Fresh Loaf

A sampling of statements from the community today as word spread about the shutdown of Southern Voice and David:

“The shuttering of Southern Voice and David magazine saddens me deeply. In the early 1990s, some of my very first bylines in Atlanta ran in SoVo as a freelance reporter for them. I have long admired the newspaper’s commitment to covering the city’s gay and lesbian community.

As a David reader, I became a fan of columnists Topher Payne and Ryan Lee who added gifted young voices and fresh perspective to the city’s gay community as they bravely shared the universal intricacies of their lives.
With mainstream media outlets simultaneously undergoing financial challenges and downsizing in the current economy, the work of Southern Voice and David was more important than ever. It will be much missed.”

—Richard Eldredge, reporter, former writer for the AJC’s Peach Buzz

“The reportings and opinions of Laura, Matt, Dyana, Ryan – and so many others with Southern Voice and David – have meant a tremendous amount to me over the years. I remember the first time I picked up a Southern Voice as a closeted teenager and what it meant for me to know that I wasn’t alone and that I was part of a community that was large enough to sustain a print newspaper! (I worked up a little more courage and picked up David – a rather risqué publication for a Southern Baptist kid from north Georgia – a little later on. I always enjoyed it’s content.) Thanks for over 20 years of service to our community. Our struggle for full equality continues and it’s up to us to find new ways to communicate with our community to report truth, empower identity and inspire action.”

—Kyle Bailey, LGBT activist, former head of National Stonewall Democrats

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After leaving Mary Norwood’s campaign party at the Varsity, CL dropped by Noni’s on Edgewood Avenue around 12:15 a.m. to speak with mayoral candidate Kyle Keyser.

The filmmaker and community activist, whose grassroots campaign tapped social media to reach voters and raise funds, received less than one percent of the votes in yesterday’s election. (For a second yesterday Fox 5 said he had it wrapped up, which Keyser thought was amusing.)

We asked him how he felt now that the election’s over.

A large part of a runoff is actually convincing voters to return to the polls. And Keyser’s proven he can rally people around a cause. No word yet if he plans to endorse Mary Norwood or Kasim Reed. His nod of approval wouldn’t be a deciding factor, but it surely wouldn’t hurt.

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Even though polls will stay open in Atlanta for another five-and-a-half hours, Fox 5 is already reporting Lisa Borders and Kyle Keyser finished first and second in today’s Atlanta mayoral election, with 100 percent of precincts reporting.

Here’s the screenshot:

Either Ken Cook’s Doppler Radar doubles as a time machine, or someone at Fox 5 posted the wrong information online. I’m guessing the latter.

Just to be clear, the polls are still open and no results are available. The chart you see above actually appears on Fox 5’s web site, but the numbers are ARE NOT the actual results.

UPDATE: Fox 5 has fixed the chart on its web site. No votes have been counted. Keyser and Borders haven’t won. Ken Cook does not have a time machine.

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Let’s say that, after voting, you want to go out tomorrow evening to support your favorite candidate for mayor — and score some free food. Here’s where you’ll find ‘em on election night:

• Lisa Borders — Her party’s in the new W Hotel Downtown at 45 Ivan Allen Blvd. She’s booked a 4th floor ballroom.
• Kyle Keyser — Yes, the longshot activist is throwing a party, too. It’s at Noni’s restaurant at 357 Edgewood Ave.
  
• Mary Norwood — Breaking with the tradition of using a hotel or event facility, Norwood is holding her party at the Varsity. Slaw dogs for everybody!
• Kasim Reed — He’ll be somewhere in the Hyatt Regency downtown. Check with the concierge for directions.

And, let’s not forget the candidates for council president:

• Ceasar Mitchell — He’ll be raising the roof at Park Tavern at the corner of 10th and Monroe.
• Clair Muller — Not too surprisingly, Clair isn’t a big party gal. We’re told she’ll be hanging out at home tomorrow night.

Be sure to vote, folks!

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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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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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In the third installment in our series of videos chronicling the bizarre trials and unusual tribulations of political candidates you’ve probably never heard of, we bring you … someone you probably HAVE heard of: Atlanta mayoral candidate and grassroots activist Kyle Keyser.

After being robbed at gunpoint outside an Poncey-Highland Old Fourth Ward Pizza Hut, Keyser started Atlantans Together Against Crime, a community anti-crime group. In September, he qualified as a candidate for Atlanta mayor.

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Nearly three weeks after the controversial police raid on local gay bar the Eagle, a protest or two, a press conference, and calls for resignations and outrage throughout the gay and straight communities alike, the Atlanta Police Department and the Atlanta community are going to church.

The forum came together as a result of a collaboration between openly gay mayoral candidate Kyle Keyser and LGBT community liaison Officer Dani Lee Harris, with help from Atlanta City Council Post 1 at-large candidate Adam Brackman.  The forum, which is free and open to the public, starts at at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 5,  at Virginia-Highland Church. It’s co-sponsored by grassroots group Atlantans Together Against Crime, of which Keyser is a founder.

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Kyle Keyser, in front of City Hall

Kyle Keyser’s surprising announcement that he was running for mayor of Atlanta invigorated an already dramatic campaign race — but it came with a catch.  In order to officially enter the race, Keyser had to raise the $4,425 filing fee to get on the ballot.

And he had to do it in 48 hours.

The following is an account of the emotional days leading up to the announcement and the critical hours that followed in which the unlikely upstart candidate used Facebook, Twitter, Freedom Rock and an iPhone app to rally a community and help him get in the game.

Friday, Aug. 28

6:30 p.m: Keyser speaks at a rally at Bessie Branham Park in Kirkwood, held in response to the shooting of a 55-year-old man who was mowing his lawn.

This is when things really started to kick in. There were probably 200 people and I got up to speak at the end, and I just looked out and saw all these eyes looking at me and I just felt this sadness in the community, like they’d been broken by this incident, and a little hurt more so than angry. I thought to myself, “This is eight months from the time I started [Atlantans Together Against Crime (ATAC)].  How many more rallies do there have to be?  How many more people are going to be affected by this?”  That’s when I started to strongly consider running.

Monday, Aug. 31

3:21 p.m.: Facebook update: “ain’t gonna do it.”

I was not going to run at this point. But I was still flirting with the idea; maybe I should do it.

6 p.m.: Keyser speaks at another Kirkwood rally, this one organized by ATAC, in front of Vinocity.

The Monday rally was what put me over. I sat on my pile of signs, cleaning up, and talked to people who attended the rally and lived in the neighborhood. I just felt compelled to do something. I examined the situation and looked at myself and was like, “What can I do to affect the most change?” It was really like a compulsion. I’m like, “I have to do something.”

Then I decided, “I’m gonna do it.”

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Last Wednesday, anti-crime advocate Kyle Keyser made the Atlanta mayoral race — which has seen its fair share of drama the last few weeks — much more interesting when he announced his candidacy.

One problem: Keyser didn’t have the $4,425 to get his name on the ballot. Another problem: the Little Five Points resident had only 48 hours to raise the cash. Either that or gather 2,300 signatures in the same amount of time.

So Keyser, the co-founder of the 10,000-member strong Atlantans Together Against Crime and who’s well-known among the city’s more social, younger crowd, asked for help from friends and strangers via Twitter, Facebook and DailyKos. It paid off. Here are the numbers.

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Anti-crime advocate Kyle Keyser, who announced his Atlanta mayoral bid on Sept. 2, sends word that he’s met his $4,425 fundraising goal.

Since announcing his candidacy on Sept. 2, the 36-year-old video producer and Little Five Points resident asked friends and supporters via Facebook, Twitter and DailyKos to help raise money so he could pay the mandatory qualifying fee to run for office.

Keyser, who acknowledges he’s outmatched when it comes to money and experience, will file his official papers at City Hall this afternoon.

“The change the next mayor will have to bring in the next four years is crucial,” he told CL this morning. “I’m running to remind [my opponents] of that change. I believe Atlanta can change with the right leadership.”

His opponents in the race, thus far, are Lisa Borders, Peter Brownlowe, Mary Norwood, Kasim Reed and Jesse Spikes. Qualifying ends today at 4:30 p.m.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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CL staffers Scott Henry and Alejandro Leal covered the Atlanta Police Department’s John Henderson press conference on our Twitter feed.

Atlantans Together Against Crime’s Kyle Keyser also Twittered the press conference.

Atlanta Police say ballistics and DNA evidence led them to charge 17-year-old Jonathan Redding with Henderson’s murder.

CL’s servers are acting wonky, so check here AND our Twitter feed for updates as they become available.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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The killing of John Henderson sparked Atlanta resident awareness about crime.

Kyle Keyser is a founder of Atlantans Together Against Crime, a grassroots citizen group that raises awareness about the city’s growing crime problem. In an open letter to Mayor Shirley Franklin and City Council that Keyser asked CL to publish, he says the community is fully engaged, but residents’ trust in their elected officials is slipping. On Feb. 23 from 5 to 7 p.m., ATAC will hold its second monthly rally at the corner of Martin Luther King and Joseph E. Lowery Boulevards.

An Open Letter to the Mayor and Council of Atlanta:

Lately, it seems, when you can’t fight crime with police officers you fight it with numbers.

“Things are better today,” you insist, and you reach back over the years to compare crime rates. Never mind the property crime increase here or another senseless murder there. You act as if this is all in our heads, perhaps being exacerbated by neighbors – and neighborhoods – too quick to react.

Madam Mayor & Council members – with all due respect – stop patronizing us. We are not children who are scared of the dark for no other reason than its darkness. Criminals are lurking in our streets and perpetrating horrible crimes on all sides of Atlanta. Maybe they are not killing or assaulting us as much as they did in your comparison years but they are breaking into our homes and our cars, they are robbing us of hard-earned possessions, and they are stealing our privacy, our peace, and our sense of safety with alarming frequency.

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Grayson Daughters produced an excellent video of this morning’s vigil for John Henderson, the Standard Food and Spirits bartender who was murdered early Wednesday morning during a robbery at the Memorial Drive restaurant.

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As mentioned in Joeff Davis’ earlier post about this morning’s vigil at the Standard, local residents Kyle Keyser and Tessa Horehled have started an advocacy group for Atlantans to connect and stay informed about crimes and other issues affecting the community.

The group, called Atlantans Together Against Crime and Cutbacks, is in its beginning stages. (Residents can share stories and information about crimes with other members on the group’s Facebook page.)

Keyser writes:

The Facebook forum will be for sharing accounts of violent crime that effect those within our community, as well as posting updates on news, protests, and other tools to help bring awareness to this issue. The mailing list below will be used to share information on gatherings, protests, and lobbying efforts to fight cutbacks. You will not be inundated with email and will only notify you of big events (estimated at a few emails a month).

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RATTLED: Little Five Points resident Kyle Keyser says his Dec. 17 mugging reflects how brazen Atlanta crime has become.

On Dec. 17, local video producer and blogger Kyle Keyser stopped at the Pizza Hut on North Avenue to pick up a late dinner for his roommate’s boss. Five men stood outside the pizza joint. One asked Keyser if he’d buy him some food. Keyser, sympathetic to the man’s hunger, said sure.

But the restaurant was closed, and as Keyser returned to his car, the five men surrounded him and pushed him against a nearby vehicle. One shoved a gun to his neck. They demanded money. Keyser said he didn’t have any but handed over his ATM card.

The men took Keyser’s cell phone and wallet and ordered him to lie on the ground. One suspect, pistol in hand, took aim.

“I’m gonna shoot him,” Keyser recalls the suspect saying. “I’m gonna shoot this motherfucker.”

“Don’t shoot him,” pleaded the guy who Keyser had offered to buy food.

“Naw,” the gunman said, “I’m gonna shoot him in the leg.”

Keyser, face down on the pavement, braced himself for a bullet. Instead, he saw five pairs of sneakers walk off. He sensed he had an exit, jumped in his car, and sped toward Midtown to call the police. He says bank receipts show the suspects purchased food with his card at a gas station a block away.

“OK, people get mugged and asked for money,” says Keyser, whose house has been broken into twice. “There’s a certain amount of crime that you associate with living in the city. It’s not forgivable, but it’s understood. You know it’s going to happen. What concerns me now is the spike in violent crime.”

Read the rest of this story.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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