Police corruption and Depression-era funding collapse discredited Atlanta’s ward system.

Evidence

By the 1930s, however, the ward system found itself under steady assault. When a 1929 graft investigation ended in the conviction of six councilmen, the corruption in city politics started to sour more and more voters on the system. The Depression, in turn, further weakened ward operations, as funds for local campaigns and kickbacks dried up along with the city’s finances. — Kevin M. Kruse, White Flight, 65