Fresh Loaf

In March 2008, Mayor Shirley Franklin commented on a Fresh Loaf post about the sentencing hearing for her daughter, Kai Franklin Graham. We were surprised she’d jumped into the online fray, but we welcomed her input. But then for months she went silent, only holding something called “press conferences.” We didn’t hear much from the online persona known only as “Shirley” after that. And we became sad.

On Sunday, someone named “Shirley” commented on a post by the AJC’s Jim Galloway. In it, the poster says Mary Norwood, who according to polls has a big chance of becoming Atlanta’s next mayor, isn’t qualified for the position.

Galloway checked with City Hall to confirm it was Franklin. It was. From her comment:

I support candidates with vision, integrity and intelligence and I have voted for candidates with these 3 characteristics throughout my life. Mary Norwood has none of these. Therefore, I do not support her candidacy for mayor.

Should she win I will wish her well and continue my activism in politics and civic affairs. Race nor gender are the issues for me. Competency is. Norwood has not demonstrated vision, competence or integrity in her public life as an elected offical. Rather she has spent her time building a political network to run for mayor. It looks like she’ll be successful.

She’s provided no evidence in her service on the Council as to her competence to govern. She has not led on ethics or public policy. In fact she’s known for slips of the tongue about what she’ll do as mayor.

Read the rest of Franklin’s comment over at Galloway’s den of political intrigue.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Last night in north Atlanta, during what must now be the 83rd mayoral forum held so far, Council President Lisa Borders said a rather interesting thing: “Yes.”

This single-word statement came in response to a question of whether, as mayor, she’d roll back the 3-mill tax increase adopted by the city only a couple of months back. To those who’ve repeatedly heard Borders take credit for coordinating the passage of the tax hike by the City Council, it sounded like a remarkable — and unexplained — about-face.

Well, it’s unexplained no longer. Liz Flowers, Borders’ campaign spokeswoman, told me this morning that the candidate thought she was being asked if she’d favor a rollback after the city’s public-safety needs had been adequately funded.

“We’re not backing away from her original position” supporting the tax increase, Flowers said. “She misunderstood the way the question was framed.”

(more…)

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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.

(more…)

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Well, not quite yet, but Michael Wagoner, president of the Berkeley Park Neighborhood Association, tells me that their local station at 1545 Howell Mill Road is scheduled to reopen on Thursday, thanks to Monday’s approval of a $541 million city budget that included a 3-mill tax increase.

Station 23 was ordered closed by Mayor Franklin late last year as city revenues continued to dip. The administration said then that the closure was temporary, but that didn’t seem to satisfy the neighbors, who gathered hundreds of signatures to persuade the mayor to re-open the station.

Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran laid out the benefits of the tax hike in an e-mail to Wagoner:

For citizens, the measure restores services that were reduced or eliminated due to furloughs by restoring personnel to normal work hours and work schedules. Atlanta Fire Rescue will have the capacity to staff Engine 23 and Truck 12. For employees, the tax increase benefit will restore 10 percent of their salary, which is a tremendous blessing and morale booster during these tough economic times.

(more…)

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Jim Maddox, caught between naps

The Atlanta City Council voted today to raise property taxes by 3 mills, an outcome we’d been predicting for weeks. But the actual vote count — 8 to 7 — was closer than anyone expected it to be. Not because Council members believed the tax hike was a bad idea. Hell, with only one or two possible exceptions, even those who voted against it were privately praying it would pass.

No, the vote was so close because several of our Council members possess, as Teddy Roosevelt once said, “the backbone of a chocolate eclair.”

Exhibit A is Jim “40 Winks” Maddox, the self-proclaimed “Dean of the Council” because he’s warmed a chair in City Hall for more than three long decades. Today, Maddox shocked his colleagues by voting against the tax hike and the $541 million budget. This is a guy who, two months ago, said publicaly that he didn’t think Mayor Franklin’s proposed 3-mill increase was big enough!

“I’m prepared to approve a tax increase to end the furloughs for all employees,” he announced at a budget hearing at the end of April.

But that was before he picked up three challengers for his beloved Council seat. So, today, without giving anyone a heads up, the lily-livered Maddox cravenly hung his colleagues out to dry.

Here’s guessing the next Council retreat is going to be awwwkward.

(more…)

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Last month, city jailers blasted the City Council about proposed cutbacks in their department.

Yesterday, it was the municipal court judges‘ turn. And they’re claiming the city doesn’t have the power to dismiss them.

At a meeting of the Council Finance Committee on Wednesday, Judge Barbara Harris led other court employees in stating their opposition to a proposed downsizing of the muni court. There are currently 11 judges, but Mayor Franklin’s proposed 2010 budget only includes funding for 8 judge positions.

If this issue sounds familiar, it’s because city officials began sometime last year discussing — with the judges themselves — a reduction in the number of municipal courtrooms. Supposedly,  a tentative agreement had been reached with three judges who volunteered to retire. But that was before the recent economic collapse wiped out many people’s savings. Now, it seems, the judges have decided they want to stay on — even Judge Andrew Mickle, who was busted last year for a DUI.

(more…)

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Shortly before noon, in front of Old City Hall (the Mitchell Street side), Council President Lisa Borders jumped back into the Atlanta mayor’s race with both feet and a couple dozen well-wishers.

Her first order of business was to address why she’d changed her mind after leaving the campaign trail seven months ago. As Borders delicately explained, it seemed at the time that her parents’ failing health would demand so much of her time that she couldn’t continue her mayor campaign. Since then, she said, her family situation had “stabilized,” enabling her to rejoin the race. To underscore her point, both her parents were at her side during the announcement.

Borders’ family connections are a substantial part of her appeal for many older Atlantans. Her grandfather, the Rev. William Holmes Borders, was an influential pastor at Wheat Street Baptist Church who, in the pre-Civil Rights era, successfully helped push the city into integrating its police force and public transportation system. The Council president also name-checked late Mayor Maynard Jackson as having “inspired me to serve.”

But Borders’ main political asset is her close relationship with the Chamber of Commerce crowd. A Council member told me as an aside that, at a business breakfast he attended this morning, people came close to cheering when it was announced that Borders was getting back into the race. (more…)

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A Jan. 7 killing and armed robbery at the Standard Food and Spirits sparked community outcry — and questions over who’s to blame for a rise in Atlanta crime.

“The idea that we have a city where this kind of violence can happen is completely unacceptable. … What we have seen is cuts [in police hours] made [by Mayor Shirley Franklin] without consultation and collaboration.”

— Atlanta Councilmember Mary Norwood, who attended a Thursday morning vigil for victim John Henderson, in a Jan. 8 AJC article.

“I proposed a modest tax increase [in early 2008] dedicated to public safety and the Council chose to roll back taxes in spite of our warnings. … [Norwood] has never sought to discuss the budget recommendations with me and I find her remarks today to be ludicrous and irresponsible.”

— Franklin’s response to Norwood, in a Jan. 8 press release.

“i would be happy to pay more taxes for a safer community. but our family can and will leave if the city doesn’t address this problem.”

— Adam Bartolett, in a post on the Atlantans Together Against Crime and Cutbacks’ Facebook page.

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UPDATE: Case settled.

When Kai Franklin Graham, daughter of Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, goes on trial next month on civil charges, the case could shed light on allegations that a recent criminal investigation only hinted at.

The plaintiff, Free At Last Bail Bonds, is suing Graham in an attempt to hold her accountable for $185,000 she owes the company after her then-husband jumped bond and became a fugitive. Kai Franklin Graham filed for bankruptcy in 2005 in an attempt to avoid paying the bond.

The reason she shouldn’t be allowed to use the federal bankruptcy statute to free herself from the debt? According to Free At Last, Graham deceived both the bondsman and the bankruptcy court about her financial situation and the whereabouts of Tremayne “Kiki” Graham, whom she divorced the year after he went on the lam.

Documents filed in the case allege that Kai Franklin Graham “blatantly lied under oath” and tried to hide contentious sources of income.

In court documents, Graham’s attorney, James Dearing, denied Free At Last’s allegations. Dearing didn’t return CL’s phone calls seeking comment.

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