Fresh Loaf

Last year, the northwest segment of the Beltline that stretches between West End and Washington Park was overgrown and nearly impossible to explore. Urban hikers were promised scratches to the legs and tree limbs to the face.

That was before volunteers and work crews cleaned up west and northwest Atlanta’s portion of the proposed 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit. Now urban hikers will find a clear-cut, 12-foot-wide walkway that offers an uncommon perspective on the city.

On Sunday, an acquaintance and I walked approximately two miles of the segment, some of which cuts behind single-family residential neighborhoods, winds past a mature hardwood forest, and passes through several bridges that decades ago served trains.

After starting at the Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive overpass — now lined with guardrails and covered with plywood to prevent tumbles to the roadway below — we traveled south under I-20 as far as the old Alterman Foods warehouse (now it’s a Czarnowski location). Along the way, we encountered a family of stray dogs lounging in the middle of the walkway, asleep in the sun.

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Good morning! Here’s a very awkward story to help you start off your day:

Asian-American activists offended that MARTA re-named the train line into the heart of Atlanta’s Asian community the “yellow line” will take their objections to the transit agency’s chief on Friday.[...]

MARTA officials were warned by an employee before the name change last October that Atlanta’s burgeoning Asian community would find the term for the line to Doraville offensive.

Concerned community members want MARTA to change the name from “yellow” to “gold.” And some folks on Facebook are already saying that might offend the large Jewish population that lives in the surrounding area. Damn this melting pot!

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WABE’s Denis O’Hayer recently spoke with Al Williams, D-Midway, about legislation he and other lawmakers plan to push this week that could revive the debate over whether Georgia should follow the example set by other states and apologize for the state’s participation in the African slave trade.

“I’m absolutely amazed,” Williams told O’Hayer. “I look at the words of the governor of Alabama, the governor of Florida, and how they were very enthusiastic in their support. And we can get absolutely no movement from leadership here in Georgia.”

You can read the lawmaker’s resolution here. Williams last pushed for a state apology in 2007 but discussions fell apart in the state Senate. Gov. Sonny Perdue told the Associated Press at the time that “repentance comes from the heart” and that he’d yet to meet someone who didn’t frown on “man’s inhumanity when you talk about owning one another.”

Williams says he’s prepared to negotiate with concerned lawmakers, but hesitant to say if there’s a “bare minimum” when it comes to language. He says he doesn’t just want an acknowledgment. He wants to see an expression of regret. Listen to O’Hayer’s interview with Williams here.

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'Go forth to Facebook, fellow foot soldiers, and type your thoughts'

Community activist and former Atlanta mayoral candidate Kyle Keyser’s been tapped by Mayor Kasim Reed to help search for a new chief of the Atlanta Police Department.

And Keyser wants to know what qualities you’d like to see in the force’s new leader. He’s accepting suggestions and comments on the Atlantans Together Against Crime website and Facebook.

Former Deputy Chief Lou Arcangeli is also on the search committee, Keyser says. Additional members are scheduled to be announced at a City Hall press conference today at 2 p.m.

Interim Chief George Turner serves at the pleasure of the mayor, although he’s said he’d like to have the job.

(File photo by Joeff Davis)

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State Sen. Chip Pearson: Leading the charge in the battle against cyborgs

Acting on a threat that appears only in conspiracy theorist blogs and the Book of Revelation, the state Senate on Feb. 4 overwhelmingly passed legislation that would prohibit the implantation of a microchip in a person without their consent.

“Advances in technology are moving fast, and while most of these are for the good, we must be careful that it doesn’t come at the harm of citizens. … I have no firsthand knowledge of [any cases of people being implanted with microchips]. I am simply trying to get ahead of this and protect the people. We don’t know what is going to happen.”

— State Sen. Chip Pearson, R-Dawsonville, the bill’s sponsor, defending the legislation to the AJC on Feb. 4

“It’s a solution in search of a problem. … It’s disappointing because we’ve got a lot of problems in Georgia: health care, unemployment. We ought to be dealing with those issues as opposed to worrying about a nonexistent problem.”

— State Sen. Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, one of two lawmakers who voted against the bill, to WXIA-TV/Channel 11 on Feb. 4

“It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. I can’t buy beer on Sunday, but at least I won’t have to worry about the Mark of the Beast. Thank you, Georgia General Assembly!”

— Libertarian blogger Jason Pye, who says the state has other pressing needs to worry about, on Feb. 4

(File photo by Joeff Davis)

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The Associated Press reports that a rumored sex tape starring John Edwards is safe and sound in an Atlanta bank vault.

The original sex tape is in an Atlanta safety deposit box along with possibly two other copies, according to an affidavit filed by [former Edwards aide, not former Atlanta mayor, Andrew Young] on Friday night. The judge has asked for all of the copies Young has.

And people say New York gets all the popular and “artsy” films before we do.

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What say he, indeed! A Georgia man traveled to Nashville, Tenn., for some sort of Tea Party convention and decided to dress up as Button Gwinnett, the patron saint of sprawl and sudden demographic shifts one of Georgia’s two signers of the Declaration of Independence! Or as this guy refers to Gwinnett, one of the signers of the “American Revolution.” He’s up there to help make sure attendees of The Movement That Will Save America© are “all united” for the 2010 and 2012 elections. Go get ‘em, you Scottish-sounding inhabitant of coastal Georgia!

(H/T Wonkette)

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A damn good find by Amanda Hess of the Washington City Paper, CL’s sister publication.

Yesterday, Hess pointed readers of The Sexist blog to the Valdosta State University police department’s tips for female students avoid being sexually assaulted. Unfortunately, the advice was atrocious.

Among the pearls of wisdom (and we’re only paraphrasing a few of these): Women, stop being so damn sympathetic — y’all “always are.” If you’re confronted by a gun-wielding attacker, run your ass off. (Statistics say the shots will probably miss a vital organ.) If you don’t have a cell phone, well, then “shame on you.” The most confusing: “‘Never let yourself or anyone that you know be in any type of business (bar, store, restaurant, gas station).”

The list was poorly planned and executed, to say the least.

Sexual assault policy group SAFER Campus called the list of tips “deeply offensive” and said it did nothing to address rape culture, date rape or acquaintance rape — which Hess says is the most common form of sexual assault on college campuses. Add to the fact that the advice essentially blamed the victim and were only geared toward women, and you can see why VSU apparently pulled it from its Web site sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning. Hess commends them for no longer endorsing the tips, and we do too. But we’ve gotta say… Valdosta… c’mon, y’all.

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While walking the grounds of the West Paces Ferry duplex at 3:14 a.m. in his jammies, Gov. Sonny Perdue had a wonderful idea. “I’m leaving office in less than a year,” he very loudly said to himself, waking up next door neighbor Arthur Blank’s hounds. “I need to restructure the state government. It is decided. Now I will go and watch bass fishing blooper videos.”

Aaron Gould Sheinin of the AJC reports:

Perdue’s plan, which would require approval of voters in November, would allow future governors to appoint the state’s insurance, labor and agriculture commissioners, as well as the state school superintendent.[...]

Georgia is one of only five states that elect a labor commissioner and one of only nine states to elect its agriculture commissioner. Twelve other states elect an insurance commissioner and 14 vote for state school superintendent.

Georgia voters would ultimately decide this fall if the governor’s proposal passes. Some folks oppose plans similar to Perdue’s because they fear it could open the offices up to cronyism. But Perdue and supporters think it’ll allow officials to focus on policy matters rather than just getting re-elected. And sometimes the departments suffer because the head honcho was decided via popularity contest. The money quote comes courtesy of state Sen. Bill “Silver Fox” Heath, R-Bremen. The 2008 Golden Sleaze recipient supports the proposal.

“Those offices are offices that require or deserve expertise,” Heath said. “In the election process it’s not always the most qualified person who wins the election.”

You don’t say.

UPDATE: Attorney General Thurbert Baker, a 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate, says hell-to-the-no to Perdue’s proposal:

“The Governor’s proposal to take away people’s right to vote for four constitutional offices is simply wrong.  In a state where the right to vote was fought for and advanced, it is insulting to propose taking that right away from people, especially for critical policy making positions that affect so many lives.  These offices exist to serve the people, not to be political trophies for the politicians who would like to control them.”

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Yesterday, CL graphic designer, occasional cover model and all-around chuckles machine Brooke Hatfield drove to her grandmother’s house in Clayton County. She had her eyes set on a table she plans to paint and put in her new apartment. After Brooke removed the drawers, she found an old Atlanta Journal newspaper delivery bag. Inside was someone’s pay stub from the 1970s and lots of old match books — most of which are Atlanta-related. Here’s a link to some scans of the discovered treasure.

Our favorite matchbook — which warned of moonshine’s dangers and advised smokers to rat out offenders to “state revenue agents” — is above.

(Scan by Brooke Hatfield)

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Kshitij "Badger" Shrotri is the accused samurai sword stabber

Bad news coming out of Georgia Tech.

From the AJC:

A man believed to be a former grad student stabbed a post doctoral fellow with a sword at Georgia Tech this afternoon, a school spokesman said.

The attack happened at the Weber [Space, Science and Technology] Building shortly before 1:20 p.m. The victim was taken to Grady Hospital.

A police officer was slightly hurt while arresting the attacker, the school spokesman said.

WSB-TV reports that suspect Kshitij “Badger” Shrotri used a samurai sword. On Feb. 5, Shrotri waived a hearing on aggravated assault charges. Both victims are recovering from their injuries.

(Photo courtesy Fulton County Sheriff’s Department)

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Meet your new local eyesore

Last August, some Atlantans were puzzled by a massive Holiday Inn billboard that wrapped around the exterior of the Medical Arts Building on Peachtree Street.

Some folks thought the historic landmark — which has sat vacant since the late 1990s — was finally being redeveloped. Turns out the fabric wrap-around was merely used to promote the hotel chain’s other projects in Atlanta. In other words, it was a giant, gaudy ad wrapped around a beautiful and unused building.

It was also a violation of city code. After Central Atlanta Progress raised a red flag about the Holiday Inn billboard, the ad was removed. Jennifer Ball of the downtown civic organization told the AJC in August that building advertisements can be no larger than 200 square feet. They must also be related to the business on which they’re installed.

Well, on Sunday, a new advertisement was installed. This one’s for Metro PCS. And yes, it appears it’s just a tad bit larger than 200 square feet. And, the city tells CL, it too violates city code.

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Georgia, you’re killing us here.

From the AJC:

The Federal Transit Administration on Tuesday published a list of 27 transit projects recommended for $1.8 billion in federal funding. Georgia wasn’t on it.

It couldn’t be. Georgia had no proposals up for consideration, FTA spokesman Paul Griffo said.

In contrast to the high-speed rail grants last week, these recommendations would fund development of local transit projects such as new bus and streetcar lines. Those types of projects have usually been in the works for some time and require local investment to win federal funds.

According to transportation wonks we’ve spoken with, it’s the lack of local investment — or even willingness to invest — that’s been Georgia’s biggest obstacle to winning much-needed federal dollars.

It’s looking like Atlanta’s best hope for the next round federal transit funding — which is expected to be announced on Feb. 17 — is the Peachtree Streetcar.

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While perusing the State Ethics Commission’s website last night — what, doesn’t everyone do that? — we noticed a new trend among lobbyists who treat lawmakers to a lunch or the occasional Monster Truck event ticket. Not only are the handshake artists spending less on lawmakers’ perks, they’re getting hilariously specific about the gifts.

Here’s perhaps the most glaring example:

Ya know, back in the day, our ancestors had a simple name for fifths of “grain-based distilled coffee additives:” vodka. (Not that we’re suggesting an insurance industry lobbyist gave the good senator from Ochlocknee a bottle of Mr. Boston. We’re just, ya know, being a bunch of rascals.)

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Alan Essig

Gold Dome leaders have vowed to cut programs — and not raise taxes — as the Legislature attempts to balance the state’s deep-in-the-red budget. Alan Essig, executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, says that approach hurts Georgia in the long term. Rather than gutting, Essig says, lawmakers should get creative to enhance revenues. And that doesn’t have to mean broad-based tax hikes.

Revenues should be part of a balanced, responsible approach to closing the gap between the growing needs of Georgia’s people and the resources the state has to meet those needs.

Why? Because relying on spending cuts alone hurt struggling families too much today, damage the state’s economy, slow recovery from the recession, and poorly position the state for when prosperity returns.

Georgia’s economy is in crisis. As we face the worst recession in our lifetimes, unemployment continues at record levels. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians have lost their jobs during the past 18 months. Georgians’ applications for unemployment insurance, food stamps, Medicaid, and various social service programs have increased dramatically.

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Build your own security force and get a tax break.

If you’re an Atlanta homeowner, this might sound familiar: You pay high property taxes, yet don’t feel adequately protected by the city’s short-staffed and overworked police force. So you cough up extra cash for your neighborhood’s private security patrol. You have to pay extra for your safety, but it is what it is.

A state lawmaker thinks he might be able to ease that financial burden.

State Rep. Rashad Taylor, D-Atlanta, has introduced legislation that would offer an annual income tax credit of up to $1,200 to single-family homeowners who participate in their neighborhood’s private security patrol.

Taylor says the bill could benefit homeowners throughout the city and across the state who live in areas that lack adequate police coverage thanks to public safety cutbacks or coverage gaps.

“I thought this would be a good way to give those homeowners some relief,” Taylor told CL. “Those who have to supplement what their government should be doing, they ought to be given a break on their taxes for that.”

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And here we thought a city official passing out during a committee meeting — or Atlanta Progressive News’ Matthew Cardinale rapping about public comment — would be the highlight of City Hall happenings yesterday. Let’s add one more thing to the record books!

During the Atlanta City Council’s full meeting yesterday, Councilwoman Cleta Winslow’s proposal for the city to accept $10,000 worth of office furniture from Wachovia came up for debate. Councilman C.T. Martin wondered (with good reason) whether accepting the donation could violate rules regarding relationships between bond underwriters and municipalities. And he was very adamant about the issue.

Yep, the longest-serving member currently on Council said his colleague’s effort to secure office furniture was “laudable.” But since the city’s been, as Martin says, “fucking around” with rules regarding bond underwriters “so much around [City Hall],” it’s gotta exercise due diligence.

Don’t get us wrong, that’s a topic worthy of debate. Better safe than sorry and all that. But Councilman Martin, don’t risk getting in trouble with the Federal Communications Commission over some rickety swivel chairs!

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John Oxendine

Kudos to Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine — the leading GOP contender to fill Gov. Sonny Perdue’s shoes — for keeping his name in the news!

From the AJC:

U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland said Monday that he believes Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine used an investigation into a failed insurance company in an attempt to pressure him to take a low profile in the governor’s race.

Westmoreland said Oxendine, a Republican candidate for governor, called him about an investigation into Southeastern U.S. Insurance, where Westmoreland served on an advisory board in 2003 and 2004. He said Oxendine told him that his name was found in company documents.

Westmoreland said Oxendine never said anything explicit, but the congressman said he felt a message was being sent. He said Oxendine said to him repeatedly that he would try to keep his name from becoming public as a favor.

Oxendine denied trying to pressure Westmoreland. He said politics had nothing to do with the call.

No follow-up statement from the Oxendine camp yet, just a tweet telling followers to watch radio talk show host Herman Cain tonight for some sort of response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. Icarus at Peach Pundit is calling this latest news story the “beginning of the end” for the GOP gubernatorial candidate’s campaign. Jim Galloway says this confrontation could split the state’s GOP — and he wonders if any other elephants are ensnared in the Insurance Commission investigation that prompted Oxendine’s call to Westmoreland.

(Courtesy John Oxendine Governor 2010)

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'Let me refresh your memory, Gov. Perdue …'

Jim Galloway brings to our attention a transportation-related tussle between Gov. Sonny Perdue and Congressman John Lewis over Georgia’s missed high-speed rail funding opportunity.

Lewis told WSB-TV that the measly $750,000 Georgia received could be attributed to the state’s leadership. Perdue, responding through a spokesman, said he found it funny that the congressman was pointing fingers about federal funding when the Democrats currently control the White House and Congress. High-speed choo choos intrigue the governor, Perdue’s spokesman said, but Georgia just doesn’t have enough cash to meet its transportation wants — or needs, for that matter.

The congressman didn’t like that one bit — and delivered a stinging rebuke.

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Oh, hey, Atlanta City Councilman Kwanza Hall. What’s up?

Oh no! How’s she doing?

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If you’re a Clayton County resident who relies on public transit, you’ll want to try to find a way to the Gold Dome on Wednesday.

State Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, and members of the Georgia Black Legislative Caucus will hold a public hearing to discuss what funding options are available to keep C-Tran, the county’s bus system, on the roads.

Last October, the cash-strapped Clayton County Commission ended the transit system’s contract with MARTA. A Hail Mary attempt in December to tap federal stimulus dollars and extend bus service was unsuccessful. If lawmakers can’t find a funding source to pay for the bus’ operations, service will end on March 31 — and thousands of straphangers who made more than 2 million trips of C-Tran last year will have to find a new way to get around town and into Atlanta.

Clayton Chairman Eldrin Bell, who was the lone October vote against ending the MARTA contract, said that possible funding sources include a one-cent sales tax, red light camera tickets and leasing out the Lovejoy jail.

The public, along with Clayton County universities, labor groups and business leaders, are invited to the hearing, which starts at 3:30 p.m. in room 216 of the Gold Dome.

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Shortly after 5 p.m. today, tweets started popping up that mentioned gun shots at the Edgewood Retail District. Chef (and CL columnist) Richard Blais tweeted that he heard three shots and then saw a truck speed through the parking lot of the Moreland Avenue shopping complex.

Turns out someone was hit.

From the AJC:

A 30-year-old man was shot in the back the Edgewood Retail District, said Ofc. Eric Schwartz, a spokesperson with the Atlanta Police Department. The man, whom Schwartz did not identify, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and was in stable condition, Schwartz said.

The shooting involved a running gun battle between people in two moving vehicles, said Lt. Darin Schierbaum, of the Atlanta police. The vehicles traveled from Moreland Avenue into the shopping center down Caroline Street to the parking lot of the Kroger grocery store, he said.

A police spokesman told the paper that they believed the injured man was a bystander. UPDATE, 8:19 p.m. Police say that the man was idling at a traffic light when he was struck by the bullet. The shooter was in either a Penske truck or a silver Mercedes.

Details are popping up. Stay tuned.

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Percent unemployment rate in the United States: 10

Percent unemployment rate in metro Atlanta: 10.1

Rank of metro Atlanta, among all metro areas, for largest number of Generation Xers per capita: 2

Rank in unemployment of metro Atlanta’s 25-to-39 demographic, among all age groups in metro region: 1

Last time the unemployment rate for metro Atlanta 25-to-39-year-olds was so high: 1982

Percent decrease in average monthly wages of 25-to-34-year-old metro Atlantans from 2000 to 2008: 8.8

Percent increase in average monthly wages of metro Atlanta workers over the age of 65 in that same time period: 23.7

Percentage of Americans age 16 to 19 who were employed in late 2009: 26

Number of previous years on record that such a small percentage of people in that age group were employed: 0

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Regional Commission, Reuters

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Elected officials descended into the bowels of hell today to tour the South River Sewer Tunnel, the last major project of Atlanta’s $4 billion court-ordered sewer overhaul.

For more than a year, work crews have dug two 170-feet-deep shafts at the construction site near the South River Water Reclamation Plant in southeast Atlanta. Now, with the assistance of a multi-million dollar “tunnel boring machine,” workers will drill day and night through approximately 9,000 feet of bedrock. Atlanta City Councilwoman Carla Smith, who chairs the Council’s utilities committee, said the tunnel route is ideal because the bedrock is soft enough to drill, but solid enough not to crumble. Once complete in July 2011, the 14-foot-wide tunnel will connect the plant to Macon Drive near South River Bridge.

As the machine chisels into the granite, rock is collected and travels hundreds of feet via several conveyer belts back to the shaft. Although it’s currently a craggy and muddy work site, engineers say the $111 million project will be lined with a foot of concrete. Pumps will be constructed in one of the shafts; the other will be covered to prevent people from plunging to their demise. And if rains overwhelm the city’s sewers, the tunnel will become a massive depository of sewage and rainwater.

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After 18 months of talks, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports, General Motors has entered into an agreement to sell its 165-acre Doraville plant to New Broad Street Properties. The Orlando, Fla.-based firm plans to redevelop the now-shuttered facility along I-285. From the Chronicle:

The deal could close in early summer, when initial development plans and timetables will be disclosed, said New Broad Street president David Pace.

“This is the best urban infill site in the country for a large transit-oriented development,” said Pace. “It will be clean and green, incorporating environmental remediation of the former industrial site with best practices for sustainable development.”

Will it include a stadium? Maybe a Dome? Hmmm?

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