Two significant articles appear in today's Marietta Daily Journal. The newspaper doesn't connect them, but one can easily draw a dotted line between the two – under the rubric of a rapidly urbanizing Cobb County.
The first comes out of a Tuesday gathering of the Cobb County Commission:
Commissioners at their zoning meeting unanimously approved Tuesday a request from BRED Co LLC (Braves Real Estate Development) to increase the maximum structure height on one of its parcels from 300 feet to 420 feet. For comparison, the tallest structure in Cobb now is the Riverwood 100 building in Cumberland, which spans 362 feet.
And then there's the report that Mike Boyce, the commission chairman, has reserved an undisclosed amount of cash in next year's budget for the construction of "a homeless camp." The newspaper quotes Boyce's special projects assistant, Michael Murphy, who said the project is based on a similar operation in Florida:
"We're not trying to replicate a tent city. With the Atlanta heat, that would be a little bit much, but there are some parts about it that we like, and we want to provide a medical component there where people can get their health issues addressed. They've got at least an apartment complex on site, probably at least two dozen cottages, very nice conditions and tents for temporary housing."
Cobb County's homeless problem has skyrocketed over the past decade or so, particularly along the I-75 corridor. Here's a description of that Florida model, via a December piece from the Tampa Bay Times:
Formed as a partnership among Pinellas County, the city of St. Petersburg and Catholic Charities, the refuge was supposed to stay open for only five months. But 10 years later, it has expanded from a small tent city to a facility that includes about 160 tents, 156 apartments and 72 recently added "Hope Cottages" made from shipping containers, 10 of which are set aside for medical respite.
The shelter also provides social services, transportation and three meals a day. Since the December 2007 opening, it has assisted more than 7,700 people with about 3,800 moving on to stable housing, according to Pinellas Hope figures.
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We've received word that Tom Crawford, the dean of political journalists at the state Capitol, has died. More details to come.
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U.S. Rep. Martha Roby won Alabama's Republican runoff on Tuesday, fighting through lingering fallout from her years-old criticism of then-candidate Donald Trump in a midterm contest that hinged on loyalty to the GOP president, according to the Associated Press.
Also from the AP in Alabama: Appointed incumbent Steve Marshall has won the Republican nomination for attorney general and now faces his first statewide general election challenge. The closing days of Marshall’s race against GOP rival Troy King had been overshadowed by the suicide of Marshall’s wife.
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We understand that U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, who has become one of President Donald Trump's sharpest critics since deciding not to run for re-election, is scheduled to speak to the Atlanta Rotary Club next Monday.
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Candidates usually close out their campaigns with feel-good messages, but the GOP runoff for governor of Georgia is too close to gamble on the power of good manners. The Casey Cagle campaign this morning issued its closer, a brutal attack on Brian Kemp, that ends with a sardonic holiday greeting. Watch it here:
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What does an endorsement by Gov. Nathan Deal and a pile of campaign cash get you? A mailbox-choking flyer from the Casey Cagle campaign that measures 12" by 15" and pairs Deal with his would-be successor. Seriously, we had to break out a tape measure. The thing's larger than a Denny's placemat:
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Oh, the joys of Facebook town halls. Late last week, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle conducted a social media forum and took questions ranging from his views on abortion (tougher laws are needed, he said) to a voter fighting with her homeowners association (he politely offered his staff's help).
On Tuesday, he conducted another one and was quickly confronted with a question about President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“How do you feel about POTUS siding with Russia?”
Republicans have had generally two approaches to this line of inquiry: Condemning Russia and criticizing Trump for not presenting a staunch defense of U.S. intelligence agencies. Or praising Trump for agreeing to the summit while downplaying his comments.
U.S. Sen. David Perdue took the latter approach. And so did Cagle, wary of being seen as anything other than supportive of Trump ahead of a July 24 runoff.
“I don’t think he sided with Russia,” wrote Cagle, or someone on his campaign staff. “I do think he has taken meaningful steps to engage with a long time adversary and improve the relationship.”
We reached out to Secretary of State Brian Kemp, his GOP adversary, on the same topic. He and his staff stuck to a loyalty theme:
"Hard working Americans picked their president in November 2016 - not Russians. Politically driven people can investigate all they want but the facts remain - Trump won. Hillary lost. America will be a better place if the media and radical left just accept reality and allow President Trump to continue in his efforts to put Americans - and our security - first."
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A new super PAC has jumped into the Sixth District congressional race, opening up its wallet to drum up support for Lucy McBath less than a week before the runoff. The left-leaning BlackPAC said it set aside $35,000 for the Democratic race's final stretch for four mailers in support of McBath, who is African-American and a gun control advocate. Roughly 8,000 households are slated to receive those mailers. We got our hands on two of the four. Here's one:
This isn’t BlackPAC’s first foray into Georgia politics. The super PAC has been involved in the governor’s race on behalf of Stacey Abrams, now the Democratic nominee, since last year. It was also an active force in last year’s Alabama U.S. Senate race and the Virginia contest for governor.
In the Sixth District runoff, the group is partnering with Everytown for Gun Safety, far and away the biggest outside player in the race. The gun control group has spent more than $1 million so far in favor of McBath, one of its former spokeswomen.
Adrianne Shropshire, BlackPAC's executive director, said McBath will "fight for our communities – from keeping communities free of gun violence to expanding health care, standing up for immigrant and women’s rights, funding our public schools and making college affordable for our children.”
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McBath on Wednesday also won the endorsement of Atlanta Congressman John Lewis. The Democrat and civil rights figurehead said McBath "understands that the fight for civil and human rights is ongoing," citing her work on gun control and background as the daughter of an NAACP branch president. "I look forward to working with her as my colleague to make our country a safer and fairer place to live for Georgians and all Americans," he said.
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Georgia's U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson came out of his closed-door meeting with Brett Kavanaugh yesterday with nothing but nice things to say about President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee:
“He is eminently well-qualified to serve on the Supreme Court and has a strong commitment to our Constitution and the rule of law. Judge Kavanaugh has a strong record of applying the law as it is written without regard to his personal views, which is exactly what a judge should do.”
Isakson and his colleague David Perdue haven't explicitly committed to voting for Kavanaugh but neither is considered a swing vote as the White House seeks to secure swift Senate confirmation in the weeks ahead.
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Speaking of Isakson, he spent part of his Tuesday in an unusual position: testifying before a government body. He spoke at a hearing conducted by the International Trade Commission about the harmful effects of U.S. tariffs on newsprint shipped from Canada. "I'm afraid these market increases would affect the markets in a negative way, the information I'm able to read in a negative way, and the dissemination of [information for] the public good in a negative way. None of which are good for the American people or American business," Isakson told commissioners Tuesday.
He co-sponsored legislation earlier this spring that would suspend the tariffs until the Commerce Department examines their impact on the printing and publishing industry.
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