A Citywide Business Coalition

Mayor of Atlanta

Please submit questions for Mary Norwood and Kasim Reed that will be asked during the virtual mayoral forum on November 24, 2009.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Capp on November 22, 2009 at 7:02pm: With Mrs. Norwood being a former radio station owner and Mr. Reed an entertainment attorney, what is their respective positions on the Performance Rights Act HR 848?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by PatrickB on November 22, 2009 at 11:27pm: My question is for Kasim Reed. The city loses large amounts of revenue due to delinquent property tax bills. This loss of revenue helped to contribute to our police and firefighters being furloughed. If you are elected mayor what action will you take to work with Fulton County to collect these lost taxes, and what type of example did you set by not paying over $60,000 in taxes?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SaraT on November 23, 2009 at 1:40pm: A question for Mary Norwood: Do you stand by the factual assertions you made in the massive mailer you sent to Atlanta residents this week about Kasim Reed's taxes, even though the AJC found your claims to be inaccurate? http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2009/11/13/a-fa...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by PatrickB on November 23, 2009 at 1:48pm: Hey Sara, did you see the WSB story about Reed's taxes? This was not something that came from Mary Norwood's campaign. Here's the link to the video: http://www.wsbtv.com/video/21589571/index.html; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SaraT on November 23, 2009 at 1:49pm: I received a mailer from Mary Norwood over the weekend, that is what I am asking her about. Not a WSB story.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by PatrickB on November 23, 2009 at 1:58pm: I didn't get the mailer. What exactly did it say?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MelGX on November 23, 2009 at 10:26pm: Is this an area to submit questions, or for argument about questions submitted?

PatrickB said:
I didn't get the mailer. What exactly did it say?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MelGX on November 23, 2009 at 10:53pm: If elected, what steps will you take to streamline Atlanta's Bureau of Buildings permitting process? Some builders report wait times of up to a year for light commercial and/or residential permits.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by MelGX on November 23, 2009 at 11:15pm: As Mayor, would you support the selling of the Atlanta Pretrial Detention Center to Fulton County in order to alleviate overcrowding at the jail and save taxpayers the cost of outsourcing inmates to other counties?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alabama Fresh on November 24, 2009 at 12:45pm: Ms. Norwood,I worked for a radio network and there are only a few jobs that require specific skill sets. What exactly were your responsibilities as an executive at the radio station? And, how does that correlate with the challenges you will face as Mayor? In addition, you listed the following issues you were championing; however, I don't see any action or updates and this is from 2007. What have you done since 2007 on these issues that are on your website?

* Affordable Housing: Working with the administration to provide affordable housing through a lottery and down-payment assistance program to city employees.
* Homelessness: Has been an advocate for the City of Atlanta and other entities to employ homeless men and women to clean Atlanta’s streets. City of Atlanta’s Solid Waste Division is currently employing homeless men and women from Samaritan House’s Clean Street Teams.
* Neighborhood Preservation: Chaired a task force to address appropriate infill in the redevelopment of the City and has worked with professional organizations in the development industry—led by the American Institute of Architects-Atlanta Chapter—to formulate and propose changes to the City’s Residential Zoning Code to assist with infill challenges.
* Neighborhood Blight: Working with the administration to overcome the obstacles in the present system of code compliance through a potential Code Enforcement Board and Blighted Vacant Building Registration.
* Transportation: Identifying the City’s worst traffic bottlenecks and working with the City’s Transportation Department and the Georgia DOT to resolve them.
* Public Safety: Initiated a review of Atlanta's drug strategies to address the overwhelming and omnipresent presence of drugs in Atlanta's neighborhoods.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Rein on November 24, 2009 at 12:46pm: This question is for Mary Norwood. Ms. Norwood, Your website argues for so-called "stable taxes", argues that tax increases are "off the table" until we have greater "financial accountability" but also states that public safety and enhanced city services are a top priority for you.

Many other mayoral candidates and politic leaders have pledged to cut so-called government waste by auditing city services only to find the job far more difficult once in office. Potentially there simply may not be enough "waste" to cut to pay for the public safety and enhanced city services you promise.

Are there any circumstances under which you would ever consider raising taxes?

If not would you give specific examples of city services (without citing so-called waste and fraud) that you would cut to pay for the public safety improvements and enhanced city services you are promising?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by CatherineAtlanta on November 24, 2009 at 1:52pm: This question is for both candidates. Until the last decade or so, Atlanta was a leading convention & tradeshow city. With the growth of convention halls and popularity of Orlando and Las Vegas, Atlanta has lost much of that business. Even the smaller cities (Memphis, Raleigh, San Antonio, Denver) are getting more convention business than Atlanta. With the newly vibrant area around the Georgia World Congress Center, we should be able to get some of the big shows to come back to Atlanta. As mayor, what will you do to invigorate the tradeshow/convention business in Atlanta.; ▶ Reply to This