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The Champion, Thursday, December 24 - 30,2015
OPINION
A Section 12-24-15.indd 5
12/22/15 3:44 PM
Its been a really busy
news year in DeKalb. We were
in the news for one investiga
tion or another many weeks in
2015. State leaders are tired of
hearing the name of “DeKalb
County.” And some fed-up
businesses and residents
couldn’t take it anymore and
simply left the county.
Here my list of the 2015
Stuff of the Year that people
were talking about.
Document of the Year:
The so-called Mike Bow
ers report. In March, in
terim DeKalb County CEO
Lee May hired, at a cost of
$850,000, Bowers, a former
state attorney general, et al., to
investigate the employees and
departments of the CEO and
root out government corrup
tion. The Bowers team took
no prisoners, wrote a letter
calling DeKalb “rotten to the
core” and a preliminary report
that called for May to resign.
Stuff of the Year 2015
Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
Managing Editor
@AndrewChampNews □
May remains in his position.
Failed deal of the Year:
The Atlanta United soccer
facility deal It started off as
a Memorial Drive economic
development plan that would
have brought the headquar
ters and practice field of
Atlanta United major league
soccer franchise to DeKalb
County. It became a political
soccer match with three com
missioners pitted against four
commissioners and May. It
ended with a mutual agree
ment that it would cost too
much to get the former land
fill ready for construction.
Worst neighborhood of
the Year: Brannon Hill condo
minium complex. Conditions
are deplorable, sickening and
embarrassing at this complex
off of Memorial Drive. Filled
mostly with refugees and oth
er immigrants, building after
building of the complex is
burned out, in terrible disre
pair or boarded up. Commu
nity meetings, a government
task force and media attention
have not yet fixed the decade-
old problems there. Maybe
2016 will bring change there.
School official of the Year:
Mike Thurmond. When he
took over as interim school
superintendent in 2013,
the DeKalb County School
District was a mess. Several
school board members had
been suspended by the gov
ernor, the district’s finances
were screwed up, and its ac
creditation was threatened.
Thurmond and his team
stabilized the district and got
it ready for a permanent su
perintendent. Now people are
wondering what Thurmond,
the state’s former labor com
missioner, will do next. Run
for county CEO?
Election of the Year: Dis
trict commission seat. Two
years. That’s how long the
DeKalb County District 5
commission seat was vacant.
That’s how long the residents
of that district complained
about not being represented.
The seat officially became
vacant in May upon the resig
nation of then-Commissioner
May after he was appointed
the interim DeKalb CEO by
Gov. Nathan Deal, follow
ing the indictment and sus
pension of DeKalb County
CEO Burrell Ellis. Attorney
Mereda Davis Johnson, wife
of Congressman Hank John
son, won the long-awaited
election.
Cityhood movement of
the Year: Tucker. The city-
hood movements of Briarcliff,
Lakeside and Tucker fought
over the Promised Land of the
Northlake community. Bri-
arcliff and Lakeside support
ers joined forces in the new
proposed LaVista Hills city,
but voters did not approve the
proposed city.
The proposed cities of
Greenhaven, which would be
the second largest in the state,
and Stonecrest haven’t made it
to the voters yet.
Tucker, which many
people already thought was
a city, was approved and will
incorporate in 2016.
Happy New Year and I
look forward to the stuff 2016
brings us all.
= ONE MAN'S OPINION =
Our sinking island neighbor
“You know you may not
be born in Puerto Rico, but
Puerto Rican is definitely born
in you’.’-prominent Puerto
Rican/American actress
Rosie Perez.
Having spent some time
on the U.S. territory island of
Puerto Rico, I have developed
more than a slight fondness
and empathy for its 3.6 mil
lion residents.
Officially the Common
wealth of Puerto Rico, the
island nation was originally
populated by the aboriginal
Taino people before Chris
topher Columbus claimed
the island for the kingdom
of Spain in 1493. There are
many remains on the island
from the Spanish colonial
period, as well as subsequent
invasion attempts by the
French, Dutch and British.
The “Land of the Valiant,”
so named by the Tainos,
remained under Spanish
rule for four centuries. The
island’s population is still pre
dominantly Spanish-speaking
and Roman Catholic, though
Spain ceded the archipelago
island in the north Caribbean
to the United States as part
of the treaty and spoils of the
Spanish-American War in
1898.
As a territory of the
United States, Puerto Ricans
are native-born American
bill.csicrane@gmail.com
Columnist
citizens, though they do
not vote for president of the
United States (technically, via
the Electoral College process,
neither do any of us here
stateside, unless you are an
actual elector). Puerto Ricans
do not pay U.S. income tax,
and our federal government
provides millions in taxpayer
subsidies, particularly in
terms of healthcare, to Puerto
Rico.
Long a solid Caribbean
western-style economy, with
expanding tourism; during
the past decade a few U.S. big
government policies made
their way directly and indi
rectly to the island. These
intrusions led to the current
dire state of affairs and a
government completely un
derwater, and for at least one
time, global warming and ris
ing tides are not to blame.
In an effort to “lift the
standard of living” of work
ing Puerto Ricans, our U.S.
Congress raised the floor on
the Puerto Rican minimum
wage to $7.25 an hour during
the past decade. Overnight
Puerto Rican labor became
the most expensive in the
Caribbean as well as most of
Latin America. The impact
within a short period of time
was to drive all manufactur
ing jobs off the island. Even
Ron Rico Rum, named for
the island, is no longer pro
duced or manufactured there.
And if decimating manu
facturing wasn’t enough, the
higher wage also began to
price out many Puerto Rican
resorts and tourism destina
tions, still competing with
the Bahamas, Dominican
Republic and other newer
and less expensive hot spots
dotting the Caribbean. So,
in effort to raise the Puerto
Rican standard of living, we
actually caused thousands
to become underemployed
or unemployed. The largest
remaining employer, after
tourism, is the government of
Puerto Rico, which like most
bureaucracies is bloated and
generally considered inef
ficient.
During the long-lasting
global recession, which nega
tively impacted U.S. tourism
abroad, along came declining
interest rates, Puerto Rico’s
elected leadership saw an op
portunity to refinance their
bonded debt, with a U.S. Wall
Street all too eager to lend, as
well as to take advantage of
newly reduced U.S. require
ments of transparency for
state and municipal bonds. In
just a few years, Puerto Rico
refinanced all existing debt
and then wallpapered over
many a gap in cash flow
by simply borrowing more
money.
Today, the Common
wealth owes bond-holders $1
billion and is largely out of
cash to make debt payments.
Though the most recent debt
payment was made partially,
even the most optimistic
forecasts predict an immi
nent default.
The White House and
Congressional Democrats
propose a bailout, and some
support completing the is
land’s conversion to our 51st
state. Only a handful of major
U.S. municipal and county
governments have bank
rupted, but opening up the
U.S. as the last creditor of re
cord for a territory certainly
makes that reach much easier
for bankruptcy lawyers if any
state were to fail.
I suspect for Puerto
Rico to remain above water
a handful of actions in the
opposite direction may be
required. Rescind the current
minimum wage, offer more
aggressive U.S. corporate
income tax credits for job
creation and locating on the
island, and perhaps even a
celebrity-laden appeal to the
many J. Los, and successful/
famous Americans of Puerto
Rican descent who have
made good to contribute to a
We are the World-style relief
fund. A billion dollars is even
a lot of money to Jeff Zucker
of Facebook fame. Someone
call The Rock and Geraldo
Rivera (both native Puerto
Ricans)—this is going to re
quire some sustained heavy
lifting, and possibly a lot of
rum.
Bill Crane also serves as a
political analyst and commen
tator for Channel 2’s Action
News, WSB-AM News/Talk
750 and now 95.5 FM, as well
as a columnist for The Cham
pion, Champion Free Press
and Georgia Trend. Crane is
a DeKalb native and business
owner, living in Scottdale. You
can reach him or comment
on a column at bill.csicrane@
gmail.com.