city commission Archive

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Pike as pro tempore

Just a day after Christopher Pike handily won the Ward 3 seat, Commissioner Tommie Postell wants to ignore the city charter (Well, I think he just wants to amend it, but the effect will be the same) by blocking him taking the title of mayor pro tempore. Now, keep in mind that this position is a rotating title that only has an effect of the Mayor isn’t at meetings, and then it’s just to preside over the meeting.

You see, several months ago, Morris Gurr announced that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election. For a while, they knew that the Ward 3 Commissioner would be the next mayor pro tempore.

Commissioner Postell said that it wasn’t anything against Pike, that he’d be making the same points if Williams had won. Really? Well then, why in the Hell didn’t you mention this a couple of months ago? I mean, it ain’t like you didn’t see this coming.

The thing is, I think he did. And I think he expected Arthur Williams to sit on the Commission again. And, what’s more, I suspect that had Williams won, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. If someone else had made the same comment, Postell would have cited Williams’ 22 years of experience as evidence that he should be allowed to sit at Mayor Pro Tempore.

Yeah, I think this was a slam against Pike and what Pike represents. Pike is an unknown for someone like Postell. This makes him a problem. Postell isn’t comfortable with someone like Pike possibly calling the shots during a Commission meeting. Despite his protestations to the contrary, it is personal…and pathetic.

Let’s face it. If it wasn’t personal, it would have been mentioned a couple of months ago when the outcome of the election was in doubt.

Well, the vote was taken to change the charter, and it was a 3-3 tie since Mayor Adams was out of town. What was interesting was that the vote went down racial lines. Postell, Jon Howard, and Dorothy Hubbard voted to block; while Bob Langstaff, Roger Marietta, and Morris Gurr voted against the measure. Three white commissioners vote to protect an incoming black commissioner. Frankly, that makes me incredibly happy.

I want to applaud commissioners Langstaff, Marietta, and Gurr on their vote. I don’t say those words that often, but this is definitely the case that it’s warranted on this one. Christopher Pike won, and now the machinations of government need to chug on with him in place.

As it stands now, it will. Unfortunately, Postell plans to bring it back up when the Mayor is back in town. I suspect I know how the Mayor will vote…with his good buddy Postell.

And frankly, it’ll be a travesty if he does.

tomknightonWritten by Tom Knighton. Read his blog at SWGA Politics.com. A lifelong political junkie, Tom started out his adult life as a journalism major at Darton College before leaving school to serve his nation as a U.S. Navy Corpsman. Through the years, he has watched government from outside and inside. A former Reagan supporter, then later a Democrat, Tom now finds himself quite comfortable as a card carrying Libertarian and all around smart-elec.

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Encouragement in Ward 3

As we watched newcomer Christopher Pike easily defeat Arthur Williams in a landslide, it is encouraging that what also won, was Pike’s positive approach to the campaign. He ran on his ideas for future progress and cooperation, not dwelling in the past combative, and divisive approach Williams was known for.

Pike also would not address William’s failure to pay or even discuss his decade old $100,000 in back taxes. This was a smart move, as most had already judged Williams unfit to run for office in the first place.

What is troubling is that only 12 percent of that precinct turned out to vote in that ward, and some won re-election due to no challengers. We think more upsets in commission races would have developed, if only more citizens would have stepped up to run for their seats. There is no leverage to change bad behavior or replace them entirely, if no one else will run for elected office.

In several south Georgia counties, winners were determined by a few votes, even one vote, there was even a tie, where just one more lazy voter was needed. What a shame that we can lose a good candidate, or new bright ideas affecting us dramatically, by only a few votes.

We say congratulations to Chris Pike in Ward 3, and all the other winners in Tuesday’s elections. Now let’s maintain that enthusiasm, and put into practice, all those campaign promises.

Jim Wilcox1Written by Jim Wilcox, general manager of WALB.

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Feds block bus project due to bogus information

Concerns about false information provided by Albany and state officials have prompted the federal government to withdraw its $7 million in funding for a proposed downtown bus station complex, but the project could be resurrected, public records show.

Clearly, public records show, city and state officials conspired to inaccurately present a flawed environmental assessment, incomplete historical-preservation data, and false public-participation information to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration. It is unclear, though, whether the scheme was due to government officials’ ineptness or due to additional corrupt activity at city hall. Indeed, as in the case of indicted downtown manager Don Buie, Albany City Manager Alfred Lott refuses to offer an explanation or apology for the municipal government’s transgressions.

The FTA’s withdrawal of funding for a $9 million bus transfer and “multimodal” transportation facility occurred because of an extensively researched Sept. 15 complaint filed by adjacent landowner John Sherman, the great-great-grandson of Albany founder Nelson Tift. Community transportation advocate Dr. Charles Gillespie also complained to the FTA.

Sherman said Tuedsay that he hasn’t gotten a response from his complaint, but that it appears that city, state and federal officials are working quietly behind the scenes – and, still, without public involvement – to proceed with the project. Sherman owns properties at 319-227 N. Washington St. adjacent to the proposed bus station site behind the county courthouse between Roosevelt and Flint avenues and Washington and Jackson streets.

“Having had no direct contact from the parties involved in our complaint as to how they plan to proceed leaves us with no way of commenting on their actions,” Sherman said. “But we have been told that private strategy meetings were held between some of the parties that we were not privy to regarding how this project might be structured to proceed.

“We still believe that the environmental assessment is clearly fatally flawed and that all our comments found in our 33-page documentation are valid and all should be addressed, and not simply limited to those few mentioned by the FTA, and that an EIS is fully justified for this project. It appears that the FTA is focused only on cultural resources and the issue of public comments, but there are so many additional environmental issues that simply have not been addressed as identified and documented in our paper submitted to the appropriate agencies. And apparently they see this as only a temporary delay to completion of this project as American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds provided for this project are not being withdrawn, but rather ‘temporarily restricted.’”

The city still has more than $2 million in funding for a new bus transportation station, but not the full $9 million it recently received for an elaborate multimodal center that would accommodate passenger rail service it were ever developed in the community. The multimodal project still could be fully resurrected if accurate environmental and historical data is provided to the FTA, and if city and state officials correct its false claim that concerns were not raised about the project, according to public records.

Lott has known about the FTA’s ruling since Oct. 21, yet kept it secret from Sherman and the public. Indeed, Lott refused again Tuesday to discuss the matter or release public records pertaining to the project or the FTA ruling as required by law. If the records aren’t released Friday, Lott would be guilty of a misdemeanor crime by violating the Georgia Open Records Act. He is a frequent violator of the law, yet has never been reprimanded by the City Commission.

The FTA reviewed and approved the Environmental Assessment for the project and issued a Finding of No Significant Impacts (FONSI) on May 28, 2009. But after reviewing letters submitted to the FTA by Gillespie and an attorney representing Sherman, “FTA has determined there are problematic issues with the EA that will require us to rescind the previously approved FONSI,” Dr. Yvette Taylor, the FTA’s regional director, said in the Oct. 21 letter to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Although the FONSI claimed that “no comments were received” at two public meetings the regarding the environmental assessment, “several comments were received at each meeting. The EA did not address these comments,” Taylor said.

Buoyed by the prospect of federal aid, Albany officials have planned a new bus station or the renovation of the existing West Oglethorpe Boulevard transfer facility for nearly a decade. The city’s motive for the multimodal project is mysterious; the project is not cited in an extensively prepared regional transportation strategy. Yet, in July, the project got a surprising and massive shot in the arm when the Georgia Department of Transportation announced that it had secured $9 million in federal stimulus funding for what would be the largest multimodal transportation center in the state.

The Flint River is about a block from the project. Already, during times of high flow sewage in the area, sewage is permitted to dump directly into the river. Sherman said that in addition to the concerns that an objective environmental and historical-preservation analysis would reveal, the multimodal project should be halted because of these concerns: minority environmental justice; Flint River and groundwater pollution; crumbling infrastructure; endangered species, site elevation and drainage issues, economic impacts, noise impact and air-quality issues, train safety and bus schedule impacts, tax-increment financing issues, parking issues, utility and garbage access issues, and rear business access restrictions.

Sherman said the area’s lack of infrastructure would be a factor “regardless of the projects envisioned, whether it be multi-modal, parking decks or housing.”

In the federal complaint, Sherman said through Albany attorney Alfred N. Corriere, the city of Albany and state and federal transportation officials “failed to follow the procedures and/or policies outlined in the applicable environmental regulations” and approved federal funding “based upon an inadequate and fatally flawed environmental assessment.”

Corriere, who also represents Sherman Timberlands Inc. in the matter, said that the environmental assessment was “apparently done simply to qualify for federal and/or state stimulus funds without any real regard as to the serious environmental issues this site presents.” In addition to environmental regulations, the project hasn’t passed National Historic Preservation Act muster, either, as Sherman’s property includes a structure that was built in 1885, Corriere said.

“Simply put,” Corriere says in the complaint, “this environmental assessment is inadequate for the purposes for which it was prepared, and its lack of specific in-depth analysis involving so many issues would be a public embarrassment to the City of Albany …

“It is shocking to realize that this obviously fatally flawed environmental document was so readily accepted without question by the state and the U.S. Departments of Transportation, which then provided millions of dollars in federal funds for this project, when its inadequacies as identified and discussed by my clients in the attached should so easily have been identified and become apparent. If this low standard for (environmental) compliance is the basis on which federal stimulus dollars are to be distributed nationwide, much environmental harm will result.”

The Georgia DOT says the 2,500-square-foot “multimodal center” is expected to open in 2011. Its benefits, the DOT said, include providing a terminal for future passenger rail service and advanced technologies in the areas of safety, security, ticket vending and passenger amenities.

In announcing that $9 million had been secured for the project, Georgia DOT Commissioner Vance C. Smith Jr. said the project “has received all necessary state and federal funding and environmental clearances. Selection of a design firm is expected to occur as soon as August.”

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Terry Hart gets backing for Ward 5 commission seat: A ‘kiss of death’?

The Dougherty County Taxpayers Association has officially thrown its lot behind former railroad executive Terry Hart in his bid for the Ward 5 Albany City Commission seat currently held by Bob Langstaff. Thursday night, the DCTPA made it official, though it was already a foregone conclusion that they would. Bob Langstaff is one seat they specifically targeted, and Hart is the only challenger.

We’ll find out how accurate Ward 5 City Commissioner Roger Marietta was when he allegedly referred to the group’s endorsement as “the kiss of death.”

Unfortunately for Commissioner Langstaff, Marietta may well be his worst liability. Recent comments likening the group to “domestic terrorists” wasn’t a good idea. Commissioner Marietta quickly apologized, saying he was taken out of context. Of course, the Albany Journal reports that he did it at least one more time. Yeah, not such a good thing.

But how does this impact Commissioner Langstaff? To start with, it built up animosity between DCTPA membership (and supporters who aren’t members) and the City Commission. A lack of any statement denouncing Marietta’s comments, or even a polite disagreement, from any other commissioner doesn’t help improve relations.

Time will tell whether or not this is going to be an issue. Bob Langstaff isn’t an easy target in the least. He’s not going to be easy to beat, make no mistake. However, I don’t think that a DCTPA endorsement is any kiss of death, especially in Ward 5 where more people own their homes than some other wards.

For Hart to win, he’s going to have to be vocal, engaged, be a hell of a candidate. I don’t know him personally, so I can’t say for certain that he’s any of those things. But we’ve got some time until the election, so we’ll see. It my intent to try and sit down with all candidates in the contested races so you can make an informed decision.

tomknightonWritten by Tom Knighton. Read his blog at SWGA Politics.com. A lifelong political junkie, Tom started out his adult life as a journalism major at Darton College before leaving school to serve his nation as a U.S. Navy Corpsman. Through the years, he has watched government from outside and inside. A former Reagan supporter, then later a Democrat, Tom now finds himself quite comfortable as a card carrying Libertarian and all around smart-elec.

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Our Perspective: Albany City Commision Candidates need to commit to end public corruption

cor·rup·tion [kuh-ruhp-shuhn] – noun

1. the act of corrupting or state of being corrupt.

2. moral perversion; depravity.

3. perversion of integrity.

4. corrupt or dishonest proceedings.

This fall’s Albany City Commission races aren’t any more critical than any other, really; indeed, every local election is and has been important to a community’s success and failures.

Still, the opportunity to reverse the culture of corruption, mismanagement, cronyism and waste that is occurring on the watch of the current commission and city manager seems to be at an optimum level. That’s because – thanks largely to the blatantly vile shenanigans occurring in the city manager’s office and police department in recent years – citizens throughout the community are more engaged than they’ve been since Willie Adams was first-elected mayor in 2004.

At stake when voters go to the polls on Nov. 3 are the community’s desperate economic condition, the municipal government’s burgeoning budget, and criminal activity that is so rampant in Albany that it is even occurring with regularity and blatancy on the fifth floor of city hall without consequence.

Indeed, we submit that City Manager Alfred Lott’s mismanagement of downtown redevelopment, including having a convicted felon on the job as manager and criminal conspirator for 18 months, isn’t an anomaly, by any means. Indeed, corruption is largely – but not exclusively – the status quo at city hall. We would even classify city government as a criminal enterprise.

In addition to former downtown manager Don Buie illegally giving taxpayer money to one of his bosses and to selected business owners, here are some examples of corrupt activities in Albany city government:

  • Albany City Commissioner Tommie Postell and Lott schemed to spend $40,000 of taxpayer funds on a private development project – Curtis Davis Personal Care Home – to bring it up to code. When the scheme was revealed in the newspaper, the city decided instead to allow the personal care home to open in spite of it violating building code.
  • Postell took a $2,500 campaign donation from Lajuana Woods and, within a month, had her appointed to the Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority. Woods later accepted a secret $50,000 taxpayer-funded “grant” from Buie.
  • The Albany City Commission plotted in an illegal meeting to abolish the Albany Water, Gas & Light Commission. The conspiracy ended when it was revealed in the newspaper.
  • * Without declaring a conflict of interest, Mayor Willie Adams violated state and local law by voting to spend federal funds administered by the city on a housing project developed by the mayor’s campaign manager. Adams later supported the developer’s request to rezone the development property; after none of the housing units sold, the developer declared bankruptcy, leaving taxpayers with a $500,000 bill.
  • Adams’ 2004 campaign debt has been reduced by contributors who subsequently received city consulting jobs, including but not limited to Adams’ campaign manager and an Atlanta insurance executive whose company began providing services to the City of Albany after Dr. Adams was elected.
  • Contrary to city law and in spite of City Attorney Nathan Davis’ advice, Adams donates public funds to churches, sororities, fraternities, service organizations and charities.
  • * The Albany City Commission illegally spent $1 million of special-purpose local option sales tax funds on an environmental cleanup. The money wasn’t allocated by Albany Dougherty County voters to be used for the cleanup; besides, state regulations prohibit it being used for that purpose.
  • Lott’s violations of federal wage and hour law have cost taxpayers more than $500,000.
  • When Lott publicly declared that the only way to award Christopher King a liquor license to open an East Albany nightspot would be to break the law because of its close proximity to another club, who would have known that – five weeks later — the city would do just that? At Adams’ urging, Lott broke the law and King got his license to open Club Fahrenheit.
  • Former District Attorney Ken Hodges told WALB-TV that as a matter of practice, former Police Chief James Younger’s officers deliberately manipulated crime statistics by reporting felony crimes as misdemeanors. Lott and the City Commission’s response: There was no response; later, Lott gave Younger $40,000 of taxpayer funds to resign.
  • Systematically, Lott and his staff commit misdemeanor crimes by withholding information from the public.
  • Buie testified in court that the Albany-Dougherty Inner City Authority board of directors has negotiated privately with a developer in executive session. Such a meeting would be a violation of the Georgia’s open meetings law.
  • The City of Albany’s rules prohibiting some members from the public from addressing the City Commission violates the city charter and the U.S. Constitution’s First and 14th amendments.

Qualifying for the city elections for Wards 2, 3 and 5 begins Monday and ends Sept. 4. We hope that at least one of the winners has a direct line to the Federal Bureau of Investigation; there’s a municipal government in need of some serious policing.

Albany Outlook is a town square for local issues.  It includes The Albany Journal’s perspective and columns written both by well-known names in the community and “just plan folks”.  The Journal is not responsible for views expressed by guest comments.  The best Outlook writers are passionate, persuasive, logical, and concise (750 words or less).  Have something on your mind that you are willing to share?  Email us: ajournal@thealbanyjournal.com

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