Economist.com Cities Guide: Atlanta Briefing - May 2006

News this month

Marching on

Like many cities throughout the country, Atlanta hosted immigration protests on May 1st, with an estimated 3,000-4,500 immigrants and their supporters joining a rally at the state capitol building downtown. Some construction sites were reportedly idle for lack of workers, and Plaza Fiesta, a shopping mall in a heavily Hispanic area, bore signs stating that stores were closed “in solidarity with our people”. The rally came after larger protests on March 24th and April 10th, the latter of which drew 50,000 people.

Immigration is a volatile topic not just in Atlanta, but throughout Georgia, which has seen its Hispanic population triple in the last decade. In April Sonny Perdue, Georgia’s governor, signed the Security and Immigration Compliance Act, requiring those seeking state welfare benefits to prove their legal status. Though the bill makes exceptions for emergency and prenatal care, it is considered one of the toughest immigration measures in America. Vicente Fox, Mexico’s president, criticised it as containing “acts of discrimination.”

Virtual mudslinging

The race to become Georgia’s governor got nasty in April. Cathy Cox, the secretary of state, and Mark Taylor, the sitting lieutenant-governor, are each vying to become the Democratic nominee to oppose Mr Perdue, the Republican incumbent. (No love is lost between Messrs Taylor and Perdue; in Georgia, the governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately.) In late April the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that a member of Ms Cox’s campaign staff had altered Mr Taylor’s biography on Wikipedia, an online open-source encyclopaedia, to include information about the 2005 arrest of Mr Taylor’s 21-year-old son for drunk driving. Ms Cox insisted that she had told her staff not to bring up the arrest. Her campaign manager, Morton Brilliant, resigned soon after.

Mr Taylor is a veteran of nasty campaigns. In 1998 he won the lieutenant-governorship despite a series of televised ads from his rival that referred to his rehabilitation after cocaine abuse. But his resilience may not be enough to win this election. Ms Cox has consistently led Mr Taylor in the polls, and both are running well behind Mr Perdue. A May survey by Strategic Vision, a consultancy, found that Mr Perdue had a 56% approval rating—higher than those of Georgia’s Republican senators.

Cheat your children well

With this year’s campaign for governor getting ugly, a former gubernatorial candidate is in an even bigger mess. On May 10th Linda Schrenko, who served as the state’s schools superintendent from 1995 to 2003, struck a plea bargain to spend eight years in jail for taking $600,000 of federal funds, some of which were earmarked for education for deaf children, and spending it on herself. The money went towards plastic surgery, a computer and a failed 2002 bid for governor against Mr Perdue, among other things. Ms Schrenko was originally charged with 40 counts, including conspiracy, but she pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and one of money-laundering. Two executives fighting similar charges will continue their trial: their computer-supply firm allegedly received many cheques from the state Department of Education, despite apparently providing no services. Meanwhile, new charges have been brought against Ms Schrenko’s former campaign manager, for allegedly obstructing justice by leaking information to Ms Schrenko’s lawyers.

The trial, which began at the beginning of May, proved unexpectedly juicy, particularly for those inclined to contrast Ms Schrenko’s advocacy of abstinence teaching and Bible study in schools (she favoured both during her tenure) with her personal lifestyle: one of the prosecution’s chief witnesses is a former deputy superintendent who reportedly had an extramarital affair with Ms Schrenko.

The police are in trouble

Things are not going well for police in DeKalb County, which includes part of Atlanta. Louis Graham, the county police chief, announced his resignation on May 3rd, and a deputy, Ray Flemister, followed suit two days later. Mr Graham’s announcement came hours after audio recordings were released of him and Mr Flemister speaking about police officers threatening to join a union. A pro-union officer had tried secretly to record a conversation with Mr Graham in March. The chief seized the recorder, and accidentally recorded himself speaking to Mr Flemister about the officer in question, saying, “You don’t get mad, you get even”, and calling the officer a “white bitch”. The officer, who was fired, and another policeman are suing the county and Mr Graham, charging that the chief made racial slurs and punished them for supporting a union. A state prosecutor is investigating Mr Graham’s department.

The union spat is not the only problem facing Mr Graham. He is also under fire for speaking with Vernon Jones, DeKalb’s chief executive officer, about a rape case in which Mr Jones was the defendant (he was later acquitted). And in June 2005 he re-opened five of the famous “missing and murdered children” cases that took place in Atlanta between 1979 and 1981. The investigation garnered favourable publicity for Mr Graham until an Associated Press reporter found that the county had spent less than $4,000 on the re-opened inquiry, most of it on sending detectives to seminars. Mr Graham will step down from his post in June.

Bring on the chicken fat

Georgia may become a biodiesel production hub. Two biodiesel companies based in Rome, north-west of Atlanta, are expanding their production capacities, while two other companies are opening plants in the centre of the state. Middle Georgia Biofuels will open a plant in East Dublin over the summer, while a North Carolina–based firm, NewGen Technologies, plans to open a $60m plant in Sandersville in 2007, and has already bought a distribution centre in Columbus, near the Alabama border.

With the price of oil steadily rising, biodiesel, usually made from fat or vegetable oils (including poultry oils, of which Georgia has ample supply), has gained cachet as an alternative fuel. The National Biodiesel Board predicts that American biodiesel production will rise from 75m gallons in 2005 to 150m gallons in 2006. The Georgia state legislature, for its part, passed a bill in March that requires local and state governments, including school districts, to make their vehicles suitable for biodiesel use by 2008.

Catch if you can

May 2006

“Nickel and Dimed”

Until May 28th 2006

In “Nickel and Dimed”, a book published in 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich explored America’s working-class by joining it. In the name of research she became a hotel maid, nurse, Wal-Mart clerk and waitress, among other things. Her take on the many pratfalls of low-wage America is now enjoying a theatrical adaptation by 7 Stages. The production follows Ms Ehrenreich, played by Del Maron, and a throng of colourful characters, including one actor who plays both a posh New York publisher and a waiter fired for stealing from his workplace. Ms Ehrenreich's book was certainly not a comedy, but this production aspires to make her social message more powerful by lacing it with humour.

7 Stages Theatre, 1105 Euclid Ave. Tel: +1 (404) 523-7647. Performances: Wed 6pm; Thurs–Sat 8pm; Sun 5pm. Tickets: $20. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the show’s website.

More from the Atlanta cultural calendar