APN Editor Running for Atlanta City Council in Special Election
(APN) ATLANTA — The Founder and News Editor of Atlanta Progressive News, Matthew Charles Cardinale, 37, is running for Atlanta City Council District 3 in the Special Election that is scheduled for March 19, 2019.
Campaign website:
http://www.matthewforatlanta.com
Campaign Facebook page:
Paypal donation link:
https://www.paypal.me/friendsofmcharles
“Progressive Legislative Package for First 180 Days in Office” – Fourteen Draft Ordinances
https://docs.google.com/document/d/17OzttXioBj1iDv1bmq48o-FwceK82VqsCeCPsWSGcA4
This is Cardinale’s first run for public office.
The Council has called the Special Election to fill the vacancy caused by the tragic passing of Councilman Ivory Lee Young, Jr. Mr. Young succumbed to a years-long battle with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, in November 2018.
Qualifying is in late January 2019. Cardinale has declared his candidacy and formed a campaign committee, Friends of Matthew Charles Cardinale, in recent filings.
The Council race is expected to garner citywide attention as Young was reliable eighth vote for administration initiatives on the fifteen-member Council; Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s nod squad, therefore hangs in the balance.
“I will be an independent warrior for the people. I believe each policy decision should be based on its own merits. I am not beholden to the political machine that has allowed the gentrification of Atlanta to go on largely unmitigated for all these years,” Cardinale said.
In his thirteen years as a progressive warrior for the people of Atlanta, Cardinale has achieved significant results, including his Georgia Supreme Court victory in Cardinale v. City of Atlanta (2010) that forced the Council to disclose their secret vote; his 2011/2012 lawsuits that maneuvered the Council into opening up their formerly-closed Committee Briefings; and drafting thirteen pieces of progressive legislation that have already passed City Council.
Cardinale’s campaign announcement has been covered by Saporta Report, Project Q Atlanta, Instinct Magazine, the Fulton County Daily Report, Yahoo.com, and CBS 46 television news.
https://saportareport.com/westside-special-election-scheduled
http://www.projectq.us/atlanta/gay_civic_activist_running_for_atlanta_city_council
Over the last several years, Cardinale has drafted ordinances and resolutions based on his progressive policy ideas, and given them to various Councilmembers for introduction. Thirteen have passed City Council to date:
These ordinances include:
1. Affordable Housing Impact Statements (14-O-1614, 2015) – Requires an impact statement for all policy decisions that would impact the affordable housing stock of the City of Atlanta, describing how many units would be added, subtracted, or preserved at each income bracket. Dickens. Also adopted in New Orleans, Louisiana (2017). Brossett/Cantrell.
2. Affordable Housing Impact Statements amended (18-O-1026, 2018). Archibong.
3. Surplus Property Policy (17-O-1463, 2017) – Requires that the City evaluate surplus property for use as affordable housing, for sale to nonprofit developers for one dollar, to create units affordable at zero to thirty percent of the Area Median Income. Bond.
4. Affordable Housing Inventory Policy (17-O-1778, 2017) – Requires that the City take stock of its affordable housing on an annual basis. Bond.
5. Right for Public to Comment at Work Sessions (17-O-1674, 2017) – Establishes that the public has a right to comment at Work Sessions of Council Committees. Bond.
6. Committee Chairs Must Offer Opportunity for Public Comment prior to Voting (18-O-1587, 2018). Prevents Committee Chairs from only offering public comment opportunity at end of meeting; at least one opportunity must be offered prior to voting on first legislative item on agenda. Archibong.
7.Established Trust Fund for Turner Field neighborhoods (17-O-1080, 2017) – Cardinale facilitated community drafting of ordinance to create Trust Fund the Turner Field neighborhoods and created the first revenue stream for the fund, which now contains at least five million dollars. Bond.
8. Follow-up ordinance regarding Trust Fund requested by oversight committee (18-O-1595, 2018). Smith.
9. Improved Due Process for Small Businesses (18-O-1458, 2018) – Amended business tax code to prohibit the City of Atlanta from threatening an arrest citation over a portion of any business tax assessment that is under appeal. Westmoreland.
10. Opened Committee Briefings to the public (13-O-1049, 2013). Hall.
11. Clarifies that in the calling of all votes, the Council President shall call the vote in a manner that permits the municipal clerk to record the yeas, nays, abstentions, and absences. (18-O-1150, 2018) Committee on Council.
12. Atlanta Eagle Raid apology resolution (10-R-0132, 2010). Bond.
13. Resolution calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution clarifying the right of U.S. Congress to regulate campaign contributions (14-R-4241, 2015). Bond.
Former City Councilman Jabari Simama announced his candidacy on yesterday, December 07, 2018.
Simama served as CEO of Georgia Piedmont Technical College, and was removed from office due to financial mismanagement that was revealed in audit findings in April 2018.
Cardinale founded Atlanta Progressive News in 2005 after coming to Atlanta from New Orleans, Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina. He serves as CEO and News Editor.
Cardinale also serves as CEO of SMART ALEC (State and Municipal Action for Results Today / Agenda for Legislative Empowerment and Collaboration). SMART ALEC recently was engaged by the City of Clarkston, Georgia to develop their Affordable Housing Strategy, and Cardinale was the lead consultant on the project.
Cardinale also serves as Vice Chairman of Fulton Atlanta Community Action Authority’s CHDO, or Community Housing Development Organization, which was recently reactivated.
If elected, Cardinale would be the only homosexual or LGBTQI member of the Atlanta City Council.
Cardinale lives in Atlanta’s Hunter Hills community.
Cardinale has a BA in Sociology and Political Science from Tulane University (2003); an MA in Sociology from UC Irvine (2005); a Masters in Public Administration from the University of New Orleans (2007); and a Juris Doctor, or law degree, from Gonzaga University (2018).
(END / Copyright Atlanta Progressive News / 2018)