Fresh Loaf

Anita Beatty of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless alleges that the city conspired to shut down her Midtown facility.

A lawsuit filed by the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless that accuses the city of Atlanta of using “improper, illegal and unethical means” in an attempt to shut down the organization’s controversial Peachtree-Pine shelter will get its day in Fulton County Superior Court on Sept. 21.

The 23-page filing alleges that the city has used a multi-pronged approach since 2007 to try and shut down the shelter — the largest of its kind in Atlanta, and, according to neighbors and city officials, a magnet for crime in a gentrifying corridor.

City Hall officials have damaged the organization’s reputation and ability to compete for funding, the task force’s lawyers claim, by delaying certification needed to apply for grants, making defamatory remarks to private donors, and cutting off water service to the shelter for unpaid bills. The lawsuit also accuses officials with Central Atlanta Progress, a civic booster group, of instigating the media to report negatively on the shelter.

The lawsuit asks the judge to stop the city from collecting on the shelter’s water bill debts, defaming the task force, and refusing to issue the certification it needs to seek funding. (Here’s a link to a PDF of the task force’s lawsuit.)

A.J. Robinson of Central Atlanta Progress strongly denies any conspiracy between the downtown organization and City Hall to shut down the task force. In an interview with CL, Robinson claimed that other local organizations were more effective than the task force when it comes to helping people break the cycle of homelessness.

“It’s not about the homeless population,” Robinson said of the dispute. “It’s about a very poorly managed and poorly operated operation. I wish we could influence the media to shine a light on this organization and how the people in there are not being served. There are better facilities around the community that can serve that purpose.”

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Note to lawmakers: Perhaps using one of the metro region’s most important assets as a bargaining chip isn’t that great of an idea? Maybe?

From Friday’s Atlanta Business Chronicle:

If Atlanta’s rapid transit system is forced to eliminate a day of service, business leaders say, it will be a severe economic blow to a city already stung by a deepening recession.

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“It would be devastating for the Atlanta economy and therefore the state of Georgia’s economy if MARTA has to restrict services on any day,” said A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, the alliance of downtown businesses. He called the state’s failure to resolve the problem a “travesty.”

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“If MARTA has to furlough its trains and buses for one day a week, the ripple effect would be tremendous,” Metro Atlanta Chamber President Sam Williams said. “I’ve talked to several big employers who say their businesses would be drastically affected. This would certainly send a message nationwide that Georgia has another problem and can’t solve it.”

The paper also quotes officials from AT&T, UPS and BellSouth — all of whom say MARTA service cuts could impact their workers. There’s also a good list of statistics outlining the role MARTA plays in shuttling residents and visitors around the region.

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Atlanta’s much ballyhooed Center for Civil and Human Rights will take an important step toward becoming a reality – a site dedication ceremony – this coming Monday.

Didn’t know a site had been selected? You’re not alone.

Neither City Hall, which helped start the ball rolling for the museum; nor the Atlanta Development Authority, which will issue bonds to help pay for it; nor the Center for Civil and Human Rights Partnership, the city-sponsored group charged with raising private funding, has ever announced that a site had been formally selected.

“I guess you could say that’s what’s happening on Monday,” says A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, who headed up a panel of business leaders that helped determine the cost and mission of the proposed center in late 2006.

To call the site selection a below-the-radar decision is like saying Paris Hilton doesn’t mind having her picture taken. City Councilman Kwanza Hall, who represents the area, says he didn’t know about the dedication event until just this past Monday. Other council folk we asked hadn’t heard a thing.

So when was this decision made – and, more to the point, who made it?

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