Atlanta Mayor - Who are you voting for and why? (Jackson: low income, income)

[RZaakir]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

While there's a lot of debate about the effectiveness of "cameras on every corner" such as in London, there is one thing the next Mayor (whoever they wind up being) CAN do in order to make this work: Require ALL business owners in Atlanta to own/operate security camera systems in their businesses. This includes the owners of parking lots and parking garages, restaurants, small shops and large stores, etc. In other words - no camera system = no business permit.

Sounds drastic, but think of how many crimes do get solved when the local news puts up video or still captures from video cameras where suspects are caught in the act on video. A Lot. The next Mayor does need to weed out the bad/incompetent officers, add new ones, and ditch the Chief, but they also need to require these now relatively inexpensive camera systems in all business environments, too.

I think this is a poor idea. I have seen no statistical evidence of crimes solved by videos posted on the news as opposed to by using regular crime stopping methods and if that number of crimes solved by the news has in any way impacted overall crime trends. If 5 out of 5000 property crimes per year are solved by being posted on the news and that's a rationale for spending millions on cameras and taxing businesses then I would have to strongly disagree.

I used to be an IT manager for an organization that was based downtown. I was responsible for three buildings and we had tons of break-ins overwhelmingly by homeless people who would walk into the buildings and take anything that wasn't nailed down. The course of action we took was to spend about 20K on security cameras which my team was responsible for managing.

We covered the hallways and elevator lobbies on every floor plus all entrances. In the three years I was in charge of that system we probably got 3 crimes on video. One was an internal custodian and the others were homeless people. I think the internal person was let go and we caught one homeless guy. However, the total loss was a leather backpack that somebody left sitting around, a broken computer monitor, and a broken turntable. If you just take the time it took my crew to review the video - which takes forever when you're looking at 16 cameras and have an 8-hour time window to review -, take the screen caps, and report them to the police, you've practically tripled the cost of the things that were stolen to begin with. We haven't even gotten to the actual cost of the system. Even factoring in whatever deterrence benefit the system had we would have still saved a ton of money by putting up a disclaimer on every floor saying: "secure your crap and if it gets stolen that's your problem."

The system ultimately provided more value for determining what time problem employees were coming into the office.

Go figure...

[AcidSnake]

I guess it's safe to say that all of the Atlanta mayoral candidates so far are lackluster and are severely suffering from a lack of vision. It must be a southern thing, if not an American thing.

I wish that some intellectuals with street sense, and business saavy would throw their hats into the ring, but our media has tendency to create images of intellectuals as being out of touch with the common folks, just for the mere need to pander to the average boob to sell stories. It happened with George Dubya and it will happen here. I hate our corporate media...

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

The unfortunate thing is, due to a very late entry and unknown quality about him, he stands next to no chance of winning, yet very much stands the chance of costing Norwood the election due to diverting votes she may have received to him by those who know him through his anti-crime group (supposedly with a membership of 10,000). It has even been suggested by some that he was "hired" (bribed) by another candidate to run simply to sabotage Norwood's chances. I don't necessarily think that's the case - I heard a couple of speeches he's made and I think his intentions are sincere, if again not poorly timed.

A smart option he SHOULD make would be to support Norwood in this election, then over the course of the next 4-8 years, make a name for himself in the local political scene, and THEN run for Mayor.

Why should he support Norwood. Are they running with identical platforms or something?

[MJay]

If I could vote, it would be Lisa Borders.

[noah]

Which candidate is the biggest supporter of the Beltline?

[harrat]

Mary Norwood is from Augusta..

[Georgia]

I see on the news where one of the districts, 35 I think, all the sudden had to switch to "paper" ballots.
Also on CNN and Fox NJ had areas where this happened to and are now having issues with ACORN showing up with ballots. Hope the city of Atlanta does not have any issues with this currupt group causing issues with the city results.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Georgia

I see on the news where one of the districts, 35 I think, all the sudden had to switch to "paper" ballots.
Also on CNN and Fox NJ had areas where this happened to and are now having issues with ACORN showing up with ballots. Hope the city of Atlanta does not have any issues with this currupt group causing issues with the city results.

Oh lawd, ACORN

[south-to-west]

ACORN has actually done a lot of good for advocating issues such as affordable housing and community participation.

As far as for whom I voted--Kasim Reed.

Out of all the candidates, Reed has been consistently able to provide answers and proposals for addressing many of the issues that the City faces as of the moment. Unlike Norwood and Borders, he has not been vague about addressing the fiscal gap regarding the current stream of tax revenues and the infrastructure and services needs of the community. On top of that, Reed appears very focused on each issue--unlike Norwood who can come across as too jumpy. Reed also garnered a very positive reputation among his colleagues in the State Legislature--especially on the other side of the aisle. This is highly important as cooperation with the State is going to be essential for the City's, as well as the Region's, future. Also, the City needs to repair relations with the State, which became strained after Mayor Franklin's participation in the controversial Eaves ad.

Overall I believe that Shirley Franklin was a good mayor--especially compared to her predecessor. However she shot herself in the foot towards the end of her administration with the Eaves ad and standing by a mediocre police chief. I truly think that Reed is the man to take us forward.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by south-to-west

ACORN has actually done a lot of good for advocating issues such as affordable housing and community participation.

As far as for whom I voted--Kasim Reed.

Out of all the candidates, Reed has been consistently able to provide answers and proposals for addressing many of the issues that the City faces as of the moment. Unlike Norwood and Borders, he has not been vague about addressing the fiscal gap regarding the current stream of tax revenues and the infrastructure and services needs of the community. On top of that, Reed appears very focused on each issue--unlike Norwood who can come across as too jumpy. Reed also garnered a very positive reputation among his colleagues in the State Legislature--especially on the other side of the aisle. This is highly important as cooperation with the State is going to be essential for the City's, as well as the Region's, future. Also, the City needs to repair relations with the State, which became strained after Mayor Franklin's participation in the controversial Eaves ad.

Overall I believe that Shirley Franklin was a good mayor--especially compared to her predecessor. However she shot herself in the foot towards the end of her administration with the Eaves ad and standing by a mediocre police chief. I truly think that Reed is the man to take us forward.

100% agreed with all of the above