Opinion Talk

By truth teller

June 30, 2008 7:47 AM | Link to this

Sadly this is a reflection on the horrific mismanagment of the city of atlanta. Anytime I have had the misfortune to visit an atlanta government office I’m shocked at what I see. Incredibly fat staff sitting on their huge butts and talking on the cellphone. Not a care in the world about the city or its residents. This is where buckhead taxes go, to finance handouts for some new kind of government welfare plan.

Of course atlanta doesn’t want to outsource, then they would actually be accountable for where the money is going.

Atlanta, the city, used to be 75% black and now its 50% and dropping fast. We need a mayor who can represent our people and manage the shifting demographics.

By truth teller

June 30, 2008 7:49 AM | Link to this

Sadly this is a reflection on the horrific mismanagment of the city of atlanta. Anytime I have had the misfortune to visit an atlanta government office I’m shocked at what I see. Incredibly fat staff sitting on their huge butts and talking on the cellphone. Not a care in the world about the city or its residents. This is where buckhead taxes go, to finance handouts for some new kind of government welfare plan.

Of course atlanta doesn’t want to outsource, then they would actually be accountable for where the money is going.

Atlanta, the city, used to be 75% black and now its 50% and dropping fast. We need a mayor who can represent our people and manage the shifting demographics.

By James

June 30, 2008 9:17 AM | Link to this

Atlanta is rapidly becoming the Detroit of the South. Hollywood should make a new movie about it called “Gone With the Cities”.

By ATL

June 30, 2008 9:19 AM | Link to this

How is outsourcing the answer? Doesn’t anyone remember United Water? Catastrophe!

If Fulton County Taxpayers Association is seeking to destroy Atlanta and everything it has built, they’re doing a great job!

By Sadly

June 30, 2008 9:21 AM | Link to this

Sadly, I understand the desire of many to withdraw from the city of Atlanta. It may be the best of bad choices. Greed, incompetence and bloat coupled with a entitlement mindset may make a new city a necessary but unfortunate outcome. I would far rather see Atlanta reform and be characterized by competent and responsive government for all of its citizens. Dividing the city into parts will do nothing for the region or for the city as a whole. At the same time there has to be some consequence for continued indifferent incompetence in the governance of the city if there is ever to be change.

By Asian doctor

June 30, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this

AGREE WITH TRUTH TELLER.

IF YOU SAY THE TRUTH, YOU ARE CALLED RACIST AGAINST BLACKS, EVEN THOUGH I AM ASIAN.

YOU CANNOT SAY THE TRUTH ANY MORE IN USA BECAUSE YOU MAY HURT THE BLACK COMMUNITY STARTING FROM SENATOR HUSSIEN OBAMA TO CRACK ADDICT ON THE STREET.

THEY HAVE THE RICHT TO WASTE YOUR TAX DOLLARS, YOU -THE WHITES ASIANS AND HISPANICS DONT HAVE A RIGHT TO PROTEST.

By Scott

June 30, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this

James - are you kidding me? Where do you draw that analogy from?

By Suckers

June 30, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this

What’s the problem?

The USA has fallen apart and there is nothing you can do to reverse it. Atlanta’s issues are at least being addressed.

Where have you been for the last twenty years. The dollar is worthless and as long as foreigners can do the job for less it will be shipped overseas.

Just watch the slide to a third world standard of living and enjoy the good old times.

like everything else. It all sounds good on paper until the bill arrives.

Since so many of you want to make a difference why not simply apply to work for the city or run for mayor?

That way you can change it.

Typical americans all talk no action.

The truth teller you are clearly biased and failed to provide any facts to support your claim about mismanagement.

Fat people talking on cell phones is not the issue.

The size 1 flat butts don’t come cheap. They are expensive. The city can hire size 1s for you but once again you will complain about your tax.

By asian doc

June 30, 2008 10:13 AM | Link to this

typical. just a follower no original ideas. you do not have to post to let us know you agree with someone else.

Don’t they teach english and common sense at med school?

Read your post and you will understand why people think you are racist. dumb arse.

By LOLO

June 30, 2008 10:38 AM | Link to this

There’s already a city named Buckhead in Georgia. It’s in Morgan County. Besides that, it’s probably not a good idea to break off a piece of Atlanat where they will likely be subject to even greater taxation as Atlanta services will be used. Though I can’t blame the people for wanting to get out of the land of corruption.

By MortimerPeacock

June 30, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this

The Buckhead residents who want to secede from the city of Atlanta just want the benefits of living in a big, vibrant city without paying for it. Mrs. Woo is right: if they’re so sick of paying taxes here, why don’t they just make a handsome profit by selling their Buckhead properties and moving to one of the new low-tax, but low-culture and bland, mini-cities like Sandy Springs or Johns Creek?

There’s no denying that there’s mismanagement and incompetence in Atlanta government, but the proper response to that shouldn’t be “well, screw it, let’s just drop out.” You should work to make it better rather than lazily opting out. Where’s the secessionists’ sense of civic pride and zeal? Sad.

By the way, not everything in Atlanta is mismanaged. I pay taxes for garbage collection and whatnot, and it seems to work pretty well and efficiently for me.

One last point: while the secessionists are alert to the abuses and excesses in government bureaucracies, they seem oddly innocent about the possibility of corruption and greed in business. Are businessmen inherently more noble than government workers?

Truth Teller- what do fat asses have to do with anything? If that’s some kind of code for “black people,” then you’ve clearly never looked around at your fellow whites.

By James

June 30, 2008 11:11 AM | Link to this

To Scott:

I don’t know how old you are but here are two questions:

1) Have you ever been to Detroit? 2) Do you remember Atlanta and how vibrant “five points” was (the heart of the city) in the 60’s and 70’s. It’s all moving to Midtown and points farther out for a number of reasons ……….. In time, if the same “problems” are not corrected, Midtown will rot on the vine the same way ……………… What are those problems? The can all be put into two categories:

1) Crime 2) Incompetence

By demwit

June 30, 2008 11:20 AM | Link to this

Hey! Can I create my own city too? I think I’ll call it Nitwit, Ga.

By demwit

June 30, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this

Now don’t any of you Taxpayers Foundation memebers get any ideas about my city name…, seeing how Buckhead is already taken an all.

By MortimerPeacock

June 30, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this

James,

Have you BEEN to Midtown recently? It’s certainly not a hotbed of muggery and murder. There IS crime of all sorts now and then, of course, but it’s a million times safer and more pleasant than it was in the 80s and 90s.

These Detroit-Atlanta comparisons are inane and ahistorical. I suspect this is just a muddled way of being outraged that both cities are mostly run by black people. Detroit was a huge industrial center with an industrial economy. When the American auto industry collapsed, Detroit’s economy collapsed and the jobs left. Detroit’s population has dropped DRASTICALLY in the last few decades, and crime has gone up. Atlanta has been moving in exactly the opposite direction for two decades. Atlanta is a post-industrial economy, centered around so-called “knowledge workers” like bankers and businessmen, and its population has been surging in recent years. Meanwhile, its quality of life has improved as Detroit’s quality of life has plummeted.

There’s really no comparison, as far as I can tell.

By James

June 30, 2008 11:44 AM | Link to this

To MortimerPeacock ……..

You missed my point in your excitement. Five points used to the “the place”, then “the place” slowly move up Peachtree to the Hyatt Hotel area and now it has moved up to Midtown. Midtown is “o.k.” (for now) but if the problems are not corrected it will too decline.

The comparison between Detroit and Atlanta is not the “why” (they are a “little” different) but the “fact” that the downtown area in both is dying if not already dead.

Keep your eyes closed as long as you want but it won’t change what is happening. I used to work right downtown and left Atlanta in 1977 for 11 years and when I came back I could’t believe the difference.

By Chicago

June 30, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this

Nice post Asian Doctors, you must think all blacks are crack addicts and radical muslims based on your post. Did you know, however, that most of the managerial positions held in the city are by whites. Commissioners of Watershed Management, Public Works, Law Department, Planning. All held by whites, since you wanted to go there and blame everything on blacks.

So when your garbage doesn’t get picked up on time and you water bill goes up, blame the whites Yao Ming

By alan

June 30, 2008 12:04 PM | Link to this

At ASIAN DOCTOR 9:25 AM -

Yes, “they” have the right to “waste” your tax dollars and you cannot protest, just as suurogates of the “competent”,”corruption-free”,and “money-saving” Bush admnistration, which is run by “Blacks” (by the way), will accuse you of playing “the race card” when you criticize the administration.

And oh, if Atlanta is so bad, why don’t you move to Bangladesh or China where it is way “cheaper” to live, and absolutely “crime-free”?

Alan

By Whatever

June 30, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this

Where’s your liqour store or dry cleaners located at Asian Doctor?

By Winslo

June 30, 2008 12:12 PM | Link to this

To Arran:

Ohhh, very solley Arran, Bangradesh or China not cuyme flee ……..

By yankee

June 30, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this

I’m from Detroit and I’ll take Atlanta any day of the week. But that just says how bad Detroit is.

By Mike

June 30, 2008 12:48 PM | Link to this

I live in Buckhead, and I got one of those glossy four-page “newsletters” trumpeting how wonderful it would be if Buckhead became its own city.

The whole thing is based on the idea that the handful of public schools inside the new city limits could be turned into “charter” schools and they could force the state to pay for them, lowering property taxes.

So, the expense of [not called]Buckhead City Schools will be paid by every taxpayer in the state? And they think that the legislature is going to go for this?

Mayor Hartsfield should have annexed Sandy Springs while he had the chance. This is ridiculous.

By Brian

June 30, 2008 1:02 PM | Link to this

Geez of ALL the people who can afford higher property taxes it’s you greedy little rich people in Buckhead, give me a break, you always want to save money when you have enough to feed the hungry and homeless for days, weeks, months but you would rather spend it on stupid things like create your own city. Get your priorities straight. You won’t get any sympathy or empathy from me.

By James

June 30, 2008 1:35 PM | Link to this

To Yankee:

Yep, that’s why you guys keep coming down here. The “South” will rise again while the “rust bowl” rusts away………….

By Scamlanta

June 30, 2008 1:56 PM | Link to this

I signed the petition. Not because I think it’s a great idea for Buckhead, but because Atlanta is - without a doubt - the poorest run city I’ve ever lived in. The corruption, the non-existent services, the mayor’s belief that more taxes will solve eveything, the REALLY bad street surfaces… and don’t get me started on the government scams to increase revenue and line people’s pockets called city permitting. The most insulting part of the permitting process here is that Atlanta makes it so difficult for us to line their pockets. I don’t mind graft if it works, but, sadly, Atlanta can’t even do that well. Atlanta needs to vote in a city government that works effectively and efficiently.

By Uncle Boris

June 30, 2008 1:58 PM | Link to this

Can you really blame people for wanting to escape from the miserable financial mismanagement that has plagued Atlanta for years?

By justin

June 30, 2008 2:01 PM | Link to this

There are many accusations about the City, its mandates, programs and the intergrity of its managers and workers.

For a start, the trash gets picked on schedule, the traffic lights seem to work well, roads get patched up, police respond when called, firefighters fights fire, clean and safe drinking water is provided and the sewer get treated, not to mention the airport. And I can go on and on.

In addition, the City also embarked on the rehabilitation and expansion of it water and sewer infrastructure, that will move Atlanta forward foe next 100 years

While the City is experiencing short -term financial difficulty due to the economy it bond rating is triple A. A vote of confidence about the City’s finances from wall street.

Stupid and a lazy officials, managers and workers, as alledged by some of these bloggers do not attain these type accomplishment. Give credit where is due. If must criticize, make it constructive

By WestSider

June 30, 2008 2:17 PM | Link to this

I like the analogy of Molly Read Woo, except I would change it to this: If you have worked hard to create a blossom on an otherwise dead and diseased tree, break it off and cultivate it with more hard work and it will one day thrive.

Anyone who doesn’t actually live in the city limits of Atlanta should refrain from commenting. If you spend a small fortune on property taxes only to have roads you can’t drive on, schools that you can’t send your children to, and an unresponsive city government that can’t even run a police department to protect you, then maybe you could expect to take action to protect your home and family by forming your own, responsive and responsible city government.

The grotesque incompetence of the Atlanta city government is perfectly apparent to anyone who has lived here for any significant period of time. Only the most idealistic and closed-minded among us would see it any differently. I really wish that the starry eyed dreamers of the world could see the Atlanta that I reside in…one of horrific crime rates, an over-worked and under-paid police department, crumbling roads with graffiti everywhere, overgrown grass and weeds in all public areas. Maybe then they would rub their eyes and say “Gee…there is a problem here”

The faster that the responsible citizens of the entire metro area take matters into their own hands and form their own governments the better…

By Uncle Boris

June 30, 2008 2:19 PM | Link to this

OK, here’s some constructive criticism. Tear it down and start over.

By brent

June 30, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this

Personnally,

I think the large companies that call atlanta home would leave. I think race relations in the city would crumble, and people would just leave atlanta.

By Go for the City of Buckhead

June 30, 2008 2:40 PM | Link to this

I signed the petition for the forming of the City of Buckhead. It may not be the answer to all of the problems but it sure can’t be any worse. I am sick and tired of year after year of the incompetence and corruption that pervades the City of Atlanta. You can keep all your threats of doom and gloom. I hope that we get the opportunity to try to make our new city a great place to live without the parasite known as the City of Atlanta sucking us dry. Good luck in your future Atlanta, you’re going to need it.

By rd

June 30, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this

The city of Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Johns Creek…. These are all a result of years and years and years of political neglect by the Fulton/Dekalb county governments, and the city of Atlanta.

Atlanta needed Shirley Franklin some 20 years ago. Maynard Jackson, Bill Campbell, and (even) Andrew Young were all incompetent buffoons of city government. Jackson and Campbell were corrupt buffoons. Shirley has done a great job, but it’s too little too late, and the rush-to-incorporate has taken hold. The people who actually pay the tab for everyone else are tired of paying. Atlas shrugged.

By CDUB

June 30, 2008 3:08 PM | Link to this

Ok Ok.. The best way for change is vote… To asian doctor and all you other racist monkees, get a grip. Some black guy probably crumbled your cookie and now your all tight. If you people dont straighten up, God will bend you backwards. Storms, floods, and Typhoons are not freak accidents — They are signs..

By Kanesha

June 30, 2008 3:20 PM | Link to this

Why don’t you all just be honest and rename Buckhead a name that fits, like Honkeyland?

By Kanesha

June 30, 2008 3:21 PM | Link to this

Why don’t you all just be honest and rename Buckhead a name that fits, like Honkeyland?

By Honkey

June 30, 2008 3:39 PM | Link to this

Don’t be sore at us Kanesha, Shaneequa, Rock My World Wanda or anything elso you want to call yourself. You’re just sore that the folks that inhabit Honkeyland aren’t going to pick up the tab for feeding you, you baby and you babies daddy (whoever he may be) anymore. Enjoy squeezing blood from a stone to get something out of the new Atlanta when it is inhabited solely by a bunch of parasites, all out for a free lunch.

By ddt

June 30, 2008 3:43 PM | Link to this

Financial mismanagement occurs at all levels in govt, not that it is excusable. BUT IS OUR BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF TAX DOLLARS SOMETHING TO LOOK UP TO???

Also, all I have read here are “poor services” the city renders. ANY SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF THE “POOR SERVICES” THE CITY RENDERS ???

ddt

By lagert

June 30, 2008 3:51 PM | Link to this

What about the real City of Buckhead?

By M'

June 30, 2008 4:11 PM | Link to this

I do not know why people give B’Head such a bad rap…I lived in the ATL for 24 years and I had the experience of living in every quadrant of the city as well as some areas outisde of 285..name it, West End, Southwest, Northwest, Stone Mountain, Decatur, City of Decatur, Dunwoody, College Park, East Point, Little 5, Inman Park, Candler Park, Va-Hi, Midtown, Lithonia…literally everywhere…and I still found B’Head to be the most socio-economically diverse and accommodating area to live and work in…prior to the ‘96 Olympics there were many affordable areas in and around B’Head to live…and I enjoyed the accessibility to many diversions…Payless to Prada…Mickey Dee’s to Pricci’s…The Thrifthouse to Sak’s…discount clothing stores to high-end boutiques……M&A’s to The Clubhouse…from Shoney’s or the Waffle House to the Ritz Carlton for brunch…I had neighbors’ of many different backgrounds and nationalities…B’Head accommodates far more socio-economic diversity than any other area of the city that I lived in…Granted, it has changed much over the years,and I was not too happy to see some of the more drastic changes to the social scene…but B’Head deserves far more consideration as a more tolerant community than people want to give …I felt less like I was living in the South when I resided in B’Head than I did anywhere else in the ATL metro.

By ws

June 30, 2008 4:34 PM | Link to this

M’,

Nobody is criticizing Buckhead. It is Buckheaders who are doing the criticizing.They comment on “poor services” without examles.

But the point is, if we were to secede every time there is financial mismanagement in govt, we will be a state filled with needless thousands of cities, and 50 different countries at the federal level, since the US govt spends our tax dollars on so many things we don’t approve of.

ws

By ATLborn

July 1, 2008 3:08 PM | Link to this

Got news for all you “the downtown area is dying in Atlanta just like it did in Detroit” ppl.

The downwtown areas of just about every major U.S. city has been dying for decades. Atlanta’s downtown area is experiencing a resurgence.

The Downtown areas of LA, Houston, Cleveland, Miami, Philly, and just about any other major city has seen a downturn. Atl and many other cities w/ problems with their downtown regions are doing a lot to turn things around for the better.

It’s amazing how non-black folks get their feelings hurt when obvious racism is pointed out. For Asian Doc, I got news for you, Hispanics cry foul just as much as blacks and protest just as much. Do you not remember all the hispanic protests from a few years ago held simultaneously across the country fighting against proposed legislation against undocumented workers and the like?

Buckhead does not need to leave the city of Atlanta. Hell, its nothing but uptown Atl anyways. Without the city it wouldn’t be what it is today. Pre 1952 it was primarily farm land and not much industry at all before being annexed in to the city.

Atlantans of all races need to come together to better the city. I don’t care what race the next mayor is as long as they tackle Atlanta’s problems like an aging infrastructure (which plagues most large, old U.S. cities) and the sewer system.

Corruption comes with the territory with all big cities. Look at Miami, NYC, Chicago, LA, San Fran, Detroit, DC, Houston, Dallas…hell I would go on but I’d have to name every city over 200K ppl in the country.

Citizens are the answer to corrupt officials. We empower them we can take their power away by voting them out of office. Shoot, Cali and Gray Davis proved that we can even recall an unsatisfactory official and replace them with another.

All of these comparisons to Detroit and Atlanta are way off base. Atlanta has had two deficit shortfall problems within the last 20 years or so and you all wanna cry foul and have a vital part of the city bail when there is a rough patch. Detroit has been wrought with corruption and has been in a downward spiral for over 30 years. That city doesn’t have just shortfalls but is in debt up to its eyes. The city population decreases every year while Atlanta’s grows every year. This doesn’t seem like a city in decline. Major companies like Newell Rubbermaid move here every year while darn near every major company in Detroit looks to move to other cities.

NYC is going thru a similar budget shortfall now as well and I’ve yet to hear of Manhattan planning a revolt to leave the city.

Quit being so ridiculous.