Jury: College Park Officials Discriminated Against Fired Economic Development Manager Who Was White

Jury: College Park discriminated in firing white official


My haters will say: "See! There goes CS/CF protecting 'Massa' once again."

It is ironic to me that the same people who cry for justice all of the time are some of the most bigoted people themselves so frequently.

This story is not a simple issue about racial discrimination against this ONE White man.

In truth this is a story about a group of operatives who are infected with "Black People Are 'The Least Of These' Disease.

I disagree with the plaintiff's contention that we was discriminated against because he is White. He was ousted for ideological reasons. His policies ran against the (flawed) policy theories of the Black Progressive-Fundamentalist Establishment.


SOME BACKGROUND ON COLLEGE PARK GEORGIA


View Larger Map

College Park is a small city to the south of Atlanta. If you have been to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport then you have been though College Park.

I used to live in College Park prior to purchasing a home elsewhere upon getting married. CP was one of the 'First Ring' cities that was founded in the post Civil War period. It received a massive influx of people from Atlanta as "White Flight" triggered an exodus from Atlanta.

CP is attractive because it is outside of Atlanta but close enough so that a drive to work to the core of downtown Atlanta is not long enough or traffic jammed enough to have you cursing. In fact one can take the MARTA train that runs through CP to get to work in most places in Atlanta.

Thus the issue. College Park is an attractive, often forgotten jewel, that was yet to be discovered.


THE COMMUNITY ACTOR-VISTS VS THE DEVELOPER WHO WANTED TO IMPROVE THE TAX BASE

You wonder why I seemingly have an irrational dislike for the Civil Rights Actor-vists in Atlanta? Look no further than the scheme that they ran in College Park Ga.

College Park GA became a town that had 78% of its residents RENTING apartments and houses. This statistic made it a transient town. As the income profile of the city changed - to be clear - Black people with lower incomes - the tax base of the city changed. The crime issues. The educational character of the school changed. The line up of businesses changed.

Let me be clear. That was a neutral statement above. As a different profile of people move in the city must deal with a different set of problems. The elderly residents that had been living in College Park and neighboring East Point were not inclined to hang out on the streets and thus they had a different set of interactions with the police. Regardless of their race. Its just that simple.

As the city sought to improve its tax base and to take advantage of the booming real estate market at the time - it brought in an economic planning and development manager to assist the city in growing. This is where the problems started.

Mr. Jones, the development manager who was fired had the vision of supplementing the city's tax base using the presence of a parcel of expensive homes who's owners would pay the (punitively) high property taxes of Fulton County for larger homes. This, he believed, would be an offset for the relatively low take rate that is received from the 78% base of rental property. As he saw it - "You all wanted me to improve the economic position of the city. This is the best way to maximize the take".

Boy did he not realize what he was stepping into.

Meet the Actor-vists. I am working off of memory of at least 4 years ago and thus I only recall Rev Timothy McDonald as one of the main operatives fighting against the plan to build larger houses (Read between the lines - "White folks") in the City of College Park. I recall that they held a community protest and they gunned to have Mr Jones fired. He, they clearly thought "Did not have the community's best interests in mind".

They preferred that the City of College Park be expanded by introducing more "affordable housing". They sought to retain the city as a "Predominately Black City". They figured that expensive housing would shout out Black people. In truth it would only shut out "the Least Of These" Black people. One only need to look at Cascade Heights or Lithonia to see that, indeed, there are communities of Black people living in $400k houses and above. And yes they pay their taxes. Clearly beyond race there was a class issue involved between the community actorvists and the economic development manager. The fact that he was White and had differing ideas that the "defenders of Blackness" meant that he had to go.

Social Justice Vs Economic Competency

Recall a few weeks ago I reported upon my visit to the meeting that discussed the planned development of Fort McPhereson. The same type of struggle exists around this asset that existed in College Park.

You have an attractive location that is suffering from public revenue issues and land use issues that need to have a sound development plan that balances the interests of various interests groups: different classes; business vs residential; and as always in Atlanta - different races.

The community actor-vist contingent seek to develop affordable housing within the walls of the fort. They are approaching the issue from the mindset of "economic equality"/social justice. They want to use public policy to do everything they can to insure that there is no "Wealth Island" built within the ghetto. In addition they want to make sure that the existing residents that surround the fort get construction jobs as the building process take place. I strongly agree with the latter point. I have since changed my position on the former.

Once again you have an issue where a tax district needs to maximize their take of property taxes for distribution across a larger municipal region. The goals of the social justice forces to introduce "affordable housing" - and - to get property tax reductions upon the poor residents that already exist is an oxymoronic position. Some times I wonder if these people seek to drive a hard bargain by going overboard, realizing that by taking such a position - the forces of CAPITALISM will yield, giving them something a lot more than if they started out from a rational spot.

Keep in mind that both the area around the fort and many areas in College Park were in a state of disrepair. The more logical position would be for these forces to use the attractiveness of the location for the construction of larger homes that draw more property tax revenues to obtain concessions that will be applied to the existing lot of affordable housing. If they could obtain publicly accessible green spaces in the newly developed areas - they functionally receive all that they were looking for - Property Tax Revenues, more affordable houses (by fixing up the existing lot of homes), public Greenspace and Jobs.

The key problem that they face is that, ironically, they are so focused in avoiding the situation where "the poor" will be marginalized, excluded from the island of privilege that fail to note the necessary conditions to hit the property tax flow that they desire. Again - the fact that they want to introduce property tax abatements to the existing poor residents AND to tapper down the inventory of high end properties with more affordable housing, all the while there is a high vacancy rate in the existing stock of affordable housing - MOSTLY DUE TO CRIME ISSUES - shows that they are out of touch with economic reality. They need to be counter balanced.

At the time of Mr Jones' firing most rational people could see what the deal was. He dared to go against the orthodoxy of the Black Establishment in Metro Atlanta and thus he had to be removed.

My goal is to directly challenge the assumptions of this establishment. It appears that, too frequently, What they are most passionate about turns to dust:

1. They were against the GA Aquarium because a homeless shelter needed to be relocated. Now this property has lead to a massive redevelopment of the north side of the Olympic Centennial Park. Hotels and Restaurants now flourish. A brand new and expanded shelter was built in another area of town.
2. They were against the alternation of Grady Hospital into a Private -Not For Profit Corporation. They demanded that the state of GA pay off the hospital debt in the name of "social justice" instead. Once the hospital was taken out of the hands of the political appointees - the donor community felt comfortable that they were no longer "pouring good money after bad" and thus the debt was largely paid off

The list goes on and on and on.

I understand that they need to fight for "the voiceless" who otherwise don't have a seat at the negotiating table - the venerable "The Least Of These". I agree with this. If they were not present they would be after thoughts.

At the same time my frustration is that they are more bound to their methodology and perceptions of "respect for their power" (ie: getting their rings kissed) than they are focused upon their objective.

IF your goal is to have a certain tax digest within a certain municipal boundary then they must understand that those who are wealthy - the source of their resentment - are not going to purchase property that is going to depreciate due to crime problems or heavy handed government which seeks to extract money from them to pay for everything.

Some of these people need to purchase the SimCity video game and practice keeping a city alive before they are allowed to do the real thing.

The Article From The AJC

College Park racially discriminated when it fired its economic development director in 2004, according to a federal court verdict issued Friday.

A jury ruled that two of the three black councilmembers who led the charge to dump Christopher Jones, who is white, must pay $75,000 each in punitive damages. The city must also pay him $6,000 for offering no severance when it did not renew his contract.

Taxpayers will likely have to foot the bill. A 2008 city ordinance calls for all judgments from 2002 on to be paid by the city.

But the price tag could still go up. It will be up to U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp to decide whether the city must also pay Jones front pay — the money he would have reasonably earned in his career — or give him his old job back, as he requested. Camp said he will make his ruling in the next two weeks.

“I want to walk back into College Park City Hall with my head held high, because I did nothing wrong,” said Jones, who now works as an economic development director in Alpharetta. “I am capable and the best person for the job and I was fired only because of discrimination.”

Councilmen Charles Phillips and Tracey Wyatt joined with former councilwoman Cynthia Jones to dismiss the development director in April 2004, saying he had not done enough to bring development to predominantly black areas.

Former councilman Rusty Slider, who is white, voted in favor of renewing Jones’ one-year, $68,000 contract. The fifth member, Mayor Jack Longino, who is white, did not vote.

Longino said Friday that the city is withholding comment on the case until Camp makes his ruling on Jones possible reinstatement. He declined to say if the city would welcome Jones back.

“That would be strictly up to the judge,” Longino said. “What has been ruled on is very clear. We don’t want to comment until the judge has made his decision.”

City officials said during the week-long trial that Jones had been disrespectful and ineffective. It was that, not race, that cost him his job.

The city did admit that Jones had brought more than $1 billion in investment to College Park in his six years of guiding it through urban renewal.

Despite that record, Jones’ attorney, Arch Stokes, said he had a difficult time finding work after College Park did not renew his contract. Other municipalities were wary about hiring someone who was accused of being insubordinate and incapable, Stokes said, until Alpharetta hired him about a year ago.

“He was just devastated and now he has been vindicated,” Stokes said.