Reed, Mitchell joust over APS-Beltline debt dispute
‘What’s the difference between acting like a bully and being a bully?’
The Atlanta Beltline and Atlanta Public Schools remain at an impasse over a multi-million dollar payment dispute. Frustrations have grown among elected officials, school leaders, and parents with no resolution in sight.
Those tensions have since boiled over inside City Hall. Mayor Kasim Reed and Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell are sparring over the best way to re-negotiate the city’s $162 million long-term agreement. By the end of this month, the city will owe $13.5 million to the school system for payments for the Beltline. Officials negotiated throughout the better part of 2014. However, the talks seemingly have made little progress.
With parent groups pressuring Atlanta City Council, Mitchell this week asked Councilwoman Natalyn Archibong to introduce an ordinance to set aside $13.5 million to settle the debt using cash from the “sale of real estate and other funds.” Mitchell said that he worked with members of the mayor’s cabinet on the proposal. The measure was referred to finance and executive Committee.
Reed didn’t take too kindly to Mitchell’s proposal, which he first announced over the weekend in a SaportaReport op-ed. At a press conference yesterday regarding Atlanta Fire and Rescue Chief Kelvin Cochran’s firing, Reed said that Mitchell had undermined the city’s negotiations with APS over disputed Beltline payments. According to an unqualified audit, Reed says, the city’s fiscal reserves are projected to rise to $142 million, up from $7.4 million when he took office.
“We’re just getting back to financial health,” Reed said. “For whatever reasons, the Council president keeps out of the blue... putting forth proposals that go directly to the bottom line and harm the city of Atlanta.”
Those are fighting words! So Mitchell, who’s said to be angling to succeed Reed in 2018, refuted the mayor shortly afterward in a press conference held outside Council chambers. The Council president told reporters that not enough progress had been made between the city and school system. His proposal was intended to push the conversation forward without diminishing the city’s reserves, Mitchell said.
“If we’re going to get this issue resolved, we’ve got to be at the table in a pro-active way, in a collective way, and in a collaborative way,” Mitchell told reporters. “We cannot be pitting the Beltline against the students at APS. We just can’t do that.”
The bickering got a bit personal during the spat. Reed dismissed Mitchell’s move as a political stunt, alluding to his past — and likely future — mayoral ambitions. Meanwhile, the Council president criticized the mayor’s strong-armed tactics.
“Do you think the mayor was acting like a bully?,” WABE-FM (90.1) reporter Jonathan Shapiro asked.
“Acting like a bully?” Mitchell replied. “What’s the difference between acting like a bully and being a bully?”
The squabble continued this morning on V-103, when Reed and Mitchell, who called into the show, heatedly debated the APS-Beltline payment dispute. We’ve got full audio embedded below for your listening pleasure.
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