Fresh Loaf

Just another night in Buckhead

City Councilman Kwanza Hall surprised his colleagues with a proposal yesterday to examine whether allowing Atlanta bars to close later would be a boon for the city’s nightlife and budget. From the AJC’s ubiquitous Eric Stirgus:

Hall introduced legislation Monday requesting the city study the revenue opportunities of expanding the hours to sell liquor from 2:30 a.m. to 4 a.m. City Council President Lisa Borders sent the legislation to the council’s Finance/Executive committee for further discussion. Hall wants a summary report by Jan. 30.

Hall said the sales tax money from extending the hours could fund public safety improvements. He said the city could enact the longer hours in areas of Atlanta where it’s more practical.

“I think we need to look at revenue,” said Hall, whose district includes portions of Castleberry Hill, Midtown and the Old Fourth Ward, where nightlife is more prevalent than other parts of the city. “Who knows how many millions of dollars we’ve lost?”

Some councilmembers weren’t pleased with Hall’s proposal. Councilman Howard Shook, who represents Buckhead neighborhoods that pushed for the earlier bar hours, said Hall’s idea would be “dead on arrival.” City Council President Lisa Borders called the idea “absolutely irresponsible.” Buckhead Coalition President Sam Massell said the additional revenue wasn’t worth the potential headache.

But Hall’s been tweeting about the proposal nonstop and wants residents’ opinions, which is why we’ve created this high-tech “blog.” Comments will be printed and hand-delivered to the appropriate council committee by bowtie-wearing monkeys holding balloons. The event will be filmed. And if council lets bars stay open later, we’ll release the monkeys back into the wild. It’s up to you, people.

UPDATE: Hall elaborates on his proposal in the comments below.

(Courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

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Kasim Reed is not happy with memo

The Atlanta mayor’s race has just blown up with a controversy whose fallout could well linger over the rest of the election season. Sometime yesterday, an incendiary bomb in the form of an e-mail went out calling on African American leaders across town to throw their support behind a single black candidate for mayor  in order to head off a victory by Councilwoman Mary Norwood, who is painfully white.

The e-mail cites WSB polls showing Council President Lisa Borders gaining support to trail closely behind Norwood while state Sen. Kasim Reed remains trailing in the single digits. On the strength of the numbers, the e-mail author invites the recipients to join him in supporting Borders for mayor.

Reed is taking the missive seriously enough that he quickly retaliated with a statement calling the e-mail’s message “divisive,” “vitriolic” and “racist.”

And who is author? None other than Aaron Turpeau, a longtime political operative who could be considered the most prominent remaining gear in the old “Maynard Machine.” Turpeau worked on Jackson’s first two campaigns for mayor, then for both of Andrew Young’s successful bids, and then for Jackson’s third go-around.

But Turpeau, wasn’t simply Jackson’s appendage. Despite his longtime boss’ endorsement of Bill Campbell, Turpeau worked for both of Campbell’s opponents, Michael Lomax and Marvin Arrington. He later jumped on board Shirley Franklin’s campaign, which gave fuel to critics who dismissed Franklin as the “machine candidate.”

Turpeau hadn’t signed on to work with any mayoral hopefuls this time, a fact which stirred the curiosity of many political observers.

Obviously, however, Turpeau isn’t content to sit on the sidelines. In a follow-up memo (view PDF here), he elaborates on his position, which he calls, in a striking display of candor, the “Black Mayor first” approach:

1.    There is a chance for the first time in 25 years that African Americans could lose the Mayoral seat in Atlanta, Georgia, especially if there is a run-off;
2.    Time is of the essence because in order to defeat a Norwood (white) mayoral candidacy we have to get out now and work in a manner to defeat her without a runoff, and the key is a significant Black turnout in the general election;
(more…)

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Jim Galloway reports that MARTA officials recently distributed a memo to state lawmakers outlining the transit agency’s dire situation. Even with cost-cutting measures and fare and parking increases, the memo says, MARTA still runs the risk of drastically cutting service.

That could include shutting down entire rail lines. (The system’s rail spine basically consists of an east-west and north-south line.) Galloway says a decision about those potential cuts could come at MARTA’s next board meeting on March 30.

MARTA is lobbying for the state to ease restrictions over the one-cent sales tax levied in Atlanta, Fulton and DeKalb Counties that provides much of the transit agency’s funding. Under current law, MARTA — considered by mobility mavens as the transit “spine” of the metro region — can only use 50 percent of the generated revenue on operating costs. It bears mentioning, once again, that MARTA is the largest transit agency in the United States that does not receive operating assistance from the state.

(more…)

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OK, I’ve covered Franklin’s speech. Now for the dish, Peach Buzz-style.

Former mayors Sam Massell and Andy Young were both seated at the front table. Ex-jailbird Bill Campbell, however, freshly released from his stint in a Florida halfway house, was nowhere to be seen — probably because the Omni doesn’t have craps tables.

Norwood harshes Shirley's buzz

Cobb Commission Chairman Sam Olens and new DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis were also present, as was former CEO Liane Levitan. Ellis told me he’d received a surprise message from his predecessor, Vernon Jones, apologizing for missing his swearing-in ceremony this past Monday. (Apparently, Vernon was out of town and didn’t want Ellis to take his absence as a dis.)

Of course, the event was packed with movers and shakers from the business community, from Coke CEO Muhtar Kent to Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce President Sam Williams and all the usual suspects.

The mayor even took a moment to acknowledge her adult children, son Cabral and younger daughter Kali, adding that for all her supposed power and authority, they still treat her like “just mom.”

Finally, all of this year’s mayoral candidates were working the Omni ballroom like bears in a salmon spawn. Sighted were Sen. Kasim Reed, attorney Jesse Spikes, and Council members Ceasar Mitchell and Mary Norwood, as well as Council President Lisa Borders, who has dropped out of the race, but you never know…

Ever the omnipresent gadfly, Norwood had just come from Grant Park and the pre-dawn vigil for slain Standard bartender John Henderson, where she publicly implied that the murder was a result of Franklin’s budget-driven cutbacks in police man-hours.

As soon as she got back to City Hall, Franklin e-mailed out a response:

Councilmember Norwood has never sought to discuss the budget recommendations with me and I find her remarks today to be ludicrous and irresponsible.

And thus was the mayor’s good mood irretrievably squashed.

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Buckhead, the north Atlanta community that is home to many of the city’s wealthiest residents, has moved.

According to Google Maps, Buckhead is now located southwest of Georgia Tech, near the intersection of Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway and Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard.

Buckhead Coalition president and former Atlanta mayor Sam Massell was unavailable for comment this afternoon.

UPDATE: I just spoke with Buckhead Coalition President and former Atlanta mayor Sam Massell.

He assures CL that Buckhead has not moved, and that his office will work to correct what he suggests is a labeling error.

“We will be in touch with Mr. Google so people don’t get lost,” Massell said.

Asked how one goes about getting a Google map changed, Massell said, cryptically,

“We know where the bodies are buried.”

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