“I have enjoyed working with Shirley and her administration. I have learned from both her achievements and her mistakes. I will take both of those lessons into office.”
Borders said Franklin’s low-key endorsement of Reed was not unexpected. Franklin has been working in the shadows of his campaign for a number of weeks, primarily by attacking Mary Norwood. Franklin has a history of endorsing candidates the day before an election.
Worth noting: One could argue that Franklin’s criticism of Norwood the last few weeks could have also helped Borders.
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.
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.
Tom Houck, state Rep. Ralph Long, and Aaron Turpeau discuss race at Uptown Lounge
Over the past few months, the leading candidates for Atlanta mayor have dutifully taken part in dozens of public forums across the city, giving the impression that no interest group is too obscure or any issue too unimportant to be addressed.
Last week, however, a politically oriented event was held downtown without a single office-seeker in sight. But this was hardly surprising. Most candidates would prefer being waterboarded than to go on the record discussing the evening’s chosen subject: race.
It didn’t help that one of the participants in last Wednesday’s panel discussion at Uptown Lounge was Aaron Turpeau, the longtime political operative associated with a controversial memo calling for coordination among black leaders to elect a black mayor.
When the memo surfaced in August, City Council President Lisa Borders quickly denounced it. State Sen. Kasim Reed labeled it “racist.” Even Mayor Shirley Franklin weighed in, dismissing it as “bigoted.”
But like it or not, where the mayor’s race is concerned, race remains the mastodon in the room. Although few have discussed it openly, it’s quite possible that no single factor will have as much impact in determining Atlanta’s next mayor — although not necessarily in ways that seem obvious.
Yesterday the Atlanta city council approved a plan to hire 50 new police officers using federal stimulus funds.
In January, Mayor Franklin announced her intention to grow the city’s police force to 2,000 officers. The city had 1,633 officers at the time, meaning Franklin was promising to grow the size of the force by 22 percent in a single year – nevermind the department’s net loss of approximately 200 officers between October 2007 and January 2009. When critics called her proposal unrealistic, cranky Franklin lashed out.
According to the AJC, the city now has “more than 1,700 sworn officers.” I’m no math whiz, but I’m pretty sure 50 plus “more than 1,700″ does not equal 2,000.
The critics were right. Franklin’s January 2009 proposal was ridiculous.
Correction: In earlier version of this post, I incorrectly described APD’s overall size during Franklin’s two-terms. I apologize.
So claims a letter by the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance that urges Mayor Shirley Franklin and the city’s License Review Board to deny a liquor license application by nightclub impressario Michael Gidewon.
As you’ll recall from our Sept. 7 cover story and other news coverage, the Gidewon family is seeking to open a pair of 10,000-square-foot clubs on Peachtree Street in the shadow of the Loews luxury hotel now under construction and catty-corner from the 1010 Midtown condo tower.
Joined by older brother Alex and three siblings, Gidewon has been the force behind the mega-clubs Vision, Compound and the Velvet Room.Many surrounding neighbors and business owners have loudly denounced the new clubs for weeks now, persuading the Midtown Neighbors’ Association and NPU-E to officially oppose them. The final showdown comes Tuesday, Oct. 6, before the License Review Board. If the LRB recommends denial and Franklin confirms that stance, then the Gidewon’s only recourse would be a lawsuit — which, I believe would be very difficult to win.
With Mayor Shirley Franklin closing in on her final three months in office, community tributes celebrating her tenure have begun. The first is an event tonight launching the “Shirley Franklin Legacy Fund,” which boasts high-powered co-chairs in ex-Mayor Andy Young and Falcons owner Arthur Blank.
The minimum donation to attend tonight’s event is $100, with the money going to “support efforts to address homelessness” and to advance quality education, according to the invitation. The fund is being administered by the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta.
The invitation, which came from the “Friends of Shirley Franklin,” is extended to those who wish to “thank her for 8 years of making us proud,” which, you may recall, was Franklin’s campaign promise.
Last night was the couch-sitting public’s first window onto the Atlanta mayor’s race, courtesy of a semi-televised forum by WSB-TV. I say “semi-” because the station inexplicably showed only the first half-hour of a 90-minute event. Apparently, it was deemed more important that viewers be able to see “America’s Funniest Home Videos” than their next mayor.
Anyway, even those who didn’t bother to switch over to radio or the Interwebs to catch the final hour didn’t miss a great deal. No clear winners or losers emerged, but the candidates’ relative strengths and weaknesses do tend to become more visible the longer you see them in action.
Fortunately, last night’s forum was sponsored by the Atlanta Police Foundation, a law-and-order support organization, so the candidates didn’t waste time pandering to special-interest groups, as has been the custom at several previous forums. Instead, they got right down to the first order of business: bashing Chief Richard Pennington.
It usually goes without saying that every new mayor brings in his or her hand-picked police chief, but it didn’t go unsaid last night. Everybody, most conspicuously Council President Lisa Borders, was sticking the boot in Pennington’s ribs, claiming how they would hire a top cop who’s responsive, visible, accountable and doesn’t fancy himself too good to mingle with common beat cops — unlike you-know-who.
According to the tirelessly self-promoting pollsters over at Insider Advantage, Council President Lisa Borders has moved up in the estimation of registered voters, while Councilwoman Mary Norwood is maintaining her lead. Here’s the lowdown:
An InsiderAdvantage survey conducted the evening of Monday August 17 among registered voters who said they were likely to vote in the November race to replace outgoing Mayor Shirley Franklin showed City Council Member Mary Norwood continuing to lead the race, with 30% saying they would vote for Norwood. But statistically tied with Norwood was City Council President Lisa Borders with 28%.
Lagging behind the two women were state Sen. Kasim Reed with 8% and attorney Jesse Spikes with 2%. The rest said they were undecided.
“We’ve almost tripled our support in just three months. That’s tremendous,” Borders said. “Everywhere that I’ve gone in the City, Atlantans have been eager to hear solution-based answers to how our next mayor will get Atlanta back on track. They want a plan for enhancing public safety, and they want to know where the funds will come from. I hear the need for a budget that gets our money’s worth and responsible government that cares for our community. Atlantans want a city that works. I welcome this news and look forward to speaking with more citizens about solutions to the challenges that we face.”
After a three-year run as Atlanta’s nightclub of choice for ballers, b-boys and high-rollers, Vision served its last Red Bull and vodka on Aug. 5, 2006. The fabled VIP haven for everyone from P. Diddy to Britney Spears to many of the now-jailed principals behind the BMF drug-trafficking empire, the glitzy club effectively shifted operations to the sprawing (and now-shuttered) Compound, on the city’s Westside, then moved the party up to the Velvet Room on the northern Perimeter.
Since then, the only noise on that stretch of Peachtree Street, between 10th and 12th streets, has been the sound of construction equipment.
But the Gidewon brothers — the four press-shy siblings from Eritrea who rule Atlanta’s hip-hop nightlife — plan to change all that.
After months of community speculation, brother Michael has embarked on the application process to reopen Vision in the strip of buildings on Peachtree that once housed the old Cotton Club and Pasta Da Pulcinella locations. From the outside, the windowless buildings appear vacant and dilapidated. But, according to sources, the club interior is enormous and was built out nearly a year ago to the Gidewon’s trademark spare-no-expense standards.
Now that the Gidewons have finally filed for their permits, at least one civic group is determined to see they don’t get them.
“We don’t want the loud music, cruising, litter and shootings that go with this type of club,” says Peggy Denby, president of the Midtown Ponce Security Alliance. “We’re going to oppose this very loudly.”
Mayor Shirley Franklin and Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington’s press conference yesterday was a long and quizzical event filled mostly with testy questions about the chief’s recent whereabouts.
But in addition to those questions about Atlanta’s Houdini, the mayor said she wanted to talk about “solutions” and the city’s strategy to improve its piss-poor public safety. That strategy involves more cops on the street, a crackdown on gang activity, and an engaged community.
In the interest of public engagement and transparency, we’ve decided to post Franklin’s statement in full.
After the jump, what Franklin’s administration plans to do in her remaining months in office to prevent the killings, carjackings, burglaries and other ills.
Mayor Shirley Franklin and Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington today faced heated questions from reporters on how the city plans to address residents’ growing concerns about public safety.
The focus this morning was on Pennington, who spoke only briefly and appeared downtrodden throughout the press conference. The chief’s been criticized for maintaining a low profile, especially after a recent spurt of crimes in the city that included the killing of a pro boxer, the carjacking of a councilman, and the shooting of a man walking into his girlfriend’s house with groceries. Today was the first anyone’s heard from him on the recent rash of crimes. (He said he was attending mandatory “police leadership training” in Virginia over the weekend.)
Reporters asked the chief — who will be looking for a new job once the mayor’s term ends in January — if he has the wherewithal to address the crime issue.
“I have not ‘checked out,’” Pennington said. “I will continue to work hard until [Franklin] leaves.”
Franklin — who got testy with the press many times throughout the conference — voiced unwavering support for Pennington, whom she said has helped “reform” the Atlanta department and the New Orleans Police Department, where he formerly worked.
“I’m proud of his leadership,” she said. “I’m proud of his integrity.”
She added, however, that one crime is “one crime too many” — and that the city could do more.
Will they continue to assert that crime isn’t on the rise in Atlanta, only the Perception of Crime? Or will they concede that the city has become more dangerous, what with all the various shootings, killings and carjackings?
We should find out Thursday morning, when, at 10 a.m., Mayor Shirley Franklin and Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington are scheduled to deliver a “Public Safety Update.” But don’t go to City Hall. The event will be held at the city’s planned future public safety headquarters at 226 Peachtree St.
The police chief spoke out today to reassure a frightened public after a high-profile crime.
Not Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington.
Don’t be ridiculous.
He would never do something as leadership-ish as that.
I’m talking about Decatur police Chief J.M. Booker.
A carjacking in Decatur’s Oakhurst neighborhood shortly before noon today has city residents on edge.
Chief Booker signed-in at Decatur Metro this afternoon to tell readers he recognizes how unsettling today’s incident was.
Atlantans take note: Decatur’s police chief managed to get through his entire letter without once mocking his fellow Decaturites. He didn’t tell Decaturites their fears are based on the mere perception of crime, nor did he brag about how awesome Decatur is.
He said today’s carjacking troubled him a great deal and that he and his department are busting their collective backside to catch the people responsible.
An actual, sincere expression of concern about crime, without a hint of smug defiance or phony indignation. How about that?
Mayor Shirley Franklin just released this statement on U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson’s ruling that metro Atlanta can’t tap Lake Lanier for its drinking water:
“Water is a critical resource. The City of Atlanta is spending billions of dollars rebuilding its water infrastructure under federal consent decrees. As mayor, I recognize the seriousness of the ruling and also the value of proper resource stewardship. Clean water is needed for public health, fire protection and economic development for every person and community in Georgia. The Governor and the State have the lead in this case and we and the other Metro Area water providers are following their lead. This is not only a local or regional issue, but a national issue. We welcome the opportunity to resolve it fairly and amicably.”
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano today named Mayor Shirley Franklin to serve on an advisory task force that will review the federal agency’s effectiveness in informing the public about terrorist threats.
“I have assembled a task force, made up of Democrats and Republicans, elected officials at the state and local level, security experts, law enforcement officials and other professionals to assess our current threat level system and provide options for any improvements that are needed,” Napolitano said in a statement. “My goal is simple: to have the most effective system in place to inform the American people about threats to our country.”
The task force, which includes mayors, governors, private-sector bigwigs and former intelligence honchos, will review the current advisory system and its impacts on local, state, federal, tribal law enforcement agencies, the private sector and the general public. It will then issue recommendations to Napolitano, who will forward the task force’s report to President Barack Obama.
Says Franklin: “As the home of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which is the busiest airport in the world, it is very important to me in this post 9/11 environment that we review the Homeland Advisory System to measure its current effectiveness.”
At the first city mayoral debate Monday, candidates vying to succeed Mayor Shirley Franklin were asked to grade her performance as mayor.
The average grade was a B+. One candidate, City Council President Lisa Borders, gave Franklin a 90 (A-).
Each of our current mayoral candidates is eager to talk about an aspect of city government they plan to “fix” or “improve,” but none is willing to explicitly blame Franklin for failing to fix or improve them herself.
The good news: Because of her high marks, Franklin won’t be held back to repeat her second term.
As we mentioned yesterday, Mayor Shirley Franklin on Tuesday night rubbed elbows with the Young Democrats of Atlanta at its fundraiser and award ceremony.
Roughly 100 people attended the event at Sweetwater Brewery, including politicos from the local (Atlanta City Council President and mayoral candidate Lisa Borders, Councilwoman and Council President candidate Clair Muller, Councilman Kwanza Hall, and City Hall hopefuls Amir Farokhi and Adam Brackman) and state level (Reps. Rashad Taylor, Kathy Ashe and Pat Gardner, all of Atlanta.)
For nearly 30 minutes, the mayor addressed the crowd on issues ranging from the environment to her online jousting habits. Afterward, she spoke with CL about the recent disputes over how the city’s reacted to what is widely considered — perceived! — to be a rise in crime.
After the jump, a bulletpoint summary of the mayor’s remarks to the Young Democrats crowd.
Mayor Shirley Franklin took an Atlanta City Councilmember to task last night for his noble efforts to reach residents through Twitter.
At last night’s Young Democrats of Atlanta fundraiser at Sweetwater Brewery, Franklin — the night’s honoree — addressed the crowd and took questions.
Attendees noticed the flames of Hades rise, however, as Franklin directed her hatred for new technology at Councilman Kwanza Hall, who was also at the event.
Rebutting a June 5 story by Real Clear Politics naming Atlanta the country’s second least-safe large city, Mayor Shirley Franklin’s office today correctly noted Real Clear Politics jumbled its numbers.
Real Clear Politics claims that the City of Atlanta’s crime rate is over 16%. According to the actual FBI data, the crime rate in Atlanta is only 8.7%. (The FBI shows total crimes in 2008 of 46,381 and a population of 533,016. This translates to a crime rate of 8.7%.)
What the Mayor’s defiant press release neglects to mention, however, is that Real Clear Politics’ rankings are indeed correct.
The “only 8.7%” crime rate Franklin’s office boasts of is, according the FBI, the second-highest crime rate of any American city with more than 500,000 people.
In 2008, Atlanta indeed had more crime per person than all-but-one U.S. city with more than 500,000 people.
The numbers below were calculated by adding the total number of violent crime and property crime incidents in 2008 (not including arson) divided by the population. All of the numbers can be found in an Excel spreadsheet on the FBI’s web site.
As expected, Mayor Shirley Franklin took issue with today’s AJCarticle that cited a Real Clear Politics’ blog post in which Atlanta was tagged as the second most dangerous city in the United States. The mayor says the blog erred in its calculations and failed to take into account the city’s seven-year record for reducing crime, which is roughly the same amount of time Franklin’s been in office.
So sayeth Franklin in a press release:
Real Clear Politics claims that the City of Atlanta’s crime rate is over 16%. According to the actual FBI data, the crime rate in Atlanta is only 8.7%. (The FBI shows total crimes in 2008 of 46,381 and a population of 533,016. This translates to a crime rate of 8.7%.) In other words, the political blog’s Atlanta crime rate is double the actual rate. Also, in the most recent issue of CQ Press’s crime rankings – which is considered the authoritative source for comparative crime data – the City of Atlanta ranked 16th in overall crime rate. Just last week Forbes magazine issued a list of the 15th most dangerous cities in the country. Atlanta was not on it.
Don’t trust Forbes’ list-icles, as they are mined from a bottomless pit of census data to generate pageviews.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2008 crime statistics, released on Monday, add weight to the argument that, contrary to what some folks in City Hall might’ve said in the past, Atlanta’s crime concerns aren’t about perception but about people actually entering your car or home and taking your possessions.
Although the bureau’s stats show violent crimes in Atlanta decreased 8.3 percent compared to 2007 (that’s good!), property crimes such as burglaries, thefts and larceny jumped 7.6 percent (that’s bad!). That’s quite a leap in just a year and a stark contrast to the 1.6 percent decrease in property crimes enjoyed by the rest of the country.
Real Clear Politics crunched the bureau’s statistics and concluded Atlanta had a 16 percent per capita crime rate, thus earning it the distinction of being the second least safe city in the United States. Memphis, Tenn., earned top honors. San Antonio, Texas, Detroit and Milwaukee rounded out the bottom five.
Celebrate our dubious honor by locking up your flat screens, supporting your local patrolman, and keeping valuables in your car out of sight.
AJC Political Insider Jim Galloway posted a video this morning I suspect Mayor Shirley Franklin doesn’t want you to watch.
The video shows five men and women severely wounded while on duty as Atlanta police officers. Each claims the city is denying them medical benefits they need, and to which they are entitled.
Why do I assume Mayor Franklin doesn’t want you to watch it?
Simple.
Because she’s spent the last week dodging questions about the video’s subject matter.
During the same week, however, Franklin has somehow found the time to launch an administrative, legal and public relations assault against APD union leader Sgt. Scott Kreher, the man who presented the video the city council.
Admittedly, Kreher made himself an easy target.
While speaking to city council last week about Atlanta’s alleged poor treatment of police officers severely wounded while on duty, Kreher said he’s so frustrated with Mayor Franklin’s intransigence that he feels like hitting her on the head with a baseball bat.
It was an ugly figure of speech for which Kreher apologized. But Franklin won’t move on.
She has evidently decided to use Kreher’s slip-up to once-and-for-all silence Kreher; one of her most persistent and (until last week) effective critics.
First, Franklin told Fox 5 she interprets Kreher’s statement as a literal physical threat meant to intimidate her and her family, even though it clearly an ugly metaphor for extreme frustration. Franklin says she wants a local, state and, FEDERAL investigation into Kreher’s comment.
Strange. When Atlanta residents express their fear of actual crimes, the mayor mocks them with cherry-picked stats. Hurt Franklin’s feelings, however, and she’ll summon federal help.
But wait. There’s more.
On Saturday, Franklin’s APD toady Chief Richard Pennington suspended Kreher from active-duty pending a psychological examination. Using a mental health bureaucracy and the stigma of mental illness to destroy a political opponent is a time-honored political tactic — in Russia.
Why is Franklin bending over backward to destroy Kreher? My guess is that she’s desperately hoping you won’t pay attention to his message.
So watch the video.
And if you still feel like blaming someone for drawing attention away from the important issue of benefits for wounded cops, go ahead and blame Kreher or Franklin if you’d like.
But remember, Kreher distracted us by accident. Franklin is doing it on purpose.
You can spend all day wagging your finger at Atlanta Police Union chief Sgt. Scott Kreher for his inappropriate comment last week. You know, the one he said at City Hall about wanting to hit Mayor Shirley Franklin in the head with a baseball bat?
You can debate whether Kreher’s frustration over delayed compensation claims to five injured Atlanta police officers forgives such an outburst by a 17-year veteran of the force.
But to do all that does nothing to address the problem that Kreher says has festered in City Hall, one that’s reportedly led to back-and-forth legal challenges and injured officers allegedly being stonewalled for medical treatment.
What this issue needs is a little bit of sunlight. Let’s take a quick look at the contracts the city’s signed — and re-signed — with NovaPro Risk Solutions, the San Diego-based company that’s handled employees’ compensation claims since 2004, back when it was known as Ward North America Inc.
Just so, you know, we’re up to speed when this issue comes back up for discussion.
A couple weeks ago, I said Mayor Shirley Franklin owes an apology to Atlanta Police Department Sergeant and union chief Scott Kreher for some nasty and factually incorrect comments she made about him.
Well, yesterday Kreher told the city council he gets so frustrated with Franklin sometimes he wants to beat her head with a baseball bat.
Grayson Daughters spoke with Atlanta Police Union President Scott Kreher at the most recent Atlantans Together Against Crime rally in Midtown. Topics included how the organization will endorse a candidate in the Atlanta mayor’s race, what role the community plays in fighting crime, and what’s needed to end police furloughs.
In March, the Atlanta City Council unanimously passed a resolution urging Mayor Shirley Franklin to introduce a budget that ended police and firefighter furloughs. Last week, the mayor granted its request. Council is expected to vote on the budget in June.
In March 2008, Mayor Shirley Franklin 
Last night was the couch-sitting public’s first window onto the Atlanta mayor’s race, courtesy of a 
