Tuesday, September 29, 2009
News Beltline officials: Citizen group wants to take control of project
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 8:35 PM
Beltline officials have hit back at an all-volunteer citizen advisory group tasked with monitoring the $2.8 billion project — and have essentially accused it of trying to take control of the Beltline.
The accusation was raised after the Tax Allocation District Advisory Committee, or TADAC, recently questioned whether an upcoming bond issuance would adequately fund affordable housing and public art along the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit.
TADAC also said Beltline officials have been reluctant to disclose information that could help the group make better recommendations about how public funds are spent on the project, which will include new parks, trails and (hopefully) transit along with much-needed affordable housing and economic development incentives. (For an excellent report on TADAC's concerns and how everyone got to this point, check out the Jim Walls article linked above. Hell, we'll link to it again here.)
In the Sept. 10 letter to Atlanta City Council, Beltline officials said the citizen advisory group's recommendations "propose expanding TADAC's scope and responsibility to make it the governing and operating entity of the Beltline project."
Officials say they've met the letter of the law when it comes to the upcoming bond issuance and sluicing off cash for the affordable housing program. Thus far, they've sought legal opinions from Beltline and the Atlanta Development Authority's legal counsel. They add that affordable housing incentives and the economic development fund will receive cash if the bond market is more favorable. Project honchos request councilmembers address TADAC's concerns separate from the bond issuance, which is still scheduled for late October. (Download a PDF of the letter here.)
Beltline officials declined to comment on the record about the dispute, saying they'd prefer the letter speak for itself. Eugene Bowens, who chairs TADAC, told CL last week that Beltline officials' response was a "misrepresentation" of what the advisory group is seeking. It doesn't want to take control of the project, Bowens said, it just wants clarification on its role. The group is the "eyes and ears for the community," he said, and has a responsibility to monitor every aspect of the Beltline when it comes to impacting the public. As for the affordable housing question: TADAC would like the city council, — which drafted and approved the legislation that created the Beltline's legal framework — to give its opinion.
This isn't the first time the two groups have butted heads. Last year, TADAC opposed the controversial $66 million payout to Gwinnett County developer Wayne Mason for a key piece of property near Piedmont Park. The group called the transaction —which gobbled up a considerable portion of the project's available funding at the time — unfair to other communities around the project.
Beltline officials say the economic development incentives program, which contains approximately $660,000, is still being developed. Last time we checked, Beltline officials haven't doled out any of the cash, mainly because it's not thought that the small amount of funds would go very far. Critics disagree with that notion, saying it's a tough economy and that every dollar could help.
There are bigger issues looming in all of this. Where does one draw the line between oversight and obstruction? How might private-sector donations impact (or alter) what is undoubtedly a public project?
But first: Where does city council — which must weigh in on at least some of these questions before the Nov. 3 elections — stand on these issues?
This post has been altered to remove an error about the Beltline's economic development incentive program.
Comments (2)
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Excellent question by CL: What do the City Council members say about the important public policy questions raised by the Beltline Citizen Advisory Committee? Council Members and mayoral hopefuls Borders and Norwood, what say you? Council Members and City Council President hopefuls Mitchell and Muller, what say you? Former ADA and Beltline Inc. honchos Coyle and Wan, what say you? We know all of you read these articles. Which of you has the courage and foresight to let us know where you truly stand on Affordable Housing, public art, and other key aspects of the Beltline? Help us decide who to vote for by directly addressing these issues on these pages!
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Hmm - The Empire Strikes Back. If you are in an indefensible position - attack: the best defense is a raging offense. ABI (the face of ADA) facilitated the gutting of the affordable housing portion; agreed to an under the table payoff of $10million; tried every means possible to squeeze money out of education but failed miserably (not after dressing up the dead pig as a victory - but they did have to admit, quietly, they cannot accept loans even from Atlanta Public Schools); got taken to the cleaners on the Vulcan quarry acquisition and with Mason; and have ended up with their bond issuance at/near junk-bond-rating (so all the $$ gets sucked up in high interest rates). They've done a miserable job with the finances of this, and then are shoving all the development into the rich white areas to increase the land value/jack the tax base to cover their rears with their bad financial decisions ("property values will never go down" said the Mayor's office). We all know that there isn't enough $$ to do jack - the lion's share of the $$ is going to offset the interest b/c of the junk bond level of the previous bond issuance. That baby ABI goes to mommy ADA's lawyers for legal advice is absolutely laughable - see pickle re:APS loan offer, that those nitwits actually sat in negotiations with APS for how long? Sitting Council nor Council candidates don't dare go on record about the Beltline finances, because they will either flaunt their gross ignorance of high finance, or worse, show their true development-at-all-costs colors. Anne Fauver's silence on all this continues to be just deafening. But oh my! she'll mug for the cameras as she protests the Peachtree Trolly for fiscal reasons.... So rather than fix the problems as pointed out by those who dare say "The Emperor Has No Clothes," the ABI/ADA attacks all those who question or challange.
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