Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) ATLANTA — In our continuing coverage of Atlanta’s 2009 citywide races, Atlanta Progressive News sat down with Amir Farokhi, 31, a former commercial lawyer with McKenna, Long, and Aldridge. Farokhi is a leading candidate for the Post 2 At-large seat being vacated by Mary Norwood, who is running for Mayor.

Other candidates running against Farokhi include Daryl Graham, a spokesman for the Georgia NAACP; Aaron Watson, former Commissioner for the Atlanta Housing Authority; and Weslee Knapp, a realtor.

So far, APN has interviewed all five leading candidates running for Mayor of Atlanta; the two leading candidates for City Council President; as well as Council Post 1 At-large candidates Michael Julian Bond and Clarence Turner. More interviews are forthcoming.

Farokhi’s former employer, McKenna, Long, and Aldridge, is one of the firms that represented the Atlanta Housing Authority in opposing City Council oversight of its public housing demolitions, although Farokhi says he was not involved in any of those matters.

Farokhi comes from a political family, active with the Democratic Party of Georgia. His mother, Beth Farokhi, ran for Cobb County School Board and lost a couple years ago, and recently launched a campaign for Georgia Superintendent of Schools for 2010.

“I think I grew up in a very open-minded household,” he said. Farokhi’s father is from Iran and came to the United States for college and to work. He met Farokhi’s mother, Beth, in Smyrna; Beth Farokhi, from Augusta, is an eighth generation Georgian.

The Farokhi family was not always politically active, though, until the last few years. “In the last 6 or 7 years my parents became involved in politics in Cobb County,” Farokhi said.

Farokhi believes Atlanta residents are more progressive than city government. “Residents and businesses are much further ahead,” he said. “Residents are ready for the city to catch up to where they are.”

When asked for examples, Farokhi said, “Residents realized for a long time we need new transportation solutions. People who live in the city want to make this a livable city.”

Farokhi, who has been running for this seat for about a year, has raised a lot of money, including corporate donors. “They’re part of the spectrum of folks who interact with the City. The business community has ties to my contacts,” he said. But “I’m very sensitive to the notion that contributions equal access or affect policy.”

Farokhi says he supports legislation which would prohibit companies doing business with the city, or planning to do business with the city within the next two years, from giving contributions to candidates.

“Our priorities need to be public safety, getting our financial house in order, efficiency and finding new revenue streams, making it easier and healthier to live in the city,” Farokhi said.

When Farokhi first launched his campaign, he had a section on his website calling for ending poverty as part of his platform. Farokhi says he still wants to end poverty, but that he felt he needed to take the section down because ending poverty is not a top priority for Atlanta’s city government, per the City’s charter.

“It isn’t a city like New York where the budget provides for social services. It’s not in the charter,” Farokhi said, adding that he wanted to streamline his message by focusing on fewer issues.

“It was on the website for a while. Just because it’s not on the platform, it’s not something I’m not aware of.”

“The City cannot be tone deaf to socio-economic patterns of the city, the housing patterns of the city, and the needs of our residents. The City needs to play a leadership role, even if facilitating conversations about how to make Atlanta livable for everyone and how to lift everyone’s boat,” Farokhi said.

“Given the current economic climate, the City has to focus on basics. To the extent where state and federal money [is available], we have to be active in soliciting it and making sure it affects the most needy,” Farokhi said.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

“We’re going to see hopefully continued population growth in the City. With that comes the need to be… very active in making sure people can live close to where they work, no matter how much they make. Say you work at Target. Say you’re a housekeeper at the Intercontinental, there has to be housing stock within two miles,” Farokhi said. “It makes it easier for businesses to find reliable employees, it’s better for the environment, it strengthens the community.”

“No matter what your income, housing should make up no more than 30% of your income. It may be rental, it may be ownership. To get there, we need to make better use of affordable housing tools. If we were really progressive we should have a strong inclusionary zoning policy,” Farokhi said.

As previously reported by APN, Council President candidate Ceasar Mitchell has also proposed inclusionary zoning, with a 10% baseline requirement for developers to include affordable units. In the scheme of things, such a baseline is quite low, and with such a wide definition of affordable housing being used by the City of Atlanta, only a few percent would likely be available for very low-income households.

“10% is a good start,” Farokhi said, adding he also supports community land trusts. “We need to balance demands of the community with the realities of the market. We can’t demand private developers build a certain way if they can’t be successful.”

APN objected, however, that the supply and demand model does not apply perfectly to housing because people have to have housing; people cannot just opt out of having housing like they could opt out of buying a new DVD. However, if they price is too high, people cannot afford housing; hence, Atlanta’s abundance of empty new condos. Placing limits on the cost of housing to make it actually affordable to working families may reduce developer profits, but inevitably other developers will build in order to meet the demand of families even if it is for less in profits.

“Inevitably, we’re going to require more housing,” Farokhi agreed. “Developers are going to have to build. We need to make sure in 20 years… not only people earning $80,000 a year can live here,” Farokhi said.

TRANSPORTATION

“The City can transform housing codes… Zoning [that] promotes transit-oriented development near MARTA stations,” Farokhi said.

“We need a complete sidewalk plan and a bicycle lane plan. [Our roads should be] safe for bikes and on foot. You should be able to walk outside your house and go to any other part of the city without entering a car,” Farokhi said.

Farokhi said he was concerned about a story he heard concerning an “old lady walking without a sidewalk along sewer grates.”

“MARTA needs state funding,” he added.

BELTLINE AND GENTRIFICATION

“As we grow, a lot will happen in higher-density corridors like Peachtree and Ponce. People are going to live in our great neighborhoods. A lot of gentrification has already happened in the last 10 years,” Farokhi said.

The City needs to “One, make sure that long-term residents can stay in their homes.” This includes property tax breaks, especially for property values being affected by the Beltline, Farokhi said. “Or erasing [property taxes] after someone hits the age of 65.”

Farokhi’s proposals about making property taxes for seniors and long-standing residents immune to increases associated with Beltline development is probably one of the candidate’s most meaningful and bold progressive ideas.

“Two, we also need people to know they’re moving into a neighborhood with longtime residents and leaders. You can’t just come in and take over the neighborhood association,” he said.

“The future of Atlanta is an integrated City that respects old and new,” he said.

PUBLIC HOUSING DEMOLITIONS

“The premise of decentralization of poverty is the right one,” Farokhi said. “In that process, you can’t just tear down public housing, hand someone a voucher, and say good luck. We need to make sure every single resident is provided housing in the City and given the first opportunity to move back to the community when [the mixed-income redevelopment] is completed.”

“These aren’t just buildings. They are communities. People who have built long-standing bonds for years,” Farokhi said.

APN asked Farokhi what he would have done in 2008 if he had been in Council when APN exclusively presented evidence that the Atlanta Housing Authority had submitted applications to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development without public input; containing forged documents and apparent fraudulent claims concerning resident consultation and the conditions of the buildings; and a letter of approval from Mayor Shirley Franklin signed without Council input nor awareness.

“The first step would have been to go and sit down with the Mayor and say, we need to hit the pause button. You and I will sit down with the residents and figure out how to best manage this process. I wish the Council had been more proactive to hit the pause button,” he said. Unfortunately, Council Member Felicia Moore was the only one really willing to fight for that oversight.

TASK FORCE FOR THE HOMELESS

“I think the location for the Task Force is probably not the best location anymore, but the Task Force deserves federal money, it deserves to be a large part of our network,” Farokhi said.

CLUBS CLOSING AT 3AM

Farokhi believes 3am club closures need to be revisited. “Our nightlife is one of our strengths. It brings young folks, tourists to town. I’d like to see bar hours lengthened with stipulations. The police force has to have resources to make sure the streets are safe and being policed at that hour [which could be funded from club revenues if they stay open later] and the neighborhoods have to agree to this.”

PROPERTY TAX INCREASE

“I would’ve voted yes. However I wish the Mayor had offered a lesser option, a millage just to keep the streets safe and keep the parks open,” he said.

About the author:

Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor for Atlanta Progressive News and is reachable at matthew@atlantaprogressivenews.com.

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