2013 was a good year for the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority — that is, according to the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority.
The website for the quasi-government entity that runs Turner Field, Philips Arena and Zoo Atlanta boasts that each venue “achieved success and provided entertainment and excitement for our area’s residents and visitors.” Take Turner Field, for example: During the year, some civil rights legends were honored at the ballpark, some money got raised for scholarships, and some more cash was distributed to the neighborhoods that have withered nearby.
Nowhere on the website, which has been updated in the past month, does it note that the Atlanta Braves are headed out of Atlanta — a move that, some might say, provided its own measure of “entertainment and excitement.” Nor does the site say anything about the 77 acres of near-downtown real estate the authority will control when the Braves head north after their 2016 season.
The Rec Authority is in the news again because Mayor Kasim "Ramrod" Reed put one of his staunchest supporters on the City Council, Keisha Bottoms, into the post of executive director at $135,000 per annum. She will also keep her $60,000 council job, because it is a part-time post, and members can do other things when they are not spending their time following the mayor's lead on the council.
The city’s lawyer says it’s OK for Bottoms, who also is a lawyer and said to be competent, to do both jobs. Atlanta’s lawyer said there is no ethical conflict, as long as Bottoms bows out on votes that, well, have a conflict. (Ironically, Reed would lose a predictably compliant vote on such matters.)
The state Legislature’s lawyer, on the other hand, says there will undoubtedly come a time when Bottoms will be faced with “choosing one set of duties over another.”
The mayor’s people say it was the authority’s board that approved Councilwoman Bottoms for the post. They say Reed had little to do with the choice. And if you believe that, I have a gently used major league ballpark to sell you.
Mayoral spokeswoman Anne Torres noted that the authority is “independent” and has long managed facilities “essential to the city’s economic advancement.” The authority, she said, works to ensure “that revenue bonds or obligations are issued responsibly, and currently manages more than $110 million in debt for Philips Arena.” It also helped make a new parking deck at Zoo Atlanta happen.
Reed, being the mathematician I know he is, realizes that six votes beats three (six authority members are appointed by the city, three by the county) and “Atlanta” comes before “Fulton” in Recreation Authority’s name. Heck, an Atlanta mayor even pushed the red button when they blew up the last ballpark.
The authority is an entity perhaps best known as the agency that figured the Fanplex was a good idea. That was the putt-putt golf emporium that ate up $2.5 million and was shuttered in 18 months.
But that’s not all! A few years ago, the Braves’ empty parking lots were rented out to “drifters,” fans of the “Fast and Furious” movie series who like to screech their muscle cars in loud and smokey circles. And on Mother’s Day to boot.
Oh, yeah, the authority also actively (or maybe it was passively) helped chase the Braves into the open arms of Cobb County Commission Chairman Tim Lee, with his Brinks truck full of taxpayers’ money.
A couple years ago, when the Braves hoped to create a Braves- and fan-friendly development around Turner Field, the authority lectured the ball team on how an ethical and public procurement process works. To wit: “Generally, due process involves a competitive process which is open to the public for response; transparent as to the requirements and criteria for award and seeks to obtain the best solution for the best price.”
Tell that to Tim Lee.
But back to the latest imbroglio. Fulton Commission Chairman John Eaves thinks the mayor and the mayor-friendly Rec Authority board may have forgotten their high-minded scruples. Eaves has called for the state's attorney general to look into the ethics of the hire, complaining there was no open advertisement of the job, no selection process and, to boot, the board chose an elected official who is not stepping down.
“It was not transparent, fair or open,” he said.
About the same time as Bottoms’ appointment, Eaves reportedly asked one of Fulton’s representatives on the Rec Authority to resign from the board so he could appoint Fulton Commissioner Bob Ellis, who hails from Milton, in her place. “North Fulton needed representation on the board,” he said. Ellis also adds diversity as the board’s lone white guy.
Neighborhood activists say the authority has gotten more open about its doings, especially in doling out the grants to local neighborhood groups ($185,000 in 2013). But the ballpark has gouged out the area, held it in limbo for decades, and now residents would like a say-so in what happens next. They say the quick, stealthy appointment of a Reed ally doesn’t signal the variety of openness they seek.
Some residents, including Democratic state Rep. Margaret Kaiser, wonder why there’s a need for the authority.
(I’d point out it’s a good place to stash a plum $135,000 job.)
“I would like to see a sunset provision” for the authority, said Kaiser, who’s running for mayor (Bottoms may, too). She said the city’s development authority could issue the type of bonds now peddled by the authority. “What is the public service that it does? It feels like it does no public service.”
One of the big decisions affecting the future of the city and several surrounding neighborhoods — how to renovate 77 acres of land near downtown once the Braves are gone — will occur in the near future. “But we’re leaving it up to an independent authority without any oversight or accountability,” Kaiser said.
Additionally, the non-elected authority board members can take heat for the decisions, she said, “which gives political cover to our politicians.”
And she says the authority does no public service?
