Fresh Loaf

Jim Maddozzzzzzzzzzz

Sleepy Jim is stepping aside. The Dean is done.

Yes, the aged alderman, whose dozing antics can be viewed on the city’s own public-access Channel 26, is finally retiring after 32 years spent warming an Atlanta Council seat.

Maddox, who in recent years had taken to referring to himself as the “Dean of Council,” will turn 75 in October. During his eight four-year terms, he’d transformed his office into a veritable travel agency, crisscrossing the globe as a self-appointed economic development ambassador for Atlanta.

Even in the press release announcing his retirement, Maddox can’t resist boasting about squeezing a few more international destinations out of his gig before he leaves office:

In fact, Maddox will be leaving for Argentina this week, where he will meet with mayors and city council members from South American countries, in an effort to promote Atlanta in economic exchange opportunities. He then heads to St. Petersburg, Russia and Moscow on a diplomatic mission on behalf of Mayor Franklin and the Council.

Why am I being so hard on this poor, tired guy?

Because when I try to think of Maddox’s legacy, I draw a blank. Then the image appears of a bump on a log  —  a log being sawed in half. His Southwest Atlanta district includes the Cascade Road area, long a seat of African American wealth and political power. His constituents include Shirley Franklin, Lisa Borders and, before that, Michael Lomax and countless other movers and shakers.

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An Atlanta councilmember once told me the quickest way to determine whether a neighborhood could be considered scuzzy and low-rent is to drive around and see how many dogs are chained up in front yards.

Well, soon, we may need a different rule of thumb.

Today’s AJC has an article about a recent decision by the Forsyth County Commission to limit the chaining of dogs. According to the new rules, which were approved on a close 3-2 vote, dogs can be tethered on a temporary basis, but can’t be left outside on a chain permanently.

Fulton County, however, passed an even stronger ordinance back in March, although it won’t go into effect until next month. The delay, it seems, was to give dog owners time to build a fence or housetrain their beasts. Beginning Sept. 4, dogs cannot be chained or tethered to a fixed object unless held by an attendant or by the owner. That doesn’t leave much wiggle room. It should be noted that the Fulton ordinance enjoyed unanimous support from commissioners.

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Here at CL we LOVE receiving letters. (So tangible!) But sometimes they make us sad. And Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts wins most depressing mailer of the day.

This morning, CL’s A&E assistant Wyatt Williams handed me a letter from the pro-gambling politico. Then he handed me a stack of about 20 more. I was delighted to discover a folded piece of paper that read “Casino Gaming Can Help!” accompanied by a bunch of headlines about foreclosures, unemployment and the current tidal wave of economic pain.

I don’t know which is more depressing — the collection of headlines or imagining Pitts’ staffers cutting every one of them out. Either way, thanks, sir! We received the memo!

More photos of Pitts’ letter after the jump.

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Last Monday, state Rep. Jan Jones, R-Alpharetta, fired the first shot in the battle between North Fulton residents and the Fulton County Commission. The aim of these highly educated, high-income, and mostly Republican residents: Split from the terrible fiend named Fulton and revive Milton County, which fell on hard times after a boll weevil infestation and the Great Depression. In 1932, it merged with Fulton County.

Jones filed a bill that would allow former counties to “re-create” themselves. There’s no dancing around the fact that it’s meant for Roswell, Alpharetta, Mountain Park and the newly created cities of Johns Creek and Milton to revive Milton County. The House Communications office even announced it as such.

It would also mean Fulton County loses one of its wealthiest areas.

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Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts — who’s got dreams of building new libraries and putting casinos downtown — says he wants to give county police officers “free” homes. He says it’s an appropriate step at a time when the county is swimming in abandoned and foreclosed homes and police are having a hard time paying and retaining officers.

There’s a catch, of course — the officers just have to promise they’ll stick around for 15 years.

From Pitts release:

Pitts said, “Since most jurisdictions cannot pay police officers what they deserve, providing free homes to them would be a substantial supplement to their salaries and a good tool for recruitment and retention.”

Under the program, police officers would have to pay a down payment of $2,500 and commit to 15 years of service with the department in order to receive a free home, and it would have to be their primary residence. At the end of 15 years they would be given the deed to the home. During the interim, they would be responsible for all taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance.

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Fulton County leaders apparently haven’t learned their lessons from the Sandy Springs mutiny.

Last week, county commissioners voted 4-2 to spend more than $6 million to build an amphitheater in South Fulton, despite projections of sharply falling revenue over the next budget year.

The charge was led by South Fulton Commissioner Bill Edwards, who cited the large turnouts for free concerts by second-tier oldies acts last year at the county-owned Wolf Creek Park as evidence that a concert venue at the site could be self-supporting.

Edwards also argued that the county’s investment in the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park — a 12,000-seat venue opening next month near Alpharetta with a three-night stand by the Eagles — should be balanced by a similar project in the south end of the county. However, while that facility was built on land the county purchased for $1 million, the property sat vacant for several years until the Woodruff Arts Center put up the money to develop the venue.

The amphitheater at Wolf Creek, by contrast, will be built entirely on the taxpayer’s dime — at a cost that North Fulton Commissioner Tom Lowe predicted would be far more than the $6 million approved last week because that figure is based on three-year old estimates. Lowe, a retired engineer, pointed out that construction costs have risen considerably since then.

Lowe and fellow North Fulton Commissioner Lynn Riley voted against the measure. Commissioner Robb Pitts was out of the room when the controversial vote was taken.

For two decades, Sandy Springs residents had complained that the county used tax revenue from growing North Fulton to build roads and senior centers in sparsely populated South Fulton. Eventually, the community gained enough political clout to become a city. If Fulton commissioners are hoping to provide ammunition to the burgeoning Milton County movement, they couldn’t have picked a better vehicle.

(Photo courtesy of Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)

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