Fresh Loaf

Here are some of the upsets, victories and head-scratchers in yesterday’s election:

Mayor’s race: Borders’ loss, Reed’s gain

The frontrunner in the race, Councilwoman Mary Norwood, took 45 percent of the vote, roughly five percentage points shy of an outright win (no surprise there). What’s a little more shocking is the epic stumble of City Council President Lisa Borders. State Sen. Kasim Reed, who will face Norwood in a Dec. 1 runoff, got 38 percent of the vote — a whopping 24-percentage-point lead over Borders.  In September, Borders’ polling numbers dropped from 34 to 27 points. Last week, an Insider Advantage poll had her at 16 percent. She wound up with 14 percent. What happened to Lisa?

City Council President: Horseshoes and hand grenades

Councilman Ceasar Mitchell was a mere 125 376 votes shy of winning the City Council Prez seat. Instead, Mitchell — who got 49.78 49.4 percent of the vote — will face face Clair Muller in the runoff. The big WTF? is this: City Council heckler Dave Walker somehow got 10 percent of the vote, most likely forcing the runoff.

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You might have heard about the Daily Beast’s ranking of 56 cities in terms of “smartness.” Atlanta earned a spot as the 23rd smartest city. Not great, but still twice as smart as Houston!

Unfortunately, we’re almost dead last when it comes to appearances — at least judging from the Beast’s photo slideshow of the nation’s smart and not-so-smart cities.

Minneapolis-St. Paul is depicted as a mysteriously sleek urban landscape. Denver is characterized, appropriately enough, by an outdoor sports enthusiast. D.C. gets cherry blossoms, joggers and the Washington Monument. Baltimore looks glittery and exciting. Milwaukee is oddly elegant. Charlotte is leafy, with tall buildings. Kansas City seems kind of awesome. Even Pittsburgh has a pleasantly urban cachet.

And what iconic image was used to represent Atlanta? The lovely view of the skyline as glimpsed across Piedmont Park’s Lake Clara Meer? Nope. The final resting place of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.? Unfortunately, no. The gritty graffiti gracing the Krog Street tunnel? We wish. The overwrought imagery of a Coke logo? Nada. The slightly awkward architecture of the Georgia Aquarium? Not even that.

Actually, we’re represented by the lamest, most provincial, lowest common denominator bushel of cliches ever. Jeez. This ain’t Fort Valley, folks.

But hey, at least we’re not as generic as Fresno.

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1. Aerial photos of Atlanta’s floods, Atlanta rain causes major flooding, road closures, and #ATLflood and #ATLtraffic on Twitter are your best bets (Yes, technically that’s three posts. But we wanted to free up room in the top-five for information you might have missed last week, you know, while you were swimming.)

2. City forced to take a dump into Chattahoochee (OK, OK, this is about the flood, too. But in an indirect kind of way.)

3. Franklin finally comments on Eagle raid after being cornered at Home Depot (This one isn’t about the flood at all! Unless you count the flood of angry gay-rights activists who’ve expressed outrage over the now-notorious shakedown.)

4. Shocking GDOT camera footage of this afternoon’s rush hour (More flood coverage, true — but of BIBLICAL proportions.)

5. John Edwards keeps sinking lower (Yeah, I skipped over about seven other more widely read posts about the flood to get to this one.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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1. Police raid gay leather bar Atlanta Eagle (Patrons allegedly were cuffed and ordered to lie on the floor. If you’ve seen the Eagle’s floor, you’d know that’s cruel and unusual punishment.)

2. Mayor, City Council qualifying ends … here’s the list (More than 50 candidates are vying for 17 seats. Is your district’s seat up for grabs?)

3. Atlanta’s largest homeless shelter sues City Hall (Lawsuit claims the city conspired to shutter the controversial Peachtree-Pine shelter.)

4. Trees — yes, trees — stolen along the Beltline (Seriously?)

5. Kyle Keyser’s social media skills pay off in mayoral fundraising (The community activist and mayoral candidate got his Facebook and Twitter followers to help him raise the $4,425 needed to qualify.)

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1. In the auction for Creative Loafing, the winning bidder is … (… these guys. Hey, they seem pretty OK!)

2. The mayoral ‘machine’ goes haywire, Reed fires back (Memo urges Atlanta’s black leaders to rally behind a single black mayoral candidate — to keep a white candidate out of office.)

3. Wendy Whitaker, symbol of flawed sex offender law, rearrested (When she was 17, Whitaker gave one of the most regrettable blow jobs ever.)

4. Sen. Jeff Chapman’s views on water conservation, water wars (Chapman’s one of the Gold Dome’s greatest enigmas — one of the few Republicans who doesn’t march in lockstep with his fellow pachyderms.)

5. Oxendine: Build an interstate through East Atlanta? Let’s talk! (Um, no.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Number of Georgia Tech students suspected to have contracted swine flu in the first two weeks of classes: 150

Number of cases confirmed: 12

Number of cases confirmed at the University of Georgia in a 12-day period in August: 20

Percentage of swine flu cases that end in death: 0.4

Percentage of regular flu cases that end in death: 0.1

Percentage of the 1918 Spanish flu cases that ended in death: 2

Percentage of swine flu cases in pregnant women that end in death: 6

Number of people who have died from swine flu in the U.S., since April 2009: 500

Number of people who have died from being hit by a car, truck or bus in the U.S., in 2008: 4,378

Sources: Associated Press, AJC.com, Reuters, MedicineNet.com, USAToday.com, Fatality Analysis Reporting System

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Ben Eason

(Updates below, with additional reporting by Thomas Wheatley.)

… Atalaya Capital Management.

The auction, which began this morning, determined who will control Creative Loafing Inc.’s six newspapers, which compose the nation’s second-largest altweekly chain. It also marks the end of CLI’s yearlong bankruptcy.

Outgoing CEO Ben Eason lost control of the company his parents founded in 1972 to the New York hedge fund from whom he borrowed $30 million to buy the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper.

Atalaya won the auction with a $5 million cash bid. Eason’s highest offer was a $2.3 million bid, nearly $1.5 million of which was “in-kind contributions.” Had Eason won, he also would have had to repay Atalaya at least $12 million.

Reporters, CLI managers, and Eason family members filled the courtroom to capacity.

Bankruptcy Judge Caryl E. Delano opened the equity auction with CLI’s bid. Tyler Brown, representing Atalaya, asked the judge if bids needed to be entered in increments of $50,000, to which Delano replied they did. People who might have been prepared for a game of one-upmanship were then disappointed, as Brown submitted Atalaya’s bid of $5 million in cash.

CLI’s lawyers asked for a brief recess.

When the recess ended and Delano returned to the bench, CLI’s lawyers asked her to close the auction. They wanted to argue that Atalaya’s bid might have been the “highest,” but it wasn’t necessarily the “best.” If Atalaya gained control of the company, they said, there was no guarantee that the hedge fund wouldn’t split the company into pieces and sell off the papers.

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UPDATE: We have a winner.

In case you haven’t heard, today is equity auction day!

Creative Loafing reporter extraordinaire Thomas Wheatley is in sunny Tampa to cover what might be the final chapter in Creative Loafing Inc.’s yearlong bankruptcy saga. Wheatley’s first update is posted a little further down — hold on! — and he will continue to offer dispatches throughout the day.

First, to bring you up to speed: The auction pits current CLI CEO Ben Eason, whose family founded Creative Loafing 37 years ago, against Eason’s biggest creditor, Atalaya Capital Management, from whom Eason borrowed $30 million to buy the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper in 2007. Eason has said the burden of the loan forced him to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year.

If Eason prevails, he will have to pay Atalaya back at least $12 million (on top of any amount exceeding a bid of $2.5 million or higher). The remainder of the $18 million owed Atalaya — if there is any — will be written off.

Wheatley reports that Eason’s opening bid is $2.3 million, including $825,000 cash and the remainder in “in-kind contributions.” Yesterday, Atalaya filed a motion contesting the contributions, but the judge ruled this morning that they were admissible. Atalaya then reserved the right to challenge them later today.

Following Eason’s opening bid, Wheatley reports, Atalaya upped the ante: $5 million cash, on top of including the $2 million cash and $1 million line of credit it already promised in its own opening bid.

Eason’s attorney then asked for a brief break.

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UPDATE: The auction is now underway.

On the eve of the Aug. 25 equity auction that will determine who controls Creative Loafing Inc., Creative Loafing’s biggest creditor is trying to disqualify current CL CEO Ben Eason’s bid. If the creditor, Atalaya Capital Management, is successful, it will automatically win control of the company.

Either way, the rightful owner of the six-newspaper chain will almost certainly be determined tomorrow in a federal courtroom in Tampa, the culmination of a yearlong bankruptcy-court battle that pitted Eason against Atalaya, the investment firm from whom he borrowed $30 million to purchase the Chicago Reader and Washington City Paper in 2007.

This showdown is heating up!

Atalaya’s objection offers a glimpse of Eason’s bid, which it calls “facially incomprehensible.” Neither Atalaya’s nor Eason’s bid — the only two that were accepted by the court — has been made public.

The rules of the auction state that prospective bidders must match Atalaya’s opening bid amount of $2.2 million. Bids can be a combination of cash and “in-kind contributions.” Basically, Atalaya is contesting the contributions portion of Eason’s bid.

If Eason prevails, he will have to pay Atalaya at least $12 million (on top of any amount exceeding a $2.5 million bid at auction). The remainder of the original $30 million loan will be written off.

Here’s Atalaya’s objection to Eason’s bid:

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1. AJC moving to metro Atlanta’s real downtown (The daily will be abandoning its intown digs for a new, OTP office. Yep.)

2. Lisa Borders up in latest mayoral poll (Though Councilwoman Mary Norwood still holds the lead, Council Prez Borders appears to be making progress. Someone’s pissed.)

3. Creative Loafing Inc. and its largest creditor will duke it out next week (The fate of the six-newspaper chain will be determined at an equity auction TOMORROW. Stay tuned.)

4. Threesome assault defense, ‘Ah jest wanted to watch’ (Total weirdness.)

5. Troy Davis deserves hearing, says Supremes (Somebody — the U.S. Supreme Court, no less! — is finally granting the longtime death row inmate a hearing on his innocence claims.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Only two bidders will compete in next week’s equity auction that will determine who controls Creative Loafing Inc.’s six newspapers: a team headed by current Creative Loafing CEO Ben Eason, and the New York hedge fund to whom Eason owes $30 million, Atalaya Capital Management.

According to a document filed today in federal bankruptcy court in Tampa, where Eason filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last year:

Creative Loafing, Inc. and affiliated debtors … hereby file for in camera review …  the documents comprising the respective bid packages received from Atalaya … and Creative Loafing Management, LLC (“CLM”), which are the only bidders identified as Qualified Bidders pursuant to the Bidding Procedures Order.

The deadline for bidders to join the Aug. 25 auction was 4 p.m. yesterday.

Details of the bids have not been filed in bankruptcy court, though past documents state that Atalaya will present the opening bid of $2.2 million. If Eason prevails, he will have to pay Atalaya at least $12 million (on top of any amount exceeding a $2.5 million bid at auction). The remainder of the original $30 million loan will be written off.

UPDATE: Our colleague Wayne Garcia, at Creative Loafing Tampa, attended a hearing related to the case this afternoon and has this to report:

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Who, oh, who will be our mystery date?

Today marks the deadline for prospective buyers to join next week’s auction of Creative Loafing Inc.’s six-newspaper chain (which includes yours truly).

As of now, there are only two bidders: a group headed by current Creative Loafing Inc. CEO Ben Eason, and New York hedge fund Atalaya Capital Management, from whom Eason borrowed $30 million to purchase the Chicago Reader and the Washington City Paper. Both parties have waged a fierce, yearlong battle in federal bankruptcy court to take control of the nation’s second-largest altweekly chain.

Eason filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last September, after falling behind on payments to Atalaya.

According to a court document filed today, all bidders will be provided with the details of opposing bids by noon tomorrow. What’s more, Eason’s camp is seeking the option to vigorously probe opposing bids before the Aug. 25 auction:

“It is unclear whether the procedures surrounding the Equity Auction will allow for Competing Bidders to test various features of the Competing Bids in open Court through the presentation of witness testimony or some other means of evidentiary presentation. … Thus, it is imperative that [Eason and his management team] have an opportunity to explore [Atalaya's bid] and other Competing Bids at or prior to the Equity Auction hearing date.”

The judge in the case has set a hearing for 2:30 p.m. tomorrow to “consider and act upon” Eason’s request.

(more…)

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Chicago blogger Mike Fourcher asks — and pretty much answers — a question that’s been dogging us for months, both here at CL’s Atlanta lair and at our sister papers:

What is Creative Loafing’s six-newspaper chain worth?

Is it …

A) $23 million
B) $14.9 million
C) $13.3 million
D) $3.6 million

Seeing as how there’s an equity auction in TWO WEEKS that will determine who will control the Creative Loafing empire, the correct answer could come in handy.

In related print-is-dead news, the Washington Post publilshed a compelling oral history (or was it an obit?) on Sunday about the enviably edgy, CL-owned Washington City Paper. And the Chicago Reader’s Michael Miner reported last week on an interesting conundrum plaguing Creative Loafing’s top managers.

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1. Beltline proposal near Piedmont Park prompts concerns about density (How dense is too dense at 10th and Monroe?)

2. Thoughts on passing of Atlanta LGBT rights leader Allen Thornell (Beloved activist, 38, dies after suffering a stroke.)

3. Letter to editor about Georgia reservoirs hilariously suburban (Second only to CL, the Marietta Daily Journal has some of the best letters to the editor.)

4. Oxendine attacks Obama on behalf of big donors (The Ox has to look out for his base — which, is, of course, big insurance companies.)

5. MARTA service cuts start Aug. 15 (Bus route 23 — which runs along Peachtree, linking Midtown to Buckhead — gets the axe.)

(Photo courtesy Atlanta Beltline Inc.)

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Are we missing something important? Got an idea for a post that people just might want to read? Want to enjoy the MASSIVE privileges of writing for Fresh Loaf?

Well, here’s your chance.

P.S. If you’ve got something meaningful to say about Atlanta’s arts, music or restaurant scene, the above link will help you out with that, too.

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UPDATE: According to the St. Petersburg Times, the judge determined today that she won’t issue a decision on the rules of the CL’s equity auction until the actual auction day. Details below.

Our colleague Wayne Garcia, at our sister paper in Tampa, is keeping us in the loop on the latest hearing in the ongoing battle to determine who will be the owner of the six-newspaper Creative Loafing Inc. chain, the second-largest alt-weekly conglomerate in the country.

The battle is between current owner Ben Eason, whose family founded the chain, and Eason’s largest creditor, hedge fund Atalaya Capital Management.

Today’s hearing will was expected to finalize some important rules for the Aug. 25 equity auction, which will determine who will control the company. But the judge decided to hold off on finalizing the rules until the very day of the auction.

The St. Pete’s Times reports:

Creative Loafing, the weekly alternative newspaper chain based in Tampa, fears a bankruptcy auction of its stock next month could break up the company.

On Wednesday, representatives of Ben Eason, whose family started Creative Loafing more than 30 years ago, appealed to a judge to block its largest creditor from winning the auction….

Eason fears the deep-pocketed Atalaya could blow away other bidders, including Eason himself, and begin liquidating the company for cash as early as September.

Garcia, in Tampa, characterized the courtroom proceedings as “complex, confusing and undramatic.” He also writes that Atalaya has expressed interest in investing in Creative Loafing, should the hedge fund become the newspaper chain’s owner. Garcia also points out that Atalaya has claimed it intends to run the company, not liquidate it:

Atalaya, during hearings earlier this year, also said it plans to operate the business as a news media company and has a management consultant lined up. It also said it would make an additional $1 million line of credit available to the new CL if it is the successful bidder, for operational needs. “We’ve committed some real money here,” [Atalaya’s lawyer Tyler] Brown said in court.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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T minus three days until CL’s 2009 Best of Atlanta ballot closes. Have you casted your votes? Think you know the best brunch spot? Have an opinion on who the most fabulous local celebrity is? Want to give a shout out to your favorite band? Well now’s your chance.

You can vote online at clatl.com, or through Facebook where you can share the ballot with your friends. Clock’s ticking … step to it folks!

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1. AC Milan v. Club America (Who knows when Atlanta will get to witness such quality soccer — or such HORRIFIC traffic jams — again. Actually, there’s probably a traffic jam planned for about 15 minutes from now.)

2. BMF member arrested, Jay-Z’s ‘Death of Autotune’ gives nod to the crew (Two milestones for the infamous Black Mafia Family.)

3. Fun CL bankruptcy news! (Wednesday will be a pivotal day for the future of Creative Loafing. Stay tuned.)

4. Filthy Rich: Best of Atlanta 2009 ballot (You only have until this Friday to cast your votes for CL’s 2009 Best of Atlanta issue. After that, the opportunity will be lost forever.)

5. Atlanta at $20 per gallon of gas (A vision of armageddon.)

(Photo by Alejandro Leal)

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Are we missing something important? Got an idea for a post that people just might want to read? Want to enjoy the MASSIVE privileges of writing for Fresh Loaf?

Well, here’s your chance.

P.S. If you’ve got something meaningful to say about Atlanta’s arts, music or restaurant scene, the above link will help you out with that, too.

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This week, we’re doing a countdown to last week’s most widely read post. So … let’s start with No. 5, shall we? Fun!

5. Zell Miller: Obama should be restrained with ‘Gorilla Glue’ (Hey Zell, I think there’s a booth with your name on it at a certain bar referenced in post No. 1.)

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Is it true? Has every last Black Mafia Family member been arrested? That’s what Fox News and the AJC are reporting, citing officials at the U.S. Marshals Service in Atlanta.

But really, it depends on how you look at it.

Impressively, the Marshals have rounded up pretty much every defendant named in seven federal indictments filed in Atlanta, Orlando, Detroit, St. Louis and L.A. That comes to nearly 150 men and women who played some role in BMF’s sprawling, quarter-of-a-billion-dollar cocaine enterprise, which launched an Atlanta-based record label and was well-connected in the hip-hop world — including a tight relationship with Atlanta rap star Young Jeezy.

Most recently, Vernon “Wu” Coleman, an alleged distributor for the cocaine crew who was named in one of the Atlanta indictments, was arrested July 16. As far as I can tell, there’s only one remaining defendant nationwide who’s still listed as a fugitive: an L.A. drug dealer who allegedly supplied BMF distributors with kilos of coke in the crew’s waning days, after BMF’s founders — the brothers Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory — were jailed for running the criminal enterprise.

However, there are several suspected BMF members who, for one reason or another, were never indicted. So while it’s true that almost every BMF member who was indicted has been arrested, there are still some stragglers.

(more…)

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Amount of federal stimulus dollars allocated for Georgia transportation improvements: $1.1 billion

Of that $1.1 billion, amount Georgia will spend on road construction and maintenance: $932 million

Amount of federal stimulus dollars earmarked for MARTA: $63 million

Amount the state of Georgia contributes to the operating costs of MARTA: $0

Number of other states that don’t allocate funding for their major public transit systems: 0

Atlanta’s rank among the country’s most traffic-congested metropolitan areas: 3

Number of cities whose residents spend more time commuting than those in Atlanta: 0

Percent likelihood that an Atlanta driver will express road rage if cut off: 14.4

Rank of Atlanta when it comes to seven cities surveyed for rude drivers: 1

Sources: AJC.com, Atlanta Business Chronicle

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That’s how bad the economy is!

According to the AJC:

Smash-and-grab burglars struck a Buckhead clothing store before daybreak Friday.

The burglars broke out a window at the T.J. Maxx store on the Buckhead Loop shortly after 4 a.m., Atlanta police spokesman Eric Schwartz said.

Schwartz said the store manager told investigators that the suspects stole 30 pair of blue jeans and 50 Polo shirts.

Geez, smash-and-grabbers. You could at least leave the affordable designer jeans alone. Thanks alot.

(Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

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If so, you’re screwed.

A frightening story in today’s New York Times explores the toxic toll on families who — unbeknownst to them — moved into former meth houses.

“The meth lab home problem is only going to grow,” said Dawn Turner, who started a Web site, www.methlabhomes.com, after her son lost thousands of dollars when he bought a foreclosed home in Sweetwater, Tenn., that turned out to be contaminated. Because less is known about the history of foreclosed houses, Ms. Turner said, “as foreclosures rise, so will the number of new meth lab home owners.”

It can cost $5,000 to $100,000 to decontaminate a former meth house. One Texas woman lost pretty much everything after buying one such home:

“It makes you crazy,” Ms. [Francisca] Rodriguez said. “Our credit is ruined, we won’t be able to buy another house, somebody exposed my kids to meth, and my dog died.”

Only one state, Colorado, provides federal funds to help innocent property owners clean up meth-infested homes. As for the Peach State …

In other states, like Georgia, landlords and other real estate owners have fought a proposed cleanup law.

Thanks, Georgia.

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1. Atlanta’s doin’ it and lovin’ it, says Trojan study (We’re No. 1 in the nation for sexual satisfaction and No. 2 for frequency of sex. Yeah, right.)

2. Washington City Paper’s Marion Barry story = gold (Speaking of surprising sex stories, the City Paper’s doozie on former mayor Barry was such a hit it crashed the paper’s website. What do you expect from the headline: “He put me out in Denver ’cause I wouldn’t suck his dick”?)

3. Filthy Rich: Best of Atlanta 2009 kicks off today (There are 18 days left to vote for the city’s best bands, restaurants, galleries, music venues, artists, shops and cultural attractions.)

4. Peachtree Streetcar vision isn’t dead yet (But it ain’t exactly called desire.)

5. GDOT, Beltline strike deal on vital track segments (City now controls roughly half of the right of way along the Beltline’s 22-mile loop.)

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