If You Were Trying...

These four words are the beginning of a thought exercise, perhaps even a litmus test. This exercise ends with "what would you do differently?" Most of the fun is in the middle. For example, "If you were trying to create a failed government, what would you do differently?" You could ask this any day, any time at Dunwoody City hall of anyone you bump into. What makes it an exercise is that you'll never get an answer from anyone on the payroll. 

A more topical thought exercise is "if you were trying to convince the public this government is corrupt, what would you do differently?" This relates to the longstanding use of personal communication channels for official city business. This gives the impression of a culture of backroom dealings, and underhanded under the table negotiations where the well connected are, well, connected. And you aren't. And since it is all off the books you'll have a damn hard time even finding out what is really going down (spoiler alert: it ain't your taxes) and apparently the folks down at city hall really like it that way with the mayor enjoying the practice for a decade.

Well at least until they were called to task and then someone pointed out these clandestine, covert practices are uncommon and in many jurisdictions verboten. So now they're fixin' to git ready to start thinkin' 'bout doin' somethin'. Bless their little hearts. But you would be wise to NOT hold your breath waiting on this city to do the right thing or come close to doing anything the right way. Just look at their track record.

Here's A Shocker

A local government, DeKalb County in this case, touts a commitment to transparency but when pressure was applied and the financial system was audited the report itself was so heavily redacted that you would have to change toner cartridges half way through printing it out. The excuses were offensive. Odious. Concerns of system vulnerability? Really? Isn't this a fairly recent acquisition from a highly respected company? Then they wanted to lessen the possibility of the operating system being sabotaged from without. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot! The relativism is a typical politician's ploy. Just how susceptible is this to outside attack? What are the attack vectors? How in the name of all sanity is information in a financial report PDF going to facilitate compromising firewalls, gaining access to an internal system and gaining admin control? And how much, exactly, precisely, measurably, do these redactions reduce specific vulnerabilities? And finally, when is someone going to fire the fool who came up with and/or approved these statements?

They are slinging bullshit and expecting the public to like it. So far it seems to be working.

Transparency...

...a word they like to use...down at city hall. And, something they avoid like toxic waste.

When they can. When they can't the get really, REALLY pissed. The most recent target of their ire is Brian Bolden, until recently on the PD payroll. After a perfunctory investigation by Big Sis of the West charges were stacked and Bolden was sacked, presumably "with cause." 

But what was his real sin against god, humanity and all things city hall? Well, he contacted some folks in mainstream(ish) media regarding information that is a matter of public record. In fact, this particular type of record often appears in newsprint under the heading "Police Blotter." So what really went pear-shaped? All things city hall, especially the bad things (an increasing trend) must go through the Truth Butcher for slicing and dicing as the raw, unprocessed truth should never see the light of day. Bolden got out ahead before the Truth Butcher could rinse, repeat and spin. So Bolden gets hung out to dry. 

It is really interesting that between the Parsons and Bolden incidents, Truth Butcher went public airing city hall's commitment to transparency. Want some real fun? Cruise on over to Dunwoody's website and download Big Sis' investigative report. Or even the self-congratulatory Top Cop "There's Nothing Dirty Going On" report on the sexual hijinks in his little bitty pissant country place. You'll want to set a time limit, because despite Truth Butcher's proclamation, you ain't gonna find them. These would be hidden behind their Open Records Request pay wall. That's because you ain't payin' enough taxes for real transparency.

Gadfly? Really?

The Dunwoody Reporter lists a local activist as a "sign gadfly." Maybe, but what he is actually doing is making vocal arguments in support of the rule of law. How does that make him a gadfly? Simple. He's pointing out that the true offender is the City of Dunwoody that systematically and consistently ignores the very laws they put on the books. Why? Because business owners and developers don't like them and City politicos and bureaucrats like them more than they like us.

Leading the charge for the City, strictly on the propaganda front, is Lynn Deutsch, who will beat the drum but only to call the time for a mercenary consultant, who will, behind closed doors, craft the sign ordinance suited to the City, their business owners, and developer buddies. This effectively removes the process from public scrutiny. They will hold "public forums" for the purpose of whitewashing the process and putting the right checks in procedural boxes. These will be public theatre, infomercials intended to get us to accept, even like, something decidedly NOT in our best interests.

Want something to really scare your mule? Think of this: Lynn Deutsch and her BFF "Don't Ask Don't Tell" Pam Talmadge are going to drive and supervise the re-write of the Village Overlay. Be on the lookout for "vibrancy."

Failed Experiment

Sandy Springs, the poster child for Three-Pee-UhOh, is doing an about face by bringing much of the City's services in-house abandoning the over-hyped "run government as a business" concept. Seems vendor stickiness along with constant price increases was headed towards the level of bloat and excess that is the exclusive domain of governments. No amount of back room deals or no-show jobs for friends and family can make up for trespassing on government sovereignty. Hopefully they've calculated the risk of in-sourcing: previously hidden operations will now be subject to transparency and open records requests. What could possibly go wrong?

Work-Shopping Ideas

In retracting the ill-conceived attempt at expanding government opacity the Fulton County Attorney who proposed to limit the public's access to the public's records dismissed it as "merely work-shopping an idea." One has to wonder how many bad laws, destructive to public welfare are slipped past a blinded public as a "work-shopped" idea. More than the public needs and less than the governments want. 

New Media...

...old tools.

TOD has been bitching and moaning about the sad state of Dunwoody's IT infrastructure and service in general but particularly the video broadcast of Council (and other) meetings. Apparently we are not alone. That particular call to action would address the accessibility (in the broader sense) of the City supplied "transparency technology."

Replacing/supplanting the crap used by the City would address the fact that the City knowingly and at our expense denies many residents equal access to an important City service, but at the same time would encourage their bad behaviour by providing a viable alternative. The pressure to get this City to upgrade (e.g., Granicus as used by Athens-Clarke County--there are others, almost all are better than what we have) should not be lifted. Not the least little bit. After all it is OUR money and the City should not be pissing it away on the current POS.

On the other hand, should the City actually get its act together (and a Ramblin Wreck gives us hope) it would in no way mitigate the need or value of a citizen call to arms. Certainly a forum, unmoderated or moderated by someone unaffiliated with the City and its politics, would support free discourse. A non-government community can also establish verified identities creating a community of citizens and apply rules (posting, commenting, etc.) while other voices are more diligently moderated but not muted. Unless called for.

Getting this City to perform will be slow and difficult. Remember these are the IT wizards who brought us the CAD-to-CAD debacle. Even were that not the case these new digital vigilantes are to be applauded.

Secret Societies

You know. The kind with exclusive membership, secret handshakes and mostly likely other, deeper secrets. The kind you'd associate with DeKalb county. The kind that gets an expensive soccer complex sprung on the public and even the Board of Commissioners at the last minute. The kind providing fuel to the fires that warm the cockles of citihood advocates.

Just when you start thinking that having your own little city would solve all the problems you have with the county you find out your city politicos are just as bad and they have been doing the same thing. The latest city secret society to see the light of day is called "Peachtree Gateway" an effort between four of North DeKalb's cities that has been going on behind closed doors and outside public view for the last two years. And get this: it is intended to foster regionalism. Isn't that what the county is for? So what are they doing, creating their own meta-county?

You may be wondering what other secret organizations and operations your city is involved in. Too bad. That IS why they're called secret. Only the proper set of shakers and movers, the biggest fish no matter how small your pond, are allowed in on the secret.

And if you think this is the first and only behind-closed-doors secret machinations your "locally controlled" politicians have been involved in you're not just drunk on the Kool Aid, you've overdosed.

She IS Good

Within hours of swearing in Dunwoody's Prophetess of Transparency to replace the opaque and disgraced former commissioner DeKalb County was awarded Ballotpedia.org's highest rating (A Plus) for transparency.

Correlation?

Causality?

Coincidence? We think not.

Software Estimation

On a good day estimating the scope of a software development project is problematic. Based on success rates it appears intractable. Without arguing whether or not setting up a web site constitutes software development it is interesting to note that our newly sworn in County Commissioner is "already working to create a web site that will show real-time information about her office's spending." So sayeth the AJC. The interesting part is that despite the preliminary work "she said she hopes to have the website ready in about a month, but it could take longer."

No joking.

This could just be adept politician-speak, where every apparent commitment comes with a caveat you could drive an epic fail thru or it could be a voice of experience that understands no software effort ever comes in on time and under budget. Not with all the requested features anyway. Or maybe she's thought better of hiring friends or family for this project as that would not be a good start towards good governance. But it would help her fit in with the rest of her colleagues on and beyond the Commission. Or perhaps she is seriously considering hiring the yahoos responsible for Dunwoody's CAD-to-CAD (non)interface and is certain that will make the project open ended if it ever works at all. Deliberately choosing to fail on the first and only known transparency project should give everyone pause.

Given the decades of software development experience in the community of The Other Dunwoody, we would like to offer a time tested software estimation technique:

1. ask the programmer how much time it will take to develop the feature or product, making sure you get the estimate they honestly believe in and not the inflated estimate they know their managers expect
2. take that estimate, double the number and go up to the next time unit (e.g., 1 day -> 2 weeks)

We are guessing that the CAD-to-CAD bozoids told our previous Most Eminent City Manager that this simple interface project would take two months at the outside. Seems like it has been a bit closer to four years, doesn't it?

Prestidigitation

Sleight of hand. Misdirection.

All magicians start out their performance indicating that everything they do you can see. No tricks. Nothing behind the curtain, no secret compartment in the hat. And sure enough they pull a rabbit right out of that hat.

But you knew that was going to happen. So next time your favorite magician takes the stage don't watch the hat or look for the rabbit. Pay very close attention to everything but that and you will see your now formerly favorite magician putting your money in their pocket.

Isn't that magic?

Know Shit

A knock-on effect of the ethical challenges facing DeKalb County politicos has been a recent War of Word. And that word is: transparency.

One contender to the throne that until recently had been kept warm by Ms. Boyer is pledging an open checkbook register. OK. A sitting Councilman with a deserved reputation for informing citizens wherever possible felt compelled to re-iterate in a personal testimony. When ARE the next elections? A former City Councilman has suggested that if Dunwoody would only throw open the kimono the world would be delighted at how transparent this City really is. Really?

Perhaps not so much.

But to be fair there really isn't a great example for Dunwoody or it's citizens to learn by as opacity is the first tool all politicians use to manipulate whatever truths they are forced to concede. As a public service (as you well know, we at The Other Dunwoody are all about public service) let's look at things that would make Dunwoody an exemplar of transparency:

• You MUST be proactive. This is not only the cornerstone of any transparent organization it is required to establish and maintain trust with stakeholders.  This must become such a part of the City's DNA that it would never need to respond to FOI request because the information is already in the public domain. 
• You MUST be prompt. Data and documents must be published within 24 hours of trigger event (e.g., signing a contract) or acquisition of data or documents.
• Publish data in machine readable form. Alternative publications are fine, but when data are involved machine readable is table stakes. 
• Publish "easy data" quickly and frequently. Easy data are readily acquired or delivered, usually electronically and require no curation or redaction. An example would be call detail records on all City land lines and cell phones. And of course this includes "the checkbook."
• Publish curated data on a routine basis but as frequently as possible. These are data that require some level of redaction with a good example being traffic citations where it may not be appropriate to publish some of the offender information.
• Publication of triggered event information sets must be comprehensive. A triggered event is something like a successful contract negotiation at which point all related information (memo's, meeting agenda/minutes, call records, etc.) are published as a package even if those data and documents that may have already been published.
• Routine internal operational reports must be published at regular intervals which at the very least should be 7 calendar days before City Council meetings. These reports should include internal staff reports as well as work-related correspondence with vendors. 

This level (which TOD considers a minimum level) of transparency is not supported by existing government processes and information infrastructure and will require some upgrades in both areas. IT needs to put in place systems that automate the acquisition, process and publication of data such as Call Detail Records and email metadata (SMTP headers). They will also be required to archive emails (if they do not already--no IRS email kerfuffles allowed) and to maintain strict version control of all City documents. Activities must be managed as cohesive units with data and documents collected and published in full at the appropriate milestones. For example, when a grant proposal is submitted that proposal and all documents leading up to it (emails, meeting minutes, status reports, Call records, draft proposals, etc.) are published to the public as a single module.  Similarly, negotiations with current or future vendors would result in publication of all related data and documents the minute the deal is sealed. 

Because we can already hear the folks at City Hall gagging and sputtering something about "we wouldn't even know where to begin" as a part of this particular public service effort we'll get the ball rolling with just a few of our favorite items that should be in the public domain:

• The ever-popular "Check Register"
• All Call Detail Records
• Traffic Citations
• All radar sign speed records (mobile and fixed signs)
• Grant proposals and all related documents associated with each individual grant effort
• All records on unsolicited grants (the Lenco Bearcat leaps to mind)
• All data and records between the City and subordinate groups including the Convention and Visitors Bureau and Citizen Committees
• All data and records within the aforementioned subordinate groups
• All internal status reports (and there should be quite a few)
• All records of cold-call solicitations (who accepted the call, how did the effort progress)--a perfect example is the negotiations with Tree Top Quest, a poster child for opacity

Some folks (most likely at City Hall) will complain that this is just too much work--too costly. But frankly that is a lie. The fact is that most of these data and documents are created and managed electronically and the cost to implement processes supporting transparency are quite small. But it does beg the question: if transparency is such an important thing that politicians will run on it or stand by it then isn't this small cost acceptable? Or maybe they'd just prefer that we don't know shit.

Just Compensation

Since the City formed TOD has consistently observed that for the City's three top positions we hired in haste and have suffered in an increasingly uncomfortable leisure. In one case we endured a breach so great that nothing less than permanent separation was acceptable. The other two...not so much. Yet.

Though not a singularity, the bungling of the Schneiderman investigation did not carry the consequences it should have or would have in other localities. And for years now we've endured the comedy of errors commonly known as CAD-to-CAD as our City Manager slowly realizes that wink-and-nod deals that work with real estate development don't work so well with computer systems development. Turns out computers don't blink.

Now folks are calling for action mostly in the form of a new City Manager. Some consider this harsh whilst others observe that the City Charter allows for little more than a nuclear option. Even the current City Manager, when justifying why he should not be subject to ethics oversight, argued that since he worked at the pleasure of the Mayor and Council such oversight was unnecessary. True dat.

As surprising as this may seem firing the City Manager won't fix the real problem. Without more fundamental changes the next City Manager will likely be as bad as the one we're currently saddled with and may even be worse. We need a better fix.

There is an old saying "You get what you pay for." Bullshit. You pay for what you get. And if you're smart you make sure of exactly what you are getting before you pay. That's what we need in this City: a compensation system that rewards results.

It works like this. Top City staffers (that would include the City Manager, Police Chief and City Attorney and their direct reports) will receive  two thirds of their W2 compensation as salary with the rest in the form of performance bonuses. Plural. The next layer of staffers will receive an eighty-twenty split.

The bonuses are earned by delivering against tangible, measurable objectives agreed upon in bi-annual employee-manager work sessions. In the case of the City Manager, this would comprise agreed upon goals that are aligned with the policy direction established by Council. Long term policy initiatives require that Council establish intermediate milestones. Had this been done with the CAD-to-CAD project the City Manager would not have been able to pull the "it will take three months" wool over Council's eyes. It would also mean that failure to perform would come directly out of the pockets of those who failed to live up to their commitments.

Throughout the organization these goals must be aligned with Council's policy objectives and vision for the City. They must also be prioritized as should Council policy and vision. And they should be allocated in such a fashion that each employee has a clear understanding of what must be done to earn competitive compensation and what can be done (stretch goals) to earn more. It is a track record of achieving these stretch goals and nothing else that leads to increases in overall compensation. You earn your pay and you earn your raise.

By establishing this compensation plan and publishing the objectives, priorities, policy and vision updated whenever there is any change we will establish a level of transparency and accountability that will go a long way towards making Dunwoody a city that operates in the way we were promised.

Report Report

The much ballyhooed Dunwoody Independent School District Feasibility Study has finally been made available to the public. You are strongly encouraged to read it and form your own opinions. Though there are plenty of nits to pick this is a look at the bigger picture and what can be learned from this report.

Authorship is clear with specific individuals named and proper consideration given to a Graduate Research Assistant. Sadly the same cannot be said for the commission of the report, research directives or editorial guidance as no individuals are named but instead we are given to understand the report was commissioned by the City and a recently formed community group. It isn't clear what the study cost nor who specifically paid for the effort.

However it is a matter of public record that Representative Taylor was privy to drafts of the document and it is not an unreasonable stretch to assume that he also gave specific research direction as well as editorial oversight. Therefore we shall refer to this as "Representative Taylor's Report." The tone of Representative Taylor's Report is convincingly arrogant[1] and there can be no doubt this work is by and for Dunwoody.

The overarching purpose of Representative Taylor's Report is to support his drive towards an independent Dunwoody school system and to that end his report is largely defensive. Representative Taylor and his entourage have come under fire for re-segregation and questions have been raised about the financial operations of an independent system. A stretch goal is to support Representative Taylor's recent flip flop from "Dunwoody Schools can do a better job with less" to "we're going to tax you at the same rate as DeKalb[2] and spend the money however we want." In effect the politicians behind this effort were safe in saying they can do better with less because they never had any intention of letting that happen. However this preemptive lobbying may draw increased attention to shaky financial aspects that Representative Taylor may wish were overlooked.[3]

It should come as no surprise that Perimeter Center (and other Dunwoody businesses) can finance Dunwoody's Schools. Businesses are already a significant revenue source for the City and the Schools will not share any of the tax revenue with the County. It is notable that a secessionist City School System will mean a dramatic shift from State and Federal revenue sources to local tax revenues and the recent real estate bubble is a warning against operating in this manner without a rate cushion. More troubling is that businesses are the majority funders yet are disenfranchised with regards to governance.

Representative Taylor's Report belabours the point that DeKalb Schools are now and will remain majority black and the same is true of the Dunwoody cluster. The focus is exclusively on race and ignores other demographic issues (e.g., special needs students) that are often a more significant issue in a schoolhouse setting.

The issue that no one on either side seems willing to openly discuss is that this secessionist movement is not about segregation--it is about subjugation. The student body will remain majority black but what about the teacher corps? What about principals and staff? Central office administrators? The local Board of Education? It is a sure thing that the further you move from the students' chairs the larger the proportion of whites in positions of authority. It is all but certain that the Board, the Superintendent and top administrators will be exclusively white. The only people of color Dunwoody Independent School District students are likely to encounter in a school setting are janitors and cafeteria workers. Naysayers need a coherent explanation as to why Dunwoody which is not exclusively white has a Mayor and Council that is and a City Hall staffed disproportionately with whites and provide some plausible reason why Dunwoody Schools would not follow suit.

An independent school system has potential to be a good thing for Dunwoody but advocates must provide some assurances beyond "just believe" to ensure enforceable commitment to responsible system creation and operation is in place.

• The per FTE expenditures must be capped at the same level as DCSD after Dunwoody withdraws--commit to doing better with less and set the tax rate accordingly. 
• Representative Taylor's Report touts operational efficiencies [4] that Dunwoody would employ that would result in additional saving--the five year startup plan should clearly show these efficiencies accruing to the taxpayer in the form of rate reductions. 
• The operational plan should include proportional representation from the business community with Board nominees presented by the business community for approval by majority vote of City Council thereby providing a transparent process for a public-private governance partnership.
• Transparency in operations must far exceed that of the DeKalb system or the City of Dunwoody with pro-active dissemination of financial data, contract information and employee CV and training. The public must have no doubt that the best and most capable employees are in place and that all facets of District operations are professional and auditable by the public.

Representative Taylor and his supportive colleagues run a serious risk of being outed as just another bunch of tax and spend empire building politicians distanced from their conservative roots and detached from their constituents. If they persist they will paint for the world a picture of Dunwoody where the darkies play in the back yard while the rich plantation owners sit on the porch sipping sweet tea.

[1] We will assume that Representative Taylor is well aware that the DeKalb County School District owns, staffs and maintains all the schools in the Dunwoody Cluster and this far exceeds what his report deprecatingly refers to as "supervision."

[2] In Representative Taylor's Report and his public speeches it is increasingly clear that he advocates a "same tax rate" rather than a "same expediture" models as the former represents more money. Page 12 of his report is a relatively shameless pandering to teachers by suggesting a raise and further implying that given more money teachers will do a job they currently are not doing.

[3] On page 13 the authors mention smaller class sizes in the context of increased spending but cite research showing that smaller class sizes are ineffective suggesting that capital expenditures needed to support smaller classes is politically untenable or seriously undermines the case for financial viability. On page 11 the authors briefly hint at a significant CapEx issue when pointing out they assume that Dunwoody will acquire school properties under the same attractive terms as City Parks.  No substantive information is given in support of this assumption suggesting that it is necessary to support financial viability.

[4] On page 13 of Representative Taylor's Report the authors point to significant savings thru outsourcing and on page 9 they offer an unsupported assertion that resource allocation by principals will provide efficiencies. 

Something About Bert

No, not Bert of Bert and Earnie fame, but the current Bert of Georgia transportation fame. We all remember Bert Lance and his involvement during the Carter Governor years, but now we're talking about Bert Brantley who is a top bureaucrat in our nascent Tollway bureaucracy. In a recent AJC article exposing research concluding that the I-85 Lexus Lanes really are Lexus Lanes our new Bert offers some prize quotes.

First he blasts the research done by Southern Environmental Law Center declaring the study "flimsy". Well of course the study is flimsy Bert. That would be because you and your bureaucrat buddies refuse to a) publish detailed information or b) do the study yourself. In fact, we'll wager you don't publish the data at all but use the formality of Open Records requests to dissuade acquisition of the information.

When it is suggested that marching forward on other tollways in Georgia should be gated by understanding the impact of the I-85 HOT lane which was intended to be a pilot program for just that purpose Bert drops this jewel:

"...there's still plenty of time to learn as we move forward. Do you sit back and do nothing?"

Wow Bert, really? So why did you wait on commissioning the detailed data analysis? Is that because it is a foregone conclusion that you're going to "move forward" with these other projects come hell or high water? Why weren't you giving routine weekly reports on the details of lane usage beyond peak pricing? We're one eighth into the twenty first century now Bert and it has become painfully apparent that everyone who wants to has access to and can leverage real time analytics. Oops. Isn't that exactly what the HOT lane operation does to dynamically adjust the fares--real time analytics?

What we have here is another government agency with a hidden agenda and if past behaviour is any indicator of future behaviour then this agenda is intentionally hidden because it is largely about moving public money into well connected private hands.

Thanks Bert for all you do.

Friggin With The Riggins

Those of you out there in business-land probably have from time to time had to make a decision on what your company should purchase and decide on which vendor to select. And you've probably had to justify that decision to higher ups. If you've done much of this you have also run up against rules about just how this is done. These often include "competitive bid", "minimum number of bids" and the every popular "lowest cost".

If you've done this much you also know how to scam the system--colloquially known as "bid rigging". The core of all these techniques is creating, and then manipulating a "scoring system" where the details of the rubric -- the weightings for each value -- are buried deep beneath a spreadsheet teaming with numbers. All to look cold, analytic and official. Another tried and true technique is to include in the RFP items that are finely crafted to favour your pre-selected winner. Generally you want these to be easily overlooked and not something as egregious as "employs my cousin at twice the pay of those who do real work" or "has a long term relationship with a high ranking official" or better still "brought a brand new sixty inch plasma to my super bowl party and forgot to take it home". These are the kinds of blatant malfeasance that gets folks, like Pope and Reed, dragged into court. Even subtle missteps cause bureaucratic heartburn as we have recently witnessed with the re-letting of bids for Department of Community Health's plan management.

We all know it happens and we suspect it happens more in government than in the private sector. We also know how to do it and it would surprising if we didn't recognize it when we see others do it. So those of you out there in the Wold that recognize one of these, take close hard look at the proposal selection for our latest mini-me NSA wanna be effort--the Iron Sky Watching You Proposal.

When you look at the score sheet one thing leaps out. Iron Sky is by far the most expensive of the bids but it also scores highest (bigger is better) on the "cost" metric. By a factor of four over the lowest price bidder. In fact, Iron Sky is higher than the amount budgeted which should have been a very precise "estimate". Read on to decipher why that might be.

In the pre-award promotional effort Iron Sky was ballyhooed as the anti-privacy provider for Sandy Springs--the big sister we want to be if we grow up. Hooray for that. What seems to be glossed over is the relationship between Iron Sky and the City of Norcross which just happens to be the former employer of the Dunwoody City Manager. Now this is of little or no consequence and can be written off as nothing more than a coincidence except for the opacity of City Hall and the rather strange conclusion that the highest price bidder wins the "cost war" by a such a large margin. Now you're beginning to wonder why that estimate wasn't spot on.

In real estate there is the concept of an "arms length deal" which is critically important when contesting a property assessment based on the most recent sale price. Basically "arms length" means there was no prior relationship between the two parties and the property changed hands in a fair deal at market price. Now look at our Iron Sky deal and you decide if you see an "arms length" deal or just another Dunwoody arms deal.

Jabberwonky

Whenever a government spews forth missives like:

The accompanying financial statements present the City and its component unit, an entity for which the City is considered to be financially accountable. The discretely presented component unit is reported in a separate column in the government-wide financial statements to emphasize that it is legally separate from the City. 

Discretely Presented Component Units
The Dunwoody Convention and Visitors Bureau has been included as a discretely presented component unit in the accompanying financial statements. The Dunwoody Convention and Visitors Bureau (“Bureau”) is fiscally dependent on the City as it does not have the power to levy taxes, determine its own aggregate budget without the approval of the City of Dunwoody, Georgia, or issue bonded debt and the City is required by contract to provide a majority of the operational revenues for the Bureau. 

Financial information with regard to the Bureau can be obtained from the Bureau’s administrative offices at 41 Perimeter Center East, Dunwoody, GA 30346. Separate financial statements for the Dunwoody Convention and Visitors Bureau are not prepared.

then you know two things:

1. They're doing something they ought not
2. They really don't want you to know about it

We all know that these quasi government bureaus are ripe for malfeasance as they are subjected to almost no budgetary oversight, public review or any form of mandatory transparency--as in "separate financial statements are NOT prepared". Wouldn't want the mere citizens to get a real clear view of what's going down downtown.

Then there is the redundancy of it all. Do not hotels perform their own marketing and wouldn't one expect them to do it well? It is a competitive private enterprise. And what about the the PR money we spend from the general budget on an engineering firm to polish our City image? How many groups have to spend how much money to convince someone that Dunwoody is a cool place? Perhaps the lady doth protest too much.

These CVBs represent little more than a grow the government philosophy of "we CAN tax them so we WILL and then we'll tax them more". Because there is really no public need to be met they piss the money away on friends, family and corporate connections.  Then the greed kicks in...

Winston Churchill's Destruction of Dunwoody

One of Winston Churchill's quotable quotes on democracy

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter"

seems to have struck a cord with the powers-that-were who pushed thru the creation of Dunwoody. While promoting this city as a platform for local control they were crafting a city charter that effectively relegates our elected Council and Mayor to ceremonial status all but eliminating the voter's say over those who run their city.

They blessed us with what is really "representative democracy" in name only by creating what is in fact a Bureaucratic Monarchy. They effectively stripped our Mayor and Council of any real authority and concentrated what should be distributed power with built in checks and balances answerable to the voter into a single bureaucratic position effectively answerable to no one: the City Manager.

Our current charter has given us a Council and Mayor with the authority to preside over ribbon cuttings while it is King Warren of the Wold who decides when and where and even if these ribbon cuttings occur. He negotiates backroom real estate deals with the full power and purse of the City and deigns to engage Council only when their approval, guided by his hand, is needed--at which point it has been reduced to a mere formality. His casual dismissal of his public non-engagement when making drastic changes to Brookrun Parkway is probably the closest we will get to honesty and transparency during his reign with every other action cloaked in impenetrable opacity with the CAD dis-integration being but one example.

The basis for this Orwellian perversion is not just the aforementioned Churchill quote but the twisted notion that when power corrupts it only affects politicians while appointed officials are somehow immune. There have been many a pub chat regarding the general integrity of anyone who would even consider entering politics but history has proven time and again that humans, any and all, are ill suited to manage power and ultimately it is power that controls them. The key factors of power's corrupting effect are concentration and time and we have had quite enough of both.

We have spent far too much time and effort attempting to disprove the harsh reality of power's corrupting effect and we should now consider another bit of wisdom from Churchill:

"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."

Here in Dunwoody it is time that we give democracy a try. The power of the ballot box, our power, is effected only through the power of our elected officials and it is now time, with all good care and prudence, to put that power in their hands and return bureaucrats to the role where they best serve--being bureaucrats.

We must create a new charter that will be our Magna Carta.

Somebody's Gettin' "A Curb Job"

In the middle of late of late last night I was sittin' on a curb
I didn't know what about but I was feelin' quite disturbed...

This whole curb cutting thing is silly. And that is just what makes it disturbing.

Is this part of a greater sleight of hand performed by the developer where all the Dunwoody watchdogs are being distracted by a useless curb cut while something much more nefarious is being slipped through? Perhaps. It is absolutely incredible that this developer really believes this traffic hazard is key to his property value.

Perhaps this is just another example of boys being boys with some nearby City Managers claiming New Hotel Bragging Rights. A kind of permanent prepubescent penis envy on the part of Dunwoody's City Manager where he feels he's come up short on the hospitality front.

Or it could be related to the song that seems to play incessantly at local City Halls with raucous sing-a-longs emphasizing a few key lines:

My Yvonne sweetest one me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll make big fun when they Buy-OH!
...
Thibodeaux, Fontainbleau, the place is buzzin'
Kinfolk come to see Yvonne by the dozen
Dress in style, go hog wild, me oh my oh
Son of a gun, we'll make big fun with the Buy-OH!

Given the PCID's ability to turn one dollar into twenty by shaking hard on the grant tree it is easy to see why they all want to curry favor with the Queen of Somethin' Hot. Could it be that a City Manager is hoping for a slow dance with Yvonne and the chance to show off a pro-developer eight story priapism? Given the overshadowing Ravinia it is hardly impressive but desperation drives strange behaviors.

While it may be one or all of these, there is still something missing. Some dark undercurrent  hidden from public view.

The developer let the cat meow while keeping the bag closed when he referenced the many meetings he has had with the City. In reality he has not met with "The City" because there is no "The City". There are living, breathing humanoids with whom he has met. They have names. They draw salaries. And...they are responsible. They are supposed to be responsible to the citizens.

Fact is they aren't.

This will become exposed due to an inconvenient juxtaposition. The City Manager will advance the developer's cause based on improving the tax digest--money, money, money. Yet this is the very same City Manager who successfully advocated removing a five million dollar property from our tax digest and has since let that property decay as if it were Dunwoody's "picture of Dorian Gray" sitting at our southern gateway instead of locked in the attic. Unless he thinks everything outside PCID IS Dunwoody's attic.

How does one make sense of these polar opposites in position? By understanding the common thread. In both cases the actions of the City, the actions of the City Manager, were in the best interests of developers and consequently the best interests of a management and staff who never stand for a meaningful review let alone a public vote. The rotting building was a deal sweetener leveraging City funds to make the taxpayers a white knight saving a local development firm. A simple curb cut curries favor with another developer and the PCID.

This speaks to a serious problem which like all problems is only a problem because it has a solution. The City Charter is coming up for review. Soon. The problem we have is a too powerful City Manager and weak, limpid Council and Mayor resulting in a horribly squelched vox populi. It is time to fix this by ensuring that the real power in this City rests with elected officials beholding to the ballot box and not a hired gun who uses a divide and conquer strategy to bend the City Council to his will thereby subverting the democratic process.

Of, By and For

As predicted the first volley in the war against ethics in Dunwoody governance takes aim squarely at accountability and transparency.

First we have the "frivolity filter". No this does not mean that the Lords and Ladies of council will no longer snicker and giggle at past and present public comment. This means that public speech will be officially squelched before it becomes troublesome. We have seen the last ethics complaint from Mr. Joe Hirsch and "Mr. Smith Who Goes To Dunwoody" might just as well stay home. And that is exactly what the City wants. You can tell because the bureaucrats behind this failed to provide a clear definition of "frivolity" and offered no proposal whatsoever for an appeals process.

Then we have pre-emptive pardons of any and all transgressions for key City employees:

"Staff further recommends that the Ethics Ordinance remove the City Clerk, City Attorney and City Manager from the Ordinance..."

So, the City Manager wants to wield the power of  a stack of $50,000.00 pre-approved checks unfettered by even the possibility that someone might question the goings-on of his office and more importantly, call him to task when those goings-on don't pass the smell test. He wants permanent immunity. The "explanation", that these employees can be removed at any time by the Council, suggests that a successful run at office might include a campaign promise to replace bureaucrats that work "at the will of the Council" with those who do the will of the Citizens of Dunwoody.