Mayor Shirley Franklin
State of the City Business Breakfast
January 9, 2002
It is a great honor and a pleasure to be with you this morning to speak to the business leadership of Atlanta. And I want to take this opportunity to thank you. We have three mayors with us, Mayors Massell, Jackson and Young on whose shoulders, or as Cicely Tyson said the other day, "on whose backs" we stand.
You know you learn a lot in the first 24 hours of being Mayor. You learn that the ringer on your phone does work at 2 am. You learn that when somebody shouts, “Mayor” they’re talking to you. And you learn that kids aren’t the only ones who live by the motto, “Go ahead and ask, she may say okay.”
It is a wonderful and fascinating phenomenon. One of the things that I’ve learned the most is that people love Atlanta. And I talk about that regularly because I think that we need to be reminded that in spite of the difficulties and obstacles that we may face, we do love this place we call home. People come to visit here, then come back to live. People are born here and never want to live anyplace else. I’m one of them. I bet some of you were transferred here with one job and decided not to leave. I love Atlanta, too. That’s why I ran for Mayor.
The focus of the Franklin administration is quite simple:
To make Atlanta a safer, cleaner city; a more responsive and effective government; a better city for families, seniors and children and an open and honest city hall.
Some call that the “Franklin Four.” I never want to lose focus on why I ran and what I am to do. So you will hear me talk about the “Franklin Four” for four years. And I want you to hold me accountable to making this a safer and cleaner city and a better city for everyone.
I want us to become a city that cares about all who live, work and visit here.
I want us to become a proud city for business, a proud city for neighborhoods, a proud city for families.
It is my job to keep Atlanta in the "arena."
I have a favorite quote. It was delivered by President Roosevelt at the Sorbonne in Paris, almost a hundred years ago. He said:
“It is not the critic who counts; Not the man (or woman) who points out how strong the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man, (we know he would mean woman), who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and at the worse, if he (or she) fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his (and her) place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory and defeat.”
We must be in the "arena." It is my job to keep Atlanta in the "arena", working to make us the best we can be.
Since winning the election … and surviving the recount … I have been challenged to get started.
I've been challenged by the woman visiting Lenox Square Mall during the holidays a few weeks ago. She stopped me in mid-step at the top of the escalator, looked me straight in the eye, and said, before even saying hello … “Young lady, if you want to really make me proud, you get started and filling those potholes. They’re tearing up my car!”
Another favorite story is about an eight-year-old boy who stopped me at Underground Atlanta during the celebration. He looked at me and said, in the very clearest voice I heard that day, “Are you really Shirley Franklin?” And then he went on to say, after I said yes, “I voted for you” - firmly establishing in my mind my clear responsibility to serve both him and you.
So, we went right to work after the election. We set up shop. The Franklin Transition Team, the ethics work group and the budget review group have been at work for weeks. These volunteers have been working very hard in loaned office space for nearly eight weeks.
Like any business challenge, the first step in getting anything done is figuring out exactly what needs to be done. That’s why the first order of business is a comprehensive review of the proposed 2002 budget that you read about today in the newspaper. Bain and Company stepped forward to volunteer, and we thank them. Since early December, Bain has conducted interviews all over city government, evaluated the city budget, and with the Transition Team, Kasim Reed and Peggy McCormick, Rick Anderson and Sheriff Jackie Barrett, they have reviewed the budget comprehensively. From this team of independent experts, in the last few days I’ve learned what you already know from reading the newspaper article this morning, that there is a budget gap. It is a far greater budget gap than even the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. That gap we believe ranges from seventy million dollars to ninety million dollars.
Now as Mayor Jackson has pointed out to me on the campaign trail, it is not a deficit, because we are not spending that money. It is a gap between what we know we are going to collect and what the departments have proposed in the budget to spend. It is our challenge to keep it from being a deficit. And I want to make that very clear, it is our challenge to keep it from being a deficit. One of the primary reasons for this gap is the economic slowdown that we are reading about across America. Atlanta’s budget is heavily dependent on sales tax revenue. I don’t think it is overly dependent, but the budget is heavily dependent upon sales tax revenue. And as a result of the economic slowdown, we now have a budget gap.
I come today to tell you that we will have a plan of action. The first step is to find out what the problem is. The second step is to call together the expertise within city government and without, to look at our options. Later this week, we will get with the City Council to talk about some of those options. I will announce a more specific plan to the press later this morning. You can be assured I remain committed to solving this problem in concert with the City Council. My goal is to develop a balanced budget without compromising city services or public safety.
Let’s face it, I had to make a decision today whether to wear a dark suit or a red suit. I stuck with the plan and wore the red suit because I am optimistic that we can solve these problems.
Next I’ve got to make it easier for people to trust Atlanta, and that means creating open, honest, effective government. I’ve already started by creating a Transition Team sub-committee on ethics, headed by Attorney Dorothy Kirkley. They are working to review the city’s ethics codes and to recommend changes to strengthen that code and its enforcement provisions by the end of February.
The City faces many other challenges - too many and too numerous to describe in detail today. You know I know about sewers. You know that I know we have to have more police officers and firefighters. You know that I know they have to be better paid. We face tremendous social problems.
Those are just a few of the issues and challenges that face us. Each requires a thoroughly defined action plan. Each requires a solid experienced leadership team to implement the plan.
In the first 100 days,
I will raise the standards for ethics in city government.
I will fill the key positions to lead the departments.
I will develop a balanced budget and a plan for subsequent years.
I will implement a pothole strike team for my sister at Lenox Square.
I will launch a complaint and information hotline to report complaints of city services.
I will step up collections of funds due the city.
These are just the beginning steps that we must take. I recognize that we have a full agenda. As the proverb says, “The harvest is great but the laborers are few.”
At a time when our needs are greatest, we are going to have to make some tough decisions about budget cuts and belt tightening. I’ve already started by reducing the staff of the Mayor’s Office. I intend to set the tone in my own actions at the Mayor’s Office.
We’re already working with the Council, as has been reported. The Council President and I have met on several occasions. We are beginning a series of work sessions under her leadership with the Council on the City budget later this week. I will have my first District tour with Councilman Boazman on Friday. And I look forward to touring the Council districts with the Council members in the coming weeks.
But here’s where you come in; I can’t do this alone. Nor can the Council. We need your help. We need you to understand the problems. We need you to not give up on us. We need you to hang in there with us over the next few weeks and months, as we move forward. We need your support for the transition process. We need your leadership in the various organizations of our community. We need you to invest in Atlanta. We need our faith community to teach us to live together with dignity and respect. We need you to be in the "arena." We need you in the arena with us.
I’m in it to win. I think I’ve proved that. I’m in this to succeed. I’m in this because I love Atlanta. I love all the people of Atlanta. That’s why I came. That’s why I stayed. That’s why I ran for office.
I ask you to stick it out with us through these tough times. We need your help. Thank you.