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AJC.com > Talk of the town
Blame the slumlord, not the immigrant
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Which came first, the illegal immigrants or the crummy neighborhoods where they often live?
That’s the politically incorrect question local leaders are asking themselves these days as many older residential areas in suburban Atlanta deteriorate precipitously.
Some politicians have decided immigrant families are the reason for the decline. They’ve got it wrong.
The slumlords came first. If officials would target them and their properties, these neighborhoods could be revived.
Read the complete Mike King column and then tell us who’s responsible for neighborhood decline.
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The PSC is not the CIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia appears to be one of only two states that permit utilities regulators to have secret conversations with the people from the utilities they regulate. Angela Speir, one of five members of the Public Service Commission, has proposed rules that would limit such “ex parte” conversations, and it’s high time that the commission adopted them.
The rules are critical to every Georgian, because in cases that pit the interests of utilities against those of consumers, there’s no such thing as a level playing field. Read today’s editorial on the issue, and then tell us what you think:
Should commissioners conduct the public’s business out in the open?
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Car exhaust beats cow exhaust
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Don’t like what comes out of a car’s tailpipe? How about what comes out of a horse’s tailpipe? University of Georgia economist Dwight R. Lee writes that we should all be grateful for the internal combustion engine, ‘cause what comes out of cars is pretty tame compared with what comes out of cows, horses and mules (including solids, liquids and gases).
Lee cites a recent report showing that livestock produce 18 percent of greenhouse gases that cause global warming — more than all forms of transportation combined. “And now we find,” he writes, “that by eliminating all those farm-yard animals, the internal combustion engine also eliminated vast amounts of methane-producing flatulence, which is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than the carbon dioxide produce by burning gasoline… . History will look kindly on the internal combustion engine as a major contributor to the steady progress toward a healthier environment.” Read the column
So what do you think? Is the gas engine the thing that saved us, the thing that is killing us, or both?
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Should Genarlow Wilson be in prison?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Two years ago, Genarlow Wilson was convicted of aggravated child molestation: As a 17-year-old boy, he had had consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl. The conviction carried a mandatory 10-year sentence. Now, even the jurors who convicted Wilson wish they could take back the verdict, and the case has attracted national attention — most of it, but not all, focused on how to get Wilson out of prison.
Some state legislators have proposed a law that would enable the judge in Wilson’s case to reconsider the sentence, but the proposal has run into strong opposition among lawmakers who believe justice was done in the Wilson case. Read more about the case, and tell us what you think: Should Genarlow Wilson be freed from prison?
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All aboard the taxpayers’ train
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Somewhere along the line, a notion took root in Georgia that it’s just plain wrong to use taxpayer money to subsidize rail service. That’s why MARTA receives no operating money from the state, and it’s also the argument trotted out by opponents of commuter rail.
Unknown to most Georgians, though, the state has quietly subsidized rail service for years, not for passenger service but for freight service in rural areas of the state. (See the special report from Sunday’s paper.) In fact, the state owns 540 miles of rail corridor, and spends millions of dollars upgrading its rail property for below-cost leasing to private rail operators.
Those state subsidies maintain freight operations that serve as lifelines for more isolated and economically struggling rural areas. But with traffic threatening to strangle Atlanta, the same could be said of state subsidies for commuter rail or extended MARTA rail service. What do you think? Are some forms of rail subsidy acceptable, while others are not? Or should all such subsidies be abolished?
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It’s very interesting to me how people can blame illegal immigrants for everything. They are people and have the right to live in a free society were they can work and earn a living. I lived in Chicago for along time. When the illegal immigrants... read the full comment by Bryan | Comment on Blame the slumlord, not the immigrant Read Blame the slumlord, not the immigrant
If the judges sentenced the landlords to live in their own rental houses, I bet they’d be fixed up real quick.... read the full comment by Lynn | Comment on Blame the slumlord, not the immigrant Read Blame the slumlord, not the immigrant
Tim makes an excellent point about the movin’-on-up culture. The new mortgage schemes out there allow for rapid turnover of homes and, at some point, they start to lose equity and become vulnerable to speculators who buy them, rent them out and let... read the full comment by Mike King | Comment on Blame the slumlord, not the immigrant Read Blame the slumlord, not the immigrant
I agree Mike. Landlords should be held accountable!... read the full comment by Jessica | Comment on Blame the slumlord, not the immigrant Read Blame the slumlord, not the immigrant