vol. XX no. 2
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Going
boldly into the future
Great cities are not born. They are built brick by brick, rail by rail,
runway by runway. Franklin lists her favorites in rapid fire: Timbuktu,
built around a great university; Rome, with its many roads; her
hometown of Philadelphia, with its hospitals and libraries; and Bogota,
where today 80% of the population uses public transportation to
commute. These are the mature cities to which Franklin looks
in positioning Atlanta.
The mayor sees Atlanta as moving out of adolescence and into adulthood.
“We were not considered a major economic business hub in the 1980s,”
she says. “We were known for our higher education and for championing
civil rights. But the world is beginning to see us now for business.”
Shadowing that development, the transformation of Georgia State into a
national research university has given an economic boost to Atlanta.
“Georgia State has continued to push the envelope, and it is a
different school today,” Franklin says. “It was a good school 30 years
ago, but today it is recognized around the world because of bold
leadership, its alumni, and good investments.”
Franklin views the university as an important economic partner. With
Georgia State’s investments in downtown, the area has attracted new
business and residents. Aside from that, the mayor finds academic
communities as the places where one can freely debate the policy issues
of the day and advance the forward-thinking ideas that inspire
visionary plans. “Some of my boldest statements have been made on the
university campus,” she says. “It is one of my favorite places to be.”
Even off campus, Franklin is not one to shy away from bold statements
or taking the tough stance. When citizens–angry over water bills that
have doubled–tell her they won’t vote for her again, she has an answer:
“I’m not running.” To Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Cynthia
Tucker, who wrote that Atlanta’s 2008 budget woes were a blot on
Franklin’s tenure, the mayor responded: “I’ll take the ‘blotted’
reputation if the city is better off when I leave office in 20 months.”
Agree with her or not, many think that Franklin’s tough-love approach
to government will leave Atlanta in better shape than when she started.
Despite the current rough economic climate, Franklin believes the
city’s government and the broader community are well positioned for
future success.
She predicts young adults, who consistently find Atlanta to be one of
the most attractive U.S. cities in which to live, will continue to
increase the population. “Those of us well over 21 have opinions about
what we should do for the future, but it’s the young people who will
carry that through,” says Franklin. “They have a sense here of what
they can shape.”
As for what Shirley Franklin herself has shaped, she says she’ll have
one line in the Atlanta history books. “Shirley Franklin was the sewer
mayor.”
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