ATLANTA, Georgia. Atlanta, which survived the tumult of the civil rights era without urban violence, has long prided itself on being "The City Too Busy to Hate". "I have time for resentment and a little disdain, but I've got three teenagers in the house who keep me busy," says Loretta Fulsom, a lifelong resident. "Maybe when we've got an empty nest I'll get around to it."
Atlanta, Georgia
That lack of time for hate has now put Atlanta at a tactical disadvantage as the predominantly white, affluent suburbs to the north seek to secede from Fulton County, leaving the city of five million with a diminished revenue base to support municipal services.
Mayor Shirley Franklin: "I'm a busy woman--I can give you about thirty seconds worth of antipathy--nothing more."
"People all over America found time for hate, and we didn't," says Mayor Shirley Franklin. "We've got some catching up to do." Franklin proposes giving municipal employees two personal days a month that could be used for hostility, or intense aversion, with no carry-forward for unused days.
"You can have this Friday off for some loathing, but I expect to see you back here on Monday."
The threatened secession would create a new political entity, Milton County, composed of predominantly white suburbs north of Atlanta that are among the most affluent in the nation. Those cities currently represent 29% of Fulton County's population, but contribute 42% of its property taxes.
MARTA train.
Atlanta and its suburbs to the south are mostly black and its neighborhoods include some of the poorest in the nation. The city's library, jails and MARTA, its public transit system, are all experiencing financial difficulties.
Marta, hot babe on internet dating site.
Georgia legislators who are pushing the secession proposal deny that the move is racially motivated. "Maybe if I spent time in their library I could justify paying more than our fair share," said state Rep. Jan Jones, "but I've already read 'Gone With the Wind' so I have no reason to go there."
State Representative Jan Jones: "I feel as though we're drifting apart."
If the plan is enacted, Mayor Franklin says she expects municipal workers who currently use up all of their accumulated hostility on visitors to City Hall would direct some of their animosity towards residents of the towns that want to break away. "My momma always said you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar," she notes, "but flies don't pay taxes."
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Comments
Now that they are doing VERY WELL, they want out because they resent having to pay a larger percentage of their taxes which they fear is filtering to the poorer, black neighborhoods. Whoever says it has nothing to do with race is lying.
It's simple arithmetic.....if you make more money and live in McMansions, there is a sliiiigghhhtttt possibility that you will pay a disproportionate share of taxes than your poorer neighbors living in houses that if they are lucky enough to own probably has a value of less than 100k. One correction.....metro Atlanta has a population of close to 5 mil, which consists of the rinky dink rural city that I reside in....not just the city proper.
As for the people in south and central Fulton who are complaining... how can people expect to continue to recieve services but not have to pay for them out of their own pockets? Fulton is providing services they can't afford in the first place, a big chunk of which is paid for by people who don't or can't use the services. It's pathetic to play the race card on this issue. It's not about race, it's about money. And don't even try to say Atlanta doesn't have opportunities for people because of their race. Atlanta is 61% black and has only 21% poverty, which is pretty average for a big city. If you're poor and black in Atlanta, the only thing holding you back from making something of yourself IS yourself.