Let's Spend Money We Don't Have to Fix A City I Ruined

Oh Mayor Shirley Franklin, how art thou we loathe thee... definitely is not love thee. According to the AJC.com (10/16/2008, http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/10/15/atlanta_budget_crisis.html), Mayor Franklin wants to spend $850,000 to hire a team of two groups to come in to review Atlanta's Finance department and help the city return to black on the balance sheet. Then she would like to hire Deloitte Consulting to come in and create a turnaround plan; Deloitte Consulting stated they would do it on a pro-bono basis. Finally she announced that she is hiring a new CFO to replace the one that resigned earlier this year after saying the city's financial management habits deserved a F. Mayor Franklin believes that she can rite the city's poor financial ways and return to black by year end 2009.

Here is the situation, when Mayor Franklin came into office the city had a surplus, a booming economy, it was attractive to new business, and offered a good balance to all. During her tenure the city's muni bond rating dropped to junk, the city is as much as $200 million budget deficit, new business has come to a halt, built a number of new residential project of which a strong majority sit dark even prior to the mortgage debacle, under funded public service departments, etc, etc, etc. It's a dark, dismal current picture and outlook, however, now she would like to spend money the city does not have to develop an agenda that may or may not even work, thus adding to the waste the city has already amassed. What is a good option to get the city out of debt and back into the black? Here are a few ideas:

- First, let's reverse the Sunday Food and Alcohol sales regulation that has been on the books since the 70s and not even the mayor who was in charge at the time the regulation was passed, did not enforce. This will immediately begin to bring in some new, desperately needed tax revenue. This will help small business contributors such as bars, pubs, nightclubs, etc to maybe survive in business since a new day of business will be added to their books.

- Second, release the death grip that the city has on festivals and large scale events in this city. There was a time when this city had a festival or large scale event every week, sometimes 2 or 3 during peek times. During her tenure we have seen festivals such as Concert on the Bricks, 99x Free Concert Series, Music Midtown, Vibe Music Festival, and more either reduce drastically in size or just plain closed up shop. There have been a variety of factors that have contributed to this, however each promoter has stated that a major contributor was due to a rise in expenses and unfavorable city guidelines that were changed under Mayor Franklin's tenure. When you have the NBA saying they will more than likely never bring the All-Star Game back to this city because of the way she ruined the activities with a poor traffic strategy, let's one know that she is not one to encourage growth.

- Next, commission a new city brand marketing team that will get away from this gimmick marketing that is lead by Mayor Franklin, but a true brand marketing approach that shows the value of the city to convention and tourist traffic. Brand Atlanta canceled the highly, unsuccessful "Where Everyday is Opening Day" campaign to a even more unsuccessful campaign of "City Lights and Southern Nights" (www.brandatlanta.com). There has to be several on-going campaigns not just one; There has to be a business attraction campaign that needs to launch now attempting to attract new business to Atlanta in late 2009 and 2010 once projects such as the 14th Street bridge and expansion of the Connector project will be completed. There has to be a stronger tourist branding campaign instead of relying solely on word of mouth traffic about the Aquarium and World Coke projects. A stronger campaign(s) can be created through pushing an agendas forward on the first 2 suggestions.

These are only a few examples of how the city can easily begin to turn itself around without spending a lot of money, but begin generating much needed revenue. If anyone from Brand Atlanta is reading this blog, feel free to contact me I have several campaign ideas that will work and drive tourism growth.

Let's get back to the topic...Just a few months ago Mayor Franklin threatened to veto spending $1.1 Million to keep certain firehouses in the city open and stated that the city did not have the money, however the city has the money to pay for this? At the end of the day, Mayor Franklin has thrown fiscal responsibility out of the window and even when the City of Atlanta is facing a steep crunch, she still wants to keep spending. Good thing the Metro area only has to deal with her for 2 more years and then she is gone. Who will the mantle be passed too? Will they be able to turn this city around? Only time will tell

Jazz for Barack, Jack - Cool Video

Here is a really cool song that a Jazz Orchestra posted on Youtube a few weeks ago. It's a cool catchy song I do say.

Here are the lyrics:

Hate to see the nation being run by a hack
Dig the situation that he dug in Iraq
Half the population wants to give him the sack
And now he’s lookin’ round for somebody else to attack
We need somebody great to get us back on the track

So we’re takin’ it back with Barack, Jack!

Choo Choo, Change to believe in
Woo woo, we can achieve it
Choo Choo, Change to believe in
Takin’ it back with Barack, Jack!

Now that global warming is a matter of fact
The only real question is just how to react
The new administration needs the guts to enact
Drastic legislation, leave the planet intact
We can’t be foolin’ round with some Republican Mac

So we’re takin’ it back with Barack, Jack!

Choo Choo….

He only gets his money from your regular macs
Doesn’t take a penny from some whackity PAC’s
For bringin’ folk together he’s the man with the knack
And he’ll supply the hope and inspiration we lack
Cause he’s the best we got and did I ….mention he’s black?

So we’re takin’ it back with Barack, Jack!