Mayoral Debate Held by National Action Network
(APN) ATLANTA — Nine candidates for Mayor of Atlanta gathered Thursday, August 06, 2009, at the Auburn Avenue Research Library to debate a variety of issues at a forum sponsored by the Atlanta chapter of the National Action Network.
Attendees included well-known names like Council President Lisa Borders, Council Member at-large Mary Norwood, State Sen. Kasim Reed, Jesse Spikes, and Glenn Thomas as well as lesser-known candidates like Tiffany Brown, Peter Brownlowe, Rod Mack, and Duvwon Robinson.
Moderators Derrick Boazman, former Atlanta councilman and host of Too Much Truth on WAOK 1380 FM (owned by CBS), and Michelle Marsh, reporter for CBS 46 Atlanta, presented questions devised by the standing-room only crowd of about 150 before the debate started.
Topics included public safety, the budget, jobs, accountability, and education.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Crime was the number one issue Thursday night as community outrage grows over the actions current leaders like Mayor Shirley Franklin and Atlanta Police Department Chief Richard Pennington have taken–or have not taken–to address the problem.
Many candidates agreed Atlanta needs more police officers. Reed wants to add 750 police officers over his first term. Norwood wants to grow the police force by 10 percent.
Brown suggested using Atlanta’s Ambassador Force as “the eyes and ears” of the police.
Thomas said there is not enough money to hire as many officers as some candidates want, a charge Reed called “patently false.”
“We can only really afford to train 100 officers per year,” Thomas said.
Spikes said “eliminating waste in the system” is key to hiring more. Robinson suggested shifting some officers from certain areas into more violent neighborhoods.
Brownlowe, Borders, and Norwood all said retaining officers is important. Norwood said she would offer better pay while Borders said she would offer subsidized housing for officers within intown neighborhoods.
When asked who they would hire as the next Atlanta police chief, the candidates did not offer specific names, though Thomas said he has spoken to two men and one woman within the department and reported that two of them have committed to serving at least two years as chief if asked.
While Borders and Reed said they would conduct a national search for a new chief, other candidates said it would be best to look locally, especially within the department, to find the right person.
Thomas argued conducting a national search would take at least 90 days, far too long to wait when “people are getting robbed and killed everyday.”
Norwood said she would look for a “hands on leader” who has “the respect of all the men and women of the department.”
Mack wants a chief with “compassion and a heart.”
WHO WOULD YOU FIRE FIRST?
Many candidates, when asked whom they would fire first, said Chief Pennington, though he has stated publicly he will not stay on once Franklin’s term ends.
Most said the mayor should provide better leadership and implement more oversight over city departments.
Norwood said she would have “a serious conversation” with several department heads.
Reed and Borders said they would ask for the resignation of employees who “work at the pleasure of the mayor.”
“We need a new culture at City Hall and I think it starts with the heads of every department,” Borders said.
Thomas is looking for new faces and new ideas to take Atlanta in a new direction, he said. “If it’s broke, you must fix it. It’s broken.”
Robinson, who delivered many colorful lines Thursday, said, “everybody has to go.” In his first 100 days, Robinson added he would “try to go to as many churches as possible and give them 100 days to move out if you don’t want to help the community.”
BUDGET AND JOBS
Candidates had a chance Thursday to offer some ideas on how they would generate more revenue for the city.
Brown, who promised revenue generating would be her top priority, wants to revitalize the hospitality industry and suggested a non-resident commercial parking tax, an “extra dollar or two” for non-Atlanta residents parking in the city in order to repair infrastructure.
Reed said he would use the extra funds that will be generated through a recent 3 mill property tax increase for public safety improvements, especially a task force assigned to handling gang activity.
Mack, who said, “Citizens are tired of being taxed to death,” wants to bring in casino gaming and reallocate some funds from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport into city coffers.
To attract businesses to Atlanta and create jobs, Thomas said Atlanta must be financially healthy, safer, build and develop more industry, and tap into the arts community.
Spikes said citizens need to work to “make this into the safe, clean city we enjoy.”
Bringing jobs to Atlanta is the key to keeping the unemployed from becoming homeless, Borders argued. She pitched a rent to own housing program that would let citizens rebuild their credit and develop good relationships with banks while removing “toxic assets off the market.”
About the author:
Jonathan Springston, Senior Staff Writer for Atlanta Progressive News, is reachable at jonathan@atlantaprogressivenews.com.
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