WINTER STORM: Need a plan for better crisis communications
For 19 torturous hours, I and thousands of others were held prisoner by the state of Georgia and local governments. Trapped on highways across the city, our cars were our cells. Disturbingly, we received no information about our plight, despite the proliferation of media opportunities in today’s world. This lack of clear communication is the greatest shortcoming of the state and city in this mess. Government not only failed to protect its citizens, it wouldn’t even tell them why.
Within hours, the public created numerous Facebook pages and Twitter accounts sharing important info such as available shelters and open stores. But rather than immediately outline and share a site-specific response plan to the public, utilizing myriad social media outlets and news media, government stonewalled. Our city and state are being justifiably ridiculed across the country. Timely communication would have mitigated that damage and reduced the suffering of the thousands stranded on our highways.
NEIL MONROE, SHARPSBURG
Where should blame really rest for snarls?
I am not sure that I understand Mike Lukovich’s cartoon of Thursday (Opinion, Jan. 30) but I am sure it is not meant to be complimentary to Nathan Deal and Kasim Reed. I am sure that if the governor and mayor had salted the streets at 5 a.m. and it hadn’t snowed, there would have been a hue and cry about government waste. Maybe the question Luckovich should address is, why did all those people who knew it was going to snow still go to work and then, knowing that traffic was already gridlocked, leave their offices?
ROBERT W. PEPPEL, TUCKER
RACE RELATIONS: Opposition to cities was hardly unspoken
In “New Cities Reignite Debate Over Race” (News, Jan. 25), Johnny Edwards and Bill Torpy report that 45 of 46 elected officials in seven, new, metro Atlanta cities are white, fueling suspicion that the cities were formed to preserve white political control. The reporters, however, describe such suspicion as “largely unspoken,” diminishing its seriousness.
In fact, the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus and the Rev. Joseph Lowery filed a federal voting rights lawsuit in 2011 demanding that the cities be dissolved precisely because minority residents would be unable to elect representatives to local office. Although a Republican-appointed judge dismissed the suit, its claim was prescient. An argument made collectively by the state’s black elected officials and a major civil rights leader is hardly “unspoken.” Unheeded would be more correct.
The General Assembly should not ignore the impact on racial equity as it considers allowing more new cities in DeKalb County.
MICHAN CONNOR, 2012-13 VISITING SCHOLAR, JAMES WELDON JOHNSON INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF RACE AND DIFFERENCE, EMORY UNIVERSITY
Race isn’t a factor in new cities movement
Shame on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Your article, “New Cities Ignite Debate about Race” (Jan. 27), is race-baiting at its worst. The article does not question the actions or results of elected officials, only their race. By your standard, the importance of bringing government close to the people and having fair elections does not matter. It is only about race! Get off of it.
I served for years on the committee seeking to incorporate Sandy Springs, and served as the volunteer interim city manager and as chairman of the governor’s commission. I can attest that race was never the issue. The issue was better government, closer to the citizens. For Johns Creek, Milton, Chattahoochee Hills and Dunwoody, I served as the principle adviser, and race was not an issue. The key issues were gaining local control of our zoning, and public safety. Currently, I have been advising the leadership of the effort to incorporate Stonecrest, a predominately black community. Their issues are the same.
The AJC opposed the formation of the new cities from the beginning and appears still anxious to do a hatchet job on them.
OLIVER PORTER, SANDY SPRINGS
