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Thursday, August 23, 2007
Michael Vick; Clark Atlanta; and Grady
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s free-for-all Friday. Pick a topic:
• Poor people who escape the ghetto life on talent and luck should never take the boys from the old neighborhood with them. They end up like Michael Vick.
• A sheriff who can’t spell “assassination” orders one. Any of us could be killed by an ignorant, penny-ante street thug. DeKalb Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown was. The only difference is that Sidney Dorsey had been given a public office. He should die still imprisoned — unless, of course, fuzzy-memory witnesses come forward in 20 years to recant.
• Stop the presses! Set up the gallows. Various interest groups, including one funded by money extracted from the tobacco industry in the 1998 settlement with the states, are appalled and outraged that R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is attempting to sell cigarettes to women. They specifically object to its Camel No. 9 brand, which is packaged in “shiny, sleek black boxes bordered with fuschia and teal” with ads “that include florals, hints of lace and the slogan ‘Light and Luscious.’ ” The nanny-staters won’t be satisfied until the industry is driven from these shores. And another thing: Courts should never direct settlement money to interest groups, or to create foundations with an advocacy purpose.
• Leona Helmsley is alleged to have said “we don’t pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes.” She may never have said it, but the observation does help to explain the folly of Democrats professed desire to tax “the rich.” They sweep up a world of little people in higher taxes before they ever touch “the rich.” Helmsley died this week at 87.
• It’s OK to erect 45-foot wind turbines in residential neighborhoods in Atlanta, but not big houses on lots that once held smaller ones. One is about “energy independence,” and the other is about putting the rich in their places. Come to Far North Vinings. Big houses are welcomed next to my starter move-up.
• Subprime lenders aside, what business would invite customers to move into its housing and consume services before determining whether they could pay the bill? That’d be Clark Atlanta University, which invites students to move into its dorms before arranging necessary financial aid. “It’s crazy,” said one. “Why would you accept someone and put them in housing, and you haven’t even processed them yet?”
• Borrowing money to pay off high-interest credit cards may make sense. Borrowing high-interest money to pay off no-interest credit cards, as some Grady Hospital board members propose, makes none. The no-interest debt is owed Emory and Morehouse. Grady’s interest would be less if Fulton and DeKalb agree to put their tax digests up as collateral, which would be dumber. Memo #4 to state officials rushing in: These drunks are in denial, still swearing they don’t touch the stuff. They’re not AA candidates yet.
• The problem with the ex parte rule the Public Service Commission adopted this week is that it fails to include interest groups, such as the American Association of Retired Persons, the Sierra Club and others with an agenda. The rule prohibits private conversation between commissioners and utility representatives after evidence is heard. But interest groups not officially joined to the case aren’t covered. Surely that’s an oversight.
• Atlanta City Councilman C.T. Martin wishes to ban exposed underwear in public places. Don’t dismiss him. Work with him. He’s one of the lone voices concerned about the culture’s influence on children. “Little children see it and want to adopt it, thinking it’s the in thing,” said Martin. “I don’t want young people thinking that half-dressing is the way to go. I want them to think about their future.” Come to think of it, I’ve never seen the attire in any place where people are successful.
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Metro transportation tax? No thanks.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Regional Commission Wednesday urged the Georgia General Assembly to levy a new one-percent sales tax in 10 Metro Atlanta counties to fund “transit, road and commuter programs.”
For me, no thanks.
Georgia needs an ambitious and comprehensive transportation plan spelled out in advance of any transportation-related tax. Put a plan on the table, something akin to the proposal offered earlier this year by former state Department of Transportation Chairman David Doss of Rome, and then develop a strategy for paying for it. One key, too, should be cost-benefit analysis to make certain that every dollar levied is giving us the most congestion relief for the buck.
A payment plan should involve, too, a combination of taxes and private-sector toll projects.
While Metro Atlanta certainly has nightmarish congestion bottlenecks that can steal hours of our lives weekly, the rest of Georgia also has needs that should be addressed. The ARC wants the money collected here kept here, but most of us who travel throughout the state recognize the importance — and in many cases the bang-for-the-buck value — in putting money throughout Georgia. If there’s any tax to be considered, it should be one levied and spent statewide.
While the ARC is passing resolutions, it should pass one urging city and county officials not to approve high-density projects that create traffic beyond a road’s carrying capacity. Add capacity first and then add density.
The 10-county region includes Cobb, Cherokee, Gwinnett, Rockdale, DeKalb, Clayton, Henry, Fayette, Douglas and Fulton. The ARC wishes to be in charge of spending the 1 percent sales tax. Again, no thanks. People who levy and spend should be elected representatives who can be ousted from public office when they spend contrary to the public will.
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