Fresh Loaf

I recently related the rumor that state Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, is considering a run for Atlanta City Council president, now that Lisa Borders is re-entering the mayor’s race. Well, yesterday I tracked Fort down at the Capitol and asked him if the rumor is true.

He was cagey about it – admittedly so – but I came away with the strong conclusion that he is indeed weighing a run for the position. He may ultimately decide against it, but for now I’d say he belongs firmly in the “possible” column – which was where Borders herself was until last week with regard to the mayor’s race.

“My heart’s always been with the city of Atlanta,” he said.

As a politician, Fort has always been a bit of an odd bird. Like former Rep. “Able” Mable Thomas and ex-Councilman Derrick Boazman, Fort has presented himself as a rabble-rouser who’s not above getting arrested in order to draw attention to some populist cause, such as his battle against the restructuring of the Grady board.

However, unlike Thomas and Boazman, Fort isn’t simply a professional protester. He can also be an effective lawmaker, such as when he successfully shepherded sweeping anti-predatory lending legislation through the General Assembly a few years back.

The Council president’s job isn’t an obvious fit for an outspoken social activist like Fort. It really seems better suited to someone who excells at process and mediation. But that could change.

(Photo by Andisheh Nouraee)

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Eason

Fresh from a Tampa courtroom, our colleague Wayne Garcia has the scoop on CL’s ownership dispute:

Ben Eason, whose family started Creative Loafing in Atlanta in 1972, was vindicated in a federal bankruptcy court in Tampa today, as a judge ruled against a lender’s effort to take control of the nation’s second-largest chain of alt-weekly newspapers.

Judge Caryl E. Delano said despite contradictory (and flawed, in her estimation) reports about the chain’s value since going into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2008, there was no evidence given that Eason’s management of the media company is harming its value, as lender Atalaya Capital Management had maintained in its effort to dislodge Eason and the current management.

To the contrary, Delano read from the bench, three days of hearings showed that Eason’s management had done a lot to preserve value, by making budget cuts and introducing an emphasis on web publishing models, including one in Tampa that has produced a sharp increase in web traffic while making the print edition a break-even proposition instead of a money-losing one.

“I find that Atalaya has not met its initial burden of proof and is not entitled to relief [from court stays against it foreclosing on the company's debt] at this time,” Delano said.

Continue reading “CL CEO keeps company — UPDATED” …

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Not really.

DNA Evidence Frees Black Man Convicted Of Bear Attack

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If you happen to see a crowd on the steps of the state Capitol at midnight this Friday, relax – you haven’t missed the release of the newest GameBoy console.

Instead, it’s what I consider to be the starting whistle of the Atlanta mayor’s race. Just after the stroke of midnight will have brought the 2009 General Assembly to a merciful close, state Sen. Kasim Reed, D-Atlanta, is scheduled to convene a campaign rally on the steps on the Capitol.

At that moment, all three (or four, depending who’s counting) of the leading candidates will be firmly in the race:

• City Council President Lisa Borders will have just announced her return to the race a day or two earlier (we’ll let you know when it happens…)

• Councilwoman Mary Norwood undoubtedly will have conducted her 5,712th community meet-and-greet that afternoon

• Reed will be done with the legislative session and able to raise funds again, assuming he doesn’t get mugged this Friday on the Capitol steps (hey, that can be a rough neighborhood after dark)

• and attorney Jesse Spikes will, presumably, still be trying to tell Atlanta who he is

Frankly, with Borders about to re-enter the race, I don’t see any more room for  Johnny-come-lately candidates. That includes such folks as Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts, who would have to share whatever constituency he still has with Borders (the business community); Norwood (Buckhead residents); and Reed (people who want to vote for a black man).

No, my guess is that the field that hits the campaign trail this weekend is what we’ll see on the November ballot, minus whoever drops out along the way.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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A bill that would allow local governments to build big water-filled holes even if they’ve signed service agreements with other providers is winding its way through the Georgia General Assembly — and the City of Atlanta in none too pleased with the legislation.

Why? Because the bill is tailor-made for three cities in South Fulton that are planning a 440-acre reservoir. And two of those cities purchase water from the city.

Rob Hunter, commissioner of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management, said House Bill 406, which passed the House and the Senate Natural Resources Committee, will “throw the bond market into chaos.”

Hunter said Atlanta’s $4 billion water and sewer overhaul is partially dependent on revenues from the south Fulton cities. He also said the proposed Bear Creek Reservoir is not needed since Atlanta can meet south Fulton’s water demand through 2060.

Harold Reheis, the former Georgia Environmental Protection Division director turned Gold Dome lobbyist who’s pushing the bill, tells the AJC that the cities’ contribution to Atlanta’s revenue is a fraction of one percent. He also points to the constant threat of droughts — but it’s over, yippee! — and the state’s ongoing “water war” as reasons for the giant hole.

According to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers documents mailed to CL, the reservoir will feature a 42-foot-tall dam and, once built, will fill with water pumped from the Chattahoochee River.

(Photo of Hickory Log Creek Reservoir by Joeff Davis)

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Allatoona Lake during the drought was 18 feet below normal.

>> Ding dong, the wicked drought is dead. All those miserable rainy days were good for something!

>> More than 200 African migrants believed dead after a boat carrying them from various African countries to an Italian island capsized.

>> ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST: Sun-Times Media Group, parent company of the Chicago Sun-Times, goes bankrupt.

>> Two Current TV reporters have been arrested in North Korea while reporting on the Communist country’s fleeing citizens. The American journalists will be tried for their supposed “hostile acts” against the country, otherwise known as thinking freely.

>> Want to be all that you can be? Oh well, you’re too fat for all that.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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State climatologist David Stooksbury says North Georgia’s drought is over except for lakes Lanier and Hartwell.

From Access North Georgia:

“Though relief has come, long-term rainfall deficits are still a concern. Small and medium reservoirs are full. The major exceptions are Lake Lanier and the Savannah River Valley reservoirs Hartwell, Russell and Clarks Hill.”

I saw Hartwell yesterday. It looks awful, though not quite as awful as Access North Georgia’s “drought” infographic suggests.

Before you ask, local water-use restrictions remain in effect for four months after a drought has ended. This means the people who make their living selling “Save Water: Shower Together” thongs to Georgians have until August to think-up replacement eco-sexual undergarment designs.

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If Atlanta only had a few more "giving meters" the homeless problem would go away.

Remember the homeless pay “giving” meters the city installed downtown to discourage panhandling? They’re not working out too well.

From the Associated Press:

Six months after Atlanta business leaders set up parking meter-like machines to accept spare change donations and discourage panhandling, just $500 has been deposited – not much help for beggars who say they can sometimes raise $300 in a day on their own.

Despite the program’s dismal beginnings, Atlanta leaders are encouraged. They are installing more of the “giving meters” and using signs to make more people aware of the machines. In other cities, like Denver, thousands of dollars have been raised to help the needy.

…

The new program has had several problems, including confusion. Pedestrians have mistaken the new machines for regular parking meters. Atlanta also has far fewer than the 86 meters Denver had when that city started.

(Hat tip to Rogue at Peach Pundit)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason

Here’s the latest — and most pressing — dispatch on Creative Loafing’s bankruptcy case, from our colleague Wayne Garcia at CL’s Tampa paper:

The battle for control of the six-altweekly newspaper chain Creative Loafing Inc. reaches a climax this afternoon in a Tampa bankruptcy courtroom, when Federal Judge Caryl E. Delano is set to rule on a motion by lender Atalaya Capital Management to take over the company.

Atalaya wants to foreclose on its $31 million in loans given to finance CL’s 2007 expansion and purchase of Washington City Paper and the Chicago Reader. That action was blocked when CL filed for bankruptcy court protection under Chapter 11 of the federal code in September 2008.

I’ll be there and will report as soon as possible from the anti-technology courthouse (no cell phones or laptops allowed in federal court).

Download the judge’s order setting the announcement for 2 p.m. on Tuesday. She’s allowing the out-of-town Atalaya attorneys to attend via telephone.

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Creative Loafing is currently on the hunt for editorial interns for the summer semester!

The best interns are assertive, ambitious and organized. Each candidate should have some journalism experience and must be working toward a degree. Additionally, candidates must be receiving credit for the internship. Do we make exceptions? NO. Students with published work preferred. We require a minimum commitment of 12-16 hours per week.

Internships are available in the following categories:

• News
• Music
• Events
• Food & Drink
• Arts & Entertainment
• Photography
• Video

To apply, please send a cover letter (explaining how the internship will fit into your course of study), a resume, two references (with e-mail and phone number), and three samples of your work to: alicia.wages@creativeloafing.com.

If you are interested in the Photography and Video internships, please contact taralynne.pixley@creativeloafing.com.

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1) The Plaza Theatre screens indie flick Skiptracers, followed by a Langhorne Slim performance at the Earl.

2) Laurie Halse Anderson discusses Wintergirls at Decatur Library.

3) Happy Days opens at the Fox Theatre.

4) Aurora Theatre hosts Homegrown Authors’ Night with Elliott Brack, Tom Stratton and David Leon Brown.

5) Jerkagram and Duet for Theremin & Lapsteel play Eyedrum.

(Photo © Skiptracers Company)

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1. AJC plans to cut staff by 30 percent (As we later reported, nearly 90 editorial staffers will be bought out or laid off. That sucks.)

2. Atlanta to New Orleans rail line in danger … because of Alabama? (At least this story has a happy ending.)

3. Atlanta City Council OKs Decatur Belt deal— with a catch (Marietta Street residents protect their neighborhood from destruction, and the newest Beltline plan is a win-win)

4. Examining the Sweet 16: Nova v. Duke is can’t miss basketball (Needless to say, we rooted for the Tar Heels.)

5. Georgia slips in ’safest state’ rankings to no. 39 (The Peach State dropped seven spots, to be exact — the largest plummet in the country. Oops.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Jason at Peach Pundit hammers House Bill 614, legislation that he says would violate your privacy.

Maria Saporta says the state needs to stop plotting takeovers of MARTA and Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport.

Ben at Terminal Station has a rundown of Saporta’s report on an Urban Land Institute mayoral candidate forum.

Doug at Live Apartment Fire spotlights veteran reporter Don McClellan. The still-at-it newsman reported on — and ran in — this weekend’s ING Marathon.

Speaking of the ING Marathon, Dave at inDecatur has video and photos from the race.

Good news for Georgia’s reputation and any hope of having a biotech industry here. Jim Galloway reports that a House committee chairman says the controversial stem-cell bill won’t move out of the lower chamber.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Urvaksh Karkaria reports on a top-secret meeting of tomorrow’s media overlords at Kennesaw State University professor Leonard Witt’s home. There are photos!

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to post this. Christa, the mysterious scribe behind Pecanne Log, found a 1967 issue of GQ that’s all about Atlanta. She has photos and pullquotes.

And just because, a helping of Griftdrift’s My Morning Wooten from Friday.

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ATTENTION JOB SEEKERS

Don’t be discouraged by the nation’s ballooning unemployment figures. There are plenty of great jobs out there. You just need to start being creative about where you look, and open-minded about what kind of jobs you’re willing to take.

For example, if you’re a physically fit black man who enjoys acting in non-sexual wrestling videos, you can earn a quick $125 simply by visiting Craigslist and answering the ad titled “Black Muscular Males For Nonsexual Wresting Videos.”

Unemployed sugarbabies in the Southeast United States take note: Craigslist also features a help-wanted ad posted by a self-described Miami “sugardaddy” who travels to Georgia for work.

At the moment, he’s looking for an Atlanta sugarbaby with whom he can enjoy dancing, golf, fishing, and jai alai. “Pay is cash for time spent together. Obviously the more time we see each other, the more pay.” Obviously.

For my international reader(s), the recent London Review of Books features a classified ad that reads simply, “Lesbian, 30, wants man’s cock to play with. Also balls.” I’m not sure if it’s for money or if, in this case, the work is its own reward.

Good luck on your job hunt, but be very careful. There are a lot of people out there trying to take advantage in these desperate economic times.

(more…)

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• So much for that auto bailout: White House rejects automakers plans, stocks tumble … but hey, GM chief set to resign.
• Man accused of shooting up nursing home in North Carolina (just remember, it’s not the guns, it’s the crazy people with the guns that kill people).
• Can you feel it in the air? U.S. deploys warships before North Korea “rocket launch test.“
• This won’t go away: Spanish lawyer argues ex-U.S. officials must face torture charges.
• Relations with Cuba thawing? Support not universal to end embargo … but it’s there.
• Skype for iPhone will hit the digital shelves on Tuesday … can you say con-ver-gence? Or AT&T i-rre-lev-ant?

  (Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Essig

Last week, the Georgia General Assembly passed the Jobs, Opportunity and Business Success Act, a package of bills that offered tax cuts and credits for Georgia businesses. Proponents said the legislation would help spur the economy and create jobs. Alan Essig of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute writes below that such cuts, while well-intentioned, hurt the state in the long run.

Well-intentioned as they may be, state legislators pushing hundreds of millions of dollars of business and special interest tax cuts in the name of job creation and economic stimulus are doing far more harm than good. Notwithstanding that Georgia is already one of the lowest tax states in the nation, research and experience proves that state tax cuts for business and other special interests have a negligible overall economic impact and are not a cost-effective method to stimulate Georgia’s economy and create jobs.

In this time of economic and fiscal crisis it is incumbent upon legislators to stop grandstanding, pandering, and misleading the public. While the state budget should prioritize limited state funds for state programs that have proven to have the most value, that same value-based approach should be used in making tax policy.

The economic crisis Georgia faces is a national problem, and misguided legislation calling for hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax cuts won’t stem the tide of the national recession; not only doesn’t it help, but it hurts.

(more…)

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1) IMAX film Dinosaurs Alive! continues at Fernbank Museum.

2) The Rev. V. Gene Robinson leads a discussion, Why Religion Matters in the Quest for Gay Civil Rights, at Emory.

3) Monsters vs. Aliens continues at area theaters.

4) Sharp Ideas on the Cutting Edge continues at Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

5) Late of the Pier plays the Earl.

(Photo by Giant Screen Films)

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Every year, some oddball pieces of legislation are proposed under the Gold Dome. Some of this year’s wackier ones: A ban on the mandatory implantation of microchips, a rampant problem that’s destroying families; a much-needed law that would allow beaver-trapping on public rights-of-way; and a dual-chamber resolution telling D.C. that Georgia don’t want no stinkin’ “Mob Museums” built here with Obamabucks.

One of the perennial crazy bills: The push for a month-long holiday that most of the state already celebrates 365 days a year.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Georgia state Sen. John Bulloch, a Republican who sponsored the bill recognizing Confederate History Month, said the observance would help tourism, particularly in areas with Civil War battlegrounds. It is no different, he said, from Black History Month.

(more…)

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Among Atlanta lefties, Joe Shifalo was a role model. Blues musician. Founder and longtime director of the Little Five Points Community Center. Creator of WRFG’s “Good Morning Blues.” Defender of renters’ rights for low-income families.

Shifalo died last weekend of a heart attack at the age of 65. Here’s a bit from his obit in today’s AJC:

Mr. Shifalo was free-thinking, unconventional and unconcerned with how people dressed or looked, his wife said. He created folk art paintings and loved to study the exotic birds near his second home in Cedar Keys, Fla. He gravitated to science-fiction novels, she said, because they made him think about the future.
“Joe really believed in social change,” his wife said. “He thought by now we’d be further ahead than where we are, but he loved to talk about how much things had changed since his childhood.”

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Sarah: Girl Scouts are very conscious of what they eat and what they tell people to eat. Girl Scouts are honest. Would we tell you to eat Girl Scout cookies and tell you they’re healthy if they weren’t? You can even buy them sugar free and they actually have zero trans fat now. They’re making a lot of changes so that Girl Scout cookies are healthy and have healthy ingredients like peanuts and coconuts. Girl Scouts are honest. And Girl Scout cookies are better and you’re supporting a good cause. I’d like to be a sales person or president when I grow up.

Anna: No. They have no trans fat in them. If you eat all the Girl Scout cookies in the world you’re going to get fat, but if you eat one or two a day you’re not going to get fat. And if you actually don’t want to eat any, you can donate money. My brother eats a lot of them, but he’s smart to realize that if he eats the whole thing he’s going to get fat. He uses common sense, and other people do too. Maybe you don’t use common sense. Don’t eat the whole box.

Kaylin: I’m sure if they weren’t eating Girl Scout cookies they would be eating something else because people are always eating. If other people are selling stuff that people are going to eat, why can’t we? Some people just sell things that make people fat. We sell things that don’t make people that fat, but we also use the money to support our programs. As long as you don’t eat a whole box in a short amount of time, you’ll be fine. And it would also help if you exercise.

(Photos by Jeff Slate)

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LEAD STORY: Americans’ Special Relationship with “Taxes”: It is not just that the secretary of the Treasury owed back taxes for years, or that two other presidential Cabinet-level nominees owed back taxes. In January, federal prosecutors revealed that District of Columbia Councilman Marion Barry, who was already on probation after a 2005 conviction for failing to file tax returns for the years 1999 through 2004, and subsequently almost tauntingly failed to file a return for 2006, has now doubled-down the taunt by failing to file for 2007. And in March, a Georgia state senator proposed punishment for the 22 members of the Legislature who either owed back taxes or had failed to file returns for at least one year since 2002. The 22 were not identified, in compliance with privacy laws, but the Senate’s Democratic leader, Robert Brown, outed himself as one of the 22 in the course of calling his scolding colleague a “bloodsucker.”

Continue reading News of the Weird.

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1) Atlanta Ballet performs The Firebird at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.

2) Eyedrum hosts Sublime Frequencies Films and Field Recordings with Rob Millis.

3) Another Sunday Afternoon at Loehmann’s continues at Ansley Park Playhouse.

4) The Campus MovieFest grand finale screens 14 student-produced short films at Atlanta Symphony Hall.

5) Academy of Ancient Music performs at the first of Spivey Hall’s 2009 Spring Bach Festival concerts.

(Photo by Charlie McCullers)

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WHIP LASH: Feel the breeze from SXSW

Creative Loafing’s Best of SXSW ‘09 (Wyatt recaps the glory moments from Austin: Gas station coffee and truck stop tacos.)

If 2pac lives, why is he wasting his time at a Lil Wayne concert? (More importantly, why is he still sporting that tired ol’ bandanna? Answer: It’s not him people, let it go.)

A rainy day at the beach pt. 1 (Chad travels to Destin with Bobby Ubangi for a little fun in the sun … I mean, rain.)

T.I. sentenced to 366 days in prison (Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.)

Read more from Crib Notes.

(Photo by Perry Julien)

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Number of counties in Georgia: 159

Number of Georgia counties with an unemployment rate in the double digits, as of March 25: 87

Percentage of working-age Americans who are jobless: 8.1

Percentage of working-age Georgians who are jobless: 9.3

Percentage of working-age Georgians who were jobless this time last year: 5.4

Number of consecutive months Georgia’s unemployment rate has been higher than the national average: 16

Jenkins County’s jobless rate (in percentage), the state’s highest: 21.3

Oconee County’s jobless rate, the state’s lowest: 6

Number of Georgians unemployed and looking for work: 445,500

Sources: Georgia Department of Labor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, Capitol Impact

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TROUBLE ON WISTERIA LANE: A middle-aged woman said her car alarm went off around midnight on Wisteria Lane. She said she went outside and saw someone running away in the distance. She has “high suspicion” of the suspect’s identity — a man known as “Pooh.” (And Pooh is described as a man about 6-feet-2-inches tall with short hair.) She said Pooh is a known person who breaks into cars and houses in the area. Police lifted two sets of fingerprints from the woman’s Cadillac.

Continue reading The Blotter.

(Illustration by Tray Butler)

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