Fresh Loaf

From the Lisa Borders campaign on Mayor Shirley Franklin’s announcement that she’ll vote for Kasim Reed:

“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.

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Robbie: She fixed a few potholes, she kind of got the Beltline started, and that’s about it. The sewer still isn’t fixed, crime is out of control, the budget is a mess. She’ll go down as the mayor who didn’t do much of anything. She fixed a few potholes, but there are still potholes. She fixed the budget a little bit, but the budget is still a mess. She started the Beltline, but the Beltline is still so far out of reach. She’ll go down as the mayor who never finished anything she started. Her legacy is eight years wasted.

David: A lot of people give her shit, but she revamped the damn sewer system. It wasn’t popular, but she made tough decisions that had to be done. She’s a decent person. She’s got family issues with her kids, but her legacy will be that she made Atlanta face up to the fact that we were 100 years behind in our infrastructure — and she started the foundation to correct it. She had the guts to do what was necessary. She’s going to come out historically very well.

Zen: Bullshit. People came to Atlanta to party. That’s what we were known as. She took that away. She took away the essence of Atlanta. Now it’s, “What time are the clubs closing? When is the booze going to be cut?” Now it’s, “Why did I even go out?” Ray Lewis had nothing to do with regular old Atlantans. People who do crime are going to do crime, regardless. People who go to clubs go to dance and have a good time. They don’t go to kill people. How in the hell did they get it in their minds that the nightlife was the cause of any crime? She ran this city into the sewer.

(Photos by Jeff Slate)

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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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1. Aerial photos of Atlanta’s floods, Atlanta rain causes major flooding, road closures, and #ATLflood and #ATLtraffic on Twitter are your best bets (Yes, technically that’s three posts. But we wanted to free up room in the top-five for information you might have missed last week, you know, while you were swimming.)

2. City forced to take a dump into Chattahoochee (OK, OK, this is about the flood, too. But in an indirect kind of way.)

3. Franklin finally comments on Eagle raid after being cornered at Home Depot (This one isn’t about the flood at all! Unless you count the flood of angry gay-rights activists who’ve expressed outrage over the now-notorious shakedown.)

4. Shocking GDOT camera footage of this afternoon’s rush hour (More flood coverage, true — but of BIBLICAL proportions.)

5. John Edwards keeps sinking lower (Yeah, I skipped over about seven other more widely read posts about the flood to get to this one.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Mary Norwood

What took her so long?

Since January, Councilwoman Mary Norwood has campaigned for mayor in large part by dissing Shirley. Not directly, mind you. I have yet to hear her attack Franklin by name or enumerate her failings. But Norwood has pursued a passive-aggressive smear against City Hall and, by implication, the mayor. Shirley has mostly sat by silently, but this week she snapped.

It began the morning after the murder of Standard bartender John Henderson, when Norwood appeared at the photo-op vigil to lay the blame for the robbery/shooting at the mayor’s feet for having furloughed police officers.

“What we have seen is cuts [in police hours] made without consultation and collaboration,” she declared. But that wasn’t exactly true; Franklin had previously argued that the city didn’t have enough money to keep all employees at full force without a tax increase. Norwood opposed the increase, but never suggested an alternative.

Throughout the mayor’s race, Norwood has criticized the city’s bookkeeping. Fair enough; city finances famously ran aground in early ‘08 because of lousy accounting practices that had persisted for decades. But, again, Norwood hasn’t proposed any solutions; instead, she simply dismisses the city’s budget as impenetrable, inscrutable, unknowable. As I’ve said before, boasting that you can’t make heads or tails of the city’s finances wouldn’t seem to be the smartest campaign strategy.

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Mayor Franklin at yesterday's press conference.

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.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Who knew train wrecks could happen indoors?

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.

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This week, we’re doing a countdown to last week’s most widely read post. So … let’s start with No. 5, shall we? Fun!

5. Zell Miller: Obama should be restrained with ‘Gorilla Glue’ (Hey Zell, I think there’s a booth with your name on it at a certain bar referenced in post No. 1.)

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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.”

C’mon! Give us a little pep! Throw some jabs! CL hereby orders all elected officials to attend the Bob Riley School of Public Speaking and Press Release Posturing. We’ve got free papers to sell, after all.

(Cl file photo Joeff Davis)

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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.”

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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1. Mayor’s rebuttal of Atlanta crime rankings misleading and incomplete (How’s that for a thorough headline! No wonder this post was so popular.)

2. Suspected Holocaust museum shooter identified as Holocaust denier James Von Brunn (Octogenarian authored idiotic prose, including the book, Kill The Best Gentiles!)

3. Ga. drought ‘is over,’ water restrictions eased (Environmentalists hope residents will continue conserving water. Unfortunately, Georgians have very short memories.)

4. Atlanta schools, ADA strike deal over TAD funds (Atlanta Development Authority will return $18 million to the cash-strapped school system.)

5. Buckhead coalition pushing for end to Ga. 400 toll (Two-decade-old promise vowed to shut down the cash-cow toll booth in 2011.)

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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.

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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.

Hall, who represents a sizable chunk of intown Atlanta, is well-known for his Twitter habits.

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As expected, Mayor Shirley Franklin took issue with today’s AJC article 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.

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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.

(H/T to Sara for noting the RCP article)

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1. Injured cops video Shirley probably doesn’t want you to watch (What’s going on in the video made one man so mad, he said he wanted to hit Mayor Shirley Franklin with a baseball bat. Bad idea.)

2. Brenda Lee forcibly removed from Obama press area (Macon reporter — and not the ’60s songstress — makes a spectacle of herself while being dragged away from Air Force One.)

3. Perception of Crime watch (According to the mayor and police chief, Atlanta isn’t experiencing a crime wave — it’s experiencing a perception of crime wave. Have you been a victim of a perception of crime? If so, please fill out this form.)

4. Vindictive, thin-skinned mayor acting vindictive, thin-skinned (Franklin wants the feds to investigate the police union president who made the bat statement. See No. 1.)

5. State Sen. John Wiles confuses MARTA with car wash (Lawmaker so frustrated with transit agency, he says he wouldn’t let them wash his wheels.)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Borders, Norwood and Reed, oh my!

The stage is set. The field is fixed. The race is on.

Although qualifying is still nearly four months away and the election itself not until Nov. 3, few if any political observers expect the next mayor of Atlanta to be anyone who hasn’t already joined the race. In fact, conventional wisdom holds that, come a year from now, the office will be occupied by one of the three apparent front-runners: Council President Lisa Borders, Councilwoman Mary Norwood or state Sen. Kasim Reed.

It won’t take anywhere near that long, however, for the rest of us to be sick of hearing about the mayor’s race. Typically, yard signs for city races start to appear sometime in late summer. You can thank Norwood for kicking the effort off early, peppering Atlanta lawns with her campaign logo last month.

“If you can find a neighborhood in the city where she doesn’t have a yard sign, it’s because someone stole it,” jokes one local politico.

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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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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.

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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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