AJC: Break-ins drive home crime issue in mayor’s race
File this under: "When WE take control.....things are going to be different".
The terrified woman retreated to the bathroom adjoining her bedroom and locked the door. There were now two locked doors between her and the intruders downstairs.
She dialed 911 and her groggy mind began calculating: If the bedroom door gets kicked in, I’m jumping out the window. I’ll probably break my leg and have to drag myself to get away. But the alternative could be worse. A pistol whipping. Rape. Even murder.
The woman hiding in the bathroom was Atlanta City Council president Lisa Borders, currently campaigning to be Atlanta’s next mayor. But from 1:40 a.m. to
2 a.m. Wednesday, she was simply a frightened crime victim.
It was the third break-in she has suffered in the past nine months. The first two occurred at Borders’ home in the Cascade area of southwest Atlanta, where thieves quickly made off with flat-screen TVs.
But this one, at her airy townhome near Centennial Olympic Park, was different. It occurred at a time when the criminals knew someone might be home. They kicked in a glass door, then, with the home alarm blaring, rooted around to find a storage bin and loaded it with computers, phones and other valuables. But when Borders turned off the alarm, the burglars ran off empty-handed.
“It’s scary when someone invades your space,” Borders said Thursday, sitting in her home office where the break-in occurred. “This is my home where I enjoy my life. Someone invaded that.”
Crime, always a dominant issue in Atlanta politics, is looming to become the issue in this year’s mayoral race. Borders has become in her words, “a poster child for crime.” Her experiences as a victim, she figures, will spur even more debate on the issue.
‘Tale of two cities’
Atlanta has long had a high crime rate compared to similarly sized cities. Gentrification that has added nearly 100,000 new residents to the city in the past decade has created new issues and problems.
“I’d say Atlanta is a tale of two cities, a discrepancy of the haves and have-nots. It forces a scenario where people are preying on each other,” Borders said. “Step back and look. We’re at a very dangerous time and place.”
In the November election to replace Mayor Shirley Franklin, Borders is considered a front-runner, along with State Sen. Kasim Reed and Councilwoman Mary Norwood. All have placed public safety atop their agendas.
“Every mayoral candidate is well aware of the crime problem,” said Kyle Keyser, an Atlanta crime victim turned activist. “But what this speaks to is that violent crimes, like home invasions, have no boundaries for race, class or communities.”
In January, the shooting death of a popular bar worker in Grant Park galvanized that community and led to Keyser creating Atlantans Together Against Crime, a grass-roots anti-crime organization that has the ear of the police department and mayoral candidates.
The debate ratcheted up this month when the union representing Atlanta’s police officers went to the City Council to repeat its criticism that the city’s ongoing furlough of police officers brought on by budget shortfalls endangers residents.
Franklin and Police Chief Richard Pennington argue that crime in the city has ebbed in recent years. Crime reports for the first three months of 2009 support that. Overall, crime is down nearly 10 percent and violent crime is down 12 percent compared to the same time last year. But if a huge decrease in thefts is factored out, then overall crime is down just 3 percent. Pennington could not be reached for a comment.
No easy answers
Burglaries, especially those where thieves kick in doors and quickly make off with valuables, have been increasing, a point Pennington addressed in an interview earlier this year.
“People get very afraid that it might happen to them,” he said. “They might be in the shower. They might be in the bathroom when somebody kicks in the front door.”
Borders, in bed asleep when her door was kicked in, has heard the statistics.
“Regardless of statistics, when this happens to you, you don’t care about statistics; you want it fixed,” Borders said.
The City Council president says she has moved from terror to anger since Wednesday. “I’m mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. I’ve worked for 30 years to create a nice life. Maybe I’m madder because I can see the entire city and I know [crime] is chronic.”
So a well-connected city official with her hands on the reins of power has had it. So what’s she going to do?
That’s the vexing question, Borders said. It’s easy to get mad, but there are no easy answers.
“Clearly, more police and firefighters would be great, but we can’t afford them right now,” she said.
The economic downturn that she believes is causing more crime is also hampering government from properly addressing the problem. Atlanta faces a
$56 million deficit this year — about 10 percent of the total budget. And revenue keeps shrinking.
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