Saturday, January 19, 2008
News Clark's stump speech
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Sat, Jan 19, 2008 at 12:16 AM
Consumer advocate and political fence-sitter Clark Howard on Thursday provided a striking, if less than detailed, indictment of what he thinks is wrong with Atlanta city government. Speaking at the Buckhead Business Association's annual luncheon, he accused City Hall of running a jobs program for the well-connected and being a cauldron of waste.
If any of the hundreds of businesspeople gathered at a ballroom in the Atlanta History Center came expecting Howard to declare his candidacy for mayor, they went home disappointed. Instead, the upbeat radio host delivered a somewhat rambling, sort-of stump speech.
"The purpose of the city government has gotten perverted," he declared. "It's about providing jobs to people who supported the right candidates when it should be about providing services to the public."
Still, he added, "Shirley [Franklin] is a great woman. She's cleaned up corruption, but the mentality that government should serve people isn't there yet."
For all his famous frugality, Howard didn't dwell on cutting taxes. In fact, he said the city should devote more money to deal with homelessness to make downtown more appealing to visitors and conventioneers. Also, the city needs to find the funds to bring the police department up to full strength. And he advocated "spending what it takes" to install public transit up Peachtree Road into Buckhead; he favors a new subway line.
Most oddly, Howard hinted that if he were mayor, he'd try to gain control over the Atlanta school system, but he offered no details as to how such a takeover could occur. By the way, he's a big fan of vouchers and charter schools.
The crowd response was surprisingly subdued, with moderate applause and a question about which big-screen TV is the best deal.
Comments (3)
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He's 100% right. Atlanta city gov't is a jobs program and not much more. It's better now under Shirley than before but it's still dysfunctional. And the state rep's and senators that include Atlanta in their districts have ignored and given City Hall a free ride. There's an incredible amount of fat and bloat in the city budget and staffing levels. If Lisa Bordes or Krim Reed want to pick up some traction in their mayoral campaigns, they need to attack this mess.
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How about making Downtown more appealing to actual Atlantans? I don't want to see another dinky store full of souvenir dusty souvenir shot glasses or another mediocre chain restaurant. Make Downtown so awesome (it's already accessible!) and charming that even Dragon*Con can't keep us away. I'm tired of all this crap being developed for people who don't even live here and probably take 45 minute showers in their hotel rooms.
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