Metropolis: Help wanted: A world-class mayor

Novelist Tom Wolfe said it best in his acidic portrayal of Atlanta in A Man in Full. Quoting fictional Mayor Wesley Dobbs Jordan, Wolfe succinctly explained Atlanta politics: “At City Hall we don’t subtract points from anybody for being a jerk.” Lots of jobs for lots of jerks builds a strong political machine.

To be fair, a few smart, savvy, competent nonjerks sneak in from time to time. And a slow trickle of competency into City Hall was OK during, say, Atlanta’s Olympic Games heyday. Heck, no one noticed the rotting infrastructure and featherbedded government payrolls when all the bright lights were shining on the extravaganza.

But that was 12 years ago. As former state Sen. Sam Zamarripa says: “We’re no longer a post-Olympic city. We’re a post-post-Olympic city. People have forgotten. We’re back to being an ordinary global city.”

The operative words are “global city.” Atlanta has the potential to be a world economic hub, ranking with Beijing, Mumbai, London and New York. Or we can shrug and conclude we’re incapable of mastering our fate and solving our daunting challenges – and let Charlotte take our place at the global feast.

Last week, City Council President Lisa Borders dropped a bomb. Faced with caring for two direly ill parents, she’s out of the mayor’s race. The significance of Borders’ departure can’t be overstated. Her constituency may have been all shades and types of Atlantans, but at the heart of her campaign was the business community. She came from a storied civil rights family and had an educational pedigree from the elite Woodward Academy. Even better, her patron and former employer was that titan of Atlanta developers, Tom Cousins.

Those left in the race – keeping in mind the mayoral election is a distant 15 months away – aren’t likely to make the business leaders wildly optimistic. What’s the potentates’ concern? Let’s flip back to Wolfe’s A Man in Full. One of the mayor’s pals says, “All those towers are supposed to show you that Atlanta wasn’t just a regional center, it was a national center. And you have to give them credit. They did it!” The mayor weighs in, “They want to make Atlanta a world center, the way Rome, Paris and London have been ... and the way New York is today.”

Wolfe got it. The captains of finance, development and technology want a mayor with the vision and skill set to make Atlanta a world contender.

Here’s the current roster of candidates: state Sen. (and Mayor Shirley Franklin protégé) Kasim Reed, City Council members Mary Norwood and Caesar Mitchell, and Jesse Spikes, a lawyer with the politically influential McKenna Long & Aldridge law firm but hardly a household name. All of these are good people, but none is in a league with that symbol of black ascendancy, Maynard Jackson, or world statesman Andy Young. Or, for that matter, Ivan Allen or William Hartsfield.

There are two levels of concern. Can any of the candidates tackle the policy and fiscal problems crushing the city? If they can, then are they able to move the city into the world major leagues?

“Even before the candidates talk,” Borders tells me, “the public needs to be listened to about the turbulent times the city will face.”

Borders says that only with the recent disclosure of a $140 million budget shortfall has it become apparent that city departments are spending without oversight, and that departments were not receiving reports from city accountants on how spending matched budgets. “The Finance Department is crippled,” she says. “It’s in as bad shape as we had let our water and sewer systems become.”

WXIA/Channel 11 political analyst Bill Crane adds: “We have a flat property tax, due to the foreclosures. We face a declining sales tax. Meanwhile the cost of infrastructure, from the sewers to all of the pot holes that were never fixed, is soaring. It’s not an easy problem.”

Borders – and many others – say the old politics must be buried. The major issue of the 2001 election was over the “blackest” candidate. If that’s the debate this time, we’re doomed.

A word keeps popping up among political insiders: Turnaround. As in, Atlanta needs a mayor who is a turnaround specialist. “With Lisa leaving the field,” Crane says, “the business community is uncommitted. The leaders want someone to turn the current direction around.” And Borders says, “We need a person who takes the mayor’s race in a whole different direction. We need someone who has managed operations on a magnitude of Atlanta.”

The list of people circling the news of Borders’ decision is, um, uninspiring. It ranges from state Sen. Vincent Fort to activist Markel Hutchins to Fulton Commissioner and former City Council President Robb Pitts. None has serious management credentials. The first two won’t inspire confidence among the business leadership. Pitts is popular with the business community, but isn’t considered of adequate caliber to tackle a turnaround.

Then there’s the real wish list, ranging from retiring Georgia State University President Carl Patton to Metro Chamber President Sam Williams to former Gov. Roy Barnes (OK, he’d have to move from Cobb County and, yes, he’s much more interested in being guv again, but a lot of folks really want him to run). Also, names such as Grady hospital rescuer Pete Correll and Ted Turner pop up.

And – a guy who is getting increasing buzz – Zamarripa. He’s a skillful politician who knows the ethnic politics game, a banker, and, for good measure, an international businessman who has been instrumental in luring Chinese investment to Georgia.

“I’m thinking I should think about running,” Zamarripa says.

He observes that Atlanta politics traditionally has two legs: “The continuity of progress on racial issues, and economic boosterism.”

“Those themes are still here,” Zamarripa continues. “But what’s distinct now is that we’re a global city. How we speak and play in that arena – that’s the big issue, and that’s the question that needs to be raised with candidates. There’s a tendency to focus on the poor economy and the budget. Those things will be dealt with. But that won’t define the opportunity we have as a city.”

To paraphrase one of the current political clichés, that’s pretty post-partisan thinking. It’s not so much left or right that’s at stake, or black or white. It’s moving Atlanta forward into the world or giving up the fight.

atlanta mayoral race, lisa borders, sam zamarripa, metropolis, john sugg