Friday, July 24, 2009
News Mayoral forum on public safety — yes, another one
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Fri, Jul 24, 2009 at 8:45 PM
Last night, the four leading candidates for mayor — Council President Lisa Borders, Councilwoman Mary Norwood, state Sen. Kasim Reed and attorney Jesse Spikes — semi-debated each other at a forum sponsored by the city's police and firefighters' unions.
Not surprisingly, in an auditorium polpulated largely by cops and firemen, all of the candidates voiced strong support for full funding of both departments and competitive compensation for public-safety employees. And they all supported the idea of hiring the next fire and police chiefs from within the ranks — while still saying they'd launch a national search to find the best candidates.
But a few stray ideas did rise from the fray, helping set the candidates apart. Here's a sampling:
- Reed would push for a special public-safety tax district to generate additional revenue — mostly through property taxes — that would be dedicated to enhancing public safety in Atlanta. He'd proposed something similar during the recent General Assembly.
- Borders wants to raise funds by offering the services of Atlanta's public-safety training facilities to other jurisdictions.
- Reed wants to give police more time to write citations, which, in turn, generate revenue through fines.
- Both Borders and Reed aim to offer housing incentives to make it affordable for cops to live inside the city limits. Reed wants to go a step further and exempt cops from city property taxes.
- Reed wants to overhaul the city's worker's comp program, which he indicated could be more fair to employees.
- Norwood wants to create a WPA-style work program for Atlanta's homeless and says the city could raise revenue by arresting aggressive panhandlers. Swear to God. I don't understand how you make money from locking up guys who are flat broke.
If I've left out Spikes it's because his answer to nearly every question was a variation on: "We have to get the city's financial house in order."
My initial, although strong, impression was that Borders and Reed gave the most detailed, well-informed and articulate answers to questions on such topics as pensions, incremental raises, recruiting policies and selecting the next police chief. They both possess a formidable depth of knowledge about city operations that Norwood, and especially Spikes, couldn't match.
There will be time later to evaluate the candidates' characters and leadership qualities, but simply in terms of grasp of municipal minutia, Borders and Reed easily stand above their opponents. Which is fitting, because, as I've written before, they are likely in a two-way battle to make a runoff against Norwood, whose sky-high name recognition and demographic appeal are certain to earn her a runoff berth.
Comments (5)
Showing 1-5 of 5
Surely someone mentioned that the BeltLine will be instrumental to solving all public safety issues, inasmuch as it has been proven to be an absolute cure for everything, including cancer and the common cold. Amazing how powerful a pearl (I mean green) necklace can be.
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It is clear that we're starting to have a perception of Mayoral forums on public safety.
Mary Norwood is trying to rope-a-dope the public: Keep away from the issues and hide her positions from the public. My Vote-O-Meter says that Mary Norwood is currently in the lead. But her support is not growing, and Kasim Reed's momentum is building. With the election over three months away, Norwood's strategy is highly questionable.
I agree. Norwood is so far out in the polls she's trying to keep a low profile and not upset anyone. She's stacking money in the process to get on TV and win without a runoff.
As the race progresses, Norwood will slide. She just doesn't have a grasp on the real issues facing the city (which is clear by her answers/ unanswers to questions). Also, I don't think the strategy of waiting in the shadows while stacking money will work, bc she came in 3rd place on last quarter's fundrasing report. She will deflate like a needle in balloon.
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