Fresh Loaf

It’s now official: Fire Station #23 on Howell Mill Road near Chattahoochee Avenue will be “temporarily decommissioned” around the end of the month.

What that means is, the single-engine firehouse will be shuttered for an indefinite period of time and the firemen sent to other stations as part of a citywide effort to slash spending. Apparently, the 54-year-old station on the edge of the Berkeley Park neighborhood was singled out by a study that considered such factors as coverage area, response times and the number of 911 calls.

Councilwoman Clair Muller, who represents the area, is withholding judgment on the decision – which was ultimately made by Mayor Shirley Franklin – until she sees the results of the study.

“I don’t know how the neighbors will react, but they are at least owed a good explanation based on firm data,” Muller says.

The last time the mayor closed of a fire station, it touched off, well, a firestorm of protest. In early summer, Franklin announced the immediate – and permanent – closing of Station #7 near the West End. The city’s oldest working fire station, it was built in 1910.

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There’s a parlor game going on these days down at Atlanta City Hall. Here’s how you play: Imagine that President-elect Obama invites Mayor Shirley Franklin to join his administration; then figure out who might move over to take her place, and who’d take that person’s place, and who’d take that person’s place, and so on.

I’d heard about this swirl of speculation a couple weeks back, but decided it would be irresponsible to write about because it’s so, well, speculative. But I’ve changed my mind because: 1) polls are predicting an Obama victory; 2) City Hall is still buzzing with this talk; and 3) the AJC has already jumped on board the speculation train.

So here goes: If Shirley heads to Washington next spring, then a special election would have to be called to replace her. The collective assumption is that City Council President Lisa Borders – who abandoned her campaign for mayor for personal reasons in mid-August – would get back into the race. In a campaign cycle lasting only a few weeks, Borders would have to be considered the front-runner due to high name recognition.

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Atlanta residents already bracing for a potential tax hike may also be facing a sharp jump in their water and sewer bills.

Although the Department of Watershed Management won’t deliver its proposed budget to the City Council until May 1, a highly placed source in City Hall says the department is planning to ask for a dramatic 25-percent rate increase.

The department had recently sought to enact a “drought surcharge” to offset residents’ lower water usage – and thus lower water revenue – but was rebuffed by the Council.

“It seems unfair to ask people to conserve water and then penalize them for doing it,” says Councilwoman Clair Muller.

The presumption is that Watershed would simply roll the increase into its upcoming budget proposal, which was already anticipated to include higher rates to pay for the next round of sewer fixes. But Muller says the rumored 25-percent hike is much steeper than was expected – and is likely to inflame more controversy in a City Hall already grappling with a budget crisis.

If such a large increase in water rates is proposed, Muller says she will move to postpone future clean-water projects so the city can keep rates lower but still meet a federal consent order to repair its aging sewers.

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