AJC gets it right

It's easy for some in the local blogging community to treat our local newspaper as irrelvant, what with their repeated downsizing and the growing conventional wisdom that their eventual death and closure (and that of most major newspapers) is all but certain. But once in awhile, the AJC rises up and reminds us that news of their imminent demise is greatly exaggerated, and they can still put forth excellent local reporting of importance.

Yesterday's paper featured a fascinating story from AJC reporter Alison Young about the site of a former lead smelter in Atlanta's Morningside neighborhood, which may still be the source of some particularly scary pollution. Young's story is well-researched and incredibly thought provoking, particularly considering that numerous very expensive neighborhoods border the former smelter site. It appears that the entities who owned the site after the smelter was shut down have never bothered to undertake any sort of cleanup or remediation efforts at the site, so nearby families may still be exposed to unsafe levels of lead poisoning.

As a resident of Morningside who nearly bought a house just around the corner from that site, I was shocked to find that an obvious pollution source was sitting there unquestioned in what is otherwise a fairly active and vocal neighborhood. I am willing to bet most of the people who live in the area are similarly unaware and will be quite horrified to read this story. Already the article has resulted in an EPA investigation to determine if the federal Superfund program should mount a cleanup operation. (Interestingly, the state's environmental cleanup fund is broke and can't afford to provide any assistance here.)

Given that the City of Atlanta is currently in the throes of some fairly important elections, it will be interesting to see if this becomes an issue. Young should be commended for bringing attention to a story that we might never otherwise have heard about, and potentially saving families from future health effects due to exposure to lead in the area. Nice work, AJC.

Crime gets closer

Those of you who know me well (or who have been paying attention) know that I spend many a sun-drenched Saturday afternoon on the patio of Moe's and Joe's in Virginia-Highland. Like many of the regulars there I was quite rattled when a bartender at one of Moe's and Joe's sister bars, the Standard, was murdered during a robbery at gunpoint back in January. I detailed several instances of violent crime inching ever closer into the neighborhood I previously perceived as safe, and wondered what would happen next and if there was any way to combat the burgeoning violent crime wave hitting Atlanta.

Fast forward three months, and the murderers of John Henderson still have not been apprehended. This is a bet that I made with a friend hoping I would lose, hoping that Henderson's killers would be caught within the month because of the media attention and police focus on the case. Sadly, cynical old me was right.

In the meantime, Atlanta has continued to experience this violent crime wave without any real evidence of abatement. Saturday night, it penetrated the heart of my neighborhood. An employee of the Virginia-Highland Taco Mac was held up in the back of the bar after closing time, and was forced inside at gunpoint. A manager who had been helping to clean up out front saw the robbery in progress, got his gun from his car, and intervened. He fired several times at the robber, who appeared to be wounded but escaped. (While some of you may lament that the shots were not lethal, please consider that the manager is probably very relieved today that he does not have to live with the enormity of having killed someone.)

This Taco Mac is across the street from Moe's and Joe's. One of my friends works for the company, and this store is included in his territory. Friends who bartend at Moe's and Joe's have been beseiged by the press since the Saturday night shooting, and everyone is expressing the same somewhat scary reality: the only way for a bartender in Atlanta to protect his or herself late at night right now is to be armed. Where are the police to protect them? Furloughed, busy writing DUI tickets, or patroling the more dangerous parts of town because places like Virginia-Highland aren't supposed to see this sort of thing.

It's apparent that assumptions like that are now wrong, and clinging to them is futile. Everyone is scared and edgy, and the police continue to appear not to care. I continue to wonder what can be done? A rise in community outreach and protests has certainly raised awareness, but has it prevented crime? Has it caused the police to listen?

I'm scared and sad for my city, my neighborhood, and most of all for my friends. They will have to confront a fear of death every time they take out the trash behind their bar, walk to their car after closing the place down, or decide whether to bring their gun to work today. I want to protect them, but I don't know how.

Today's not-so-deep economic thought

Reading all these stories about Madoff, Stanford, Nadel...never before have I been so happy that I never managed to earn or save enough money that I needed to hire someone to manage it.

Will loss of confidence in financial advisors, brokerages and managers be the lasting fallout of this crisis? Who is going to give their money to anyone else to manage after all the horror stories keep coming and coming without end? And what the hell was the SEC doing under the Bush administration to protect investors? Anything?

The inside of my mattress is starting to look like a better savings account every day.

There are no words

Troy Davis' petition for certiorari has been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, clearing the way for his execution. I am so sick over this news that I cannot find any words to express everything that I am feeling right now. Maybe I can find the words later on for this unspeakable injustice.

But for today, I will pray for Davis and his family.

Prediction

McCain-Palin will lose. It will be close, but ultimately the mood of the country is not in their favor.

And then, barring another scandal bombshell of the unrecoverable sort (an affair, proof Trig is not her baby, etc.), Sarah Palin will run for President in 4 years.

We are going to be dealing with this woman for a long, long time.