Fresh Loaf

Construction of the new international terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson might have to stop soon because nobody’s buying municipal bonds.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports:

The problem isn’t with the airport or the City of Atlanta, which have a solid A+ bond rating, Kennedy said.

Investors are fleeing the market and keeping their money on the sidelines out of fear, analysts say. Municipal bonds, typically, are low interest earning, but safe investments. Even in the current economic crisis, investors aren’t buying up municipal debt.

No bonds. No money. No terminal.

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Thanks to the efficient and helpful staff employed by the Mexican airline Aeroméxico, I had an 18 hour layover in Mexico City over the weekend. (more…)

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In April, I interviewed a Clayton County assistant solicitor about the ins and outs of sex-crime enforcement at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

How does the law distinguish between “lewd exposure” of sexual organs and the utilitarian exposure of sexual organs required for successful use of a toilet?

She wouldn’t say.

Read more.

Or don’t.

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The Associated Press and USA Today just picked up the AJC’s April 2 story about the Atlanta Police Department’s War On Bathroom Sex. I blogged a little bit about it on April 3. In case you missed it, Atlanta cops are peering into toilets at the airport to catch people engaged in sexual activity.

Seeing the story again reminded me of a conversation I had two weeks ago with a Clayton County assistant solicitor whose office prosecutes public indecency offenses at the airport.

I got in touch with her after I tried and failed to get an Atlanta police officer to talk to me about the crackdown. Strange. You’d think that someone who’s been peering into bathroom stalls at the airport would have some stories they’d want to tell.

(more…)

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Yesterday’s edition of Atlanta’s alternative daily newspaper featured a story about an Atlanta Police Department crackdown on men having sex with other men in restrooms at Hartsfield-Jackson.

Maj. Darryl Tolleson, commander of the airport precinct, credits a recent increase in “public indecency” arrests at the airport to new and better crime-fighting tactics by the police.

Among the tactics:

discreet peeks through the crack in closed restroom stall doors if an officer hears anything unusual.

What’s supposed to bother me more — men having sex with other men in public bathroom stalls, or police officers “discreetly peeking” in bathroom stalls because they hear an “unusual” noise?

I can easily imagine cops peeking in at people on the toilet because they happen to be “suspiciously” talking on their phones or singing along to their iPods.

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