Fresh Loaf

'Ladies and gentlemen, would you please pass the mic to Mr. Dave Walker!'

There are very few things more dear to our hearts than the public comment period of Atlanta City Council meetings.

Whether during full Council gatherings or committee meetings, the set period of time when Average Joes and Janes take to the mic and opine can often be breathtaking to watch. It’s given us such memorable characters as Dave Walker, Ben Howard and yes, even General Larry “Pants on the Ground” Platt. It’s allowed residents and advocates an opportunity to voice concerns about neighborhood issues, government foul-ups, and whatever they want to discuss.

Is it at times mundane? Sure. Do some people abuse the opportunity? Yes, often times to hilarious lengths. (Though not nearly as hilarious as the folks in Santa Cruz.) But it’s a vital part of public engagement. And starting today, things on Trinity Street changed just a tad.

(more…)

Bookmark It

In 2005, Doug Abramson — along with an army of Midtown residents and Atlanta activists who banded together as Friends of Piedmont Park — fought tooth and nail to not only battle plans for a controversial parking deck in Piedmont Park, but also push the city and Atlanta Botanical Garden to act in a transparent manner about their plans for a project proposed on public land.

The fight split the neighborhood and the city. Signs in residents’ front yards became billboards for support or opposition. In July 2008, after much heated debate and several legal skirmishes, a Fulton County Superior Court judge said Friends of Piedmont Park must pay damages to the garden.

Nonetheless, Abramson remains involved in efforts to make government more transparent and accountable. And on Feb. 28, the Georgia First Amendment Foundation will honor Abramson for his open-government work at its awards banquet at the Commerce Club in downtown Atlanta. That night, at a reception honoring Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, Abramson will be presented with the 2009 Open Government Hero Award.

For more information about the banquet, one which is sure to attract many of the state’s legal bigwigs and activists who are open government advocates, visit the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

Let it first be said: The state Department of Audits and Accounting produces quality reports about government waste and efficiency, the kind that provide for fascinating reading. That is, if you’re into policy and government review. The scathing criticism you are about to read is not directed at the department, but at government accounting as a whole, and at politicians who think simply “putting the facts out there” leads to any kind of progress or transparency.

That being said, fans of open government might first be pleased and then pissed off with a new state website that launched yesterday and which is maintained by the department. That site, “Open Georgia: Transparency in Government,” allows users to search employee salaries and view how much our elected overlords doled out to professional service vendors during the last two fiscal years. The site, the brainchild of state Sens. Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock and Chip Pearson, R-Dawsonville, met the Jan. 2009 launch date set by Gov. Sonny Perdue.

But judging from its contents, the governor should’ve given them some more time.

(more…)

Bookmark It