Questions from Atlanta East Side Community Leaders
(Published on Nov 20, 2009)
On Thursday, November 19th, the following letter was sent to the Mayoral candidates. We will forward the answers on November 20th to the ELNCA list serve as we receive them, and they will then be posted here.
Dear Council Member Norwood and Senator Reed,
We, the undersigned community leaders of the Eastside of Atlanta and Atlanta in DeKalb would like to have your answers to the following questions so that we may share them with our communities. Many of these questions are regarding important issues for our area in particular, as well as the greater city of Atlanta. We would like to have the answers back to us by close of business Friday, November 20th. Your answers will be shared in an unedited form; what you send is what we will publish to our groups. We are not seeking to endorse, but to clarify issues for our communities. We are sending a copy of this request to our communities, and will update our neighbors as to your responses on Friday night.
Atlanta East Side Community Questions for Mayoral candidates.
1. As a group we want more police in our communities, and we want to see our department keep good officers, rather than training them and having them leave to surrounding counties for better pay and benefits. What will you do specifically to fully staff the police department, (sworn officers and support staff,) how will you retain officers, and how will you pay for it?
2. What are your thoughts regarding the addition of a third beat to NPU-O, given the impacts of a high volume commercial district, three high volume through routes (College, Memorial, I-20), and growing juvenile issues? This is a concern given the difficulty in patrol coverage with only two beats and an absurdly long Zone?
3. Are you willing to continue and expedite APD's re-evaluation of Zone 6 boundaries with a goal of creating a more compact, central, and easily patrolled Zone 6. If not, why?
4. 911 response times are unacceptable, and in particular the border areas of unincorporated DeKalb and Atlanta in DeKalb are horrific. How will you fix this department, and improve its performance? How will you pay for it?
5. Code enforcement is an essential part of our efforts to fight crime in our communities, and is a critical element in public safety. How do you propose to address the historical ineffectiveness of Code Enforcement and its inadequate funding, staffing, and equipment (has yet to be computerized to contemporary IT standards). What plan and strategies do you have to improve the performance of this department? How will you pay for this?
6. Two out of three community centers in Atlanta are currently closed. These centers are essential to the health of our communities, and the programs offered help keep our kids out of trouble. If we do not provide something for kids to do, drugs, gangs and other trouble will provide options. What will you do to reopen the centers, and to ensure that programs are provided during the danger hours after school, and before parents get home? How will you pay for it? Do you support the privatization of these centers, and how would you see that happening?
7. NPU-O pushed through a transparency measure this summer that was sponsored by councilwoman Archibong, unanimously supported by council, and signed into law by Mayor Franklin. This law requires quarterly reporting by all departments on how they spend and change their budget, and for those reports to be posted to the city website for public review. Do you promise to comply with this law, and what specific measures will you implement to further increase transparency in your administration?
8. In general, the city has not had a good track record of listening to neighborhoods, and using the involvement of the NPU’s and APAB to its best capacity. What will you do specifically to improve the responsiveness of the city to its communities, and how will you implement that?
9. The residents of Atlanta in DeKalb pay the HOST tax, but we are not getting the benefits from it because of past problems with the City of Atlanta not fully disclosing to DeKalb county how it has spent its share of funds. This is money that is supposed to go towards sidewalks and other infrastructure. What will you do to resolve this issue with DeKalb, and how do you propose to resolve the incomplete distribution of HOST funds to Atlanta in DeKalb? How do you propose that past payments owed would be treated in a settlement? By what date can we expect to see our tax dollars for HOST going towards sidewalks in Atlanta?
10. Atlanta in DeKalb residents often feel that we are second class citizens in Atlanta. We have the HOST tax issue, 911 problems along the border areas, we constantly have city staff forward us Fulton county information, and many leaders do not seem to know the difference between East Lake and East Atlanta. How do you propose to ensure that Atlanta in DeKalb has an equal place at the table as the balance of Atlanta?
11. The Beltline Project, and its Tax Allocation District (TAD) benefits to areas surrounding it, do not directly benefit the community of East Lake, and many other Atlanta communities. As such, these communities struggle to attract new investment to our re-developing business districts such as the intersection of Second Ave. and Hosea Williams Drive. What can be done to level the playing field for Atlanta communities that are not in the beltline TAD?
12. Do you feel that the beltline development is placing a proper priority for light rail in its plans? Do you think that more effort should be put into getting the light rail in sooner than currently scheduled? Please explain why.
13. What will you do as Mayor to improve inter-agency cooperation and build support for transit throughout the metropolitan Atlanta area?
14. Top quality organizations in the business world use quantitative performance measures to track progress on issues. If everyone in a department knows what is being tracked, then that is what staff will pay attention to. What measures will you use for charting the city departments of Police, Code Enforcement, and 911? Will you commit to sharing those measures and posting your results for each department on the city website?
Please respond to these questions by 7pm, Friday, November 20th, so that we may post your answers to our respective community groups. We thank you in advance for sharing your vision, and addressing our concerns.
Sincerely,
Atlanta East Side Community Leaders:
Kevin Coffey
President, East Lake Neighbors Community Association
Eric Kronenberg
President, Organized neighbors of Edgewood
Sandra Mersinger
President, Kirkwood Neighborhood Association
Tiffany A. Hollin Wright
Resident `Services Manager, Mercy Housing- The Villages of East Lake
Earl Williamson
Chair, Neighborhood Planning Unit O
Garry Long
Past Chair, Neighborhood Planning Unit O
Doug Williams
Past President & Board Member, East Lake Neighbors Community Association
Past Vice Chair, Neighborhood Planning Unit O