Fresh Loaf

Gov. Sonny Perdue has tapped Allen Barnes, a partner at King & Spalding, to head the state Environmental Protection Division. Director Carol Couch resigned last week to take a job at the University of Georgia.

From the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

Before joining Atlanta-based King & Spalding, Barnes served as chief of staff for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region Four, which has jurisdiction over eight Southeastern states, including Georgia. Prior to that, he taught natural resource policy and law as an associate professor at Mississippi State University. [...]

Barnes’ professional career also includes stints as a prosecutor in the Florida State Attorney’s office and as a special assistant U.S attorney handling criminal, tort and environmental litigation.

But Georgia Public Broadcasting’s John Sepulvado says some environmentalists aren’t happy with Perdue’s choice.

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Marc Fitten, the editor of The Chattahoochee Review, had an op-ed column in Saturday’s New York Times about parting ways with his old Honda and purchasing a new car.

The piece is about much more, actually. Namely, the shuttered General Motors plant in Doraville, the 1,200 former workers who lost their jobs, and how the overgrown site’s convinced Fitten that he won’t be purchasing a Chevy anytime soon. Not until the bailed-out company “has responsibly sold every empty plant across this country to the benefit of every American town that had its back for the last hundred years.”

(You’ll recall that DeKalb County’s been exploring how to redevelop the site, possibly through a public-private partnership. There have been talks about it becoming a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons. Atlanta Unfiltered’s Jim Walls, who’s been all over the story, recently reported that the Doraville City Council doesn’t like the idea.)

Take a look at Fitten’s column.

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In March 2008, Mayor Shirley Franklin commented on a Fresh Loaf post about the sentencing hearing for her daughter, Kai Franklin Graham. We were surprised she’d jumped into the online fray, but we welcomed her input. But then for months she went silent, only holding something called “press conferences.” We didn’t hear much from the online persona known only as “Shirley” after that. And we became sad.

On Sunday, someone named “Shirley” commented on a post by the AJC’s Jim Galloway. In it, the poster says Mary Norwood, who according to polls has a big chance of becoming Atlanta’s next mayor, isn’t qualified for the position.

Galloway checked with City Hall to confirm it was Franklin. It was. From her comment:

I support candidates with vision, integrity and intelligence and I have voted for candidates with these 3 characteristics throughout my life. Mary Norwood has none of these. Therefore, I do not support her candidacy for mayor.

Should she win I will wish her well and continue my activism in politics and civic affairs. Race nor gender are the issues for me. Competency is. Norwood has not demonstrated vision, competence or integrity in her public life as an elected offical. Rather she has spent her time building a political network to run for mayor. It looks like she’ll be successful.

She’s provided no evidence in her service on the Council as to her competence to govern. She has not led on ethics or public policy. In fact she’s known for slips of the tongue about what she’ll do as mayor.

Read the rest of Franklin’s comment over at Galloway’s den of political intrigue.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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First we had John Oxendine’s “innovative” commercial in which a giant bull destroyed homes and slaughtered a mutant rodent at Turner Field and Buford Dam.

Now there’s an ad pillorying the leading GOP gubernatorial candidate. Tagline: “The Ox. At least he went to college.” That’s an obvious (and not entirely accurate) jab at Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, who’s also running for the GOP gubernatorial nomination. She recently said she attended night college classes, but didn’t earn a diploma.

Regardless, flash animation lives on in Georgia political campaigns. Huzzah!

(H/T to Andre Walker at Blog for Georgia)

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If you’re still on the fence about who to vote for in Atlanta’s Nov. 3 elections — and there are plenty of you out there, we’re sure — be sure to tune to PBA on Oct. 25 and on Nov. 1.

The Atlanta Press Club’s wrangled candidates for Atlanta mayor and city council, forced them to stand at podiums, and allowed journalists to pummel them with questions.

Prerecorded APC debates for Atlanta City Council’s three At-Large posts will air Sunday morning. Atlanta mayoral candidates will participate in a live one-hour debate at 7 p.m. And a prerecorded debate between Atlanta City Council president candidates will air on Nov. 1.

The full broadcast schedule follows after the jump.

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Rasmussen reports that John Oxendine still leads candidates battling to become the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee. According a telephone survey conducted by the pollster, 27 percent of likely Republican primary voters favor the state insurance commissioner.

The Ox’s© lead, however, has shrunk by four points — and the number of undecided voters has grown. Rasmussen says many likely voters still haven’t formed an opinion about the candidates — which isn’t surprising for a contest that’s still 10 months away.

Here’s how the other pachyderms stack up:

Twelve percent (12%) prefer Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, while nine percent (9%) like Congressman Nathan Deal. Handel and Deal were tied at 13% each in the previous survey.

Rounding out the list is State Senator Eric Johnson, State Representative Austin Scott and conservative businessman Ray McBerry, each with three percent (3%) support among primary voters.

Seven percent (7%) favor some other candidate, and 35% are not sure. The number of undecided voters climbed four points from two months ago, suggesting that the race is far from decided.

That “other candidate” favored by seven percent of poll respondents could easily be a Libertarian. Pray to God it’s not this guy. Rasmussen will release details on the Democratic gubernatorial candidates tomorrow.

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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has a new historical novel coming out and he’s eager to use it as an excuse to clog Twitter with 140-character missives from dead men.

On Saturday, the pol-turned-think tanker will conjure black magic and resurrect General George Washington, Private Jonathan Van Dorn and Hessian commander Colonel Johann Rallhas — key figures in the historic crossing of the Delaware River and Battle of Trenton. Once they’re dusted off and fed heavy sedatives to cope with what democracy’s become, Gingrich will hand them iPhones and force them to re-enact the events.

“In To Try Men’s Souls, Bill Forstchen and I try to bring Washington and the other historical figures to life, trying to imagine what their conversations were like and what they were feeling while crossing the Delaware in extreme cold and sleet,” said Newt Gingrich. “This “twitternactment” will be a new way for people to experience history “in the moment.”

Gingrich says you can witness these historic figures make typos and needlessly hashtag trending topics by following @genwashington76, @pvtvandornNJ and @colonelrall.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Atlanta mayoral candidate and grassroots activist Kyle Keyser is the latest City Hall hopeful to release a campaign commercial. Only this one won’t be airing during every “Georgia Gang” commercial break, a la the frontrunners’ ads. It’s an online-only spot.

The ad was shot by Atlanta-based filmmaker Raegan Hodge. The tune is by local musicians Judi Chicago. Keyser’s campaign says it’s an in-kind contribution.

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Yay! The new issue of The Beacon, the North Fulton weekly newspaper that made headlines for its Obama-in-the-crosshairs cover, has been delivered to my computer screen!

What’s this? A profile of Georgia Secretary of State and 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate Karen “Bring It On” Handel? I wonder how it’ll start.

“I’ve had to fight for everything my whole life,” says Georgia Secretary of State and GOP gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel. “So this is no different.”

And so begins perhaps the most glowing profile you will ever read about Karen Handel, from now until the day you die.

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Southeast Atlanta residents won’t want to miss tonight’s mayoral candidate forum.

Candidates Lisa Borders, Mary Norwood, Kasim Reed and Jesse Spikes will field questions from moderators Derrick Boazman and Bishop Matthew Norwood at the Atlanta Youth Academy on Forrest Park Road. (Map here.)

The event, which is sponsored by nine neighborhood and community organizations, is billed as Southeast Atlanta’s first mayoral forum. Discussion will focus solely on the issues that impact the part of the city which includes the Grant Park, Reynoldstown, Benteen Park, Summerhill neighborhoods, among others.

A reception will be held from 6:30-7:00 p.m. The two-hour forum follows. Child care will be available.

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Carol Couch

After nearly six years on the job, Georgia Environmental Protection Division Director Carol Couch will step down from her post on Oct. 26 and move into academia.

In an email to colleagues, Couch thanked the men and women of the agency tasked with monitoring and protecting the state’s water, air and land. She also noted the challenges the state has faced — droughts, floods and budget crunches — in her last few years.

“On behalf of the [Georgia Department of Natural Resources board], I want to thank Dr. Couch for her service,” DNR board Chair Bill Carruth said in a statement released by the EPD. “Her technical expertise, professionalism and dedication to environmental stewardship have been an asset to the Department of Natural Resources.”

In December, Couch will join the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design. Gov. Sonny Perdue and the DNR board are expected to appoint her successor next week.

(Courtesy EPD)

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On Oct. 14, Westview and West End residents received good news about the long-overlooked L&N railroad tracks in Southwest Atlanta: the Georgia Department of Transportation finally voted to allow the PATH Foundation to move ahead with a proposed Beltline jogging and biking trail.

For more than a year, Patrick Berry and other neighborhood residents waited for glimmers of progress on the abandoned tracks.

Unfortunately, all they saw were dumped mattresses, shopping carts, and blankets of kudzu piling up.

“When people came to the neighborhood, they’d see garbage and overgrowth,” Berry, vice president of the Westview Community Organization, says. “It gives the impression that nobody cares.”

Beltline officials say they’ve inked a deal with Trees Atlanta to begin a five-year kudzu removal process. Ed McBrayer of the PATH Foundation, which will oversee construction of the the trail, says he plans to meet with GDOT officials this week to discuss the project.

Once completed, the 1.4-mile trail will connect with the West End trail along White Street.

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The AJC’s Alison Young had a great piece this weekend about a now-defunct smelter that for decades burned lead at an industrial site just blocks from Morningside. The site where the smelter was located — right where Piedmont Road crosses under I-85 — is now a concrete plant. But the residual pollution caused by the smelter has largely been forgotten by state and federal regulators.

How much lead dust rained down over the years and how far the winds blew is not currently known. But experts say that, despite the passage of decades, the lead would remain relatively near the surface unless the soil has been removed or buried under clean fill dirt. [...]

Tests conducted privately in 2003 show large swaths of the smelter property contained potentially dangerous levels of lead, above 400 parts per million (ppm), according to site plans and a soil removal permit issued by the city of Atlanta to contractors for the property’s owner at that time, Metalico of Georgia Inc. The testing was within the boundaries of the smelter property at 740 Lambert Drive NE.

After reading the story, a source who keeps a close eye on Georgia’s environment told CL this weekend that he’s curious about the smelter’s proximity to Peachtree Creek. If floods seeped up toxins in nearby soil, they could have spread downstream.

Thanks to Young, the Environmental Protection Agency is  investigating the matter. Kudos to the journalist for taking on this story on her own initiative and effecting some government action. Snippets don’t do it justice, so go check it out in full.

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The organizers behind Pecha Kucha, the storytelling experiment in which speakers have seven minutes and a slide projector to convey the complexities of their lives and passions, have produced an excellent group of participants for the next event on Sunday, Oct. 18. The theme: “Open Letter(s) to the next Atlanta mayor.”

According to Alfredo Aponte, one of the event’s organizers: “We are doing an ‘Atlanta: Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve’ type of night, hearing from some Atlanta citizens who are doing their own parts, in their own ways.”

Among the list of speakers:

• Knife and Fork Editor and Publisher Christiane Lauterbach. The veteran food critic will talk about the growing popularity of food trucks — and how Atlanta’s missing out.

• Planner Paul Moore, one of the brains behind Connect Atlanta, the city’s transportation plan. Moore’s an engaging public speaker with a talent for making people-moving topics exciting.

• Georgia Tech Professor Mike Dobbins. The former Atlanta planning commissioner is one of the sharpest minds in the city when it comes to urban design — and the role citizens play in the process.

• Man-about-town and Beltline volunteer Angel Poventud. He’ll speak about the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit.

And those are just a few of the names. The full list of speakers and topics is after the jump. Facebook page is here. The event begins at 7 p.m. at Octane Coffee Lounge on Howell Mill Road. It’s free, but be a kind soul and buy an espresso or a beer.

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John Oxendine

On Oct. 15, GOP gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine e-mailed supporters to alert them to a “vicious attack” by “homosexual activists” at local gay weekly Southern Voice regarding his defense of marriage between a man and a woman. He asked supporters to help him fight the “gay lobby” — by donating money, of course.

“The radical homosexual activists over at Southern Voice have launched a vicious attack on me — by name — for my defense of traditional marriage in America. These homosexual activists join a long and growing list of those on the radical Left who are, by their very attack, acknowledging who the true conservative is in this campaign and who they are afraid of.”
— Oxendine, in an Oct. 15 e-mail to campaign supporters

“Those who are engaged in homosexual behavior are people—who need love and forgiveness, and who need to understand the love of God.”
— Oxendine, in an Oct. 9 e-mail to supporters

“So sacred is your marriage that when your baby Jake is born, you immediately put him in a starring role in one of your campaign ad commercials? No way is that exploiting the family, right?”
— Southern Voice news editor Dyana Bagby, in the Oct. 12 blog post that raised Oxendine’s ire

“Marriage has not, in fact, ‘always been’ between ‘a man and a woman’ — for most of the period of the Old Testament, from which Oxendine and his brethren like to quote a certain passage from Leviticus to condemn us, marriage was between a man and several women.”
— Southern Voice Editor Laura Douglas-Brown, in an Oct. 15 response to Oxendine’s plea for funds

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Maria Saporta sends word that the Georgia Department of Transportation has scaled back its  division that oversees rail programs in the state.

Vance Smith, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation, distributed a memo on Thursday, Oct. 15 announcing “organizational changes” in his department.

“Over the last few months, we have worked diligently to strategically reorganize the Department to achieve greater efficiency in both functional alignment and program delivery,” Smith wrote in the memo.

He then released the new organization chart which diminishes the role of transit and intermodal transportation in the department.

That’s a sad sign. Georgia’s been sitting on federal funding for years that could kickstart a commuter rail line from Atlanta to Griffin. And just last month, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood publicly criticized the state for dragging its feet on rail.

Check out Saporta’s full report for more details and a copy of Smith’s memo.

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Yesterday afternoon, the five or six Georgia journalists who still have jobs received an email from the John Oxendine campaign.

On Thursday night, the email said, the 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate would release a “‘new media’ advertisement” hitting Roy Barnes. A campaign spokesman said the ad “demonstrates John Oxendine’s commitment to using innovative, cutting-edge genre to communicate serious messages in creative mediums.”

The release included this hilarious paragraph:

The [event where the ad will be released] is being held at an undisclosed laser-tag facility and is closed to the public. After viewing the commercial, the volunteers will enjoy pizza and laser-tag.

Reporters were under strict orders not to publicize the advertisement until its formal release tonight at 7:20 p.m. Reporters complied. Not out of respect, really, but because we didn’t care.

This, my friends, is the cutting-edge technology, all four minutes of it:

If you don’t have the patience to listen to the man with the slow drawl talk about “Obama liberals” and choppy animations of “The Ox” headbutting a rat all the way to ole socialist France,  then we’ve provided screenshots for your enjoyment after the jump.

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Not the kind of a nickname you want tagged on your local high school.

According to data from John Hopkins University, Georgia’s fourth in the country with the highest percentage of “dropout factories” — schools where graduation rates are routinely below 60 percent. And while only 10 percent of the nation’s school boast the moniker, they produce the majority of the country’s dropouts.

In the Peach State, more than one-third of high schools are considered dropout factories.

The Alliance For Excellent Education, the national policy and advocacy organization that’s raising awareness about the problem, says it’s not just an inner-city problem.

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Those of you looking for a real-life tale of the importance — and risks — of speaking out have an opportunity tonight, as the documentary Do No Harm will finally be screened in Atlanta.

The 55-minute film tells the story of two whistleblowers who uncovered what they felt were questionable practices at Phoebe Putney, a nonprofit hospital in Albany, Ga.

From the Do No Harm website:

In 2003, Dr. John Bagnato and accountant Charles Rehberg stumble upon evidence that the hospital is overcharging uninsured and indigent patients and is using aggressive collections tactics to recover costs. Their subsequent investigation uncovers millions of dollars in offshore bank accounts and lucrative for-profit businesses under the control of the non-profit hospital – not only at Phoebe, but also at non-profit hospitals around the country. And shockingly – this is all entirely legal.

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KASIM'S OUR MAN: Reed deserves the edge for his clear-eyed, pragmatic vision of Atlanta’s future

Even as it heads into the final days before the election, the Atlanta mayor’s race remains, as it has for months now, a showdown between three well-funded, skilled politicians, who are followed some distance behind by an earnest outsider. Voters seem largely indifferent and indecisive — perhaps because there’s a tough choice here, but also some easy ones.

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Clair Muller

Pity the candidates for City Council president.

As a non-voting cat herder whose only mandated duties are running Council meetings and making committee appointments, the job of Council prez hardly seems worth the time, effort and expense it takes to win it.

Still, we have a hard-fought race between two councilmembers — one young and ambitious, the other a veteran who sees the post as way to leverage her accumulated experience.

An at-large councilman for the past eight years, Ceasar Mitchell is bursting with ideas. He wants the city to adopt zero-based budgeting. He’d like to allow private sanitation companies to compete with city trash collectors. Mitchell even suggests that pumping desalinated water in from the coast might be a way to solve the region’s water issues.

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Adam Brackman

Before qualifying ended, the race to claim Councilman Ceasar Mitchell’s at-large post looked like a clown car.

Nine political hopefuls had filed to run for the citywide seat, including perennial candidates, a former councilman and a handful of unknowns. When it came time to pay the $1,184 fee to run, however, only four men and women remained.

Thankfully, Adam Brackman was one of them.

Brackman, a 42-year-old resident of south Atlanta’s Benteen Park, has risen through the ranks of neighborhood-based politics to stand out as a fresh-faced candidate with an arsenal of ideas — and a strong dose of enthusiasm — that could greatly enhance a council where nearly half the members will win their seats without opposition.

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Aaron Watson

It’s a shame that some of the candidates for City Council’s Post 2 At-Large can’t be farmed out to other district races with less impressive rosters. As it is, we’re forced to decide between three seemingly qualified and capable guys running for the same open seat.

There’s Weslee Knapp, an engineer and real estate broker who thinks his private sector expertise could knock down walls in City Hall’s bureaucratic maze. Amir Farokhi is a 31-year-old attorney and Grant Park resident whose smart-growth vision for Atlanta doesn’t just sound exciting, but doable. And Aaron Watson, a corporate finance lawyer, boasts a long record of leadership that includes the Atlanta Public Schools board, the Atlanta Housing Authority and the Piedmont Park Conservancy.

All the contenders have big ideas and want to effect change. But only Watson has the record to back it up.

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For weeks, there have been whispers that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wouldn’t offer endorsements for the upcoming Atlanta mayoral elections. If so, the move would’ve been a startling about-face from an editorial board made famous by legendary editor Ralph McGill.

Late Friday evening, the paper sent word. In a note to readers, the board said it was done with endorsements.

We have heard from readers — and we agree — that you don’t need us to tell you how to vote. What readers tell us they need is information on who the candidates are, what they have done and what they want to do in the new job.

While this sounds very forward-thinking and probably could be spun as “bold new thinking” in NewspaperLand, we think it’s hogwash.

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Jim Walls at Atlanta Unfiltered, muckraking extraordinaire and recent Best of Atlanta recipient, has some excellent posts with a transit twist on two state lawmakers. One of them also deals with public toilets. We know it’s early, so read at your own risk.

First, there’s Rep. Doug Stoner, D-Smyrna, and his emplyment with an engineering firm that’s conducted work for MARTA.

Then we have Rep. Jill Chambers, R-Dunwoody. On Saturday, the lawmaker told MARTA board members they could lose their seats if  the transit agency signs a $160,000 annual contract with a lobbying firm.

Check ‘em out.

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