If you had to pick one word that has infected both sides of the relationship between the city of Atlanta and the county on the other side of the Chattahoochee River, that word might be "petulance."
Over on our subscriber site, our AJC colleague Katie Leslie says there may be some dispute over who owns the Turner Field statue of home run king Hank Aaron, and whether it should be loaded onto a Cobb County-bound moving van in 2017:
Well, that all depends on whom you ask.
Ask the Braves, and the answer is clear: They do. And it's going to SunTrust Park when the team does in 2017.
But talk to the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority, which oversees Turner Field, and the ownership question becomes a bit murkier.
[Bob] Hope, who worked in the Braves' marketing department when Aaron broke Ruth's record, believes the statue was donated to the AFCRA when it was dedicated. The folks there say they are in the early stages of itemizing the ball field's monuments and plan to look into the issue later this year.
Fortunately, a state lawmaker has proposed a solution that should resolve the issue before it gets too heated. From this morning's Marietta Daily Journal:
Senate Bill 96, filed by Sen. Horacena Tate (D-Atlanta), would extend the city limits of Atlanta north along Interstate 75 and include the 60-acre tract where the Braves are building a $672 million stadium and a $400 million mixed-use development….
State Rep. John Carson, a Republican and chairman of the Cobb County delegation, found no humor in her legislation. Again, from the MDJ:
Carson, who was chosen to chair the delegation of state lawmakers representing Cobb in January, said Tate did not discuss the bill with him before filing it, and as far as he knows, no other Cobb lawmakers were involved either.
Years of experience at the Capitol allow us to say that it is virtually unprecedented for one state lawmaker to pull the leg of another without first asking permission.
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