Jeanne on TV!
Yep that was me on the panel Sunday for the Republican 12th and 13th Congressional District runoff debates that were broadcast from Georgia Public Broadcasting. The makeup made me feel like Cleopatra!
As you may know the debates are sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club, and they are a great way to get to know the candidates. Well, that is, if they show up. One of the debates featured just one of the two candidates. The moderator, Lisa Rayam, WAGA, even said, “Ray McKinney is represented by an empty podium.”
One of the districts — the 12th — is out near Savannah so there’s less local interest. But the other debate featured the two Republican candidates for a district that includes parts of Cobb, Fulton, Dekalb, Douglas and other metro Atlanta counties so their answers, when they did actually answer the question, were of great interest.
I asked about high-speed and commuter rail. But I think at least one of the candidates didn’t hear that! Maybe I speak too softly. Regrettably rail is overlooked in favor of such hot-button issues as immigration, abortion and if you can believe, states’ rights.
Anyway, if you missed this debate, you can find it here. You can also find the debates for Governor and other offices archived on the site.
SaportaReport: Time for Chambers to move on
Maria Saporta of SaportaReport speaks with authority when she says that Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Dunwoody), who chairs the Georgia legislature’s MARTA Oversight Committee (MARTOC), and the rest of the naysayers need to move on now that the state has given MARTA a clean fiscal bill of health.
Below is a short excerpt, but please read the full column here.
From SaportaReport:
“This audit review should be enough to silence Chambers once and for all. She has made MARTA and the state jump through time-consuming hoops on her witch hunt for evil and wrongdoing.
“And now it’s time for her to stop.”
(end)
I will reiterate that I don’t think everything MARTA does is great. For example, I still want to know why there isn’t a bus that goes all the way up Boulevard and Monroe!
But using the transit service as one’s own punching bag is wrong. What are we doing to do, stop the trains, pull up the tracks, bulldoze the stations?
I don’t think so, so let’s work on building on the transit system we have.
More on LaHood’s visit
Filed under: ARTS & EVENTS, POLITICS, SMART GROWTH
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood visited Atlanta today for two reasons.
First, he spoke at the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Fifty Forward Transportation Forum. Secondly, he gave MARTA $10.8 million to install solar panels at a bus maintenance depot.
But in the process of doing these two things, LaHood inadvertently gave a forum to residents’ frustration with area transit and the transportation officials who decide if we have transit and where.
As I mentioned in my previous posts, LaHood fielded questions from the audience at the ARC event, including one from a gentleman who hopes someone in Washington can intervene on our behalf with the Georgia Legislature, to convince the folks under the Gold Dome that we need more money for transit.
I mean, isn’t that a bit like you making a complaint about the teacher when the principal happens to stick his/her head in your classroom?
One could certainly argue that if Georgia paid some attention to transit, no one would need to tattle to the DOT secretary!
Later when someone asked when the “high-speed rail” conversation would be coming to Atlanta, LaHood responded, “It’ll come to Atlanta if Georgia gets its act together.”
It’ll come to Atlanta if Georgia gets its act together.
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DOT Sec’y Ray LaHood answers some questions
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was in Atlanta this morning for a few reasons, including bringing $10.8 million to MARTA so it can install solar panels at its Laredo Bus Maintenance Facility in Decatur.
More about that later, because as often is the case, the ancillary events can be newsier than the main event.
LaHood fielded questions from the audience, including one from Kevin Hughley, who’s with a Brookhaven-Chamblee neighborhood association.
Hughley wanted to point out that MARTA is one of the few transit systems in the U.S. that does not receive state funding.
And further Hughley wanted to know if Sec. LaHood and Sen. Johnny Isakson could possibly influence the Georgia legislature to either provide more funding to MARTA, or remove the restriction that strictly splits the sales tax funds into two camps — operational and capital expenses.
And LaHood, who had been a legislator, sidestepped the question ever so gently by saying he was not in the habit of making laws in Georgia, and that he would leave that to Gov. Sonny Perdue.
But he could allow that it’s “counterproductive” to have funds on hand to BUY buses but no funds on hand to PAY the bus drivers.
Alright, we’re getting somewhere.
In a state as transit-allergic as Georgia is, that’s actually a step forward!
Except, he really just bounced it back to Georgia officials, didn’t he? And those officials have proven time and time again that they are not interested in transit.
So did we really get anywhere? I mean, we got solar panels. But we still haven’t fixed the finance mechanism for MARTA, or indeed the mindset that MARTA and other transit is for other people.
I’ll have more to report later on LaHood’s visit.
E Pluribus Unum
A month or so ago, I posted my vision of development in Atlanta via a video clip of an old Robin Williams comedy routine.
I fantasize that it would be great if we could push all of Atlanta’s city neighborhoods together and make one good city.
In the 1980s, Williams joked about how men, during intercourse, were always pushing women’s breasts together “to make one good one.” (See the jump for the video clip).
I was reminded of this metaphor last night at a mayoral forum that was held at the Park Tavern.
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Sierra Club/CPT to host discussion on transit
The Sierra Club and Citizens for Progressive Transit will host a discussion on transit in Atlanta on Sept. 10 at Parish. Sounds like a great event!
Here are all the details (and I mean all, since I cut and paste the info):
From its humble origins as the sleepy railroad town of Terminus, to the rise and fall of the turn-of-the-century “Trolley Titans,” to the construction of MARTA in the late 20th century, Atlanta’s history and development as a city has been inextricably linked with its transportation system.
Today, with city and statewide elections fast approaching, transit concerns remain at the forefront of the public agenda. What is the future of MARTA and other transit services in light of unprecedented financial challenges? When will we see transit on the BeltLine, or streetcars on Peachtree Street, or passenger trains to Athens, Savannah, and beyond? And with transportation funding proposals having failed in the last two legislative sessions, what can we expect in 2010?
Please join the Sierra Club and Citizens for Progressive Transit on Thursday, Sept. 10 for a discussion of “Transit in Atlanta: Past, Present & Future” — the next program in our new networking/education series, “Hot Planet, Cold Drinks.” We’ll begin with socializing at 7pm, followed by a presentation by David Emory, principal planner for transit policy at the Atlanta Regional Commission. Jim Dexter, chair of Sierra Club’s RAIL (Regional Action to Improve Livability) Committee, will emcee and provide an update on local transit advocacy efforts.
The event will be held at PARISH, an eco-friendly restaurant and market in Inman Park (http://www.parishatl.com). Meet us in the market, accessed through the lower level patio at the back of the building. PARISH is served by MARTA’s 113 bus (select trips only), and is a ~15 minute walk from the Inman Park station. Onstreet, valet, and bicycle parking is also available. Plan your transit/bicycle trip at http://atltransit.com
Questions? Email sierra_club_socials@yahoo.com.
DETAILS
When: Thu., Sept. 10
Time: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Where: Parish, 240 N. Highland Ave., Atlanta, GA
“MARTA doesn’t go anywhere”
When I returned from vacation on Monday, one of the first things I read was a Creative Loafing story that said this was the week MARTA would enact the service cuts it had approved.
Thinking about the routes that would be cut, and the routes that would not be added, I was reminded of something you hear all the time: MARTA doesn’t go anywhere.
Someone said it a month ago when I posted coverage of the agency’s public meetings, which were held to discuss the service cuts.
Whenever I hear that remark, I always think of the small city in eastern Pennsylvania that I left last year to move back to Atlanta: Allentown, Pa. You probably know it from the Billy Joel song.
It’s a city whose heyday is behind it. Many people have fled the city for the prosperous suburbs, and the city’s stately rowhomes, which would sell for $500,000 or more if you moved them to Brooklyn, are largely the province of lower-income families.
And you know what some people say? Some people say Allentown sucks.
As if Allentown were a person who just decided one day that he didn’t give a crap anymore.
As if Allentown were some mean, old guy who did whatever he could to thwart prosperity, activity, flourishing businesses and hip watering holes — in short, an enemy to urban happiness.
I always thought it was gutless that people said Allentown sucked because really, the truth is, we the city’s residents sucked.
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Bookman off AJC editorial board
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s editorial board shakeup turns out to be more significant than what I reported Tuesday.
Last week, I said the late great Ralph McGill was stirring in his grave. Turns out, he gotta be spinning.
That’s because — contrary to my earlier post — Deputy Editorial Page Editor Jay Bookman no longer will sit on the board. In other words, neither of the two most important liberal voices in the state for the last two decades — Bookman and his boss, Editorial Page Editor Cynthia Tucker — will write editorials for the AJC anymore, nor will they have a say in the paper’s editorial positions.
Instead, according to several sources familiar with the move, the board will consist of the paper’s brass — Publisher Doug Franklin, Editor Julia Wallace and Senior Managing Editor James Mallory — along with a single editorial writer, the new “Editorial Editor” Andre Jackson.
Placing Franklin on the board raises some questions in it own right. It inevitably seems a conflict of interest for a newspaper to give a seat on the board to the publisher, who necessarily has business dealings with advertisers and other companies that may become subjects of editorials. While some other newspapers — particularly small ones — engage in that practice, the AJC is large enough to avoid such an awkward situation.
More significantly, losing the expertise and insight that Tucker and Bookman brought to the board is a big blow to the Atlanta community. They’ll still be writing columns and blogging. But the AJC’s editorial page has long been among the few strengths at a paper that, like most other dailies, is seeing it’s resources rapidly diminish.
Jackson has been in Atlanta all of a year. He’s primarily a business writer and editor, who spent only a few months in 2008 on the AJC board. Wallace and Mallory have their hands full running the newsroom, so it appears that Jackson will be the only editorial writer.
Don’t be surprised if there are only one or two editorials each week in the AJC from now on. And no matter how brilliant Jackson is, it would take him years to develop the sources and background on Atlanta’s people and issues that Tucker and Bookman acquired.
This is a big deal for Georgia, because the AJC and the old Atlanta Constitution have played such a critical role as prods for progress. No one personified that better than McGill, who won a Pulitzer Prize in the 1950s for his courageous opinion pieces on civil rights. But Tucker, who won her own Pulitzer in 2007, and Bookman have carried on that tradition. Both will blog and continue to write columns — Tucker from Washington now, Bookman in Atlanta.
The Journal-Constitution brass has been somewhat discrete about this part of the editorial page shakeup. The move was made in the midst of a huge newsroom staff reduction. And Wallace’s article on the changes emphasized Tucker’s move to D.C., but didn’t describe the more changes in the structure of the board.
“Veteran editor Andre Jackson will become the editorial editor, convening the editorial board and writing the institutional editorials,” Wallace wrote, without revealing the board’s makeup.
After I wrote (mistakenly) that Bookman would continue on the board, various people familiar with the paper informed me that the board would be trimmed down to include only Jackson and the brass.
An AJC spokesman contacted me as well, asking if I needed any information. I replied that it’d be great to find out the makeup of the new board. It’s been two days and he hasn’t written back.
Porter declares, Poythress attacks
Fellow Democrat David Poythress responded far more sharply to DuBose Porter’s entry today into the 2010 governor’s race than he did to last week’s announcement by Thurbert Baker. In other words, Poythress considers Porter more of a threat to his own candidacy.
The discrepancy may partly be due to the surprise announcement by Baker, the centrist attorney general for whom political risk truly is a four-letter word. Porter, the state House minority leader, had tipped his hat before throwing it into the ring.
It also makes sense for Poythress (and for that matter Porter) to keep the powder dry against Baker because white candidates don’t want to turn off black voters by attacking the only African-American in the primary. Contrast that to the dynamic between Poythress and Porter, an attorney and newspaper publisher from Dublin with a folksy way about him who will compete for Poythress’ logical base of white, rural, moderate Democrats.
So there’s a certain logic to Poythress going over the top by accusing Porter of “an unforgivable offense” for failing to recruit enough state House candidates last year. Just five days earlier, Poythress uttered nary a nasty word about Baker’s hardy defense of the state voter ID law, which Republicans enacted to make it more difficult for Democratic constituencies to get to the polls.
In his announcement, Porter focused on an issue that may prove a point of for Republican vulnerability: The utter failure of the GOP to deal with metro Atlanta’s transportation problems. The money line: “This year’s lack of leadership on transportation and personal grabs for power at the expense of the people convinced me to throw my hat into the ring.” (Never mind that Porter had already told people he’d intended to run before this year’s legislative session even began.)
Baker won’t make it out of the primary without taking his own hits from Democratic constituencies. He’s vulnerable among his base of black voters for appealing a ruling that would have hastened the freedom of teenage cause celebre Genarlow Wilson, as well as for his support of a bunch of tough cirminal sentencing measures. But don’t expect open attacks on Baker from his opponents: White candidates want to be in a position to snatch up black votes rather than to dirty their hands in the process of prying the votes from Baker.
The dynamic for the Democratic primary changes entirely, of course, if former Gov. Roy Barnes decides to enter the race — as he’s supposedly considering. For now, however, Baker and Porter seem the guys to beat: Baker’s already won three statewide races as attorney general and, despite his record, should get the lion’s share African-American support. Porter’s network among state legislators, lawyers and newspaper people should make him pretty formidable.
Poythress — who’s served off-and-on in various state offices for three decades —seems the odd man out to me, but then again I’ve never quite gotten his candidacy. He’s been running since the Ice Age (well, actually, early last year), and during that time he’s patiently spoken to small groups across the state. But doesn’t he seem a bit too yesterday to lead a Democratic Party revival in 2010? For instance, three of the endorsers listed on his website have the word “former” in front of their titles.
On the Republican side, Lieutenant Gov. Casey Cagle, Secretary of State Karen Handel, Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine and state Rep. Austin Scott are already running, while Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens is thinking about it.
Here’s more of Poythress’ attack on Porter:
In his statement Dubose Porter said, ‘ … we must look past the primary and honestly ask who can win a general election.’
It’s ironic he led with this thought when Dubose Porter, as House Minority Leader, is the Democrat who seconded the nomination of Republican Glenn Richardson to become Speaker of the House. He also left 81 House Republicans uncontested in the 2008 elections by not recruiting Democratic challengers. This is an unforgivable offense given the tremendous turnout and historic year for Democrats. And Dubose should tread lightly when talking about his alleged General Election viability especially since Republicans would have a field day over his 26 year voting record in the General Assembly.
And here’s Porter’s full announcement:
After this year’s failure to pass a transportation funding bill by the Republican leadership it has become apparent that if Georgia is to move forward there will have to be a new vision coming from the Governor’s office. Smaller government is good, but not when its goal is to dismantle transportation, law enforcement, and education. These are vital services that must be maintained if Georgia is to move forward with America.
The Governor and his leadership team have used this economic downturn as an excuse to dismantle these fundamental programs; programs on which our entire economy rests. This session we sponsored HB 356 which offered up a way to find an expected $1 billion in uncollected revenue without raising taxes a dime. HB 356 would have implemented a new point of sales policy exactly like Alabama. This Governor and his leadership in the House and Senate chose to turn this money down because it would have funded a lot of the programs they chose to cut. Programs our citizens needed.
The Governor and this leadership were cutting the funding to the QBE funding formula, which goes to our schools, and law enforcement when we had money and now they have added transportation to their list. “This year’s lack of leadership on transportation and their personal grabs for power at the expense of the people convinced me to throw my hat into the ring.”
It is obvious that reduced law enforcement is not a way to grow quality of life, and access to a quality basic education is vital to positive growth. In the immediate future we see job opportunity through services and technology. Our people will have to be able to meet the requirements for these jobs. They also will not be keeping the same job for life, but will have to be able to retrain quickly. Without adequate educational opportunity that will not be possible.
Transportation is another foundation service for government and is a key to a prosperous future. We don’t need to cut MARTA rail to the airport. We need to extend it. The message cutting MARTA, when the money is there, sends potentially damaging signals to future investors in Georgia. We have to start thinking of the future.
My youngest sons, the twins, are now freshmen at UGA and it seems as if this session’s lack of leadership has coincided correctly with my timing for running for state wide office.
I realize a Democrat will have a hard time in what is seen as a red state. However I believe Georgia will look at the issues and if they find a candidate that represents their core values they will be willing to vote for a change in the Governor’s office. My work on the issues will carry me in Atlanta, but according to the pundits from the far right to the far left, it will take a candidate with my core values to connect with those outside of Atlanta.
My district, Laurens and a small part of Johnson County, closely resembles the demographics of the state as a whole. In my last race I won by 76% over a Republican candidate who was a 10-year city council member and a vice president of a bank. I was able to do that because I listen to my people. My t-shirts always read, “DuBose Porter works for me,” because I never forget who sent me. The title is ‘Representative.’ I represent. I listen well. I bring all the people to the table. I learn as much as I can on the topic from all sides and then lead. I remember my Scout Oath. I bring in my faith. I think of the Georgia I want my four sons to live in and I remember our state motto of wisdom, justice and moderation. Listen. Learn. Lead. You aren’t constantly in the press with that style, but it works best to move projects forward if you can lose the ego and share the credit.
Gold Dome powerball
From Tom Baxter and GONSO:
The 39th day of this year’s legislative session — the one that was the setup for today’s final, frenzied effort — was one of those that the denizens of the Golden Dome will be talking about for months, or maybe years.
For someone who doesn’t work in the sausage factory of government, however, it isn’t obvious what made the day so significant. It was more about the machinery, really, than the sausage.
The dramatic high point of this penultimate legislative day came on a Wednesday afternoon vote on SB 200, the organizational chunk of the giant transportation package making its way through the process like a baby goat passing through the digestive track of a python.
In a break with precedence, if not strictly the rules, House Speaker Glenn Richardson kept the voting machine on at least four minutes while lieutenants worked the floor and flipped five votes which had at first been cast against the measure. Richardson cast the deciding vote for passage, 91-84.
Hallway denizens, young and old, shook their heads in wonder, and asked aloud if anyone could remember such a thing. Which no one could, although Tom Murphy, in his record tenure as speaker, might have done something similar at least once.
To outsiders, it must seem that the real significance of all this legislative drama is that Richardson, Gov. Sonny Perdue and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle are at last coalescing around a compromise state transportation strategy. Immediately after the House vote, the Senate named its conferees for the negotiations over the spending side of the package, and things on the surface at least seemed to be proceeding clickety-clack.
But it might not mean that at all. Wednesday’s vote could be the harbinger of some grand compromise to be delivered up today, or the setup for another train wreck tonight. (That’s if you consider leaving the DOT board as is to be a train wreck. Some don’t.) This could be Richardson getting on board with the governor and lieutenant governor, or he could be as one lobbyist put it, “using the House as a fiddle to play Casey with.”
For the rest of this story click here.
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