(APN) ATLANTA — State Rep. Allen Peake (R-Macon) is filing a bill to create a statewide referendum in 2018 on whether to amend the Constitution of the State of Georgia to allow the in-state cultivation of medical cannabis.

The referendum on a Constitutional Amendment will require two-thirds of both chambers to move forward but does not require the Governor’s signature.

“It will be difficult to get in-state cultivation for the next two years, so let the people decide and the next Governor can have input, if it is passed,” State Rep. Peake told Atlanta Progressive News.

Previously, the Legislature adopted HB 1, which allowed possession of medical cannabis oil for eight conditions, but no legal means to access it in-state.

HB 722 was a follow-up bill to allow in-state cultivation, but it was defeated last year after Gov. Nathan Deal refused to support the idea of in-state cultivation and law enforcement worried they would not be able control medical cannabis cultivation in Georgia.

Georgia would use the Minnesota Medical Cannabis Model, which is the most regulated in the country.  It would use technology to track and control the product from seed to sell.  The grow area would have more security cameras than a Las Vegas Casino.

For law enforcement to worry about control of medical cannabis cultivation is unrealistic and hypocritical, especially since cannabis has been grown and sold on the black-market in Georgia for the past fifty or sixty years and, as history has shown, sometimes with the help of rogue law enforcement officials.

Undeterred by obstacles, Rep. Peake is dedicated to help Georgians who suffer from various medical conditions to obtain the medical cannabis that will help them.

Like so many Energizer Bunnies, Rep. Peake keeps on fighting for suffering Georgians.

Rep. Peake tells APN that he will add autism, Tourette’s Syndrome, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), HIV and AIDS, and intractable pain to his medical cannabis bill this year.

This will help little baby, Reid Underwood, who was born with a rare genetic skin disease, Epidermolysis Bullosa, a painful condition where part of his skin is missing and falls off easily with the slightest bump.

Baby Reid’s story brought tears to almost everyone who heard the testimony of his story last year, as reported in APN.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2016/02/03/rep-peakes-hb-722-in-state-cultivation-gets-a-committee-hearing/

The addition of the medical conditions of PTSD and intractable pain may present a fight because some law enforcement officers views this as recreational usage.

Traumatized war veterans and people who suffer from unrelenting pain disagree.

Chronic pain patients are currently taking pharmaceuticals like Oxycontin, Methadone, and Hydrocodone.

In 2015 more than 15,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription opioids.  No one has ever died from a cannabis overdose.

Rep. Peake tells APN he also plans to remove the end stage qualifier from the existing law.

Five of the eight current medical condition require that the condition be severe or end stage to receive medical cannabis.  It is inhumane to only give CBD oil to people who are dying.

People who suffer from cancer, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, and Sickle Cell Disease who are sick and suffering but haven’t reached the severe and dying stage should also have access to medical cannabis.

Proponents of medical cannabis believe physicians should make the decision on who needs medical cannabis, not Conservative legislators who have lots of fear and misinformation about the plant.

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — Local democracy has apparently become a nuisance to the Atlanta City Council, except to the extent that its members want citizens to vote for them in November.

Six of seven of the Committees of the Atlanta City Council now have severely restrictive public comment policies, limiting the amount of time any one citizen can address the Committee no matter how many issues are on the agenda that citizens wish to address, no matter the complexity of the issue at hand, nor how many citizens show up to speak.

Prior to 2010, it was rare for there to be a time limit at Committee Meetings, and as recently as 2014, at least four of the seven meetings had no time limit.  In recent years, Councilmembers have felt emboldened to restrict public comment, even as only a few citizens regularly come down to speak at Committees.

Now, most of all of the Committee Chairs have set a two or three minute portion at the beginning of the meeting, followed by a two or three minute portion at the end, after key votes have often taken place.

And even despite the limits, several Committees repeatedly fail to muster a quorum–or a majority of members in attendance–for the Public Comment sections because Councilmembers frequently show up late, wander in and out of meetings, and leave early.

Even CT Martin (District 10), Felicia Moore (District 9), Natalyn Archibong (District 5), and Andre Dickens (Post 3-at-large)–who once chaired their committees without a time limit–have enacted new rules to limit the public.

Councilman Martin attacked one citizen, Ron Shakir, at the last Transportation Cmte Meeting, accusing him of “abusing” his two minutes.

Chairwoman Archibong, who now chairs Community Development/Human Services Committee, allows for unlimited comment at the end, a new development, although Councilmembers apparently consider that part of the meeting to be optional.

At the last CD/HS Meeting on January 24, 2017, the Editor of Atlanta Progressive News–the present writer–presented comments related to affordable housing, to as few as two or three Councilmembers on the seven member Committee.

Despite the lack of a quorum, the Chair did not adjourn the meeting.

At all three of the Committee on Council Meetings chaired by Felicia Moore so far this year, she asked citizens to deliver their comments to an audience of one or two Councilmembers prior to the meeting actually starting.

On January 03 and 17, Moore disposed of Public Comment by hearing comments without a single other member of the Committee present.

“Good morning, everyone.  Other Councilmembers will be joining us, we do not have a quorum at this very moment, but I do want to do as much as we can prior to their coming, and I know we have had some people signing up to speak to items pertaining to the Agenda.  Whoever is first go ahead, come up to the podium,” Moore said on January 17.

On February 06, the Editor of Atlanta Progressive News–the present writer–questioned Chairwoman Moore about this practice.

“Until we have a quorum, I cannot call the meeting to order.  So, we are hearing from the public as a part of the discussion.  There’s no action we have to take about hearing from the public.  So a lot of times, when we don’t have a quorum, I try to accommodate whatever we can talk about that no action has to be taken,” Moore said.

“I as the Chair am taking the prerogative, since we’re waiting on a quorum… in terms of facilitating people’s time that are here and us having a discussion,” Moore said.

“I understand your point, and the thing that should be occurring is we should have a quorum.  If you don’t want to do any more commenting until the quorum comes, that’s fine,” Moore said.

“We will have to check the rules of order,” Moore said.

When asked about what transpired at CD/HS when there was a lack of a quorum for the public comments made at the end, Moore replied, “I think it’s a courtesy for the Councilmembers to stay to hear public comment if it’s at the end.”

So to review, Councilmembers openly consider public comment to be optional in terms of their attendance, but even these extraneous chit chats that aren’t even part of the duly noticed public meetings need to be severely limited, per this Council.

MARTIN, SHEPERD ATTACK RON SHAKIR

Ron Shakir is one of the few recurring speakers at Atlanta’s Full Council Meeting and Committee Meetings, who speaks to issues such as inequality, poverty, gentrification, unequal development, and racism.

Shakir speaks on behalf of communities that face numerous meaningful barriers to citizen participation, and whose voices are frequently underrepresented in citizen participation.

However, many Councilmembers don’t care for Shakir’s comments or his style of delivery.  He has been attacked numerous times by Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms (District 11), and faced attacks by Chairman Martin and Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd (District 12) at the last Transportation Committee meeting.

Shakir was allotted only two minutes to speak, and Shakir requested five minutes to speak.

“We got one Councilmember who says no,” Martin said.

“Who’s that?” Shakir asked.

“It doesn’t matter.  You’ve got two minutes,” Martin said.

“It’s your strength,” Shakir said, referring to the fact that Martin had previously been one of the strongest champions of unlimited public comment time on the Council.  “And like I said before, we’re really gone, we’re really through once you throw your hand in on standing up for our community,” Shakir said.

“See you started already, calling names, and past practices is not the issue.  The issue is, you’re famous for abusing the two minutes.  So if you come back in place with your conduct, we’ll have ours in place,” Martin said.

“Jim Crow past is a little stronger than my past.  So I just been coming down here, why we still engaged with Jim Crow rule, and being hard and cutting off people’s opportunity to be engaged in their government?  That’s Jim Crow mentality,” Shakir said, then making his public comments.

“Mr. Shakir, this is a typical example of what we’re talking about, how you’re over your two minutes, that’s number one.  Now don’t interrupt me,” Martin said when Shakir’s time expired.

“That’s some more of your stuff… See you like to get into these kinds of things… How long you wanna stand up?” Martin asked.

“I wanna be treated with a little respect and the fact that I gave a lot of effort to get here… But don’t give me two minutes,” Shakir said.

“What we’re gonna do, everybody else get two minutes, now what is the pleasure of this body?  Are we ready to cut this off?” Martin asked.

“You are Chair, you can make the decision.  I’ve come down here eight or nine years and you’ve never told anyone to talk two minutes,” Shakir said.

“Point of order, can we please…?” Councilwoman Sheperd said.

Security came to take Shakir away, but Martin intervened: “I don’t want to call no police.  Don’t bother him.  I’ll handle him.”

“I said what is the pleasure of this body, are they tired?  I’ll listen to you all day, but we’ve got staff…” Martin said.  “I am going to have to ask the police if you won’t respect me.  You can call us all kind of names and go through all of your antics that you want to.  We’re going to be as fair as we can, but we won’t be abused.”

“Mr. Martin, I really recommend that we cut this off at this point.  Mr. Shakir came in late… He’s asking for respect but he can’t give respect, so at this point I’m gonna ask that we actually close this and adjourn the meeting,” Sheperd said.

Martin turned off the microphone and adjourned the meeting.

THE COUNCIL’S LONG BATTLE AGAINST THE PUBLIC

The move to limit public comment in Committees began in 2010, when Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd set a five limit at the Community Development/Human Resources Cmte (CD/HR, now known as CD/HS).

At that time, at least three Committee Chairs (Felicia Moore, Committee on Council; Natalyn Archibong, City Utilities; CT Martin, Transportation) did not have time limits.

When Andre Dickens (Post 3-at-large) replaced Sheperd as Chair of CD/HR in 2014, he promised not to have public speaking limits.

Now, every Committee Chair has some time restriction on public speaking, although Archibong, who now chairs CD/HS, allows unlimited comment at the end, a new development that began at the last meeting.

The Council has considered on several occasions, but backed off, setting a multi-Committee public speaking limit.

The first time the Council considered setting a multi-Committee limit, it refused to disclosed the names of the seven Councilmembers who voted yea, and the eight who voted nay.  APN’s Editor sued the City of Atlanta up to the Supreme Court of Georgia to force the disclosure of the vote details.

At that time, the City went to great lengths to hide the identities of those on the Council who wished to limit public comment; now they do it openly as if it were in fashion.

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — Tanya Washington, 46, is running for Atlanta City Council District 1, after years of fighting with the City of Atlanta to keep her home in Peoplestown, Atlanta Progressive News has learned.

As previously reported by APN, the City of Atlanta has been trying to take a residential block of homes in Atlanta’s Peoplestown neighborhood to create a park with a pond in it.  The City says the park will prevent stormwater flooding problems in the neighborhood.

Mayor Kasim Reed allowed Mattie Jackson, who is now 95, to stay in her home on the same block, after public pressure; and the other neighbors took deals from the City that for various reasons they felt they couldn’t refuse.

Washington, who is also a law professor at Georgia State University, decided to challenge the City and she is currently in court.  She notes the City failed to pursue alternatives to eminent domain, including creating a permeable surface upstream in a now-former Turner Field parking lot.

Carla Smith is the current councilperson for District 1, an area that is among the frontiers of gentrification and development, including the Turner Field redevelopment by Georgia State University and Carter and Associates.

Councilwoman Smith tells APN she is running for reelection, even though there had been speculation again this year that she might not run.

Smith introduced the legislation that led to the eminent domain action against Washington.

Meanwhile, Smith supported the Turner Field deal at every step of the way, including the move to transfer the property from the City to the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority without a community benefits agreement being required.

“I am running for City Council because I have had a really bad experience with representation,” Washington said.

“My experience with the taking of my property and my neighbors, is that we need real representation.  We need a representative for my district, and not a liaison between my district and the Mayor’s office,” Washington said.

“My district is about to be the beneficiary of a great deal of resources.  And I want to make sure those resources are made available to people who live in the district currently and have been long-term residents of District 1, not just those who are attracted to the district because of the development that’s planned for the area,” Washington said.

“One of the things I wish my representative had provided was transparency and honesty about what was going on.  There’s no doubt there’s flooding in the neighborhood.  What I wanted was responsible leadership, sit down with the residents and explore options that didn’t displace people,” Washington said.

“Engineering reports were available to show there were options to capture the water without displacing people.  She should’ve prioritized the lives of the people living on the block,” Washington said.

“She wouldn’t meet with us.  She wouldn’t return phone calls.  She wouldn’t return emails.  She avoided us,” Washington said.

Washington also participated in the Turner Field Community Benefits Coalition that created a Community Benefits Agreement that they hoped would be part of the Sale Agreement; she also participated in the Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) study for the Turner Field neighborhoods.

“The process that created the Turner Field Community Benefits Agreement was far more democratic and far more detailed [than the LCI study] .  People would send me passages, I would provide my opinion – I focused on the infrastructure piece,” Washington said.

“I don’t think a Councilmember is supposed to be a dictator that just comes to Council meetings and tells people what they want and need,” Washington said.

“If you take time to read the CBA, it’s a beautiful document, we’re not asking for every item to be adopted, but that should be the starting point.  Not how much profit can be generated, not how much housing values can go up, but how to preserve the character of the community. There’s so much that needs to be respected,” Washington said.

“A lot of what I’ve experienced has been disrespect,” she said.

“The first mistake was by the City and Carla Smith.  She should have made sure the Community Benefits Agreement was part of the Request for Proposals.  She wouldn’t meet with the coalition.  They had to hunt her down,” Washington said.

“What I want to offer what I think responsible leadership looks like – accountability, where I understand that my loyalty and my duty is to my constituents first, not to City Hall, not to the Mayor, not to my colleagues on City Council.  I’m not going to trade their interest, or leverage their interest,” Washington said.

“As hard as I’ve fought for myself, is how hard I will fight for them,” Washington said.

“Affordable housing is a priority,” she added.

“I understand some people want million dollar houses,” she said, referring to Carla Smith.  “We can have some of that, but we need to have affordable housing and we need more of that.”

“I moved to Peoplestown not based on what it could be, it was based on what it was.  Carla seems to be offering, instead of honoring her current constituents, she’s honoring the people she wants to come to the district,” she said.

“I don’t want to be a mediator to keep the natives restless while legislation is being passed against their interests,” she added.

Washington has not yet filed paperwork for her run.

Rontaverous Aribo and William Powell are also running for District 1, according to filed documents.

Aribo has raised approximately 9,000 dollars and has 7,500 dollars on hand.  Powell has reported no contributions.

Smith raised approximately 10,000 dollars last quarter, and has 21,000 dollars on hand.

(END/2017)

Pictured here is a Diebold E-voting machine with a paper audit trail attachment. It can be done.

(APN) ATLANTA — The vulnerability of Georgia’s electronic voting system to hacking and manipulation–especially without a voter verifiable paper audit trail to provide an independent backup–is underscored by a recent server breach.

Georgia is one of only five U.S. states–along with Delaware, Louisiana, New Jersey, and South Carolina–that does not have an independent way to verify how citizens voted in each election.

On March 02, 2017, Kennesaw State University (KSU) notified authorities of an unauthorized breach of their server at the Center for Elections Systems located on the campus.

It is not known if the hacker got anything, or if voter records were compromised, or if the cyber attack infected the system with a malicious virus.

The server was taken offline as soon as the breach was discovered.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched a criminal investigation into the server breach.

The FBI referred Atlanta Progressive News to a statement from KSU and would only say the breach was under investigation.

“KSU is working with federal law enforcement officials to determine whether and to what extent a data breach may have occurred involving records maintained by the Center for Election Systems,” KSU states.

“Because this involves a pending criminal investigation KSU will have no further comment on this matter and any inquiries should be addressed to the US Attorney’s Office,” KSU states.

“There is an ongoing investigation and I don’t have any information.  I would be glad to share what I’ve got but I don’t have any,” Bob Page with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Atlanta told APN.

Millions of voter records are maintained by the Center for Elections Systems.

The Center is responsible for ensuring the integrity of Georgia’s voting system through training, research auditing, and testing the voting equipment, according to the Center’s website.

Since 2002, the Center has overseen Georgia’s election operation and voting machines.

KSU officials received a warning before the U.S. Presidential Election last year, in 2016, that a server system used by its Center may be vulnerable to a data breach, but it is not clear whether the university acted to address the potential problem identified by the hacker, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is reportedly furious that KSU did not tell his office about the contacts before this month.

The SOS will no longer share voter records with KSU until the investigation is over.

The current debacle follows an incident in 2015 where Kemp’s office accidentally released the Social Security numbers and other private information of more than six million registered voters.  The information went to media outlets, political parties, and several organizations.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/11/20/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-state-over-release-of-voters-information/

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offered states the opportunity to scan their networks ahead of the presidential election for vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/293522-two-swing-states-decline-dhs-security-for-voting-machines

Georgia did not accept the DHS offer because they have a private vendor whose name they cannot disclose.

“We cannot disclose the identity of the vendor we use for security purposes because that would expose some of the security methods they use.  It is a top of the line private company, globally recognized,” Candice Broce, a spokesperson for Georgia SOS, told APN.

APN has hand-delivered to Kemp’s office an Open Records request for the contract between APN and the vendor.

Meanwhile, the plot thickens as DHS is accused of making an unsuccessful attempt to hack a computer network containing the state’s voter registration database after the November 08 election.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3148710/security/georgia-says-its-traced-an-attempted-voter-hack-to-dhs.html

Kemp wrote a letter to the DHS asking why they were attempting to breach our firewall.

A representative for DHS said they had received Kemp’s letter and was investigating the matter.

So many investigations and so few answers.  Georgia’s election systems are a hot mess, and it is all made possible by the underlying fact that our E-voting systems are not secure and not backed up by a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail.

Georgia has had problems of vote flipping since 2002 when the Direct-Recording Electronic (DRE) voting machines were installed.

Because of complaints of vote flipping, the SOS office has additional investigations in Baldwin, Clayton, Cobb, and Coweta counties.

Georgia NAACP President Francys Johnson said his organization has received unconfirmed reports of similar problems in counties including DeKalb, Bulloch, Chatham, Dodge, Effingham, and Macon-Bibb.

Computer scientists and concerned citizens have advocated for a verifiable paper trail for years and warned that Georgia’s election system can not be trusted without a way to independently audit the votes.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2006/06/22/e-voting-lawsuit-planned-in-georgia/

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2009/11/12/georgia-court-e-vote-at-your-own-risk/

The SOS office maintains it is a calibration issue with the voting machines when votes flip.

“We have not found actual cases where the votes flipped but rather the machine was not calibrated properly,” Broce said.

When properly calibrated, the machines must be tilted at an 45 degree angle toward the voter for it to mark the voter’s correct choice.  That is why it is so important for voters to check the summary page before casting their votes.

However, from the beginning, many have voiced concerns about the 2002 Diebold Election System (DRE) now called Dominion Voting.

In 2002, the infamous “Rob Georgia Patch,” which was not certified by the State of Georgia, was installed over the Internet by Diebold technicians and then loaded onto Georgia voting machines.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2006/09/28/diebold-added-secret-patch-to-georgia-e-voting-systems-in-2002-whistleblowers-say/

Georgia was a majority Democratic state until 2002 when it turned majority Republican and has remained solidly Republican.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_party_strength_in_Georgia_(U.S._state)

Georgia is not alone in having security breaches.   Over the summer of 2016, Arizona and Illinois had separate cyber attacks on their voter registration databases.

In Illinois, the voter registration database was shut down for several weeks after it was hacked through a cyber attack of possible foreign origin and personal information was downloaded from about 200,000 voters, according to the Chicago Tribune.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-illinois-state-board-of-elections-hack-update-met-0830-20160829-story.html

Later in June 2016, Arizona’s election system was attacked and malicious software was introduced into the system by Russians, the FBI told state officials in Arizona, as reported Time magazine.  It was not known if the Russian hackers were working for the Russian government.

http://time.com/4472169/russian-hackers-arizona-voter-registration/

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — Two candidates for Mayor of Atlanta in this November 2017 Municipal Election–State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) and Councilman Kwanza Hall (District 2)–pledged that as Mayor, they would take steps to implement the decriminalization of cannabis (or “marijuana”) possession, if the Atlanta City Council were to pass the ordinance it is currently considering.

An ordinance by Councilman Hall, 17-O-1152, would alter the municipal penalties for possession of cannabis of under one ounce, to eliminate the possibility of jail time and reduce the possible fines to 75 dollars.

http://atlantacityga.iqm2.com/citizens/detail_legifile.aspx?id=11889&highlightterms=17-0-1152

After several weeks of committee vetting and Work Sessions, on Monday, April 17, 2017, the City Council of Atlanta voted to send the legislation back to the Public Safety/Legal Administration Committee, which approved it in March.

Dozens of community activists who packed Council Chambers jeered in disappointment.

In part, the Council sent the ordinance back to Committee because data was presented that suggested that a large number of arrests in Atlanta were occurring under State law, not municipal law.

Atlanta police have concurrent authority to arrest under state and municipal law.  Currently, the state and municipal laws mirror each other, but that would change if the ordinance were adopted.

The City’s Mayor and Executive Branch clearly have important roles to play implementing, or not implementing, any policies that the City Council articulates regarding eliminating the possibility of jail time for cannabis possession.

“As Mayor I will set the appropriate SOPs,” or Standard Operating Procedures, Hall told APN.

“The Mayor has the ability to direct their police chief to direct and instruct their officers,” State Sen. Fort said.

Fort stopped short of saying he would issue a directive, saying it was more complicated than that, but agreed he would implement the law.

“The question is whether or not the City of Atlanta will continue to put thousands of people into the criminal justice system,” Fort said.

Atlanta Progressive News spoke with Clarkston Mayor Ted Terry about how the City of Clarkston was able to implement its decriminalization law, which was adopted in 2016.

Terry said that technically, officers in Clarkston continue to have discretion to arrest under state or municipal law when the case involves only possession of cannabis.

However, Terry said that when Clarkston was debating the issue, he as Mayor, the Council, and the Clarkston police were at the table together; and it was clear that the legislative and executive branches have the same policy goals.

Not so much the case in Atlanta, where the Mayor Kasim Reed Administration pushed back against the legislation.

Terry said that police officers in Clarkston had stated that they previously felt like they had to take people to jail, and that the City’s adoption of the decriminalization policy, which clarified the officer’s’ discretion, resulted in the officers being aware that they did have discretion.

Atlanta Progressive News attempted today to reach out to all eight campaigns, and succeeded in reaching four, but only two candidates were willing to make that pledge.

APN reached the Mary Norwood campaign, and spoke with her spokeswoman, but received no response regarding the question by press time.

APN reached the Peter Aman campaign, and spoke with Aman’s campaign manager, but received no response by press time.

APN sent a Facebook message to Cathy Woolard, but received no response.

APN sent a text message to Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms (District 11), but received no response.  Bottoms, apparently holding a grudge, stopped responding to APN in October 2015, after we published the following Editorial:

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/10/07/analysis-afcra-betrayed-the-turner-field-communities/

APN called the phone number on the Mayoral campaign website for John Eaves, Chairman of Fulton County (470-558-1217), and was advised by an automated recording: “Thank you for calling Verizon Wireless.  The number you have dialed has been changed, disconnected, or is no longer in service.”

Candidate Michael Sterling provided no phone number on his campaign website, but APN sent a message through a contact form.

(END/2017)

With additional reporting by Matthew Charles Cardinale

(APN) ATLANTA — On March 14, 2017, some twenty computer experts from across the U.S. sent a letter to Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, urging Kemp to immediately move to verifiable elections, after approximately sixteen years of faith based E-voting with no paper record in the State of Georgia.

https://www.verifiedvoting.org/verified-voting-letter-to-georgia-secretary-of-state-brian-kemp/

These experts include computer science professors and software engineers from MIT, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Georgia Tech, and many other prestigious universities; the Center for Democracy & Technology; and Google.

They express their concerns regarding Georgia’s unjustifiable “reliance on Direct Record Electronic (DRE) voting machines that do not provide an independent paper record of verified voter intent.”

“In order for citizens to have faith and confidence in their election, transparency is crucial, including about events such as the KSU breach, and its extent and severity,” the letter states, referring to a breach of a voting server database on March 01, 2017, at the Kennesaw State University Center for Election System that is under criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/03/26/georgias-e-voting-vulnerability-underscored-by-server-breach/

With national attention focused on the Run-off Special Election on June 20, 2017 in Georgia’s Sixth U.S. Congressional District between Jon Ossoff, a former aide and campaign manager to U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) and former Secretary of State Karen Handel, there is renewed attention regarding the question of whether our voting system is safe or reliable.

This year, Georgia has experienced several election problems beginning with the server breach in March.

Next on April 15, 2017, four Express Poll machines were reported as stolen from a Cobb County poll manager’s car.

Then late on the night of the recent Special Election, a “rare data error” was detected that held up the vote count in Fulton County.

“Fulton County had to conduct three redundant parallel elections for the Sixth District Congressional race, the Roswell Runoff, and a Johns Creek Special Election.  The ‘rare error’ was caused when the software was unable to detect a Roswell Runoff voting card that was incorrectly loaded into the Sixth District Special Election county vote totals,” Garland Favorito, founder of VoterGA, told Atlanta Progressive News.

“Why did all levels of the software fail to detect the error and why did Fulton have to conduct three separate parallel elections on the same night using different voting machines, memory cards, databases, and procedures,” Favorito asked.

Computer experts and concerned citizens have been raising red flags for years that without an independent, voter-verifiable paper audit, our election system is neither safe nor reliable, and we cannot be sure our votes are counted accurately.

[After APN’s first reporting on E-voting issues back in 2006, this news service used to refer to elections as “so-called elections,” as we might also refer to elections in a third world country with inadequate safeguards.  After a year, we stopped because it was confusing for readers unfamiliar with our E-voting coverage, but it remains true there is no reason to have confidence in Georgia’s election results.]

VoterGA previously challenged Georgia’s E-voting system in court, but the courts upheld the system, ruling that citizens should know the risks involved in voting electronically and that they can elect to use an absentee ballot, which is paper and by mail, if they choose to.

“Voters must assume the risk of necessarily different procedures,” the Supreme Court of Georgia opined.

Prof. Britain Williams, who oversaw the evaluations of the voting equipment in 2002, admitted in a sworn deposition that: “If a machine itself was reporting inaccurately on a given election, nobody would know it.”

https://voterga.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/reasons-for-new-voting-machine.pdf

Due to the fact that the machines do not store records of individual votes, but rather, aggregated totals, the idea of a recount is essentially meaningless, as it is merely a recounting of totals from each machine.

This cry for transparency and accuracy has been ignored in Georgia by most in a position of power since 2002.  In past interviews with APN, candidates for Secretary of State in 2006 and 2010 have cited the cost of adding printers to the E-voting machines as prohibitive – apparently putting a price tag on our democracy.

Here are some of the questions the computer experts want answers to:

1. Can you estimate when the attacker breached KSU’s system?
2. How did the attacker breach KSU’s system?
3. How was the breach discovered?
4. Which files were accessed?
5. Were any files accessed that related to software or “hashes” for the voting machines?
6. Is there any evidence that files were modified?  If so, which files?
7. Had KSU begun ballot builds for the upcoming special election?
8. To whom are these attacks being attributed? Could this be an insider attack? Has the FBI identified any suspects or persons of interest?
9. Has the FBI examined removable media for the possibility of implanted malware?
10. Has the FBI examined the hash or verification program for tampering?
11. What mitigations are planned for the near- and long-term?

The SOS has not responded to the letter.

“Given that we know these machines, that you use, were made by Diebold and have software from about 2000 that is no longer maintained by Microsoft, and given that we know how to break into the machines and hack them, these machines should not be used, ” Dr. Barbara Simons, IBM Research (retired), former President Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) and one of the experts who signed the March 14 to Kemp, told APN.

“You have, in Georgia, some of the worst machines in the country… everybody who cares about fair elections should be demanding paper ballots for the Runoff,” Dr. Simons added.

The latest information released by KSU is that the server was accessed by an outside security researcher and no personal information was misused.

“We have already begun conversations with experts at Georgia Tech and with an outside firm to ensure that all of our systems are secured and meet best practices standards,” KSU President Sam Olens said in the news statement.

“I cannot find anyone at Georgia Tech who was been consulted by KSU.  If there is such a person, they are not a member of the cyber security community,” Dr. Richard DeMillo, Executive Director, Center for 21st Century Universities (C21U), College of Computing at Georgia Institute of Technology, and a signer of the March 14 letter, told APN.

Recently, APN learned that SOS has a private vendor which they use for security and whose name can not be mentioned for security reasons.

We made an Open Records Request for a copy of the contract between Georgia and this private company.  Kemp’s office responded with a letter requesting payment of 420 dollars for them to redact information that they claim is protected by exemptions under the Georgia Open Records Act.

“If the vendor is so insecure that just knowing the name would put everything in jeopardy then they should not have that vendor,” Dr. Simons said.

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — On April 18, 2017, the voters of the City of South Fulton, the newly created city in south Fulton County, elected a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist, khalid kamau, to the District 6 South Fulton City Council seat.

His name is lower-cased in the Yoruba African tradition to show that community is emphasized over the individual.

While the municipal seat is nonpartisan, it is notable that Mr. kamau was open about his political ideology and won.

While Atlanta Progressive News has raised serious concerns about the trend of new cities in Metro Atlanta over the last twelve years, the results of the recent Run-off Election bolster the claims of South Fulton’s cityhood supporters regarding local representation.

That is, District 6–which includes a large portion Old National Highway, Old National Park, and Bethune Elementary School, and abuts Clayton County to the District’s east–will now be represented by a Democratic Socialist, rather than a group of Fulton County Commissioners mostly comprised of Republicans and centrist Democrats.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made Democratic Socialism popular during his run for the Democratic nomination for President of the U.S. in 2016.

Meanwhile, Kshama Sawant, a Socialist affiliated with the group Socialist Alternative, has served for several years on the City Council of Seattle, Washington, and has promoted such causes as fifteen dollars per hour minimum wage and rent control, with wide support.

The new city of South Fulton held its first election on March 21 and five candidates competed for the District 6 City Council seat.  Mr. kamau and Charlean Parks survived to face a runoff on April 18.

Kamau easily won the run-off with a vote total of 1,127 or 66.80 percent.

His support came from many diverse groups and individuals including Ted Terry, Mayor of Clarkston; Streetgroomers; Democratic Socialists of America (DSA); Our Revolution; and Teamsters Local 728.

Building the infrastructure in the new city, making sure all City workers get paid fifteen dollars an hour with paid family leave and health benefits; and political education are some of Kamau’s first priorities.

www.khalidCares.com

“I hope my election inspires other regular people to get involved,” kamau told Atlanta Progressive News.

Bernie Sanders’s platform of income inequality, living wage, Medicare for all, affordable housing, racial justice, and so much more has inspired young activists to run for public office to change the status quo.  Since his historic Presidential campaign, fourteen DSA members have won elections and that number is expected to increase with each new election.

https://berniesanders.com/issues/

“I received more support financially and time support from the DSA than from the Democratic Party of Georgia.  I will work for them forever because their principles are my principles,” kamau told APN.

“For us to have someone who announces he is a member of DSA and is able to organize and mobilize voters and get support from a lot of our activists is very special.  He received support from the national DSA and from a broad front of progressives,” Milt Tambor, Chair of Metro Atlanta DSA, told APN.

“He made it possible for other people to start thinking about getting into the electoral arena, for socialists and progressives to do what needs to be done to turn the tide and deal with issues of economic and social justice,” Tambor concluded.

Kamau was born and raised in south Fulton and is a member of Black Lives Matter, an organizer for Fight For 15, a labor organizer for the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), and an at-large delegate for Bernie Sanders at the Democratic National Convention.

He has been active in Atlanta’s Neighborhood Planning Units, organized a neighborhood watch program, and participated in Economic Development negotiations around the new Mercedes-Benz arena.

It was kamau’s experience fighting the outsourcing of MARTA’s Mobility Service workers that changed him from an activist into politics full time.

“When MARTA decided to outsource that entire department over three hundred drivers and mechanics lost their health benefits and those that were not vested lost their pensions.  It was a move to get out of the contract with Amalgamated Transportation Union (ATU), the strongest union in Georgia,” kamau said.

As a driver for MARTA Mobility, kamau lost his pension and that is when he went to work with the Sanders campaign and received an advanced political education.

As a member of the South Fulton City Council, he plans to help his community and share his political knowledge with other people on how to make the government work for them.

“Generally, working class Black people are naturally progressive leaning and if they know how to interact with their government they will demand their government be progressive as well,” kamau said.

“I want to identify young Black and Brown leaders and engage them in political education that is how we win back the state,” kamau predicted.

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — As it is now nearly midway through 2017, Atlanta Progressive News is releasing an updated cumulative scorecard for the Atlanta City Council.

The APN Atlanta City Council Scorecard is the most comprehensive, voting record-based scorecard available for the current Atlanta City Council, and is available as a public Google Spreadsheet:

http://bit.ly/2ixKV6s

The Scorecard is particularly relevant this 2017 Municipal Election season, as three Councilmembers are running for Mayor of Atlanta, and another three are running for Council President.

SCORES OF ATLANTA MAYORAL CANDIDATES

Mayoral candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms (District 11) has the lowest score of all fifteen Councilmembers, or 31.3 out of a possible score of one hundred.

Mayoral candidate Kwanza Hall (District 2) has the highest score among Mayoral candidates who currently sit on the City Council, with a score of 59.1.

Mayoral candidate Mary Norwood (Post 2-at-large) has a score of 47.4.

By point of contrast, Mayoral candidate State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) has a score of 100 percent on APN’s Georgia House and Senate Fulton and DeKalb delegation Scorecard.

SCORES OF COUNCIL PRESIDENT CANDIDATES

Council President candidate Felicia Moore (District 9) has the second-highest score of all fifteen Councilmembers, and the highest score among the Council President candidates.  Her score is 78.7.

Council President candidate CT Martin (District 10) has a score of 55.9.

Council President candidate Alex Wan (District 6) has a score of 47.1.  His score, which at one point was the lowest on the scorecard, has recently improved.

THREE NEW VOTES ADDED

Three votes were added for the first few months of 2017:

First, we added 17-O-1132, the Council’s decision to approve an easement in Peachtree Hills park to a private developer.  APN’s Editorial position was to oppose.

All Councilmembers supported the easement, except Felicia Moore and Michael Julian Bond (Post 1-at-large) opposed.  Ivory Lee Young (District 3) was absent.

Second, we added 17-O-1080, the Council’s decision to approve a Trust Fund for the Turner Field Communities.  APN’s Editorial position was to support.

All Councilmembers supported the Trust Fund, except Howard Shook (District 7), Yolanda Adrean (District 8), and Felicia Moore.  Mary Norwood  and Natalyn Archibong (District 5) were absent.  Keisha Lance Bottoms abstained.

Third, we added the Council’s decision to refer 17-O-1152 back to the Committee, where it currently languishes.  This is the legislation that would decriminalize cannabis under City of Atlanta municipal law.  APN’s Editorial position was in opposition to referring the bill because it should have been adopted.

All Councilmembers supported the motion to refer, except Kwanza Hall, Alex Wan, Felicia Moore, and Andre Dickens (Post 3-at-large).  Mary Norwood was absent.

APN has been issuing this Scorecard since 2009.  The Scorecard now contains 63 specific votes taken by the Full Council dating back to 2003, in which Atlanta Progressive News has taken a position for or against each legislative item or motion.

Once again, Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong is the most progressive Councilwoman on the City Council, with a score of 82.7 out of 100.

The ranking of the current fifteen Councilmembers are as follows:

NATALYN ARCHIBONG    82.7

FELICIA MOORE       78.7

MICHAEL BOND       65.1

ANDRE DICKENS       64.7

KWANZA HALL       59.1

CT MARTIN       55.9

MARY NORWOOD       47.4

ALEX WAN       47.1

YOLANDA ADREAN       46

IVORY YOUNG       39.7

CARLA SMITH       38.3

HOWARD SHOOK       36.8

JOYCE SHEPERD       35.3

CLETA WINSLOW       35.1

KEISHA BOTTOMS       31.3

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — Two Georgia voters and a national advocacy organization filed a new lawsuit challenging Georgia’s electronic voting regime on Friday, May 26, 2017.

The Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief and Writ of Mandamus was filed in Fulton County Superior Court.

The plaintiffs have also filed for an emergency injunction, for which an emergency hearing has been scheduled for 3:30 p.m. today, May 26, 2017.

The injunction seeks to prevent Georgia and three Metro Atlanta counties from using E-voting machines in the U.S. Congressional race in Georgia’s Sixth District, where candidate Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, has attracted national attention and support.

Atlanta Progressive News has been reporting on the fundamental unreliability of Georgia’s E-voting machines from many years – at one point referring to Georgia’s elections as “so-called elections” until it became confusing for readers unfamiliar with our E-voting coverage.

In reality, Georgia has been operating for some sixteen years with unreliable machines – a period that remarkably coincides with the Republican Party’s period of winning most or all statewide offices in Georgia.

Various groups of citizens, advocates, and computer scientists have sent a series of at least three letters to Secretary Kemp challenging Georgia’s E-voting regime, including a March 2017 letter sent by computer experts and two letters in May 2017.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/05/02/20-computer-experts-issue-letter-to-kemp-on-e-voting-unreliability/

In the new lawsuit, Donna Curling, Donna Price, and the Rocky Mountain Foundation are the plaintiffs.

The named Defendants are Secretary of State Brian Kemp; and Richard Barron, Maxine Daniels, and Janine Eveler, the elections directors for Fulton, DeKalb, and Cobb Counties, respectively.

It is at least the second lawsuit filed regarding E-voting in Georgia.

The previous lawsuit filed by VoterGA in 2006, as covered by Atlanta Progressive News, was not successful.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2007/08/01/voterga-gives-one-year-update-on-e-voting-lawsuit-update-1/

https://voterga.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/plaintiffs-final-voting-complaint-071206.pdf

In that case, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled that even though there is no record of individual votes with E-voting in Georgia, no paper trail, and no way to know that the reported vote totals on the E-voting machines reflect the actual votes, that the machines were acceptable because voters still had the option to vote by mail if it made them more comfortable.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2009/11/12/georgia-court-e-vote-at-your-own-risk/

The current case–rather than focusing on the fundamental deprivation of the right to vote–focuses on a little-known state provision allowing Georgia voters to request an official administrative reexamination of the voting machines.

Under Georgia law, O.C.G.A. § 21-2-379 allows a group of ten voters to request that the Georgia Secretary of State reexamine the E-voting machines.

Per law, the Secretary is required to perform the examination and issue a report.

Further, if the Secretary finds the machines “can no longer be safely or accurately used by electors at primaries or elections as provided in this chapter because of any problem concerning its ability to accurately record or tabulate votes, the approval of the same shall immediately be revoked by the Secretary of State.”

In such an instance, an election would have to be conducted by paper ballot.

The Plaintiffs argue there are widely known, severe safety and accuracy problems plaguing Georgia E-voting.

“First, numerous critical security vulnerabilities and deficiencies have been recently identified at the State’s Center for Election Systems (“CES”),” the Plaintiffs state.

“Second, on May 24, 2017 sixteen computer scientists wrote Defendant Kemp expressing  profound concerns about the lack of verifiability and poor security of Georgia’s DRE-Based Voting System,” the Plaintiffs state.

“Third, failures in Georgia’s DRE-Based Voting System caused improper memory cards to be uploaded into the election database during the April 18, 2017, Special Election for the Sixth Congressional District,” the Plaintiffs state.

“Fourth, Fulton County transmits ballot data from touchscreen machine memory cards to the GEMS tabulation server… via modem in an unauthorized configuration that, on information and belief, does not use adequate encryption.  At one point in time, the system encryption key was in the public domain, rendering the encryption useless,” the Plaintiffs state.

“Fifth, the physical security of DRE voting equipment used in Georgia’s DRE-Based Voting System has been inadequate during pre- and post-election machine storage, leaving the machines vulnerable to attack and compromise,” the Plaintiffs state.

“Sixth… Georgia’s DRE-Based Voting System appears not to meet fundamental voting system standards for federal certification, including mandatory audit capacity standards required by the Help America Vote Act, 52 U.S.C. § 21081,” the Plaintiffs state.

Also, Plaintiff complain that Georgia’s E-voting regime “relies upon a back-end database that is not industrial-strength, and runs on an operating system that is currently past its support life.”

The Complaint notes that the Plaintiffs requested that Secretary Kemp conduct the reexamination required by law, but that he has failed to respond.

Also, APN previously reported that Donna Curling, one of the Plaintiffs in this case, is a Democratic-leaning donor and activist whose husband, Doug Curling, was the former President of Choicepoint.

Ironically, Choicepoint acquired a firm that was involved in improperly removing thousands of Florida voters from the rolls in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2006/07/13/choicepoint-president-funds-secretary-of-state-candidate-scott-holcomb/

(END/2017)

With additional reporting by Matthew Charles Cardinale

(APN) ATLANTA — Facing pressure from Mayor of Atlanta Kasim Reed, Central Atlanta Progress, and other organizations, the City Council of Atlanta has stalled on legislation that Councilman Kwanza Hall (District 2), a Mayoral candidate, introduced nearly three months ago, to lower the municipal penalties to a fine and eliminate the possibility of jail time for possession of up to one ounce cannabis (or “marijuana”).

http://atlantacityga.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?ID=11889&highlightTerms=17-0-1152

After a series of Committee Meetings and Work Sessions, the community expected a yes vote on this legislation at the Full Council Meeting on April 17, 2017, but instead, the Council–in a ten to four vote–sent the legislation back to Public Safety/Legal Administration Committee after numerous Councilmembers signaled their unreadiness to support it.

The Council sent the ordinance, 17-O-1152, back to the Public Safety Committee to request that the Administration convene a group of additional stakeholders for a discussion that was supposed to be a public meeting.

The administration held that meeting with representatives of the courts, City law department, Department of Corrections, the Atlanta Police Department, and other departments several weeks ago.

Many, including some on the Council, are wondering what was the outcome of that meeting and what hang ups, if any, remain with this legislation.

“The administration is still concerned about the confusion that exists around this conversation, the language has been to decriminalize, to legalize and it’s neither; it’s to make it a ticketable offense,” Melissa Mullinax, Senior Adviser to Mayor Reed, said at the last Public Safety Committee Meeting on May 23.

“The train has left the station on the narrative.  Activists in their call to action say ‘come to city hall and make our voices heard about decriminalization of marijuana,'” Mullinax said.

“The Mayor has said he does not think people should go to jail for this, but the way the conversation has been framed in the public, it does raise serious concerns for him about confusion and what that will mean for people,” Mullinax said.

The administration said it is specifically concerned about people living outside of Atlanta believing that one ounce of marijuana is legal.

Further, the administration stated its preference to defer to the State Legislature to take action to decriminalize cannabis.  Ironically, the State has considered that and has indicated its preference to defer to the federal government.

So much for that Georgia spirit of local self-determination when it doesn’t suit one’s policy preferences.

“DECRIMINALIZATION” IS NOT MISLEADING, ALTHOUGH PENALTY REDUCTION IS A MORE PRECISE TERM

The City of Clarkston, Georgia, reduced the fine and eliminated jail time for minor cannabis possession last year.

News media, including APN, referred to Clarkston’s action as decriminalization, even though, as would be the case in Atlanta, technically, Clarkston police still have discretion to arrest under state, as opposed to municipal law.

And yet no incidents of public confusion or chaos have been reported in Clarkston.

Over the last decade or so, state and local jurisdictions across the U.S. have pursued a range of policies that generally liberalize cannabis possession.  These range from full legalization with retail stores, like in Washington, Oregon, and Colorado – to limited CBD oil programs.

The term decriminalization has generally been used to mean something short of legalization that is not limited to medical patients.

For example, it was widely reported that the State of Oregon decriminalized cannabis in 1973.  According to the Oregonian newspaper, “1973: Oregon becomes the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, making it a ticket more akin to a traffic offense.”

http://www.oregonlive.com/marijuana/index.ssf/2014/11/legal_marijuana_in_oregon_a_lo.html

Decriminalization was the term used in Oregon even though it was still a ticketable offense, as it currently proposed for Atlanta municipal code.

Generally, “decriminalization” has been used an umbrella term to signal no jail time; it has not meant that the offense was removed entirely from a code of ordinances.

So, as an editorial matter, APN disagrees that the term “decriminalization” is confusing.

Moreover, citizens are generally held responsible for following non-vague laws whether they understand them or not.  Requiring that the public understands a law before passing it seems to be a new standard set by the Reed administration.

Meanwhile, attorney Marissa McCall Dodson, with the Southern Center for Human Rights, has a more serious concern.

“This issue is so important for this community because Fulton County has the ninth highest rate of marijuana arrests in the country,” McCall Dodson advised the Committee.

“I don’t think the answer is to wait for our State General Assembly to do it.  Ninety percent of the arrests are African Americans,” McCall Dodson said.

The Administration and some Council Members are concerned over different jurisdictions having different codes.

“During these conversations there has been an inference to just tell the officers to use the city code versus the state code, and they [the Police Chief] are not able to do that.  It is the officer’s discretion, no one has the right to take the discretion from the officer without being on site,” Katrina Taylor Parks, the Mayor’s Deputy Chief of Staff, explained.

The City is also worried about its relationship with the State, if this legislation is passed and police officers decide to use the city code.

Dean Steed, a community organizer with Solutions Not Punishment Coalition, delivered 500 petition signatures supporting the legislation signed by community members.

“We know there is an overwhelming support from the community for this legislation… the community is not confused and understand the difference between a ticket and not getting arrested… because they have lived that experience,” Che Johnson Long, with the Racial Justice Action Center, clarified.

“We are not talking about decriminalization or legalization, but reclassification; communities and news outlets are clear about that,” Long said.

The Administration requested to go into Executive Session with the Council–whose next Full Council Meeting on Monday June 05, 2017, starting at 1:00pm–but it is not clear how this would be legally permissible under the Georgia Open Meetings Act, which only allows closed Sessions for a short list of topics such as real estate transactions and pending litigation.

Andre Dickens (Post-3-at large) said the local judges are supposed to be meeting with the Council or some portion thereof, to discuss their position in the near future, but that this meeting has not yet been scheduled.

It is not immediately clear why the judges’ positions on a question of public policy are relevant, seeing as how they exist to adjudicate enforcement of public policy – not to create it.  Due to the separation of powers, in which judicial powers are limited to “cases and controversies,” courts typically refrain from issuing advisory opinions on pending legislation.

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — Atlanta City Councilwoman Felicia Moore (District 9) is running for City Council President in the upcoming November 2017 Municipal Election, where she is facing two competing candidates, Alex Wan (District 6) and CT Martin (District 10).

Moore has the highest score on the Atlanta Progressive News Atlanta City Council Scorecard of the three candidates: Moore, 78.7; Martin, 55.9; Wan, 47.1.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/05/17/atlanta-council-midterm-scorecard-2017-bottoms-at-bottom/

During her time on Council, Moore has become known as a stickler for Council process and someone who has asked questions about Council process to bring out important issues during substantive debates.

Atlanta Progressive News had the opportunity to conduct a sit-down interview with Moore to discuss issues related to the Council President position, which focuses first and foremost on the issue of Council process.

APN has reached out to both the Martin and Wan campaigns in an attempt to schedule similar interviews.

SHOULD THE RULE LIMITING APPLAUSE AT COUNCIL MEETINGS BE AMENDED?  CURRENTLY, THE COUNCIL PRESIDENT HAS INCONSISTENTLY ENFORCED THIS RULE, WHILE APPLAUSE REMAINS ALLOWED DURING PROCLAMATIONS.

Moore did not say that applause should be allowed, but said she will get with the new Council–which will likely include at least seven new Councilmembers–to have a discussion about it.

“It needs to be consistently enforced,” she said.

“It’s appropriate for some part of the meeting, but not the other,” she said.

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH PROTESTERS?

“Protest is a part of the process.  I’m not against protest,” Moore said.

“The main goal of the Council President is to facilitate the meeting.  Protests should be acknowledged and will happen.  Eventually, once you’ve protested you have to let the decision be made by the Council,” Moore said.

At a recent Public Safety/Legal Administration Committee, Chairman Andre Dickens (Post 3-at-large) was very liberal with protesters, as reported by APN, allowing them to go over time; shout from the audience; and approach the microphone during the debate.

Moore said she met with the protesters to tell them that, had she been Chair of the Committee, she would have intervened at the point that they interrupted Councilmembers.  “At some point I would’ve asked them to leave,” she said.

“They should afford some respect to Council people.  I do believe in decorum.”

BUT Y’ALL WANT US TO HAVE DECORUM, WHEN YOU CAN’T EVEN HAVE A QUORUM.

Moore agreed.  “We’re there to do the business of the City, we should start the meeting at the appropriate time.”

Moore said that Councilmembers should be at their meetings “from start to end, that includes public comment.”

After APN raised concerns earlier this year, Moore, who currently chairs the Committee on Council, changed her practice of taking public comment at the meeting’s scheduled start time even if a quorum wasn’t present.  Now she waits to hear public comment until the quorum assembles.

When asked what she could do as Council President about attendance issues: “These are adults.  Citizens have to hold them accountable.  You can make a point of it.  You can stop the meeting,” when a quorum is lost.

“The Council President has subpoena power,” Moore noted, although she added she did not think she would ever have to use it.

“The Council President can take note of who comes to meetings,” in deciding who to appoint as Committee Chairs, Moore said.

ON THAT NOTE, WHAT OTHER FACTORS WOULD YOU CONSIDER AS CRITERIA FOR COMMITTEE CHAIR?

“People who have posted their Council expenditures online,” Moore said.

Earlier this year, the Council approved a watered-down version of legislation that Moore introduced regarding the posting of Councilmember expenditures online.

The legislation, in the form it passed, requires a Request for Qualifications, for companies that can help the City publish these expenditures online, to submit information to the City.  Councilmembers could voluntarily post their expenditures online, she said.

When asked if she would consider a Councilmember’s support for public comment as a factor, Moore declined.

THE COMMITTEE BRIEFINGS ARE NOW OPEN.  DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD BE VIDEOTAPED?

“Congratulations,” Moore said, noting that the Briefings were opened to the public following a series of articles in APN and a lawsuit filed by APN’s News Editor.  The lawsuit was settled and the Council approved an ordinance drafted by APN’s News Editor in 2013 to voluntarily open the Briefings to the public.

During the Briefings debacle, Moore became the first Committee Chair to open a Briefing to the public.

The Briefings are open to the public, and publicly noticed in advance.  However, if one does not attend the Briefing, there is no opportunity to hear what happens.  Often Councilmembers make statements in Briefings that are not repeated in the public Committee meetings, APN can confirm.

As for the video: “I don’t see where it would be helpful.  Briefings are just that.  They rightfully should be open to the public,” Moore said, but did not support the idea of videotaping.

Moore added that videotaping the Briefings would require staff time.

WHAT IS YOUR POSITION ON PUBLIC COMMENT AT COMMITTEES?  DO YOU STILL BELIEVE COMMITTEE CHAIR DISCRETION REGARDING PUBLIC COMMENT IS BEST?  DO YOU HAVE A PREFERENCE AS TO WHETHER THERE SHOULD BE A TIME LIMIT, AND WHETHER PUBLIC COMMENT SHOULD BE ALLOWED PRIOR TO VOTES ON INDIVIDUAL ITEMS (RATHER THAN JUST AT THE BEGINNING OR END OF THE MEETING)?

“No one way is the best way.  As Chair, I prefer the most flexibility.  It’s better if Chairs have that flexibility.”

Regarding the public commenting in between items: “At some point we need to be able to move on.  Some chairs may do it the way you love it.”

Moore started out not having a time limit as Chair of Committee on Council.  Then, when Mary Norwood (Post 2-at-large) became Chair of COC, Norwood instituted a two minute time limit at the beginning and a three minute limit at the end.

Moore continued this rule when she again became Chair of COC, although after APN raised concerns earlier this year, she requested a new Committee debate on the matter, and the Committee voted to combine the two comment segments into one five minute segment.

SHOULD PUBLIC COMMENT BE ALLOWED AT WORK SESSIONS?

“Again, it’s a good question of the Committee.  We need to be clear to the public.  It should be a case by case basis, I don’t want a hard and fast rule.  The Council needs to be able to meet with the administration,” without public comment, Moore said.

WHY DO YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE A BETTER COUNCIL PRESIDENT CANDIDATE THAN YOUR OPPONENTS?

“All three of us are different, our approaches will be different.  If citizens want a Council President who consistently stands for ethics, transparency, accountability, one that’s not hesitant about making sure their voice is heard,” they should vote for her, she said.

“Consistently through three Administrations, I want to know what I’m voting on.  We don’t elect dictators in this country – I’ve been concerned the checks and balances might not be consistent,” Moore said.

“The principles that guide me don’t just change in the wind,” she said.

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — A recent interview with Logan Lamb, 29, the man who breached highly sensitive election data in Georgia, published by the Politico news service, reveals that the reported breach–involving the Kennesaw State University Center for Election Systems (KSU CES) website–is much more serious than the University previously stated.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/14/will-the-georgia-special-election-get-hacked-215255

The so-called “hacker” was Internet security employee, Logan Lamb, working for a private internet security firm in Georgia.  He is a former cyber-security researcher with the federal government’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

In August 2016, after reports that Russian hackers were probing voter registration databases in dozens of states, Lamb decided to independently assess the security of the State of Georgia’s voting systems.

Lamb, while looking through a public KSU CES website, found folders of voting system files that could be accessed to hack an election.

Lamb found “a database containing registration records for the state’s 6.7 million voters; multiple PDFs with instructions and passwords for election workers to sign in to a central server on Election Day; and software files for the state’s ExpressPoll pollbooks — electronic devices used by pollworkers to verify that a voter is registered before allowing them to cast a ballot,” according to Politico.

There also appeared to be databases for the so-called GEMS servers (Global Election Management Systems), which are used to prepare paper and electronic ballots, tabulate votes, and produce summaries of vote totals, according to Politico.

He downloaded some fifteen Gigabytes of data that included the voter registration database containing names, addresses, and Social Security numbers for 6.7 million voters.

Deja vu; this brings back memories of a similar, unrelated incident.  In 2015, Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office accidentally released over six million Georgia voters’ Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and driver’s license numbers to unauthorized individuals.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/11/20/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-state-over-release-of-voters-information/

Lamb also noticed KSU was using an out of date version of the Drupal content management system with a major security flaw called “Drupageddon” that allows intruders to take control of a site that used the software.

Lamb was concerned that hackers could potentially alter software files prior to the U.S. Presidential Election, depending on where those files were kept.

Lamb says he reported the information to Merle King, Executive Director of KSU CES; and thought the server would be fixed before the Presidential Election, but it wasn’t.

King pressed Lamb to not talk about the issue with anyone, especially the news media.

According to the Politico report,  Lamb claims that King said to him: “It would be best if you were to drop this now,” adding, if Lamb did talk, “the people downtown, the politicians….would crush” Lamb.

King did not report the security breach to the SOS.

On March 01, 2017, Chris Grayson, a colleague of Mr. Lamb, found the same files Lamb found and an unencrypted version of Drupal still vulnerable.  Grayson contacted KSU.

Soon afterward, the information got out to the media and the March 01 breach became public knowledge.  However, KSU did not make clear how serious the breach was, that the Center’s website was still vulnerable, or that there had been a previous known breach.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/03/26/georgias-e-voting-vulnerability-underscored-by-server-breach/

“KSU is working with federal law enforcement officials to determine whether and to what extent a data breach may have occurred involving records maintained by the Center for Election Systems,” KSU stated at the time.

“Because this involves a pending criminal investigation KSU will have no further comment on this matter and any inquiries should be addressed to the US Attorney’s Office,” KSU stated at the time.

“There is an ongoing investigation and I don’t have any information.  I would be glad to share what I’ve got but I don’t have any,” Bob Page with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Atlanta told APN at the time.

According to Politico, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) investigated the incident and determined that Lamb and Grayson had not committed a crime and told them to delete the files they collected, which they did.

Previously, APN made an Open Records request to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, requesting:

“Per the Georgia Open Records Act, Atlanta Progressive News hereby requests any and all reports produced by the Federal Bureau of Investigations in their investigation related to the breach of a server at Kennesaw State University on May 1, 2017; as well as any correspondence related to said reports, that are in the custody of Secretary of State Brian Kemp,” APN requested on May 27, 2017.

Kevin Rayburn, Assistant General Counsel for Kemp’s Elections Division, responded that there were no responsive documents, with the exception of a similar request by Garland Favorito, an E-voting critic and activist in Atlanta.

“They did not provide us with any written report of the investigation,” Candice Broce, press secretary of Kemp, told APN.

“During the investigation, we were on a need to know basis.  We were made aware of them not finding wrongdoing,” Broce said, explaining why they provided no report to APN.

“We have been asked by U.S. Attorney and the FBI to send media inquiries their way,” Broce said.

Previously, APN sent a Freedom of Information Act request by email to Bob Page, Public Affairs Officer, who referred APN to a Justice Department website to complete a FOIA request form.  APN will be filing the FOIA request form.

If an intruder altered the files to record votes incorrectly, officials may never know it, seeing as how there is no verifiable paper trail.

Georgia election officials have defended their security practices despite numerous reports from computer security experts about significant security problems for years.

The most recent red flag was a letter from twenty computer experts from across the U.S. to Secretary Kemp to immediately move to verifiable elections and away from sixteen years of faith-based E-voting.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/05/02/20-computer-experts-issue-letter-to-kemp-on-e-voting-unreliability/

Last year, in 2016, the Department of Homeland Security offered to help secure state election systems after reports that Russia was trying to hack into the election.

Georgia was the only U.S. state to reject that offer.  Pennsylvania had previously been reported to have rejected the offer, but in fact did accept federal assistance.

http://thehill.com/policy/technology/293522-two-swing-states-decline-dhs-security-for-voting-machines

The Russian Military Intelligence did execute a cyber attack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing email to more than one hundred local election officials days before the November election, according to The Intercept news service, relying on information provided by Georgia whistleblower Reality Winner.

https://theintercept.com/2017/06/05/top-secret-nsa-report-details-russian-hacking-effort-days-before-2016-election/

Russians executed cyber espionage operations against a U.S. company in August 2016 to obtain information on election-related software and hardware solutions.

They likely used the data to create a new email account and launch a voter registration themed spear-phishing campaign targeting U. S. local government organizations, according to a NSA document.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3766950-NSA-Report-on-Russia-Spearphishing.html#document/p1

“Russian cyberattacks on the U.S. electoral system before the election was far more widespread than has been publicly revealed, including incursions into voter databases and software systems… in a total of 39 states,” according to Bloomberg news.  They tried to delete or alter voter data in one state.

Garland Favorito, VoterGa.org and many others have raised the issue of transparency, security and need for a verifiable paper audit since 2002 but all these red flags warnings have been ignored by the SOS.

Many computer experts agree that Georgia has the worst E-voting machines in the country.

Garland Favorito of VoterGA provided APN with a security assessment that was prepared by KSU Information Security Office (UNITS) after the second breach.

https://voterga.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/ksu-hack-study.pdf

As previously reported by APN, several plaintiffs filed an injunction seeking to prevent the U.S. Congressional Sixth District race between Jon Ossoff (D) and Karen Handel (R) from using the touch screen machines and use paper ballots instead.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/05/26/breaking-new-lawsuit-filed-over-georgia-e-voting/

However, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams ruled against the injunction and dismissed the case based on sovereign immunity.

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — Activists criticized the Ceasar Mitchell for Mayor campaign for using a photograph of the recent Tent City at the former Turner Field site on its campaign website, saying that he failed to actually visit Tent City or address homelessness as Councilmember or Council President.

“Atlanta mayoral candidate and pro-gentrification council chair Ceasar Mitchell… didn’t once visit the Tent City organized by families threatened with displacement by gentrification,” the Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America posted on Facebook.

“This same Ceasar Mitchell stole a photo of Tent City ATL to promote his own election campaign!” the DSA wrote.

Atlanta Progressive News recognized the photo as one taken by APN Senior News Writer, Gloria Tatum.

APN commissioned this photo, with dollars that come primarily from donations provided by APN readers.

APN published the photograph on April 09, 2017 as part of an article on Tent City.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/04/09/tent-city-at-turner-field-enters-day-nine-cba-demanded/

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/tent-city.jpg

The Mitchell campaign appears to have published the photograph back in April 2017, as part of a page on “Homelessness.”

https://www.ceasarformayor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/tent-city.jpg

The Mitchell campaign published the photograph as a backdrop, above the following text:

“Hunger, poverty and homelessness are longstanding problems in Atlanta.  According to a 2016 Study conducted by WalletHub, Atlanta ranks as the 4th neediest city among 150 cities,” the Mitchell campaign wrote.

[Why the campaign would consider WalletHub, and not the U.S. Census Bureau or the National Low Income Housing Coalition, as the best source for this information, is not immediately clear.]

“Wait. So you’re telling me that the guy who has had 8 ethics investigations over the past five years decided to steal a photograph from Atlanta Progressive News for promotional purposes without their consent?  Weird,” Matthew Wolfsen wrote on Facebook, sharing the DSA’s post.

Indeed, earlier this year, the Mitchell campaign paid an 8,000 dollar fine after failing to report more than 250,000 dollars in campaign expenditures and 34,000 dollars in campaign donations.

http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/i-team/243556929-story

“Stop walking over people and taking what don’t belong to you!!” Sherise Brown, a Tent City organizer, wrote about the photograph.

“You didn’t acknowledge the photograher [sic] and it wasn’t a homeless camp.  It was a protest. Mis used in multiple ways,” Brown wrote.

“You was invited Mitchell several times to come.  You never did.  Kwanza [Hall] and Felicia [Moore] were the only city council visit and listen to us… Never Ceasar Mitchell!!” Brown wrote.

Brown recently returned from the annual D.C. meeting of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants, where Tent City and activist Tim Franzen received awards for their successful campaign.

APN has sent an invoice to the campaign as of this morning, to Mitchell’s email as well as the email for campaign spokesperson Stefan Turkheimer.

It is not fair for the Mitchell Campaign–which would have had to pay to hire a photographer or would have had to use a more basic stock photo–to benefit from the donations of APN’s readers, to promote their own campaign.

The campaign appears to have taken the photograph down from off their website.

“I forwarded the legal matter regarding the use of the photograph to our campaign manager,” Turkheimer wrote.

Imagine for one second it was an Associated Press or Reuters photograph.  APN is considering taking immediate legal action for the two months of copyright violation; and does not believe that Mitchell’s misuse of the photograph is covered by any fair use exemption to copyright infringement.

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — It is now about four months away from the 2017 Mayoral race and there is a quite crowded race, with nine major candidates in the race.

The nine candidates are: Councilwoman Mary Norwood (Post 2-at-large), Councilman Kwanza Hall (District 2), Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms (District 11), Council President Ceasar Mitchell, Fulton County Chairman John Eaves, State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), former City CFO Peter Aman, former Council President Cathy Woolard, and Michael Sterling.

This APN Overview series is intended to give readers key facts about each 2017 Mayoral candidate from APN’s archives and research, in order to provide a big picture survey of the nine candidates across an array of factors, including which ones are more or less progressive.

In this analysis, we rely heavily on the voting record data in the APN Scorecards that we have developed for City Council (Norwood, Bottoms, Hall, Mitchell), State Legislature (Fort), and County Commission incumbents (Eaves).

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/05/17/atlanta-council-midterm-scorecard-2017-bottoms-at-bottom/

Because we have so much material, we are going to focus on two candidates in this round: Councilwoman Mary Norwood and Councilman Kwanza Hall.

MARY NORWOOD

Atlanta Progressive News endorsed Mary Norwood in 2009, when she was in a race with Kasim Reed, former Council President Lisa Borders, and two lesser known candidates.

In that race, we believed that Norwood was the more progressive candidate, and we were one of the only news publications to endorse Norwood.

Despite all the fearmongering about independent Norwood allegedly being a Republican in 2009, fueled by the tactics and playbook of then-Reed supporter State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), it turns out that Mr. Reed was the big business, big developer Mayor that APN predicted.

Reed pushed through–with the help of Peter Aman, then CFO of the City of Atlanta–a horrendous pension reform package opposed by labor.  Reed withheld Beltline TAD money from Atlanta Public Schools–with the help of Cathy Woolard who was on the Beltline’s Board–until they cried uncle and settled for less than owed.  Reed pushed through numerous major City asset sales with little or no public benefits.  Y’all would’ve thought Kasim Reed was Bernie Sanders the way some progressives were acting back in 2009.

This does not necessarily mean that APN will support Norwood again, as there is a completely different field this year.  However, as a previous APN endorsee, Norwood comes into this race with a rebuttable presumption of endorsability.

Norwood’s strengths are the same as they were in 2009 – she is accessible, she is independent, she is willing to stand up to developers and big money, she has relationships across the City, across racial and economic and party lines.  She will bring a new day to City Hall that would mark the end of the same big business-big developer alliance that has coopted the last several Mayoral regimes.

To be sure, Norwood hasn’t had any major legislative packages or initiatives since her return to Council, although in her previous term she led the charge for McMansion reform and scale-appropriate infill development.

Her APN Scorecard score is 47.4, including votes from 2003 to 2009, and then from 2009 to present.  Councilman Aaron Watson held the Post 2 at large seat from 2009 to 2013.  APN endorsed Norwood over Watson in 2013.

Some negative Norwood votes include: rolling back bar hours to 3 a.m. in 2003 (in 2009, she said she would reconsider the hours); supporting the 2005 panhandling ban that the City law department later admitted was unconstitutional; opposing funding for the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless in 2005; supporting limits to public comment delegations in 2014; and supporting eminent domain for the Task Force in 2015 and 2016.

Some positive Norwood votes include: supporting oversight of the AHA public housing demolitions in 2008; opposing privatization of streets surrounding Atlanta Underground in 2016.

KWANZA HALL

Kwanza Hall has been trying to position himself as a progressive candidate in more recent years, and it shows in the fact that his score has risen quite a bit on the APN Scorecard.

Hall’s current APN Scorecard score is 59.1, and includes votes taken from the start of his first Council term in 2006, to present.

He pushed through the sale of City Hall East, which is now Ponce City Market, for what might as well have been two nickles and a song, to developer Jamestown, without requiring that even a sliver of that giant parcel be dedicated to affordable housing.

While District 2 Councilman, he basically oversaw, unmitigated, the gentrification of the now-unaffordable Old Fourth Ward neighborhood, which has become Exhibit A of how not to develop in Atlanta.  He has similarly allowed the Mayor to offer Civic Center to the highest bidder.

He has also been a long-time opponent of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, and introduced several pieces of eminent domain legislation aimed at closing the shelter.

At the same time, he has authored several pieces of progressive legislation, including an ordinance drafted by APN’s Editor–the present writer–which opened up the Council’s Committee Briefings to the public in 2013.

He introduced legislation to roll back bar hours to 4 a.m., but he did not get support of a majority of Council.

He recently introduced pro-environmental legislation setting a clean energy goal for the City of Atlanta, although this was after he made widely critiqued comments at a Buckhead forum that he was a skeptic about climate change.

He also introduced a package of decriminalization legislation that would have potentially stricken a long list of municipal crimes, many of which were so-called “Quality of Life” Ordinances that target poor and homeless people.

After the Law Department agreed some items should be stricken because of state law conflicts or constitutional issues, the Council removed those items from the Code earlier this year.

However, several so-called Quality of Life ordinances on Hall’s original list remain crimes, and an effort to decriminalize the minor possession of cannabis (“marijuana”) stalled after a pathetic display by the Mayor and several Councilmembers in which it was asserted that decriminalizing cannabis would be too confusing for the general public so it’s better to keep arresting people.

Hall has not done enough to fight for his own legislation, which seems stalled, although he says that as Mayor he would implement decriminalization.

Hall is known to rely heavily on his staff in terms of working out the details of policy matters.  Many around City Hall have perceived it’s almost as if Hall’s Chief of Staff Jay Tribby been the de facto District 2 Councilman all these years.  You know and that’s fine because Mayors have to delegate.

Negative votes by Hall: opposed funding for the Task Force for the Homeless in 2007; opposed Council oversight of AHA public housing demolitions in 2008; supported privatization of street vending in 2008; supported the sale of City Hall East in 2010; supported the failed aggressive panhandling legislation and the City’s new panhandling legislation in 2012; supported the sale of Civic Center in 2014; supported eminent domain of the Task Force in 2015 and 2016; supported the sale of Turner Field in 2016.

Positive votes by Hall: opposed limits to public comment in 2010; opposed the Yolanda Adrean pension reform plan in 2011; supported extending bar hours to 4 a.m. in 2011; opposed the airport concessions contracts in 2012; opposed public comment limits in 2013; opposed the new Falcons stadium in 2013; opposed the Cheshire Bridge rezoning in 2013.

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — In our continuing coverage of the City of Atlanta 2017 Municipal Elections, we sat down with Atlanta City Councilman Alex Wan (District 6), who is running for Council President.

Previously, we interviewed Councilwoman Felicia Moore (District 9), who is also running for the seat.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/06/04/apn-interview-with-felicia-moore-council-president-candidate/

Councilman C.T. Martin (District 10), a third candidate for the seat, has not responded to two interview requests made through his campaign.

This week, Councilman Wan added his name to Surplus Property Affordable Housing legislation that is now co-sponsored by nine members of Council.

And in an interview with Atlanta Progressive News, he committed to support allowing public comment in Work Sessions.

Councilwoman Moore did not support requiring that public comment be allowed in Work Sessions.

Wan, who joined the Council in 2010 and has served two terms, has a 47.1 out of 100 on the most recently published APN Scorecard, which scores dozens of votes and other actions going back to 2003.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/05/17/atlanta-council-midterm-scorecard-2017-bottoms-at-bottom/

At times during his tenure on the Council, Wan did not appear to be as supportive of public comment and transparency.

For example, in February 2010, he voted to create as a priority the establishment of a new public comment limit that would apply to all seven Committees.  Councilwoman Moore conducted the vote at the urging of Wan and several newly elected Councilmembers at that time.

However, it took a 2012 Supreme Court of Georgia ruling for the citizens to learn how he voted, as he refused to disclose how he voted despite lengthy efforts by Atlanta Progressive News, which he described as “bullying.”

On May 11, 2010, he wrote the following to Peter Andrews in the City Law Department:

“I don’t appreciate this manner of bullying over a matter I believe he will have little or no grounds for any lawsuit…  That said, I wanted to make sure that as our counsel, you’re comfortable with my position and that if he does end up filing the lawsuit as threatened that the City is prepared to defend me and any other Councilmembers that choose not to submit to his tactics,” Wan wrote at the time.

APN’s News Editor–the present writer–sued the City of Atlanta in 2010, and the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled in 2012 that the details of the vote should have been recorded in the minutes, which were amended soon after the ruling.

Wan also upset many in Atlanta’s gay community when he introduced legislation intended to force out adult entertainment businesses, including some gay clubs, on Cheshire Bridge Road through a zoning change.  The legislation would have purported to end the grandfathered-in status of the existing establishments.

But now Mr. Wan is running to serve all of Atlanta, in a role that deals mostly with issues of Council process and public participation.

At one point, when Wan originally got on Council, he had the lowest score on the Scorecard, driven in part by his support for a pension reform proposal that would have made even worse cuts to existing City workers than the one that eventually passed.

Over the years, Wan seems to have become more progressive on certain issues and has shown more willingness to be independent from the Kasim Reed Administration.

For example, he opposed the new Falcons stadium in 2013, opposed the transfer of the Civic Center in 2014, opposed the privatization of streets surrounding Atlanta Underground in 2016, supported the decriminalization of cannabis in 2017, and supported the Turner Field Communities’ Trust Fund in 2017.

He tells Atlanta Progressive News that he has changed his views on public comment since when he first joined the Council.

“The first year, I wasn’t used to people calling me out like that,” Wan said.

Wan’s answers to APN’s questions regarding Council process issues are as follows:

SHOULD THE RULE LIMITING APPLAUSE AT COUNCIL MEETINGS BE AMENDED?  CURRENTLY, THE COUNCIL PRESIDENT HAS INCONSISTENTLY ENFORCED THIS RULE, WHILE APPLAUSE REMAINS ALLOWED DURING PROCLAMATIONS.

“I think I’ve kind of mellowed out on that.  I’m going to call the next speaker as if people are not applauding,” Wan said.

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH PROTESTERS?

“I’m trying to find my path through it – I don’t receive information well that way.  I try to sift through the package to get to the kernel.  The process still needs to be respectful in terms of decorum and time,” Wan said.

“I get frustrated because I’m sitting there listening.  When it comes time to explain my rationale, you can’t hear me when you’re talking as well, so I say, why bother?” Wan said.

“I try to establish ground rules.  I hold anyone really strict to it – that is the approach you kind of have to take,” Wan said.

Wan said that he would not be a lenient as Council President Ceasar Mitchell has been, but that he would not necessarily have people arrested.  

“We could have just recessed the meeting,” Wan said.

“If that’s the way that group wants to engage, they’ll have to find another way.”

“It starts cutting off paths forward.  You start kind of burning bridges and you lose the space of having a conversation.  Somebody said ‘I know where Ceasar lives,’” Wan said, referring to Haroun Wakil of Street Groomers, who frequently does, in fact, make such statements during public comment.

WHAT FACTORS WOULD YOU CONSIDER AS CRITERIA FOR COMMITTEE CHAIR?

Wan listed skill and interest in the topic of the committee.

THE COMMITTEE BRIEFINGS ARE NOW OPEN.  DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD BE VIDEOTAPED?

I don’t have a strong opinion about keeping them not videotaped.

The way I perceive Briefings is more procedural.  Other Councilmembers do it differently, with more debate.  I don’t think anybody would have an objection to it.

WHAT IS YOUR POSITION ON PUBLIC COMMENT AT COMMITTEES?  DO YOU STILL BELIEVE COMMITTEE CHAIR DISCRETION REGARDING PUBLIC COMMENT IS BEST?  DO YOU HAVE A PREFERENCE AS TO WHETHER THERE SHOULD BE A TIME LIMIT, AND WHETHER PUBLIC COMMENT SHOULD BE ALLOWED PRIOR TO VOTES ON INDIVIDUAL ITEMS (RATHER THAN JUST AT THE BEGINNING OR END OF THE MEETING)?

“I support Chair discretion.  I will firmly support a Committee Chair running the way as described.  The first couple years I probably had a harder line on this than I do now,” Wan admitted.

“After two months of general meetings, I was stunned at what I thought were not professionally done.  Start meetings on time,” Wan said.

“Being new to Committees and that public comment process, I thought public comment in certain instances felt obstructive… bogging down the process,” Wan said.

Yet, in Finance/Executive Committee, Wan said he thought the comments tended to be constructive.

“For three years, I chaired Finance/Executive Committee.  People could talk at the beginning or the end without limit.  There was appetite by Committee members to have the public comment be organic,” Wan said.

“I run my meeting very, very quickly,” Wan said.

Wan also said that as the former Chair of Zoning Committee he began allowing public comment on matters that did not also go before the Zoning Review Board.  Previous Committee Chairs had erroneously not been allowing public comment on any matters in Zoning, and Wan ended that practice.

SHOULD PUBLIC COMMENT BE ALLOWED AT WORK SESSIONS?

“I would say yes,” Wan said.

(END / Copyright Atlanta Progressive News / 2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — In our continuing coverage of the City of Atlanta 2017 Mayoral race, this article presents an overview of two candidates: State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) and former City Council President Cathy Woolard.

In Part One, Atlanta Progressive News presented an overview of Councilwoman Mary Norwood (Post 2-at-large) and Councilman Kwanza Hall (District 2).

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/07/04/atlanta-mayoral-race-2017-apn-overview-part-one-norwood-hall/

Additional candidates, who will be reviewed in forthcoming articles, are: Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms (District 11), Council President Ceasar Mitchell, Fulton County Chairman John Eaves, former City CFO Peter Aman, and Michael Sterling.

This APN Overview series is intended to give readers key facts about each 2017 Mayoral candidate from APN’s archives and research, in order to provide a big picture survey of the nine candidates across an array of factors, including which candidates are more or less progressive.

STATE SEN. VINCENT FORT

State Sen. Fort has been a true champion for wide array of progressive causes, most importantly for low-income and homeless people, for literally decades.

The Atlanta Progressive News archives are filled with dozens of examples of Sen. Fort speaking on behalf of the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Grady Hospital patients, public housing residents, and many more underserved communities.

Sen. Fort also is distinguished to have a 100 percent voting record on the APN State House and Senate Scorecard, which scores the Fulton and DeKalb County delegations.

Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that if elected, Sen. Fort will be the most progressive of all nine candidates on issues of community benefits, community-led development, affordable housing, and many other issues.

Another critical issue he has taken the lead on–along with Councilman Hall–is the decriminalization of cannabis, which he promises to support and make a priority.

He has garnered the support of many young activists in the progressive community, especially as someone who supported U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the Democratic nomination for President of the U.S. in 2016.

However, another factor to consider is that Sen. Fort is also a bridge-burner and a grudge-holder who, much like the current Mayor Kasim Reed, is prone to damage relationships.  Like Reed, Sen. Fort is known for the politics of attack.

In fact, as the third-top campaign person for Mayor Reed during the 2009 Mayoral Election, Fort and his protege, Rashad Taylor, were responsible for a brand of vicious attack mailers targeting independent candidate Mary Norwood in 2009.

This included a mailer comparing Norwood to several Republicans next to a picture of a giant elephant.

It would be ideal if there were a candidate in this race with a progressive voting record and a progressive activist record–like Sen. Fort clearly has–and the type of relationship skills that would allow the City of Atlanta to repair the bridges we’ve burned with Fulton County, with Atlanta Public Schools, with the media.

For the last eight years Mayor Reed has attacked nearly everyone who has dared question his judgment, including activists and non-profit leaders.  Reed has used the City’s communications office to issue vitriolic responses to articles written by Atlanta journalists.

Point of fact, Fort stopped talking to APN’s News Editor for five years after APN wrote an article in 2010 reporting on how he worked with his ally, now-former APS Board Chair, Khaatim El, to plan the ousting of now-former Chair LaChandra Butler Burks.  

Not all elected officials take that type of position with reporters.  APN has reported several things about Councilman Hall, for example, that could be construed as negative, and Hall has remained accessible.

Of the nine candidates running for Mayor, it appears most likely Sen. Fort and Councilwoman Bottoms would continue Reed’s incendiary leadership style at City Hall.

And yet, Fort has also used his voice consistently to speak up on behalf of the least of these.

Here are just a few examples:

2006

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2006/08/17/panhandling-ban-protested-again-one-year-later/

2007

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2007/01/31/homeless-women-may-be-evicted-en-masse-in-height-of-winter-update-1/

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2007/04/29/aha-quietly-passes-eviction-plan-amidst-shouting-public-unaware/

2008

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2008/03/14/grady-coalition-looks-to-future-vows-to-keep-fighting/

2009

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2009/04/29/activists-protest-wachovia-bank-over-foreclosures/

2011

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2011/10/07/happening-now-occupy-atlanta-occupying-woodruff-park/

2014

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2014/01/15/georgias-first-moral-monday-pushes-medicaid-expansion/

2016

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/04/26/gsu-press-release-misleads-on-so-called-community-plan-for-turner-field/

CATHY WOOLARD

Cathy Woolard served as Atlanta City Councilmember for District 6 from 1998 to 2002, and then ran for City Council President for a four year term that was supposed to run until 2006.

However, Woolard decided she wanted to run against then-U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) for the Democratic nomination, in a race eventually won by Denise Majette.

In our view, the fact that Woolard challenged U.S. Rep. McKinney is, in and of itself, enough to cause concern, given that McKinney was one of the most progressive and outspoken Members of U.S. Congress in recent history.

McKinney called out the fraud in the so-called case for the U.S. Invasion of Iraq; she dared to ask questions about 9/11; she called out trillions of dollars of missing military spending; she criticized Georgia’s electronic voting machines as not being reliable without a paper trail.

But the national media piled on McKinney when it was incorrectly reported that she theorized about a government conspiracy.  Woolard thought she had a ticket to Congress.

Woolard’s decision to not serve out her term cost Atlanta taxpayers a Special Election, won by Lisa Borders, who was so corporate.  We further hold Woolard responsible for six years of Lisa Borders.

Woolard, during her time on the City Council, became a champion for the mass gentrification project known as the Atlanta Beltline.

The Beltline recently admitted they have no intention of meeting their promises to produce thousands of new affordable housing opportunities — promises that were meant to mitigate the effects of gentrification caused by all the public investment associated with the Beltline.

Woolard has sat on the Beltline Board, and, as reported by APN, supported a budget that included no payments for Atlanta Public Schools, at a time when the Beltline owed APS millions of dollars.

Because the Beltline and the City of Atlanta held firm, APS, under duress, eventually agreed to accept less than they were owed.

Woolard really disappeared from City of Atlanta politics for over a decade, and it isn’t clear where she has used her influence to do anything but support the Beltline.

Now, we’ve been observing the Woolard campaign and are hearing her say some good things of late.   She is saying that surplus Beltline property should be used for affordable housing, and that is a great idea, especially if at least some the units are targeted for low-income families at 0 to 30 percent of the AMI.

She is saying to put a hold on Civic Center development so there can be more community involvement and public benefits.

She is calling for some good policies, but we have to judge someone not just by their current promises, but by their record; and one is left wondering, where has Woolard been all this time, except supporting the Beltline as a Board Member?

When a City Councilmember becomes the champion of a massive public project like the Beltline, and they don’t take the steps to make sure that gentrification is mitigated, then it seems that they share some responsibility for the harm caused by the displacement of low-income people.

APN has taken the position that Beltline is a bloated bureaucracy whose functions to date could be carried out by the City’s Planning Department and Parks and Recreation Department.

Where was the leadership to make sure that Beltline was spending the appropriate amount of dollars of affordable housing?  Where was the leadership to make sure that the City Council was passing proactive legislation to create affordable housing?

(END / Copyright Atlanta Progressive News / 2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — In our continuing coverage of the 2017 Municipal Elections, Atlanta Progressive News has distributed a questionnaire to several City Council candidates, and is planning to send out another round to another several candidates soon.

We will publish the questionnaire responses as they come in.

Dustin Hillis, an aide to Councilwoman Felicia Moore (District 9), is running to replace her in the Atlanta City Council, as Moore is running for City Council President.  Like so many circles of life, Moore herself was an aide to former Councilwoman Gloria Tinubu before running for Council.

Hillis has focused on demolishing blighted homes in District 9.

Hillis, who is White, is seeking to represent a majority Black district in northwest Atlanta that is also becoming increasingly diverse.  

The District, which includes the former Hollywood Courts and Bowen Homes public housing communities, is seeing substantial new investment from developers as well the related challenges of gentrification that are likely to become an increasing issue over the next four years.

Additional candidates for District 9 include Kwame Abernathy, William Harrison, Gabriel Levine, Jared Samples, and Darrius Snow.

Hillis is the first candidate to reply to the APN questionnaire out of about a dozen who have received them to date.

In this questionnaire, rather than ask open-ended questions, we tried to be as specific as possible, to get candidates’ positions about various proposals related to both substantive, progressive policy issues; as well as issues related to democratic participation in Council process.

CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ATLANTA PROGRESSIVE NEWS

1. What is your position on the following affordable housing proposals?

(a) Surplus Property Affordable Housing ordinance 17-O-1643.  Requiring that surplus city parcels that are suitable for use as housing be sold to nonprofit developers for $1 to develop affordable housing.

http://saportareport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Snapshot-168967.pdf

I support this ordinance, as sales of surplus city-owned land to non-profit developers is an identified best practice to meet affordable housing needs.

(b) Promoting the production and preservation of units at 0 to 30 percent AMI of the Area Median Income (AMI) across all City of Atlanta policies.  This is the income bracket with the greatest and fasting growing unmet need, whereas the recent trend in City housing policies has been to produce affordable units at higher levels of AMI.

I fully support policies that would promote more affordable housing preservation and development in the lower (0-30 percent) AMI category.

(c) Inclusionary Zoning, including as proposed in the Beltline Overlay District by Dickens et al. Requiring that new multi-family buildings include a certain percentage of affordable units, while giving incentives to the developer in the form of upzoning.

http://45tkhs2ch4042kf51f1akcju.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016.10.17.AFFORDABLE-WORKFORCE-HOUSING-BELTLINE-OVERLAY-DISTRICT.pdf

I support inclusionary zoning practices overall, and this certainly should be adopted in the Beltline Overlay District. This policy will not only help meet the dire need for affordable housing units near the BeltLine, but will do it in a way that benefits the community as a whole and developers as well.

(d) Adding form of housing payments (ie – Section 8 voucher) as a protected class to be protected from housing discrimination in the City of Atlanta – thus requiring that lessors cannot discriminate against an applicant solely because they have a Section 8 voucher.

I support further discouragement of housing discrimination by adding form of housing payments/source of income as a protected class in the City of Atlanta.

(e) Creating a baseline inventory of Atlanta’s existing affordable housing stock.

I support creating a baseline inventory of our existing affordable housing stock, as well as projecting and updating that inventory.

(f) Exploring property tax reforms, including seeking State Legislature to pass enabling laws: (1) to allow lower tax rates based on income; (2) to allow tax breaks for lessors who keep rental rates affordable; and/or (3) to allow tax breaks for nonprofit developers.

I support working with our state partners to enact legislation that would allow the City of Atlanta to pass meaningful property tax breaks for lower income residents, providers of affordable housing, and non-profit developers.

(g) Offering grant assistance to property owners of aging multi-family apartment buildings, in return for securing promises to keep the units affordable.

I support some form of grant assistance to owners of older, multi-family apartment complexes, as long as the grant is somehow tied to ensuring the property meets and maintains code compliance in regard to highly hazardous and property maintenance violations. This would not only keep the units affordable, but also keep them in a presentable condition.

(h) Exploring the increased use of community land trusts;

Yes, I support exploring more usage of CLTs in Atlanta.

(i) Increased use of Tiny Houses and accessory dwellings, including appropriate zoning changes;

Yes, I am hopeful this can be addressed with the City’s zoning rewrite, if not sooner. I am enthusiastically watching Clarkston’s treatment of tiny houses and would support pushing the City of Atlanta to be the most recent municipality to allow for domiciles under 500 sq. ft.

(j) Creation of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund;

I fully support the creation of an affordable housing trust fund in the City of Atlanta in order to fill our affordable housing needs.

(k) Use City of Atlanta median for purpose of determining Area Median Income, rather than Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta.

I agree with most of the assessments that state AMI numbers used for many affordable housing formulas are too high. Given those who would be impacted by Atlanta’s affordable housing policies would live within the City of Atlanta, usage of City of Atlanta AMI would be more appropriate in our affordable housing legislation.

DEMOCRACY AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

2.               Do you support using general fund revenue to create a public financing campaign system for Municipal Elections, much like the Democracy Voucher program in Seattle, Washington?

http://www.seattle.gov/democracyvoucher

Yes, I support looking into “clean/honest elections” measures that could be implemented in the City of Atlanta and ultimately letting voters decide if they support their tax dollars being used to support candidates.

3.               Do you support limiting or prohibiting campaign contributions from individuals doing business with the City of Atlanta, or from individuals employed by entities doing business with the City of Atlanta?

Yes, I support prohibiting campaign contributions from individuals or businesses (and their employees) during the time that they have an item on a City Council agenda.

4.               If appointed Chair of a Council Committee, or if asked as a Committee Member to vote on a public comment policy pertaining to a Council Committee, would you be open to the idea of no time limit for public comments?  If not, why not?

I am an enthusiastic supporter of the first amendment, specifically, and free speech, generally. I have a long record as a neighborhood association officer of allowing completely free in-person and online debates on issues impacting our community without censoring or limiting comments.

However, I’ve also had the honor of working at City Hall for two years with Councilwoman Felicia Moore, and I’ve seen plenty of times when Council members were too stringent with public comments (the more common occurrence) and some instances where extremely extended public comment periods were used as a political tool to prevent/delay votes or other important Council business.

In order to ensure the work of Council gets done in a respectable timeframe, I support time limits for each commenter. However, I do believe that time limits should be longer in committee meetings than in full council meetings, given committees are where most of the work on items gets accomplished.

5.               Relatedly, would you allow citizens to make public comment on individual items as they come up on the agenda, or should public comment be restricted to the beginning and/or end of the meeting?  

I support a dedicated public comment period at the beginning of meetings. Regarding committees, I believe each committee and/or its chair should be able to set their own rules governing public comment.

6.               Would you support a change to the City Charter allowing the public to comment at Work Sessions?  Currently, there is only the right to comment at Full Council and Council Committee.

I support public comment at work sessions on a case-by-case basis. It is important that work sessions fully serve their purpose in allowing the Council to work with the administration and its departments to get more understanding and clarity on issues.

7.               Do you believe Committee Briefings should be videotaped and made open to the public?

I am strongly supportive of committee briefings being open to the public. I do not feel strongly either way on the official city videotaping of the briefings.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

8.               Do you support reforming City of Atlanta municipal code to eliminate the possibility of jail time for possession of one ounce or less of cannabis in the City of Atlanta (i.e. – decriminalization)?

I support decriminalization of marijuana. However, if this is done on a local level, it must be accompanied by an aggressive information campaign that educates citizens of the fact possession is still a violation of state and federal law, and they can be arrested/jailed for violating those respective laws.

BAR HOURS

9.               Do you support extending bar hours to 4 a.m.?

I do not currently support extending bar hours. This position could change if Atlanta would effectively enforce current state and local laws regarding liquor license violations. Additionally, if establishments have increased violations and crimes, the City should be able to take swift and decisive action against that business up to and including revocation of their alcohol permit and business license. If a bar is too dangerous to allow APD officers to work off-duty shifts there, it should also be deemed too dangerous for citizens and closed. Otherwise, a few bad apples are truly ruining the whole bunch.

So in summary, if Atlanta punished bad operators more effectively, I would be more encouraged to support extending bar hours.

ENVIRONMENT

10.            Do you support the increased use of solar panels and other renewable energy at City-owned buildings?

Yes. Furthermore, I believe the city should look at developing solar and methane-powered renewable energy generation at its closed landfill sites and any other city-owned land that would be able to produce renewable energy.

11.            How should the City of Atlanta change its policies and practices to promote more recycling by residents and businesses?

I would support expanding DPW’s Solid Waste Education and Enforcement Team, so the city can more effectively evaluate and educate citizens in regards to contaminated bins. This would not only include non-recyclables being placed in recycling bins, but also recyclables placed into regular waste bins. I would also support looking into usage/expansion of RFID technology on bins and rewards programs to incentivize recycling.

I also believe the city must find an innovative way to encourage recycling, or at least proper disposal, of used tires instead of illegal dumping of them. This is a very severe problem in District 9 and across other areas of the city. We can modify/enact measures at the local level, but we will also need to work with our state partners to modify/enact state measures.

TAXES

12.            Do you believe the City of Atlanta sales tax rate is too high, and would you support any portion of the sales tax rate not being renewed?  If so, which portion and why?

With the current City of Atlanta sales tax now totaling 8.9%, I would be hard-pressed to support any more additional increases, given how regressive sales taxes are. I would support renewing the water/sewer, MARTA, and transportation MOSTs, given I believe those are vital to repairing and improving important infrastructure in our city.

TRANSPORTATION

13.            Which of the several public transportation projects that have been proposed do you think deserve the highest priority?  Current proposals include several MARTA rail line extensions in several directions; the Beltline and various street car lines; and several other projects.

I believe Atlanta would see the largest transportation benefit by extending/adding more heavy and light rail lines. This includes the Red Line extension and the Clifton Corridor. I would also be interested in the possibility of extending the Green Line up the Perry Blvd or Marietta Blvd corridor.

PEDESTRIAN ACCESS

14.            What is your plan to make Atlanta more safe for pedestrians and to provide Atlanta’s pedestrians with safe passage in the form of sidewalks?

Our city must continue to establish more sidewalks and crosswalks and replace those that do not meet ADA standards. The lack of sidewalks is an egregious problem in District 9, given a majority of the district was not annexed into the city until 1952, and the city has done little since then to address the issue. One example I like to give is that I live within 1.5 miles of three City of Atlanta parks and none of them are safely accessible via sidewalk, with even main roads having gaps in the sidewalk and lacking proper crosswalk markings & signals.

I would be a strong advocate for the city to more aggressively fund sidewalk improvements, sidewalk repairs, crosswalk improvements, and additional pedestrian safety measures.

COUNCIL OPERATIONS

15.            Do you support restricting Council Office expenditures to staff and constituent outreach?  Currently, some Council offices use their funds to run their offices, while others use some of their funds to allocate grants to pet projects in their district.

I do not support this, as I believe having the ability to bring important projects to your district is needed when departmental budgets do not fulfill needs. However, I would want to ensure these funds/projects are spread equitably throughout the district and would support some additional restrictions/oversight.

ATTENDANCE

16.            If elected, would you still be employed in any other outside full-time or part-time employment, aside from your salaried position at City Hall?  If so, what will that outside employment be?

I am currently an ICU nurse at Emory University Hospital. I dropped down from fulltime to part-time in January to focus on the campaign. If elected to City Council, I would further reduce my commitment to my current career by dropping down to a “PRN” (pro re nata/ as needed) employee. This would only require me to work two 12-hour shifts per month, while also allowing me to still meet the state requirements to maintain my professional licensure. These shifts would of course be scheduled on days when there are no official Council meetings.

As our next City Council member I believe there are a long list of challenges and opportunities facing District 9, and I plan on being available both at City Hall and in the district when families and businesses need me. My family has already made the necessary changes to help make this happen – we are all in.

17.            If elected, do you commit to sitting in your chair during the public comment portions of Full Council and Committee Meetings to actually listen to the public?

Yes, public comment is an important part of our democratic process, especially on the local level. Furthermore, I believe committee meetings should not begin until a quorum is met and should be recessed in the event the quorum is lost.

18.            Do you support linking Councilmember salary to meeting attendance, except in the case of a documented excuse?

I would support an ordinance that garnishes a council member’s wage due to an unexcused absence from a meeting of full council or an assigned committee meeting.

(END/2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — In our continuing coverage of the City of Atlanta 2017 Mayoral race, this article presents an overview of two candidates: former City of Atlanta Chief Financial Officer Peter Aman and Atlanta City Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms (District 11).

In Part One, Atlanta Progressive News presented an overview of Councilwoman Mary Norwood (Post 2-at-large) and Councilman Kwanza Hall (District 2).

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/07/04/atlanta-mayoral-race-2017-apn-overview-part-one-norwood-hall/

In Part Two, APN presented an overview of former City Council President Cathy Woolard and State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta).

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2017/08/06/atlanta-mayoral-race-2017-apn-overview-part-two-fort-woolard/

Additional candidates, who will be reviewed in forthcoming articles, are: Council President Ceasar Mitchell, Fulton County Chairman John Eaves, and Michael Sterling.  Sneak preview: the Mitchell installment is expected to be devastating.

This APN Overview series is intended to give readers key facts about each 2017 Mayoral candidate from APN’s archives and research, in order to provide a big picture survey of the nine candidates across an array of factors, including which candidates are more or less progressive.

PETER AMAN

Mr. Aman, prior to joining the Mayor Kasim Reed administration in 2010 as Chief Operating Officer (COO), was a partner with Bain & Company (“Bain”).

Bain Capital became the subject of national attention during the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election, when President Barack Obama criticized then-Republican nominee Mitt Romney for his work as a founding partner of Bain Capital.

An ad by the Obama campaign recalled how Bain Capital acquired Kansas City’s GST Steel in 1993 and then filed bankruptcy.  The steelworkers were denied full pension and health insurance, and the federal government had to bail out the pension plan.

“It’s like a vampire,” a steel worker said of Bain Capital.  “They came in and sucked the life out of us.”

“It’s like watching an old friend bleed to death,” another said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWiSFwZJXwE

Shortly after the new Atlanta City Council came took office in 2010, Mayor Reed and COO Aman set forth to reform Atlanta’s pension plan using the same type of anti-labor policy proposals and tactics that are characteristic of Bain’s playbook.

The administration’s first plan and the second plan offered by Councilwoman Yolanda Adrean (District 8) would not only have completely cut most or all of the defined benefits for future City workers–replacing them with what are called “defined contributions”–the changes would have applied to existing City workers as well.

Mr. Aman was instrumental in both crafting and defending to Council these draconian proposals, which would have likely faced strong court challenges.  The administration’s first proposal was called a “clawback” because they were going to be clawing back earned benefits from existing City workers.

Six Councilmembers–Felicia Moore (District 9), Natalyn Archibong (District 5), Michael Julian Bond (Post 1-at-large), CT Martin (District 10), Kwanza Hall (District 2), Joyce Sheperd (District 12)–held up the Aman/Adrean proposal through their stated opposition.

The reform plan that eventually passed Council was based on a counterproposal crafted by Councilwoman Moore along with the unions, who agreed to make additional contributions out of their paychecks in order to keep their defined benefits.

The pension debacle defines Aman.  He was so willing to break promises to existing workers, and to cut their benefits.

In 2012, then-President Obama explained the difference between the role of President and the role of a partner at a private equity firm, and the difference applies here.

“If your main argument for how to grow the economy is, ‘I knew how to make a lot of money for investors,’ then you are missing what this job is about,” President Obama said in 2012.

“It doesn’t mean you weren’t good at private equity.  But that’s not what my job is as President. My job is to take into account everybody, not just some.”

Councilwoman Adrean, who is not seeking reelection, has endorsed Mr. Aman.

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS

Behind the smiling face of Keisha Lance Bottoms is someone who has launched vicious verbal attacks at Atlanta citizens from the podium – in particular, she has verbally attacked citizen advocate Ron Shakir on several occasions.

The admitted to this at a recent Mayoral debate hosted by the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, when asked by journalist Maria Saporta how she would be different than Mayor Kasim Reed.

“I’ll smile when I cut you,” Bottoms said, at the 1:08:45 point in the video posted by Georgia Voice magazine.  Presumably, this is different than Reed because he doesn’t smile when “cutting you.”

https://thegavoice.com/mayoral-candidates-talk-lgbt-inclusivity-atlanta-gay-chamber/

Atlanta Progressive News has uploaded to Youtube a two-part series of an exchange between Bottoms and Shakir at a 2015 Council Committee Meeting – just one example of many similar events.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mukUCHaJTrA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGRcDpmUHWM

Probably the best example, though: Georgia Unfiltered posted this video of another 2015 exchange between Councilwoman Bottoms and opponents of City of Atlanta annexation at a Full Council Meeting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6L4I54enxA

Bottoms appears at the literal bottom of the Atlanta Progressive News City Council Scorecard, which scores dozens of votes by the Atlanta City Council going back to 2003.

She has a 31.3, or an F, according to the most recent Scorecard.

http://bit.ly/2ixKV6s

Here is a review of some of the votes she has taken, which APN believes reveals her to be one of the most dangerous, potentially very harmful candidates for Mayor:

• She immediately came onto the Council wanting to limit public comment.  She has supported limiting public comment several times.

• She supported the Aman/Adrean pension reform plan (discussed above).

• Look, at one point now-former Councilman Lamar Willis had a plan to reduce the independence of the ethics officer by allowing the Council to choose the officer from a list of three candidates, instead of by making an up or down vote.  The ordinance was criticized so harshly that even Willis voted to reject his own measure; Bottoms supported it.

• She supported the sale of City Hall East without requirements for affordable housing and no public benefits;

• She supported the questionnable Airport Concessions process of 2012;

• She opposed legislation by Councilwoman Moore to ban the use of bullhooks on elephants by circuses in City of Atlanta limits;

• She supported the new Falcons stadium;

• She supported the failed Cheshire Bridge rezoning which would have purported to “amortize,” or phase out, the grandfathered-in status of several adult entertainment establishments;

• She supported the transfer of Civic Center for sale, without public benefits or required affordable housing;

• She supported eminent domain for the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless;

• She supported the privatization of downtown streets around Underground Atlanta; and

• She opposed the decriminalization of cannabis.

While serving as Councilwoman, she also accepted a second full-time appointed position from Mayor Reed as the Executive Director of the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority.

As someone who never saw a request from Mayor Reed that couldn’t be supported, Bottoms was apparently placed at AFCRA in order to carry out Reed’s agenda as it relates to the sale of the former Turner Field site.

Bottoms allowed for the Request for Proposals for the Turner Field redevelopment to go out prior to the finalization of the Livable Centers Initiative Study or the creation of a Community Benefits Agreement.

This action by Bottoms put the community in defense.  Since then, the community has achieved a Trust Fund for community benefits with several funding sources.  

However, if community benefits like affordable housing had been required in the RFP, the community wouldn’t be left begging and protesting like they are today.

(END / Copyright Atlanta Progressive News / 2017).

UPDATE 1 and CORRECTIONS: (1) A previous version of this article stated that Bain & Company was the subject of criticism by the Obama Campaign in 2012; however, it was a separate, related entity called Bain Capital that was at issue at that time.  We have received a correction request to this effect from Bain & Co.’s Global Public Relations specialist.

(2) A previous version of this article stated that Aman was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the City of Atlanta; in fact, he was the Chief Operating Officer (COO).

(APN) ATLANTA — In our continuing coverage of the City of Atlanta 2017 Municipal Elections, this article presents the questionnaire responses of Amir Farokhi, who is running for Atlanta City Council District 2.

The District 2 seat, which includes much of Downtown and Midtown, as well as Old Fourth Ward, is currently held by Kwanza Hall, who is running for Mayor of Atlanta.

Farokhi ran in 2009 for the Post 2-at-large seat (not the District 2 seat), and went into a Run-off with now-former Councilman Aaron Watson, who held the Post 2-at-large seat from 2010 to 2013.

Following his election loss in 2009, Farokhi went on to serve as Executive Director of Georgia Forward, an organization he co-founded that was “incubated” by Central Atlanta Progress.  

Central Atlanta Progress is a downtown business organization whose policy agenda for Downtown Atlanta has involved a conspiracy to sabotage the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless; the criminalization of panhandling; and the harassment of homeless people.

In 2013, Farokhi stepped down as Georgia Forward CEO, and Howard Franklin–who has served as Farokhi’s campaign manager in 2009 and currently in 2017–became CEO of the organization.  

Farokhi currently works for Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm which, among other things, has been described as the “Bain Capital of public education.”  BCG has been a leading proponent of privatization and charter schools.

Farokhi also has close ties to A.J. Robinson of Central Atlanta Progress (CAP).  Robinson serves as Board President of Georgia Forward, and appears to have a close working relationship with both Farokhi and Franklin.

In an interview, Farokhi said he is not the Central Atlanta Progress candidate in the District 2 race.

“My nonprofit was incubated by CAP.  They gave us office space.  I was never an employee of CAP.  I take particular issue with taking a more heavy-handed approach on the panhandling question,” Farokhi told Atlanta Progressive News.

“I think we need to be more… [supportive of] human dignity.  We don’t have the best history of that in Atlanta.  I don’t necessarily agree with CAP’s approach.  Sometimes they are right, and sometimes they’re not right,” Farokhi said.

Aside from his run for Council in 2009, Farokhi has had little or no involvement in City of Atlanta issues.

Five candidates have qualified, including Farokhi, Stephon Ferguson, Zelda Jackson, Nick Mulkey, and Lauren Welsh.  APN emailed a questionnaire to Welsh on August 03, and she confirmed receipt on August 05.  APN will be sending out more questionnaires shortly.

Farokhi’s responses are as follows:

What is your position on the following affordable housing proposals?

Surplus Property Affordable Housing ordinance 17-O-1643

Requiring that surplus city parcels that are suitable for use as housing be sold to nonprofit developers for $1 to develop affordable housing.

http://saportareport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Snapshot-168967.pdf

I support this ordinance.

Promoting the production and preservation of units at 0 to 30 percent AMI of the Area Median Income (AMI) across all City of Atlanta policies.  This is the income bracket with the greatest and fastest growing unmet need, whereas the recent trend in City housing policies has been to produce affordable units at higher levels of AMI.

I agree that those making 0-30% tend to be overlooked in the affordable housing conversation today. Whether it’s through inclusionary zoning, community land trusts, repurposing existing properties through AHA or Invest Atlanta incentives, or protecting existing low-income housing, we must be mindful to protect and grow housing options for those who are most vulnerable in the housing conversation.

Inclusionary Zoning, including as proposed in the Beltline Overlay District by Dickens et al. Requiring that new multi-family buildings include a certain percentage of affordable units, while giving incentives to the developer in the form of upzoning.

http://45tkhs2ch4042kf51f1akcju.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016.10.17.AFFORDABLE-WORKFORCE-HOUSING-BELTLINE-OVERLAY-DISTRICT.pdf

I fully support this legislation though would have liked for it to provide for housing for those making between 45-60% AMI (it currently calls for 60-80% AMI).

Adding form of housing payments (ie – Section 8 voucher) as a protected class to be protected from housing discrimination in the City of Atlanta – thus requiring that lessors cannot discriminate against an applicant solely because they have a Section 8 voucher.

I support this in theory but would like to learn more about APN’s view of how this might look legislatively.

Creating a baseline inventory of Atlanta’s existing affordable housing stock.

I fully support an inventory that also leads to a plan of action for promoting and fostering economic diversity in housing across the City.

Exploring property tax reforms, including seeking State Legislature to pass enabling laws: (1) to allow lower tax rates based on income; (2) to allow tax breaks for lessors who keep rental rates affordable; and/or (3) to allow tax breaks for nonprofit developers.

I support lobbying the City of Atlanta delegation to create more property tax tools to incentivize development of high-quality affordable housing. What those reforms should be remains to be seen though those listed in this question are all worthy of exploring. To be effective in lobbying the state on these issues, the City will need to find active allies across the state and in the nonprofit development sector.

Offering grant assistance to property owners of aging multi-family apartment buildings, in return for securing promises to keep the units affordable.

I support this idea. However, we need to prioritize the tools available to the City to create and incentivize affordable housing. Protecting existing affordable housing can minimize displacement and reduce development costs. I would also like to see any legislation in this vein have building standards that ensure updated units energy efficient and renovated to a standard that does not ignore the quality of life of those who will reside in the unit.

Exploring the increased use of community land trusts;

Yes, I support increased use of community land trusts. This is tougher in District 2 given the high cost of land right now but we have great opportunity across the City to use community land trusts to build affordable housing and equity.

Increased use of Tiny Houses and accessory dwellings, including appropriate zoning changes;

Yes, I support accessory dwellings, and zoning to support them, though they cannot alone be relied upon to solve our affordable housing challenges. They are one tool to be used to create affordable housing.

Creation of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund;

Yes, insofar as it focuses on building and renovating housing for those making 0-50% AMI. I would also like to explore requiring developers who build market rate housing to contribute to an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, relative to the cost of their development, and that such funds be used to support additional affordable units near the market-rate development.

Use City of Atlanta median for purpose of determining Area Median Income, rather than Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta.

Yes, absolutely. This is a key component of my affordable housing platform. If we are going to talk about solutions for Atlanta, let’s use the actual AMI for the City itself, which is lower than for the region.

DEMOCRACY AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Do you support using general fund revenue to create a public financing campaign system for Municipal Elections, much like the Democracy Voucher program in Seattle, Washington?

I love the idea of this and am in favor of exploring a program similar to Seattle’s. The role of money in politics can overwhelm and diminish the voices of those without wealth or power. Restoring equity and empowering all residents to participate to the election process is something at which we need to examine closely.

Do you support limiting or prohibiting campaign contributions from individuals doing business with the City of Atlanta, or from individuals employed by entities doing business with the City of Atlanta?

In part, yes. I support the exploration of banning contractor political contributions one year before bidding and limiting successful bidders to $250 candidate contributions after that period with aggregate total limit contributions from a corporation holding a city contract of $2,600 annually. I do not support banning campaign contributions from individuals employed by entities doing business with the City of Atlanta. Until we have public financing system for municipal elections, we need to be fair to individuals who wish to exercise their personal right to contribute to candidates. I support exploring banning contracted entities from contributing to candidates.

If appointed Chair of a Council Committee, or if asked as a Committee Member to vote on a public comment policy pertaining to a Council Committee, would you be open to the idea of no time limit for public comments?  If not, why not?  

I am in favor of ensuring that the public is heard at City Hall. For committee meetings, the City Council needs to balance the need for robust public comment with the efficiency of conducting meetings. While in theory, no time limit to public comment sounds equitable and fair, it runs the risk of grinding meetings to a filibuster-style delay. I am open to lengthening the time for public comment where there is heightened public interest on an issue and, more efficiently, finding new ways for the public to contribute to committee input, including real time online comments and collection of comments before a hearing from those that cannot attend but want to speak up.

Seattle has actually been ambitious in widening the net for public input beyond traditional neighborhood groups and homeowners. Recognizing that many residents are not property owners with jobs that allow them to attend an evening meeting, Seattle has worked to reach out to renters, young people, immigrants, and others who have often not been traditionally solicited for public input on policy decisions. Approaches have included telephone town halls, booths and tables at festivals and apartment complexes, etc. We should look to gather input from a wider array of residents as well.

Relatedly, would you allow citizens to make public comment on individual items as they come up on the agenda, or should public comment be restricted to the beginning and/or end of the meeting?  

I am always open to a more dynamic and engaging meeting process if it is balanced the need to address council business in a timely manner. I welcome the opportunity to talk further with APN on what this could look like.

Would you support a change to the City Charter allowing the public to comment at Work Sessions?  Currently, there is only the right to comment at Full Council and Council Committee.

Again, I’m not sure. Typically, working sessions should be used to do some of the “heavy lifting” before a committee meeting. Perhaps there is a way to solicit public input via online submission before and during the meeting.

Do you believe Committee Briefings should be videotaped?

No.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

Do you support reforming City of Atlanta municipal code to eliminate the possibility of jail time for possession of one ounce or less of cannabis in the City of Atlanta (i.e. – decriminalization)?

Yes.  Additionally, I hope Governor Deal’s Criminal Justice Reform commission will address this issue at the state level.

BAR HOURS

Do you support extending bar hours to 4 a.m.?

No. While I believe a vibrant nightlife is part of any great city, until our public safety resources and staffing are sufficient to maintain public safety in high traffic nightlife areas, I’m not in favor of extending bar hours to 4 a.m.

ENVIRONMENT

Do you support the increased use of solar panels and other renewable energy at City-owned buildings?

Yes. I have called for City operations to be powered with 100% renewable and/or clean energy by 2035. Solar should play a major role in that.

Moreover, we should explore ways to increase private commercial and residential solar use. One approach is through a community solar project in which residents share access to solar power. Rather than burdening the power grid through net metering (the process of selling excess energy back to power utilities), provide city residents/businesses who don’t have the desire/means to invest in solar themselves with a communal plan through which they might share the energy produced by government building solar panels. In addition to solar panels, we should explore investing in microgrid technology which would allow the energy created/consumed by community solar panels to be stored/traded amongst members of the sharing project rather than selling it directly back to the power utility.

How should the City of Atlanta change its policies and practices to promote more recycling by residents and businesses?

A few ideas: Increase the number of small, public recycling centers, whether run by the city or a non-profit, for residents to drop off recyclables, particularly those who live in multi-family dwellings that may not have recycling service.

Publicize recycling in a fun, meaningful way for residents and visitors. Houston has used artistically-designed recycling trucks to boost curbside recycling.

Partner with cultural and entertainment institutions to offer discounts to those who participate fully in curbside recycling.

TAXES

Do you believe the City of Atlanta sales tax rate is too high, and would you support any portion of the sales tax rate not being renewed?  If so, which portion and why?

Our sales tax is among the highest in the country. Yet, given that City residents, through property taxes, pay a disproportionate amount toward city services that serve tens of thousands of non-Atlantans every day, our sales tax components are well placed. The TSPLOST, MARTA, and MOST components of our 8.9% sales tax rate are critical to addressing our infrastructure backlog and future demands. If permitted by the state, I am also in favor of a 1/10 penny tax that would be dedicated for the arts. I am against a sales tax rate that climbs higher than 9% in the coming 5 years but am supportive of our current sales tax rate insofar as the City and its voters can control it.

In order to reduce the heavier impact a high sales tax has on our low-income residents and move toward lowering the sales tax rate, we must, in part, find new revenue streams for the City for which non-residents bear a larger burden (e.g., a higher parking tax) alongside increasing efficiency in City operations to reduce operating costs.

TRANSPORTATION

Which of the several public transportation projects that have been proposed do you think deserve the highest priority?  Current proposals include several MARTA rail line extensions in several directions; the Beltline and various street car lines; and several other projects.

The Crosstown Midtown street car extension. Transit that connects people to jobs, especially east-west connectivity is a massive area of concern. This proposed streetcar extension runs across the middle of the city, from one side of the Beltline to the other: from Bankhead MARTA station across North Avenue to Ponce City Market. To be meaningful and connect to the existing streetcar, this would also require the Luckie Street extension. This Crosstown Midtown extension would fill a transit gap, connect existing residential centers on the west and east sides of the City with job centers in Downtown and Midtown, and tie into MARTA train stations. Built-in ridership/demand from the start and will do wonders to build momentum and ridership for the anemic streetcar. And, of course, alleviate traffic in rapidly growing sectors of town.

Clifton Corridor MARTA’s proposed Light Rail Transit line to connect Emory/CDC to existing MARTA stations. One of our region’s largest job centers should be accessible via transit. This would spur innovative TOD and reduce congestion in the northeast area of our city.

Pedestrian infrastructure: safe new sidewalks, new crosswalks, with an eye to complete streets that encourage walking. We neglect our sidewalks in an alarming way, especially as more and more residents walk, age in place, and raise families in the City. In my view, neglect of this magnitude on basic services reinforces the assumption that City Hall cares little about the ordinary taxpayer. We can do better.

PEDESTRIAN ACCESS

What is your plan to make Atlanta more safe for pedestrians and to provide Atlanta’s pedestrians with safe passage in the form of sidewalks?

Sidewalks are a public asset and should be maintained and repaired by the City. As our density increases and residents have the ability and desire to walk more places, we must ensure that our sidewalks are safe, clean, and well-designed. A parent pushing a child in stroller, a citizen out for a walk, or a senior trying to get to the bus, shouldn’t have to worry about tripping and falling on broken sidewalk. Our city deserves sidewalk infrastructure befitting of livable, world-class city.

I will work for, among others: A full inventory of sidewalks and crosswalks in District 2, and elsewhere in the City;

A city ordinance that removes Public Works’ authority to bill property owners for repairs to sidewalks;

A minimum amount of $20-25 million, from the City’s Public Improvement and Infrastructure Account or the City’s general fund, dedicated to sidewalk construction, maintenance, and repair, each fiscal year;

A City budget that includes specific funds for sidewalk repair in District 2 neighborhoods;

Stiffer penalties for construction sites that damage sidewalks or illegally remove access to sidewalks;

Sidewalks that are protected and accessible during construction; and

A public campaign educating commuters to respect and yield to pedestrians as they enter the City; and

Ask APD to enforce vehicle infractions against those crossing the street legally.

COUNCIL OPERATIONS

Do you support restricting Council Office expenditures to staff and constituent outreach?  Currently, some Council offices use their funds to run their offices, while others use some of their funds to allocate grants to pet projects in their district.

I commit to using my Council Office budget on staff, policy development, and constituent outreach. Indeed, I see the benefit of limiting all Councilmembers to the same but I would need to learn the history of the rules and their intent before forming a full opinion on the matter. Ultimately, Councilmembers should be focused on the work of legislating, not currying favor with voters through pet projects. However, in some communities, where the City has failed to deliver services, I can understand why a Councilmember may use his/her council funds to fill a gap (e.g., sidewalk repair, etc.).

ATTENDANCE

If elected, would you still be employed in any other outside full-time or part-time employment, aside from your salaried position at City Hall?  If so, what will that outside employment be?

Yes.  If elected, I will have to leave my current place of employment (BrightHouse/Boston Consulting Group) due to company policy intended to avoid conflicts of interest for the company. If elected, I will find new full-time employment aside from serving on City Council. It is too early to know what that employment will be.

If elected, do you commit to sitting in your chair during the public comment portions of Full Council and Committee Meetings to actually listen to the public?

Yes.

Do you support linking Councilmember salary to meeting attendance, except in the case of a documented excuse?

No.

(END / Copyright Atlanta Progressive News / 2017)

(APN) ATLANTA — In our continuing coverage of the 2017 Municipal Elections, this article presents the questionnaire responses of Jason Dozier, who is running for the District 4 seat on the Atlanta City Council.

Cleta Winslow–whose service on City Council has been plagued by one ethics scandal after another, in addition to a charge of Driving Under the Influence–currently represents District 4.  Winslow also has one of the poorest attendance records on the Council.

Every four years, Winslow is challenged by an array of District 4 candidates, and manages to survive unscathed.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2014/07/02/councilwoman-winslow-faces-fourth-ethics-investigation-talk-of-possible-removal/

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2013/06/19/councilwoman-winslow-has-unpaid-liens-faces-new-ethics-charges/

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/11/23/o-cleta-where-art-thou-winslow-misses-38-of-council-meetings/

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2014/02/16/councilwoman-winslow-pleads-guilty-to-dui-despite-prior-denials/

This year, Winslow faces several opponents, including Dozier, Winslow, MR Adassa, Christopher Brown, Nick Hess, Kimberly Parmer, Shawn Walton, Jonathan R. Whitfield, Sister DeBorah Williams, and Elizabeth Whitmore.

APN will be sending questionnaires out another round of questionnaires shortly.

Dozier has previously served as a spokesperson for the Turner Field Community Benefit Coalition.

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2016/05/01/community-finalizes-benefit-agreement-request-as-turner-field-redevelopment-moves-forward-unphased/

http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2016/02/18/turner-field-neighbors-call-for-community-benefits-agreement/

In addition, he has served as Executive Director of the Young Democrats of Georgia, and Vice President for the Mechanicsville Civic Association.

Dozier’s responses to the APN Questionnaire were as follows:

What is your position on the following affordable housing proposals?

Surplus Property Affordable Housing ordinance 17-O-1643.  Requiring that surplus city parcels that are suitable for use as housing be sold to nonprofit developers for $1 to develop affordable housing.

I support this legislation.  From a labor and materials perspective, it costs as much to build a 2,000 square foot house in Buckhead as it does in Oakland City.  But the land values are vastly different, which ultimately drives up of the cost of housing in in-demand neighborhoods. This legislation is a great way to stabilize land prices and increase affordable housing access to all residents.

Promoting the production and preservation of units at 0 to 30 percent AMI of the Area Median Income (AMI) across all City of Atlanta policies.  This is the income bracket with the greatest and fasting growing unmet need, whereas the recent trend in City housing policies has been to produce affordable units at higher levels of AMI.

I fully support updating the AMI formulas to protect our most vulnerable neighbors.

Inclusionary Zoning, including as proposed in the Beltline Overlay District by Dickens et al.  Requiring that new multi-family buildings include a certain percentage of affordable units, while giving incentives to the developer in the form of upzoning.

I support adopting mandatory inclusionary zoning practices for transactions involving the sale or transfer of publicly-owned property and for developments which are financed using any public monies. I also support market-driven such as ending minimum parking requirements for new construction and removing traditional zoning requirements which would expand housing choices for all.

Adding form of housing payments (ie – Section 8 voucher) as a protected class to be protected from housing discrimination in the City of Atlanta – thus requiring that lessors cannot discriminate against an applicant solely because they have a Section 8 voucher.

I support protections for Section 8 voucher recipients. This has been effective in many parts of the country, and believe Atlanta should explore similar measures.

Creating a baseline inventory of Atlanta’s existing affordable housing stock.

I support the creation of a database which inventories Atlanta’s existing affordable housing stock. Better record-keeping across the board would result in better decision-making pertaining to housing policy.

Exploring property tax reforms, including seeking State Legislature to pass enabling laws: (1) to allow lower tax rates based on income; (2) to allow tax breaks for lessors who keep rental rates affordable; and/or (3) to allow tax breaks for nonprofit developers.

I am very supportive of this. It’s unfortunate that cities across Georgia have such limited options when it comes to implementing housing policy, and I believe that the state can play a major role in assisting our efforts to address housing affordability.

Offering grant assistance to property owners of aging multi-family apartment buildings, in return for securing promises to keep the units affordable.

All Atlanta residents deserve access to safe and clean housing. Routine upkeep and repair can be cost-prohibitive for many property owners, and I believe grant assistance would go a long way to ensure that low-income residents can live in affordable units with dignity.

Exploring the increased use of community land trusts;

I believe strongly that we should expand funding for land banks and community land trusts, which would stabilize land costs and promote economic diversity in neighborhoods by ensuring community stewardship of land.

Increased use of Tiny Houses and accessory dwellings, including appropriate zoning changes;

Updating our land use policies would allow for a diversity of uses which would meet the needs of families looking for housing options beyond large-scale multi-family and low-density single-family units. This market-oriented approach would enable developers to build additional units of housing in land-constrained communities. Ensuring a diversity of options and choices means that fewer residents are competing for the same limited housing stock, reducing the cost of housing for everyone.

Creation of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund;

I support creating an Affordable Housing Trust Fund in Atlanta. Many affordable housing opportunities could not exist without subsidies, and a dedicated source of public funding is necessary to preserve existing housing stock and make new housing opportunities available.

Use City of Atlanta median for purpose of determining Area Median Income, rather than Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta.

I support shifting the AMI formula to the City of Atlanta median versus the Census Bureau-designated Metropolitan Statistical Area. I’d also consider implementing policies that account for AMI thresholds at the neighborhood, NPU, and ZIP code levels, particularly as we seek to preserve existing affordable housing inventory.

DEMOCRACY AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Do you support using general fund revenue to create a public financing campaign system for Municipal Elections, much like the Democracy Voucher program in Seattle, Washington?

http://www.seattle.gov/democracyvoucher

I support exploring measures like this and others which will ensure that our elected officials can’t be bought. I believe that parity reduces the power of incumbency, and this would go a long ways towards ensuring that goal.

Do you support limiting or prohibiting campaign contributions from individuals doing business with the City of Atlanta, or from individuals employed by entities doing business with the City of Atlanta?

The City of Atlanta should implement rules that align with state lobbying prohibitions. And if the city fails to prohibit contributions from individuals, I would also support further restrictions by prohibiting government contracts with companies that donate to elected officials.

If appointed Chair of a Council Committee, or if asked as a Committee Member to vote on a public comment policy pertaining to a Council Committee, would you be open to the idea of no time limit for public comments?  If not, why not?  

I think time limits are a reasonable way to ensure that meeting agendas can move forward. However, I think the city needs to do a better job at providing a space for citizens to provide comment, so I would support a framework that allows for the online submission of questions and comments (which generates a read receipt) so that comments and concerns aren’t ignored.

Relatedly, would you allow citizens to make public comment on individual items as they come up on the agenda, or should public comment be restricted to the beginning and/or end of the meeting?  

As stated before, because I think formal agendas are a valuable tool in the administration of government, I’d seek to provide an alternative means for concerned citizens to provide input if they’re unable to speak during the allotted time.

Would you support a change to the City Charter allowing the public to comment at Work Sessions?  Currently, there is only the right to comment at Full Council and Council Committee.

I’ve seen how public input can be stifled and derailed when Council convenes into work sessions. I support allowing the public to comment at these sessions.

Do you believe Committee Briefings should be videotaped?

Absolutely. Greater transparency and accountability something that our campaign has advocated for since day one, and I am committed to an open, honest, and responsive government that values citizen input and community engagement.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM

Do you support reforming City of Atlanta municipal code to eliminate the possibility of jail time for possession of one ounce or less of cannabis in the City of Atlanta (i.e. – decriminalization)?

Absolutely.  The criminalization of marijuana possession has negatively impacted the lives of far too many young, black citizens. Racial profiling happens too often in this city, and making this offense ticketable would reduce some of the long-term effects of unnecessary arrests. I also believe that decriminalizing nonviolent offenses would help reduce instances of confrontational police-citizen interactions.

BAR HOURS

Do you support extending bar hours to 4 a.m.?

It is a difficult issue on which I can see both sides.  Previous studies show a marked increase in DUIs and alcohol-related injuries for every hour later a bar is open.  However, I don’t know of these studies have been updated to include the development of ride-sharing services (which have significantly impacted DUI rates in many locales).

I also understand that many bars don’t want these changes, as extended hours increase liability and insurances costs. And if their competitor remains open, then it compels them to remain open as well, which could ultimately hurt smaller businesses in bar districts

I recognize that designated entertainment districts aren’t as fraught, but changes like this still require input and debate from residents, businesses, and law enforcement officials.

Ultimately, I think it is important for government to listen to people, not the other way around, so as Councilperson I would advocate for additional impact studies which solicit feedback from businesses, residents, and first responders before any decision is made.

ENVIRONMENT

Do you support the increased use of solar panels and other renewable energy at City-owned buildings?

Yes, I support initiatives would create a cleaner, sustainable Atlanta. I seek to ensure that we have equitable, green, sustainable, and livable development throughout the city, particularly investments that emphasize the need for clean air and water and address flooding.

How should the City of Atlanta change its policies and practices to promote more recycling by residents and businesses?

I believe that children can be extremely strong advocates for these programs. The City should partner with Atlanta Public Schools and work with our students to serve as ambassadors in households across Atlanta. I also recognize that the contamination of recycling bins is a frequent issue across the city. The issuance of first-time contamination offenses should include easy-to-read instruction materials to help create more effective recycling use across the City.

TAXES

Do you believe the City of Atlanta sales tax rate is too high, and would you support any portion of the sales tax rate not being renewed?  If so, which portion and why?

The City of Atlanta’s sales tax rate is one of the highest in the country. Sales taxes are also regressive and place unnecessary burden on low income residents. I understand the need and importance of each tax as it pertains to maintaining and expanding our sewer, water, and transportation infrastructure, but I do not believe we should levy new sales taxes on our residents.

TRANSPORTATION

Which of the several public transportation projects that have been proposed do you think deserve the highest priority?  Current proposals include several MARTA rail line extensions in several directions; the Beltline and various street car lines; and several other projects.

I believe in city-wide investment in pedestrian, cycling, and transit infrastructure is critical to ensuring our citizens can successfully and safely navigate Atlanta to access resources, amenities, and employment centers.

I generally support light rail expansion across the city, though I understand and agree with concerns about the Atlanta Streetcar. Light rail and streetcar technologies are similar and could be integrated with one another, but I believe that routes with dedicated rights-of-way should be prioritized the most. Last-mile connectivity is extremely limited for many of our residents, and these kinds of investments would be more impactful to our citizens. Light rail is also significantly cheaper than extensions of heavy rail.

However, an expansive light rail network could take years, even decades, to fully build out. Bus capacity should be expanded before rail projects are finalized in to determine route viability before tracks are laid.

In all, I believe that ensuring a diversity in transportation options will work in the best interests of all Atlantans

PEDESTRIAN ACCESS

What is your plan to make Atlanta more safe for pedestrians and to provide Atlanta’s pedestrians with safe passage in the form of sidewalks?

As recently as 2014, metro Atlanta ranked #8 in the country in pedestrian danger. This is especially stark considering that nearly 40% of southwest Atlanta’s households have no vehicle whatsoever. I absolutely believe that we need to make our city safer for pedestrians and I plan to make this a priority. I support shifting the burden of sidewalk repair from private property owners onto the city. Funding sidewalks shouldn’t be viewed any differently than funding road repairs, especially since both are public rights of way.

COUNCIL OPERATIONS

Do you support restricting Council Office expenditures to staff and constituent outreach?  Currently, some Council offices use their funds to run their offices, while others use some of their funds to allocate grants to pet projects in their district.

While I believe City Council office spending should be better regulated and monitored, I think a full restriction could negatively impact communities whose needs have been de-prioritized at City Hall. Crosswalks, speed humps, and stop signs can drastically improve the quality of life in a community. One way to curb abuse is to ensure that each council office is afforded a base amount to spend on administration and continuent services. This is certainly a discussion that’s worth having, and I believe there is a middle ground.

ATTENDANCE

If elected, would you still be employed in any other outside full-time or part-time employment, aside from your salaried position at City Hall?  If so, what will that outside employment be?

I am currently the Director of Programs Operations at a national, $7M a year non-profit organization.  My employer is aware of the personal and professional sacrifices that come with election to Atlanta City Council, and if elected, I’d establish a transition plan that will reduce my full-time employment obligations and would allow commit as much attention as possible to my community.  In effect, I would remain employed for a limited period until I am able to transition my duties to someone else.  This would not be an overnight transition due to the scope of my current responsibilities, but it’d be an important and necessary one.

If elected, do you commit to sitting in your chair during the public comment portions of Full Council and Committee Meetings to actually listen to the public?

Absolutely. I believe in our democratic institutions, and public commentary is critical part of the community engagement process. As such, it should be taken seriously. Far too often, I’ve seen elected officials tell their constituents that they didn’t know about issues happening in their districts, even though these issues had been well-articulated during the public commentary portions of council meetings. I seek an accountable government at City Hall, and that begins with me.

Do you support linking Councilmember salary to meeting attendance, except in the case of a documented excuse?

I don’t support linking Councilmember salary to meeting attendance, but I support but I support the formal censure of those individuals who fail to uphold their public duties.

(END / Copyright Atlanta Progressive News / 2017)