Fresh Loaf

“I requested the air unit for assistance but I was advised they were furloughed tonight.”

Those chilling words are from the police incident report written by APD Officer Nicholas F. Parete after Monday’s robbery and shooting of Georgia Tech student Patrick Whaley outside his apartment near campus. A Georgia Tech police officer spotted the suspects, but lost track of them when they ditched their stolen car and ran behind houses near the campus.

“Let’s not lose sight of the fact that ultimately it is the level of crime that is important, not the number of police officers.”

And those chilling words are from a February 12, 2009 AJC opinion column written by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

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MAYOR SHIRLEY FRANKLIN OWES APD SGT. AND POLICE UNION LEADER SCOTT KREHER AN APOLOGY: He's waiting. (Photo by Joeff Davis)

Shirley Franklin owes Atlanta police union head Sgt. Scott Kreher a public apology.

Speaking at the Atlanta Press Club in January, Mayor Franklin announced her intention to grow the Atlanta Police Department from 1,633 officers to 2,000 officers by the end of 2009.

Franklin has been promising for years to grow the force to 2,000 officers.

But APD isn’t growing. It’s shrinking.

In October 2007, the city claimed to have 1,833 police officers. By January, the force was down to just 1,633 officers. And the city’s police union says the police force’s attrition rate is accelerating.

If Mayor Franklin couldn’t grow the force to 2,000 officers during her first seven years in office, it was implausible and laughable of her to suggest she might pull it off in her final year.

The Mayor’s suggestion was so laughably implausible, in fact, Atlanta police union chief Sgt. Scott Kreher laughed and called it implausible when the AJC asked him what he thought.

Kreher’s laughter so irritated the notoriously thin-skinned Mayor, she published a bizarre open letter calling his comments “divisive.” Furthermore, she suggested his criticism could undermine efforts to rally the city residents behind growing the police force — a slimy, roundabout way of insinuating Kreher’s attitude is a threat to public safety.

So who was right, Franklin or Kreher?

(more…)

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Shirley aims to raise taxes

As we blogged on Tuesday, Mayor Shirley Franklin appeared before the City Council this morning to propose a 3-mill tax increase for the city’s 2010 budget, which kicks in on July 1. If approved as proposed, the unpopular furloughs for the police and fire department would end in three months.

How much is 3 mills? Franklin told the Council it was roughly a 7-percent increase for taxpayers. According to her, the way it would work out that if you own a $200,000 house, you’ll pay an additional $200 this fall. For anyone with a $1 million home, the hit is closer to $1,200.

The mayor is actually proposing less spending than was approved in the current budget — $541 million, compared to $573 million. That’s because city revenues have been steadily falling. Unfortunately, budget projections suggest the city will only collect about $485 million next year — hence, the proposed tax hike.

Last year, the Council voted unanimously to reject a much smaller tax increase, asking Franklin to instead cut personnel and services. The result was the furloughs. It’s already quite clear that this time around, it’s a whole new ball game.

(more…)

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Mayor Shirley Franklin is expected to deliver a proposed 2010 budget to Council members tomorrow that includes a 3-mill tax increase. The tax hike is designed to end the police and fire department furloughs and cover an anticipated $40 million shortfall for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The budget needs to be approved by the Council by the end of June.

I haven’t heard back from the mayor’s spokespeople, but this all seems quite credible. I’ve also been told that Franklin is confident that she can get the eight Council votes needed to pass her budget — a turnaround from last year, when the Council rejected her call for a much smaller tax increase and unanimously approved a budget that actually included a microscopic property tax cut.

Does she really have the votes? Well, earlier today my colleague Thomas Wheatley was interviewing Councilwoman Anne Fauver about her decision not to run for re-election. He asked if she had any regrets.

Answered Fauver: “Had I been better educated by the administration about the financial state of the city, I would’ve voted for a small tax increase last year to help cover the pending budget shortfall and the impact of changes in the pension system. I was not fully educated and I would’ve gone along with a small tax increase if I had known all there was to know.”

Young Thomas then asked if there was any chance she might get to revisit that decision this year.

Said Fauver: “There is.”

The public-safety furloughs have taken a huge political toll on the denizens of City Hall over the last year. Groups like Atlantans Together Against Crime, which yesterday held a rally attended by the top three candidates for mayor, have put a great deal of pressure on the Council to find a way to return cops and firefighters to work.

In other words, the opposition to a tax increase is certainly weakening. It remains to be seen if it’s weakened enough to give Franklin the eight votes she needs.

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One of President Barack Obama’s campaign promises was to promote a “green economy” — essentially, helping create jobs in such professions as energy-efficiency and clean energy. Not only could these jobs put people to work, but they’d also help the environment. (This week’s cover story will touch more on the topic and what we’re seeing in Georgia, a state that’s traditionally been all-coal, all-the-time. Many men and women are making strides and trying to capitalize on the momentum. But as you probably know, there are challenges.)

On Thursday, April 16, the City of Atlanta, Morehouse College and several national and local community organizations will host a town hall to discuss Atlanta’s potential for green jobs and sustainability.

The event will feature a diverse representation of community leaders in a panel discussion designed to educate the community about impending environmental issues and inform the audience about existing and developing career opportunities within Atlanta’s green economy. Panelists include City of Atlanta’s Director of Sustainability, Mandy Schmitt; Julian McQueen of Green for All; and Nia Robinson of Environmental Justice Climate Change Initiatives.

“The purpose of this event is to get individuals interested in the environmental industry and demonstrate to the rest of the country that Atlanta is a proactive environmental leader in helping to support the nationwide development of environmental jobs,” said Mandy Schmitt, Director of the Office of Sustainability for the City of Atlanta.

Mayor Shirley Franklin and the U.S. Congressman John Lewis have been invited to participate. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the Martin Luther King, Jr. International Chapel on the Morehouse campus. The event starts at 6 p.m. For more information visit the event site.

(Courtesy National Renewable Energy Laboratory)

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MARTA officials recently asked the Georgia General Assembly to ease a state-mandated spending restriction on the transit agency’s main source of funding — a one-cent sales tax in Atlanta, Fulton County and DeKalb County. If not, the cash-strapped agency could face drastic service cuts. Some lawmakers responded that the agency instead needs to change its governance structure and raise fares. In the op-ed below, Mayor Shirley Franklin, Fulton County Chairman John Eaves and DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis echo MARTA’s plea.

For more than 30 years, visitors and residents of Atlanta and Fulton and DeKalb counties have paid an extra penny in sales taxes so our region might have mass transit. Needless to say, the benefits of mass transit have extended far beyond the borders of Atlanta, Fulton and DeKalb. Can you imagine the Centennial Olympic Games choosing Atlanta without a means of moving millions of people? Or that major conventions, the lifeblood of our local economy, would locate here if their attendees were unable to move around? MARTA has been a major economic generator not just for Atlanta, Fulton and DeKalb, but for our region and the entire state.

Which is why we are asking, in a time of severe economic crisis, for the Georgia General Assembly to help MARTA. This year, we are not asking that the General Assembly commit one extra dime to help MARTA — though other state governments across the nation promote the economic benefits of public transit and routinely appropriate millions for both operations and expansion. We are only asking the Legislature to give MARTA the ability to use the funds it already has at its disposal during this time of great economic need.

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Just yesterday, I blogged that “the Council president’s job … seems suited to someone who excells at process and mediation.” Well, one such person has just filed her paperwork.

Now in her 20th year in office, Clair Muller has served on Council longer than any current member save for Jim “40 Winks” Maddox. During that time, she’s become the Council’s reigning technocrat, with expertise in virtually every aspect of public infrastructure. It was Muller who persuaded then-incoming Mayor Shirley Franklin to put fixing the city’s sewers at the top of her agenda.

Temperament-wise, Muller would fit in well with the list of previous Council presidents, from Lisa Borders to Robb Pitts, stretching back to the days when a young Wyche Fowler presided over Atlanta’s Board of Aldermen. The Council president has typically served as the adult in the room during Council meetings: calm, steady, unruffled, non-reactionary, even a little boring. That’s not to say the Council president couldn’t be a firebrand, but for whatever reason, Atlanta has opted to elect even-keeled types over the last few decades.

(more…)

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Alabama, home to Space Camp and not much else, lacks the cash to fund plans for a proposed New Orleans-Atlanta high-speed rail line. The proposed route, which could potentially receive federal funds as part of President Barack Obama’s proposed rail network, would be served by trains operating at 110 mph.

From the Birmingham News:

The chairman of the Southern High-Speed Rail Commission says Alabama’s refusal to pay its dues to the organization could cost the Deep South a shot at a high-speed train that would run from New Orleans to Atlanta.

Preliminary work to plan for the line already is complete in Louisiana and Mississippi, Alabama’s partners on the commission, said Chairman Richard Finley of Birmingham. But Alabama – a member of the commission for 26 years – refused to pay dues after 2007, and Finley contends that is standing in the way of the Southeast getting a high-speed corridor.

“The problem is the state of Alabama is blocking us,” Finley said. The state owes $120,000 to the commission for its dues for 2008 and 2009.

That’s depressing, especially since the article says that, if it were funded, the rail line could begin operation in three years. And it looks like Alabama’s not entirely to blame.

(more…)

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The answer: 540,000 metric tonnes, equivalent to the household energy use of 150,000 Atlanta residents or 98,000 passenger vehicles. That’s according to Georgia Tech professors and students who helped the city analyze its annual greenhouse gas emissions.

Mayor Shirley Franklin announced the city’s carbon footprint in conjunction with the inaugural report by Sustainable Atlanta, the city’s partner project with a consulting firm. Franklin has set a goal to reduce the city’s carbon emissions seven percent by 2012. The next step involves creating an Atlanta Climate Action Plan.

Some goals — as well as some hopes for Obamabucks — are after the jump.

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Excitement builds for Mike Huckabee's April visit to Atlanta.

Former presidential candidate and rodent chef Mike Huckabee will visit Atlanta next month to speak as part of the Urban Land Institute’s 2009 Spring Council Forum.

The former governor of Arkansas, who now hosts a bizarre television show on a comedy network, will be the event’s keynote speaker. Other notables scheduled to speak at the forum include Mayor Shirley Franklin, Charlie Rose and some guy I’ve never heard of but who looks very, very smart.

Jokes aside, ULI organizes thought-provoking events, and this forum’s schedule is worth a look if you’re a lover of urban environments. On the agenda are a variety of seminars and break-out sessions, as well as mobile sessions where attendees can learn about the Beltline, Atlantic Station and Buckhead. Thursday promises a presentation about the current economic crisis.

For more information, visit ULI’s event website. Any welcome gifts of sautéed teriyaki opossum will be immediately incinerated, so don’t even try it!

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Lovers of gourmet food and booze rejoice: That quaint store where you could buy luxurious-sounding grub — but not wine — may soon be able to legally stock booze.

Yesterday, the Atlanta City Council passed legislation that would allow such gourmet food shops as the Cabbagetown Market and the Mercantile on DeKalb Avenue to stock beer, wine and malt beverages. The legislation, which essentially now gives those and similar stores a legal classification in the city’s code, was penned by Councilmember Natalyn Archibong and passed 8-2. Such stores won’t be allowed to sell lotto tickets or “other games of chance,” gasoline or tobacco. They also can’t operate drive-thru windows or cash checks. But bring on the booze!

If she chooses, Mayor Shirley Franklin has eight days to veto the bill.

To peruse Archibong’s bill, laden with good ole fashioned legalese and multiple uses of “whereas,” click here. Keep in mind that an amendment — supposedly a minor tweak — was added to the legislation. I’m waiting on Archibong’s staff to return a call and clarify what in entails.

UPDATE: Here’s the “specialty food store” legislation as passed in Monday’s council meeting. I received some emails from folks who said they had problems opening the file I posted yesterday. If this one fails to open, shoot me an email and I’ll send it to you directly.

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Where the music makes you drop to your knees
There is no other place I’d like to be
A-T-L, A-T-L (get ‘em up, get ‘em up, get ‘em up, get ‘em up…)

Ah, who can forget such deathless lyrics, as penned by Atlanta’s hometown super-producer Dallas Austin? Well, actually, I had to look them up to refresh my memory because I hadn’t heard anyone play “The ATL” in recent months.

And you probably won’t be hearing it much any time soon. On Monday, Mayor Shirley Franklin announced that Brand Atlanta, the city’s flashy marketing arm, was being mothballed after three years due to the lousy economy. The marketing effort will no longer have a budget or a staff.

But that doesn’t mean you’ll never see the familiar bright red ATL bullet hole again. All of Brand Atlanta’s existing designs, slogans and other self-described “assets” are city property and can be trotted out any time, Franklin said.

(more…)

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On only a couple of hours’ notice, Mayor Shirley Franklin called a surprise press conference Thursday to “discuss the current state of the city.”

After a cryptic opening statement in which she invoked Shakespeare and the “Ides of March,” Herronor told the assembled print, radio and TV reporters: “I came here today for no other reason than to answer your questions.”

And with that, she opened the floor for a no-holds-barred Q&A session. One guy asked about an Atlanta Police Foundation report comparing the size of the APD to other cities’ police forces. Someone else wanted to know the schedule for paying back funds borrowed from the Watershed cash reserves.

But the question that seemed to set Franklin off came from this reporter. I observed that some Council members (cough, cough, Mary Norwood, cough) had publicly blamed the mayor for the current police furloughs, while she has criticized the Council for rejecting her suggestion to raise property taxes – a move she says made the furloughs necessary. My question had something to do with what it might take to break this stalemate, but I never quite got to finish asking it.

(more…)

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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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Over at City Hall, the second-quarter revenue figures are in – and, surprise, they’re grim. The notorious police furloughs (remember them?) that began about a month ago were part of an effort by the Franklin administration to slash spending by $40 million. But, according to the latest projections, the city may need to cut another $40 million to avoid a year-end deficit.

If this situation sounds dire, you bet your ass it is. Franklin herself was scheduled to deliver the bad news to the Council Finance Committee, but for reasons unexplained, she left the unpleasant task to COO Greg Giornelli.

To bring you up to speed: The city began its fiscal year on July 1 with a $570 million budget. By the end of the first quarter, revenues were already running $14 million lower than anticipated – which meant the city was looking at a $55 million budget shortfall, providing the downward trend held steady. So the mayor announced city-wide furloughs and closed City Hall on Fridays to save money.

What we learned today, however, is that the downward trend hasn’t held steady – it’s gotten worse.

(more…)

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Current amount, in dollars, of President Obama’s stimulus plan aimed to create jobs and spur the economy: 827 billion

Amount, in dollars, Mayor Shirley Franklin recently requested for Atlanta projects: 1.88 billion

Estimated number of city jobs Franklin says the federal stimulus plan could create: 40,000

Number of police officers Franklin wants to add with stimulus money: 200

Dollar value of sewer projects the city wants to build using stimulus funds: 801 million

Amount, in dollars, the city requested to build the International Terminal at Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport: 500 million

Number of federal dollars Franklin says would go to offset the city’s budget deficit: 0

Amount, in dollars, the Georgia Department of Transportation has requested for state projects: 3.4 billion

Estimated number of jobs Georgia could gain because of the stimulus package: 143,000

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, U.S. Conference of Mayors

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RAIL RALLY Beltline supporters say Amtrak, GDOT's plans jeopardize Beltline

When it comes to the future of public transit in Atlanta, there’s good news and there’s bad news.

The good news: After decades of bowing at the throne of roadbuilders, the Georgia Department of Transportation says it’s finally taking off the kneepads and getting serious about train service that would connect Atlanta to other cities in the Southeast.

The bad news: Thanks to an unexpected tiff between GDOT and city of Atlanta officials, the Beltline — the transformative 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit that would one day circle the city — might be in jeopardy. That’s because the train service that GDOT is suddenly embracing would have to run on or near the proposed Beltline tracks. What’s more, Piedmont Park, the city’s most iconic greenspace, might have to be severed by a heavy-rail route in order to accommodate GDOT’s vision.

Last week, CL first reported that GDOT — working in tandem with Amtrak — threw a wrench in Beltline officials’ plans for light-rail, trails and additional green space near Piedmont Park. Just as Norfolk Southern, the current owner of the tracks in question, was about to surrender them to the city, GDOT and Amtrak stepped in and halted the proceedings. Those two agencies now say the tracks in dispute are vital to their own vision for commuter rail.

“Simply put, because of GDOT’s boorish behavior and AMTRAK’s willingness to play along, the future of the city of Atlanta is at stake,” Mayor Shirley Franklin wrote in an urgent letter to U.S. Congressman John Lewis to seek his assistance.

(more…)

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State Sen. Kasim Reed

State Sen. Kasim Reed, D-Atlanta, just announced he will introduce a bill to allow Atlanta residents to decide for themselves whether to raise property taxes to help fund police and firefighter salaries.

We’d heard that Reed, a leading candidate for Atlanta mayor, had been thinking of a way to get out front on the contentious issue of police cutbacks during an apparent upsurge in violent crime around the city. Reed is a close associate of Shirley Franklin who ran her two successful campaigns, so it’s no big surprise that Reed’s proposed solution to the city’s cop-funding problem is a tax increase; that’s what Franklin wanted to do last summer, but was shot down by the council.

I haven’t seen Reed’s bill yet, so I don’t know the details, but I’m already puzzled by a couple of figures. His press release says:

Sen. Kasim Reed will introduce legislation giving the citizens of Atlanta a choice to levy a 1 mill property tax that will generate more than $21 million dollars solely for police officer and fire fighter’s salaries

But last summer, when the city was facing a $40 million shortfall, Franklin proposed only a .43 mill increase. In other words – and keep in mind I’m no tax expert – it seems that a 1-mill tax hike would generate far more than $21 million. (That is, unless property values have fallen more dramatically than I’d thought, but that’s another story…)

But then again, Reed doesn’t say that the tax would bring in only $21 million; rather, he says that $21 million of the proceeds would be used for police and firefighter salaries. It could be that he expects additional proceeds to flow into the city’s general fund.

He’s holding a press conference at 2 p.m. I should learn the details then.

UPDATE: The Senate Press Office says Senators Nan Orrock, Vincent Fort, and Horacena Tate, all Democrats who represent Atlanta, have signed on as co-sponsors of Reed’s legislation.

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HIT THE BRAKES Beltline faces another obstacle — from GDOT and AMTRAK

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the Beltline, the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit proposed to circle Atlanta, it’s that surprises are to be expected. And some interesting developments are afoot with the $2.8-billion project.

If you recall, Atlanta Beltline Inc. — the nonprofit agency in charge of planning and implementing the project — finalized its purchase of a 66-acre piece of property in October owned by Gwinnett County developer Wayne Mason and his son Keith, an Atlanta attorney. The Mason property included  land and transit right-of-way. The $66 million purchase riled city watchdogs not only for the ultimate payout to the Masons — more than double what father and son originally paid for the land in 2004 — but also the deal ABI cut with a private partner group it needed to buy out if it wanted to use tax-exempt bonds to finalize the purchase before a Halloween deadline. That’s background, and for all intents and purposes, irrelevant for the moment.

Beltline leaders hoped to complete planning the area, implement transit, and sell off excess land to developers. They would then re-invest the windfall from those sales back into the overall project. But before it could do anything with the property, it first had to abandon the transit right-of-way. That humdrum process is conducted by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and largely involves just some time for public comment and a shuffling of papers. It was supposed to be a walk in the park.

Looks like that’s not turning out to be the case. An eleventh-hour move by the state Department of Transportation and AMTRAK has potentially thrown a wrench in the Beltline. And why those two odd entities decided to hold hands and insert themselves into the conversation — this late in the party — is making folks scratch their heads.

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Approximate number of people who gathered in Centennial Olympic Park to watch the presidential inauguration: 1,000

Temperature in degrees, with wind chill included, at 9:05 a.m. on Jan. 20 in Atlanta: 11

Number of people who attended the Georgia Democratic Party’s inaugural brunch in Washington, D.C.: 700

Approximate number of people who watched the ceremony at Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church: 250

Time people began lining up Tuesday morning outside Manuel’s Tavern to watch the ceremony: 9

Time the restaurant normally opens on weekday mornings: 11

Number of extra copies the AJC printed of its Jan. 21 edition to meet collectors’ demand: 225,000

Price in dollars of a limited-edition bottle of Hennessy cognac issued for the inauguration: 60

Price in dollars of a limited-edition Spiderman comic book featuring President Obama at Oxford Comics: 75

Price in dollars of an inauguration ceremony ticket offered on the Atlanta Craigs List: 1,000

Number of ads on Atlanta Craigs List offering sex in D.C. port-a-potties on inauguration day: 1

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This afternoon, the Atlanta City Council will take up three proposals dealing with police resources — two are fairly interesting, the third fairly pointless. All three are resolutions, so they can be ignored by Mayor Franklin if she sees fit — and in one case she will.

The two most promising measures call for the city to establish mini-precincts at Crawford Long Hospital and Greenbriar Mall. Greenbriar, in Southwest ATL, is a no-brainer, but why Crawford Long? Because it’s across the street from the Peachtree-Pine shelter operated by the Task Force for the Homeless. As I noted in a recent cover story, the shelter already sucks up a large chunk of police resources in the surrounding Zone 5, including a patrol car stationed on Pine Street for 16 hours a day.

In both cases, the property owners — the mall and the hospital — are apparently so desperate for additional security that they’ve offered to lease the APD the mini-precinct space for $1 a year.

The third resolution requests the termination of employee furloughs for police officers and firefighters. It’s a fine idea — to increase police man-hours to combat the apparent rise in violent crime — and the Council is expected to approve it unanimously, but it’s a non-starter.

With the city in a serious revenue slump, Franklin has argued the city can’t afford to keep police on the job every day without slashing other programs and services. Privately, many Council members agree, but they’re unwilling to suggest in an election year what else should go on the chopping block instead. So they’ve left the tough decisions to an outgoing mayor, who — for good or ill — hasn’t backed down from making them.

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1. AJC is losing $1 million per week (The big question: Can Anne Cox Chambers’ billions save Atlanta’s daily?)

2. Clearing up confusion over Standard murder (Dissecting a robbery gone horribly awry.)

3. Shooting outside East Atlanta’s Graveyard Tavern is eerily familiar (Notice the absence of high-profile violent crime following the shooting death of a would-be robber at the hands of his victim.)

4. Shirley snaps back at cop union head (Crime seems to have everyone — herroner included — on edge.)

5. First Person: Jennifer Graves, wife, mother, swinger (Make love — not armed robberies.)

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Underground Atlanta executives announced last week that a gaming company has offered to spend $450 million to turn the downtown retail complex into a casino with video slot machines and a 29-story hotel.

“Casino gambling in neighboring states would take away from Georgia’s convention and tourism business. Let’s roll the dice. Georgia can’t afford not to.”

— Fulton Commissioner Robb Pitts, from a 1994 presentation titled “Gambling: On Georgia’s Mind”

“Statistics show that thousands of people from the Atlanta area travel weekly to venues that feature casinos and other games of chance.”

— Councilman Jim Maddox, from a 2003 resolution urging state lawmakers to allow gambling

“Let’s be courageous and allow the citizens of Georgia to vote the issue of legalizing casino gambling up or down!”

— Robb Pitts, from a Dec. 4 open letter to state lawmakers

“There’s a general sense that we’ll see gaming within the city limits and I concur.”

— Mayor Shirley Franklin, speaking to state lawmakers in November

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Mayor Franklin continues to remind everyone that she has a thin skin. This time, it comes in the form of open letter released minutes ago and addressed to Sgt. Scott Kreher, president of the Atlanta police union, who had publicly scoffed at her proposal to raise taxes to hire more cops.

“Can the mayor be any more full of hot air on that one?” Kreher was quoted as saying in today’s AJC.

Kreher dismissed Franklin’s proposal to add 400 officers to the APD by the end of the year as so much empty political rhetoric. Even if the city had the money, Kreher told the newspaper, the mayor knows it would take longer than that to recruit, train and certify so many new officers.

Here are some excerpts from Shirley’s fairly lengthy reply:

I have your public comments and I faithfully appreciate the frustration you must feel as you advocate for the officers and the International Brotherhood of Police Officers members in recent weeks. In spite of the divisive comments you have made about me I believe we share a common goal, which is a safe city. I think we both recognize the essential role our police officers contribute to achieving this goal.

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Folks have long talked about the possibility of gambling at Underground Atlanta, often from the standpoint that legalized gaming may be the only way to make the city-subsidized white-elephant finally solvent and to revive lower downtown. Fulton Commissioner Robb Pitts has kept the issue in the public with frequent pro-gambling statements. And, as recently as mid-November, Mayor Shirley Franklin told state lawmakers she would be willing to explore gambling licenses as a way to generate revenue for the city.

Well, it looks as if some developer has finally taken the bait. The AJC reports that Underground operator Dan O’Leary has announced that a company is interested in filling the near-dormant mall with 5,000 video slot machines and building a new high-rise hotel onsite.

The project would cost about $450 million and would be expected to generate $600 million in gross annual revenue, half of which might go to the Georgia Lottery Board. Is it a coincidence that the lottery board would have a large role in deciding whether the proposal goes forward?

Actually, the legal hurdles to installing a casino in Underground are not that high. The site is already designated by state law as Georgia’s only “special entertainment district,” which means that many legal restrictions that apply everywhere else — Sunday alcohol sales, for instance — don’t apply there. The city doesn’t have the authority to license a casino without state approval, but surprisingly few laws would need to be changed to make it happen.

If there’s the will, there’s definitely a way.

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