanta." The statement goes on to say that in his first term Martin spearheaded a historic first for District 10 – an initiative to unleash economic power in the district with the creation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Merchants Association. A longtime activist of Southside development, Martin fought to include the designation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive corridor as a priority in a master redevelopment plan for the city's Southside.
Martin represented District 10 for almost 30 years.
He served on the Missing and Murdered Children Task Force. Early in his time on the Council, he was appointed by Mayor Bill Campbell to the Atlanta City Budget Commission. In 1994, he was chosen by the Labor Coalition to travel to South Africa to work for political education following the release of Nelson Mandela. During his second and third terms in office, he held three key chairmanships – Human Resources, Public Safety, and Transportation.
An Atlanta native and graduate of Booker T. Washington High School, Martin received a Bachelor of Science degree from Shaw University and a Master of Science degree from Atlanta University.
Martin leaves behind four adult children and five grandchildren.
