Mayor Franklin! Come Out, Come Out Where Ever You Are!
Remember Mayor Franklin? Whatever happened to her? Is she hibernating? She’s Gone!
Sistah Mayah used to be everywhere! Openings, closings, luncheons, announcements, Beltlines, projects, schools, houses… heck if you asked nicely she’d meet you at a donut shop. Now she’s gone. She’s ‘Underground Shirley’, and like Underground she’s giving the impression that she is not doing very well.
Now, yes, I know her kids have been involved in some nasty
stuff, but it’s time for the Mayor to stop skiing and get back to being a leader for Atlanta. She can overcome any negative publicity her family may bring her by being the kind of Mayor she was in her first term!
Among the agenda items she should consider:
- Putting some muscle and the bully pulpit forward to keep the Beltline project moving forward
- Guarantee that by a date certain during her administration, all the city’s streets will be fully repaired and in excellent shape, at lease for one day
- Use the power of her office to get the Atlanta School Board to root out corruption while encouraging Atlanta students to study more math and science
- Push for a law requiring a public good requirement for all new construction. Can you imagine if every new building had a library, fire department or theater in it?
- Work with CAP/ADID to develop a plan to move AMTRAK back downtown and revitalize 5 Points in a meaningful way
- Develop a plan for affordable housing with adequate public safety for it.
Pick three. Accomplish three of these and Mayor Franklin’s second term will be well remembered, as opposed to now, where people are forgetting what she looks like.
December 28th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
The mayor’s office has no authority or jurisdiction over Atlanta Public Schools.
December 30th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Forcing new construction to have public good requirement is a taking under Georgia law and would require unaffordable tax payer compensation.
I think the Mayor has earned a break.
January 1st, 2008 at 11:18 am
Mayor Franklin should make the city safer by having her children’s former spouses, friends and associates locked up.
Shoddy development is the new kudzu, slowly strangling everything in the city. Each vertical starter home tower that Novarre erects, every Gulf Coast casino inspired “luxury” tower that pops up in Buckhead and every “mixed use” development project that consists of apartments, a dry cleaners and a chain restaurant slowly clog the city’s arteries.
January 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Actually, Lynne, it’s the other way around. All those single-family developments are killing our city more than anything. With more mixed-use developments, more residents can get to where they’re going without having to clog the city’s arteries with their cars.