At a press conference from the transitional offices at City Hall today, Mayor-elect Kasim Reed announced his choice for Chief Operating Officer for the city. Peter Aman will take the helm and lead the executive management of the municipal operating departments including Police, Fire, Corrections, Aviation, Human Resources, Information Technology, Procurement, Public Works, Parks/Recreation/Cultural Affairs, Watershed Management, and Planning and Community Development.

Personally, I think it’s an excellent choice. Peter Aman was a partner in Bain & Company who authored the Turnaround plan for Atlanta in 2002 and 2005 (otherwise known as “The Bain Report”). He certainly knows the city from the inside out.

Notes from the conference follow.

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The furloughs are ending on Friday and that’s an important first step. Many property owners across Atlanta are upset that it’s occurring on their dime – meaning property taxes are increasing by 3 mill. Whether you agree with the increase or not, at least our city and our public safety system will be operating at their baseline. It gets us back to “normal,” at least for now.

Don’t think that our fight is over though. Our city government and our infrastructure is fundamentally broken. If we are going to live in the world class city Atlanta wants to be (or already should be) then it’s time to get our house in order. We’re not only going to have to elect strong, new leadership to run the city but we’re going to have to hold them accountable to what we deserve and what is long overdue. Councilmember Ivory Young Jr. actually said it best after the vote to raise taxes:

There can be no excuses now for poor service delivery. From here on, it’s zero tolerance for mediocrity.

Amen to that. Atlantans – together – are going to continue to demand that and we can’t get complacent about that fight now. Stick with us. Tell your friends about ATAC. Join! We can’t let them off the hook, now or in the future.

If you’re interested to know more about city finances and how the proposed property tax increase will affect you, then check out this document (PDF).  It’s a 17 page PDF that was forwarded to me from Kwanza Hall’s office. If you have questions, concerns, or further thoughts then contact your Councilperson! Or better yet, run for their seat!

I was at the City Council budget hearing where Scott Kreher over-heated and said he wanted to hit the mayor “in the head with a baseball bat.”  I thought the comment was harsh but I understood the context. Here’s a man who has been fighting for the police department, for cops, and for the city for over 17 years. He’s sat in the same chair year after year and listened to the same Councilmembers make the same promises and commitments.  Yet things get worse.  On top of it all, The Sunday Paper had just released an article describing the plight of 5 officers, injured in the line of duty, who are not getting their disability benefits from the city.  Kreher happened to be speaking of those 5 gentlemen when he went too far.

Sgt. Kreher issued a public apology to Mayor Franklin a few days later yet she’s refused to accept it. Quoting Andisheh Nouraee over at The Fresh Loaf:

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.

Adding insult-to-injury, Pennington suspended Sgt. Kreher a day or two later pending “a psychological evaluation.”  It’s unknown when he will return.

Having sat in on that Council session, I was also appalled by some Council members.  I listened to things like:

• Council member Felicia Moore asking for more gratitude from Kreher and the APD (he asked if she wanted him to thank them for considering giving them their money back)
• Council member CT Martin saying the APD has a race problem (forcing the uniformed men and women in the audience – black, white, latino alike – to get up and walk out of the session)
• Council member Jim Maddox not only saying it’s really time for communities to be more involved in public safety (has he not heard of ATAC?) but also asking if there was less revenue generated from the department because of less tickets being written?
• Council member Joyce Sheperd then reminded Council that tickets are written for crimes, not for revenue.

The entire production was shocking to me (but more on that later). Now, instead of talking about the merits of Kreher’s presentation and argument on why the City needs to step up… we’re talking about Mayor Franklin’s exaggerated vulnerability in the light of Kreher’s off-handed statement.  Now, instead of productive discussion on how the city can make us safer, we’re watching the opportunistic silencing of a man whose biggest “crime” has really only been being the Mayor’s harshest critic.  The assassination of his character is done at the expense of all of us, as the conversation of what we need in this city in order to be most-safe, is now lost.

Some of the ATAC petitions.

Today is rally day!  

Since the last Monday in May is Memorial Day, we’re doing an “online rally” this month instead.  On Wednesday, May 20th (i.e. tomorrow) I’m going to be hand-delivering the ATAC petitions to City Hall during Council’s continuing budget discussions.  Tomorrow they’ll be hearing from the Department of Parks, Recreation, & Cultural Affairs, the Department of Planning and Community Development, as well as both fire and police unions.  It’s a great opportunity to let City Hall know we’re serious about public safety and all of its aspects.

We need to get as many signatures as possible!

Sign the petition!  Forward to your friends!  Post this on your Facebook!  Forward to your email lists! Put it on your blog!  The more signatures the bigger the impact!

ATAC Update 05.12.09

May Rally: Online!

Since the last Monday of May is Memorial Day, we’re going to be moving our monthly rally up a week and hold it online.  This means that starting now we’re sending out word and asking everyone to sign our online petition.  Please forward it to your friends too!  The petition calls on the city to end the furloughs and keep public safety issue #1 in Atlanta.

On Wednesday, May 20th I will hand-deliver all petitions to City Hall.  This is the day City Council hears from the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs as well as the Department of Planning and Community Development.  Later that day, Council hears from both the Fire Fighters and Police Unions.  The strength of every one of these are required in order to help curb crime so let’s let our voices be heard!

June Rally: Mechanicsville  (TBD)

In June we hope to take our monthly rally to Mechanicsville.  On Monday, June 29th from 6 pm – 8 pm (note time change) we’d be rallying for action, awareness, and change in an Atlanta neighborhood that truly needs our support.  Mechanicsville continues to experience violent crime and gang activity.  It was also the apparent stomping grounds of Jonathan Redding, one of the accused shooters in the John Henderson murder at The Standard.

Mechanicsville has a rich history in Atlanta.  Fighting crime not only has to happen from the top down but the bottom up.  Supporting and building strong community alliances is one way to do that. I fully support Mechanicsville and would be encouraged to offer ATAC’s support!  If anyone from the local area would like to help coordinate please let me know.

Confirmation and further details will be forthcoming.

ATAC & APF 5K Fundraiser THIS SATURDAY!

If you are a runner or know of one, please encourage them to participate in the Race Against Crime this Saturday, May 16th!  More details here.  Please support our teams, create your own, or just donate!

If you can’t race but would like to donate to my fundraising page, please click here!

Atlanta Police Foundation and Atlantans Together Against Crime (ATAC) are partnering for this year’s Atlanta’s Finest 5K Race, directed by the Atlanta Track Club.  At least 300 officers from the Atlanta Police Department (APD) are expected to run alongside nearly 900 citizens, promoting the importance of public safety and physical fitness.

Proceeds will help support ATAC as well as Crime Stoppers Atlanta, the Mounted Patrol Unit, and scholarships for officers.

Here’s some inside reporting from The Sunday Paper’s Stephanie Ramage on Council discussions concerning the budget for public safety.

Councilmember Caesar Mitchell, Post 1 At-Large, introduced a resolution yesterday (PDF, page 54) asking the Mayor to consider 100% funding for sworn police and firefighters in the budget she’ll present to Council on May 1, 2009.

In developing the 2010 Budget, the City Council encourages the Administration to make cuts and seek efficiencies in areas other than sworn police and fire in order to allow the City to meet its obligation under the City Charter to adequately provide for public safety police and fire and to close a projected revenue gap for FY 2010; and

…should be of primary consideration when developing and funding the budget;

The measure passed unanimously with 13 Councilmembers present (CT Martin and Joyce Sheperd were absent).  The Mayor responded today.

This resolution is pure politics.  It is both short-sighted and bad policy.

The Mayor makes the points that one, public safety is and always has been issue #1 for her when setting the budget.  She also goes on to say that to ignore non-sworn (or civilian) city personnel, who greatly contribute to public safety in this city, is short-sighted.  So what about them?

The Mayor’s last point is that, she feels, the City Council is ignoring the other aspects of the City’s work that affect quality of life and, by extension, matters that directly affect public safety.

City Council must believe that closing recreation centers, reducing parks maintenance, eliminating homelessness programs, cutting investment in traffic safety and road maintenance, laying off personnel in the support departments that serve the Police Department and Fire Department all have no impact on crime.  I disagree, as would every mayor across America.

This, with all due respect to the Mayor, is pure politics.  There isn’t one Councilmember who is – or would – advocate this and to accuse anyone of doing so is a bit over the top.  I think we all want to see all of these services fully funded and, therefore, contributing to the overall safety of us and our City.  But let’s get real.  It’s a big picture issue that requires a pragmatic approach.  Let’s prevent further furloughs, end the current ones, fully fund public safety, and then go from there.  

We applaud the Council’s effort in taking this first, tangible step.  For ATAC’s official response, please see below the fold.

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