Friday, July 25, 2008
News Judge: Friends of Piedmont Park must pay damages
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Fri, Jul 25, 2008 at 2:20 PM
A Fulton County Superior Court judge yesterday ruled in favor of the Atlanta Botanical Garden in its case against Friends of Piedmont Park, the nonprofit citizens' group that fought a parking deck in the city's iconic Midtown greenspace.
Judge T. Jackson Bedford determined two of the four claims filed by the garden against the group were "without merit" and ordered lawyers from the two sides to assess damages in the next two weeks.
The garden initially sought $290,000 in damages they say were incurred because of the contentious legal fight that erupted in 2005 when it announced plans for a 800-space parking deck inside the park. Friends of Piedmont Park and other neighborhood activists fought the project on the argument that a taxpayer-funded public space should not gift property to a private nonprofit organization without public engagement and input. The bitter dispute raged both in court documents and yard signs and divided nearby residents and the city at large.
The Atlanta City Council voted for the deck and Mayor Shirley Franklin signed its legislation later that year. The deck is scheduled to open in May and according to Mary Pat Matheson, the garden's executive director, it will be virtually unseen, grant more access to the park, and potentially boast LEED-certification.
Matheson says she is "obviously very pleased" with Bedford's ruling. Doug Abramson of Friends of Piedmont Park declined comment.
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How so Dave? By asking someone who filed a frivolous suit to pay the attorneys fees they incurred? By making the park more accessible to all the citizens of Atlanta while probably reducing street parking in our neighborhoods?
I really don't understand this ruling - whether you agree with the parking deck or not, there were legitimate questions regarding the arrangement made by the Friends of Piedmont Park (a private organization) to hand over public land to another private organization - the Atlanta Botanical Gardens - with no public input. Will this allow developers the right to sue neighborhood groups (or individuals) who fight rezoning applications? Very chilling settlement.
Sorry, I meant to say the Piedmont Park Conservancy in the above post, not Friends of Piedmont Park.
Fighting a zoning application is not the same as filing suit. This suit came after the normal zoning fight was lost at the hands of City Hall. This may help prevent frivolous legal actions which are designed to encumber the opponent legally or extend the length of the suit in the hope that they simply give up. Endless frivolous motions are one of the ways that deep pockets offenders insulate themselves from suits. They keep you in court for so long and force you to spend so much money, that you give up or are forced to quit. The concern is that legitimate suits will not be brought for fear of a finacial crushing at the hands of a corporate giant. This judges ruling could not more clearly address that concern. That is why only two of the five counts were found to be frivolous. If it were all five, they would owe the full $ 290k.
It is really sad to see the Botanical Gardens sue The Friends of Piedmont Park over the construction of the parking deck. There was nothing frivolous about the original lawsuit to force the Garden to open its books and shine a light on the process that led to construction of a parking deck in the heart of Piedmont Park. It certainly appears they are trying to intimidate citizens from investigating or disagreeing with the Garden in any way. What happened to our American rights to gather together and give an opinion that is different than corporate giants? It sickens me to think now that groups and individuals will be fined for gathering together to voice their opinion.
It should raise some concern that when a group asks questions regarding public land that they are subjected to a ruling such as this. However, the greater concern should be with Judge Bedford himself. Why was he at the NPU-F meeting on July 21st openly discussing this case? While he tried to justify his position and members of the NPU disagreed with him, he went to into an outrage and admonished members of audience that they were disrespectful. After being asked to end his presentation by the Chair of the NPU; the Judge continued a heated debate in the hallway, basically disrupting 30 minutes of a NPU Meeting; to top it off, the Judge then waited in the parking lot and started conversations with people coming and leaving to communicate how fair he is and people should vote for him, while in the same breath justifying the upcoming ruling he was going to render!! The judge seems a bit biased in his interpretation given that more arguments were to be presented in his Court; but that’s status quo for Fulton County Superior Court. The real question is why this Judge was discussing the case in a public meeting. Perhaps the ethics rumors are true.
The Judge in this case has a history of siding with powerful political interests against citizen groups. He dismissed the claims made by FOPP with little consideration of the issues. He also inexplicably ruled that the Piedmont Park Conservancy was subject the the State Open Records Act but ABG was not - a distinction which makes no sense. He didn't "get it" or couldn't be bothered.
I'm part of the minority at NPU-F who support the parking deck. I was a bit shocked by the Judge's comments and actions at Monday's meeting. Perhaps the Botanical Gardens should clean their hands of this whole issue. After seeing the Judge in person, I can not be confident in the ruling or the fairness. The Garden does too much good for the City to be tied in any way to man who behaves like he did in public.
Tracy - no one is being fined for expressing an opinion protected under the 1st Amendment. A group is being fined for filing frivolous suits and only some the suits they filed are judged to be so. Jim - or the Judge knows more about the law than you do and it is you who doesn't get it. If you know as much as he does, you are probably a lawyer and should take the appeal on a pro bono basis and embarass him with being overturned. Anna - if he behaved inappropriately, you should tell Jim what you know so he can include it in the appellate case.
Dale C clearly has a stake in this outcome. He (or she) certainly is more versed in the details of the case than a casual reader of CL. There is still damage assessment to be completed, so it's no wonder the Botanical Garden attack dogs are still frothing at the mouth and anonymously posturing. Dale C., if that's not so, then you'll be happy to identify yourself, yes?
Dale C., (that's supposed to be Dale Cardwell, right?) how much are you billing for these posts? Does your client really want you running up the tab like this?
For the record: frequent CL commenter DaleC is not former TV journalist/recent candidate for U.S. Senate Dale Cardwell.
Dale - your point about the expense of filing frivolous lawsuits doesn't make sense to me in the context of this case. Had the case turned out the other way, ABG would have all the funding they needed to file numerous, frivolous motions and appeals. FoPP, on the other hand, does not have that much money. The chilling effect here is not on the ability of big-monied interests to file endless lawsuits. This case serves as an example of the disadvantage small-monied interests continue to have in the courts.
I attended the first hearing in this case, and one of the Judge's first question was: "where is this deck supposed to go?" I think that demonstrated his level of interest and familiarity with the case--and then he dismissed most of the case that very day. As to the notion that two of the claims were frivolous, the ABG could not point to single case that supported their position, because this was a relatively untested area of the law. If there are no cases on the law, it seems to me that bringing claims testing the applicability of the laws are per se not frivolous(that is in a real sense what courts are for: to examine the effect/applicability of laws to real situations).
One more thing about the Judge: At another hearing, when he had to spend time considering the facts and was forced to postpone other hearings, he complained in open court that he had to listen to arguments about "frivolous claims" instead of a hearing involving some Cheetah girls. He meant it as a joke, but even so, it demonstrated an appalling lack of judicial decorum (and a real good ole boy sense of humor).
I too was at the NPU-F meeting last week and was also dismayed by the conduct of Judge Jackson Bedford. I must admit he had a lot of nerve coming to the meeting in an attempt to explain a bad decision he made in a previous case and obviously asking for forgiveness for his blunder. It was interesting to see him in a public forum unguarded by the power of his courtroom. He was rude and scary. I thought it was hilarious that such a self important man brought a "handler" (his clerk) to the meeting with him. I am following this blog because I care deeply about pubic participation in these fast growing public-private groups. When I saw that Bedford was the judge in the case I was extremely disappointed and not surprised by the decision he levied against Friends of Piedmont Park. It is too bad our Park is being given away to the well-connected and moneyed crowd that runs Atlanta. I am very sad over this outcome.
Is Dale C. in fact Judge T. Jackson Bedford? I think someone needs to pull a Viacom vs. Google discovery action on CL! I, for one, am not worried about any conflicts.
Interesting that since the Viacom v Google post all discussion has stopped. Guess it just goes to show that if an individual or small group questions a government decision/ruling and a mention of legal action is even brought up it's best to stop asking questions. In this case, stop the discussion all together. Hey Judge Bedford, the people are listening and you have reinforced the fact that freedom of speech is dangerous and expensive. And for those of you out there who say this was a court case, not a freedom of speech issue, it's my belief that bringing a court action for the purpose of obtaining information is Freedom of Speech. Go Judge Bedford, you are winning the cause of shutting up the people.
I am not currently living in Atlanta but love reading my hometown CL. In the 1990’s I lived in Midtown and helped Friends of Piedmont Park stop the sewage treatment plant the City of Atlanta wanted to put in the Park at the 10th Street meadow. It was a real battle but FoPP won in the court of public opinion. The Mayor, Maynard Jackson, showing infinite wisdom, moved the plant down stream and kept the meadow open and unobstructed. FoPP has only the best interests of all citizens in the City of Atlanta and the betterment of Piedmont Park at heart. Thank God they’re still around! Keep up the good work FoPP! Don’t let the bad guys get you down. (Shame on the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, a once fine institution!) Hey Beth, what is the situation you were referring to in your entry? What case did the judge want to explain at your NPU meeting?
Usually, I tend to strongly agree with Wheatley's reporting, however, this time I think that he failed to fully grasp the issues. Compare what Wheatley wrote... The garden initially sought $290,000 in damages they say were incurred because of the contentious legal fight that erupted in 2005 when it announced plans for a 800-space parking deck inside the park. Friends of Piedmont Park and other neighborhood activists fought the project on the argument that a taxpayer-funded public space should not gift property to a private nonprofit organization without public engagement and input. The bitter dispute raged both in court documents and yard signs and divided nearby residents and the city at large. ...with the Friends of Piedmont Park position (excerpted) from January of this year... In December 2007, the Atlanta Botanical Garden (ABG) filed a SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) motion seeking $273,000 in legal fees against Friends of Piedmont Park (FoPP) and its attorneys. The ABG claimed that the original FoPP lawsuit was frivolous and was filed in bad faith. FoPP filed an answer, contending that: - the ABG claim did not come close to meeting the necessary legal standards for their lawsuit - the FoPP lawsuit is meritorious and raises important public policy questions - granting the ABG motion would have a chilling effect on first amendment rights and the willingness of citizens to participate in public debates and decisions. ABG's maneuver is an effort to discourage public participation in decisions about their parks and public assets; and to intimidate those who seek public documents so that citizens can know what their government is doing. The five counts that the original FoPP lawsuit sought to enforce were: (1) Georgia's Open Records laws; (2/3) state and local competitive bidding laws for public works projects; (4) a prohibition on converting public land to private purposes; and (5) the requirement in the Georgia Constitution that the government must receive fair compensation when public assets are converted to private use. The deck is going to be built -- ABG already won that battle -- the current litigation is not about that issue. This case has far-reaching precedent-setting adverse impacts regarding citizen's rights to public information, and the vulnerability of citizens to SLAPP actions. The litigation pending before Judge Bedford is a SLAPP action. Among the issues is that the public was not allowed access to full disclosure of documentation regarding construction of the deck. That's why the AJC, ACLU, and First Amendment Foundation are all siding with FoPP! Bad Judge -- Worse Decisions -- Devastating Consequences for citizens...not to mention the financial impact that might befall FoPP.
Amy: I did a web search of T. Jackson Bedford and the information that popped up is great. Look at these two sites. The first one is a CL article about the situation I referred to, a murder case in L5P and Judge Bedford . But I also came across another item. The second site is written by Bob Barr (yes, the presidential candidate!) and talks about when Judge Bedford handcuffed the district attorney in the courtroom. http://blogs.creative.loafing.com/freshloaf/2007/12/19/accused-l5p-killer-granted-bail http://nowcobbblog.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archive.html
One more thing: "Judge" Jackson Bedford faces highly qualified opposition in the upcoming election. He sided in this case with monied interests; the public (which opposed the parking deck) should show him he was wrong.
this is about the mayor not tending to her core bidness. unlike mayor maynard jackson with i.e. saporta ; she can't deal with our historic and important properties . she gave us the philadephia solution. her name with others will grace this structure in history .that's good . what's bad : henri jova's legacy
Amy: I put in the wrong web address for the story about Judge Bedford setting a low bond for the person accused of the L5P murder. It is http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/freshloaf/2007/12/19/accused-l5p-killer-granted-bail/
It is a scary day when citizens cannot openly contest what happens with our public land. And with a judge like Bedford on the bench, I fear the result of his ruling on damages. Since he is an elected official, it will be important to watch what he does. We have a vote on his future on the bench.
Under what pretense can the Conservancy, the mayor, and this easily "influenced" judge justify keeping secrets from the people they have been elected/appointed to serve? Perhaps they can follow the lead of their corrupt counterparts in the federal government and claim the parking deck deal is a matter of national security. Disgusting and un-American.
This ruling has serious and negative implications for the future. The precedent that it sets will surely deter activism and is a tremendous hinderance on our right of Freedom of Speech. Additionally the ABG does not own the property they traded to the PPC, they rent it! Think of it this way, if I rent an apartment it doesn't give me the right to trade or sell my landlords windows, doors, appliances, etc. Allowing them to use and develope public land without public oversight,input, and following the laws for developing PUBLIC land has grave implications for our parklands and public property..What would stop the city from renting parkland to a highrise developer, mining company, etc.? The precedent has now been established that OUR PROPERTY can now be rented and developed unlawfully. Anyone who raises questions could face a lawsuit from a corporate machine backed by a crooked "Judge".
I too witnessed this judge's outrageous display of arrogance at the NPU-F meeting. He came under the guise of responding to a supposedly unfair characterization by CL of one of his rulings. But from the moment he opened his mouth, it was clear that he had no purpose other than to campaign for his own re-election. He even had his campaign sign plastered on the side of his Mercedes convertible - - which he had prominently parked near the entrance to the hall. If he had any votes in the audience before he spoke, he lost every one by the time he was finally asked to sit down by the NPU chairperson. The amazing thing is that, due to his ego, he didn't even have a clue as to how thoroughly he had antagonized the audience. His opponent in November is Keisha Bottoms, a well-respected magistrate judge. Unfortunately, her campaign website is still not live, so we don't know yet how to help support her campaign.
As a frequent park goer and long-time resident of Atlanta, I am shocked and dismayed by the actions of the ABG. I once enjoyed spending time at the ABG and even participated in their summer camp programs, however, I will never step foot on their property again. I am disappointed in how they have treated concerned citizens and I am embarrassed their handling of the situation. Who the heck is in charge over there?? According to the ABG website “The Atlanta Botanical Garden is working with private landowners, government agencies, and other nonprofit conservation groups to restore and manage threatened plant communities in Georgia.” They should also add that they are working with these agencies to sue the citizens of Atlanta for asking to be informed.
Public interests cannot afford the city hall relationships that construction interests enjoy. Now public interest groups cannot afford the risk of protecting neighborhood concerns in court.
The Atlanta Botanical Garden is out of control and out of order. Their executive director, Mary Pat Matheson, has led this institution grossly astray. When they first started pushing for the parking deck, I did not renew my Garden membership, as I did not want to financially support that goal. It's bad enough that they succeeded in ramming the deck down the citizens' throats and ruining Atlanta's crown jewel park. Now they are viciously and vindictively going after Doug Abramson and FOPP. It's a disgrace. All these folks ever did was try to protect the park and make the City and the Piedmont Park Conservancy do the right thing. I, for one, will never set foot in the ABG again.
The S.L.A.P.P. lawsuit brought by the Atlanta Botanical Garden has a chilling effect on all of us who devout much of your time to public participation in local governance. The most unfortunate part of the suit, is that the garden could easily have avoided it all by simply operating in an open manor, in accordance with Georgia open records statues: thereby avoiding even the appearance of inpropriety. Instead, they spared no expense on a vindictive lawsuit against many people whos only fault was a desire to help preserve Piedmont Park. While I certainly enjoy both Piedmont Park and the Botanical Garden, I have withdrawn my membership and in good conscience cannot support the garden anymore, especially under its current anti community leadership.
The friends of Piedmont Park were trying to prevent the ABG from violating Georgia's Open Record statute and competitive bidding requirements. Judge Bedford's biased decision is a serious miscarriage of justice. The ABG ought to be ashamed.
The ABG should be ashamed of itself. To let Mary Pat Matheson carry out this vindictive assault on Atlanta's core activists (many of whose families helped build this city in the first place) is appaling! She is merely here to improve her resume with a list of projects. Atlanta is a merely stepping stone to her. While the ABG is officially a not for profit, I would argue this is no longer the case. When you look at MPM's salary..The ABG is for profit! They have to be to justify paying for their high salaries, high legal fees, and money lined pockets of their cronies. What a way to Launder! Imagine if they would have taken the $25 million and donated it to the Park system so that everyone in Atlanta could enjoy manicured grass in their local and much neglected parks...Now that would be increased accesibility!
If you have concern on this case, just wait till the Beltline plans start to unfold. I suspect this is the test case to see how the public can be stopped in not agreeing with the give aways coming with the Beltline development plans. One only needs to attend a Beltline Steering Committee in their subsection to see how Beltline Inc and their Developer partners "bully" neighbors when the citizens do not agree with the "professional planners," and developers (who are also members of the steering committees.) FoPP, you may feel this suit is targeted at you. Sorry to say, you have been singled out by the moneyed power of Atlanta to test ways to silence public opposition and actions to question Beltline Development Plans. Look at the conversion of Liz Coyle, the leader and outspoken opponent of Wayne Mason; she was rewarded with a position on the Board of Beltline Inc. Now she sits silent in public meetings as neighbors raise the same concerns they did 3 years ago with Mason, but now it's the City with the same plans and her silence is certainly implying agreement. The City and the powers that be have silenced Liz Coyle and FoPP. Who's next?? Hold on for what is to come. This relatively small case with FoPP is only a snapshot of what is to come. Let’s all remember Beltline incorporates extensive acquisition and development of parks, along with increasing density with only a promise of improved infrastructure. Though not popular, John Sherman's/Fulton County Tax Payers Foundation, challenge of School tax dollars being spent on development was successfully upheld by GA State Supreme Court. But look at the public negative campaign directed at John Sherman personally, and the very negative comments made by Beltline Inc Officers. We can now see the pattern emerging of the government trying to silence and punish citizens for questioning and assuring compliance with established law. This ruling by Bedford is the warning shot across the bow!!
What's with CL on this story? A very active blog, but no follow-up. Maybe CL is really intimidated by Judge Bedford's gag order. At least the AJC, thanks to David Beasly, is keeping the public informed! And actually giving an opinion and insight. http://www.ajc.com/search/content/2008/07/30/piedmonted.html CL was outfront with the past reporting on Judge Bedford, but now is leaving the reporting to the bloggers. As Sceptre points out, there's more to this issue than FoPP. Maybe CL has gotten more main stream than AJC..LOL
Now that's it's gotten dark enough to take a nap, let's shine a light on the really dark spot of ABG and their powerful friends. Found this interesting site: http://abg.eporio.com/ P.S. CL & AJC, why haven't heard about this from you?
holy moly jane doe ! thank you for that . there are "individuals"involved in this horrible episode . let's see who they are . the atlanta botanical garden is a parasite ;invading a perfectly healthy and valuble host. for the botanical fans ;ABG is not your only hope. i propose a botanical congress of all such efforts take the park away from the "conservancy" and grow,grow,grow. let's see how beautiful this park can be . a
Who knew a such beautiful garden could turn so ugly? I am so disappointed in the ruling, the judge, the ABG, and the PPC. I guess that's what FoPP gets for wanting to exercise our (the public's!) right to know? Are our open records laws a joke? How was the lawsuit frivolous? I wish Judge Bedford could explain this to a mere mortal like me. Or maybe we can all vote his ass out of office next go-round. Like some of the other posters, I will never again spend my money in the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. I'll ride my bicycle to Piedmont Park and NEVER need their cursed deck.
ABG has history too . The original botanical garden design work was performed at low fee to capture future projects from J B Fuqua's conglomerate. In business "low fee" equals low level of attention and you get what you pay for. No key personnel was used and the result was a poor Master Plan that didn't provide adequate parking or future expansion. The "architecture" [pavilion,greenhouses]are catalog package items.No experience in this project type caused an amateurish result with much conflict and unhappiness. ABG didn't learn from that and has duplcated their management techniques in this garage.
As I see it, this is one small loss (in the scheme of things) for the Friends of Piedmont Park and a giant loss for Piedmont Park, the citizens of Atlanta and the people of the State of Georgia. Other big losers include the "judge" in this case T. Jackson Bedford and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. Me thinks you will both be haunted by your consistantly bad decisions and actions. At least from the looks of this blog, many people hope so!!
Now I might seem petty here, but I'm sure good o'l Boy Bedford reads this on a daily basis....Well, hey "Judge," if you're really out there to uphold the law, why are your campaign signs on the right-of-way along Monroe Drive between Piedmont and the entrance to the Parking Deck? Any candidate knows that is a clear violation of City of Atlanta Ordinances. Well "Judge", guess you think you can get away with it since your signs are so close to the Parking Deck. Sorry readers, I know it's petty but this "Judge" is just so full of himself and then wants to rub it in our faces!!
We in Italia are shocked and dismayed to hear this sort of thing can happen in America. It seems this ABG place has quite a strong "mafia" working for them. We hope the courageous FOPP group will appeal this outrageous decision and continue their encouraging work. Forza FOPP!!!!
I have been going to the ABG for longer than I can remember and I will probably continue to go, but... My heart is heavy with grief that the ABG would behave this way and viciously try to punish those that do not agree with them. The parking deck was and is a bad idea and most people in Atlanta agreed with that position. The way that people and neighborhoods voice their opinions is through their NPU's (Neighborhood Planning Unit). About 90% of the NPU's voted against the parking deck. The City choose to ignore the people of Atlanta, but there were real legal issues to be settled. I listened to the arguments in court and there is no way that anything that FOPP did was frivolous. They presented a clear and elegant case and they lost. End of story - NO. ABG wants to punish FOPP and they have a judge in their pocket to do it with. A message to ABG - let this go! You won! Your reputation has suffered enough already - cut your losses and just accept victory. Everybody hates a sore winner!
From what I can tell, Judge Jackson's opposition comes from a Keisha Lance Bottoms. Anyone know anything about her?
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