If you are on the side of protecting urban tree canopy and the upholding of the Atlanta Tree Ordinance then come to the City Council Meeting on Monday 8/18/08 at 1:00 pm at City Hall. Support Mary Norwood (Council Member at large and mayoral candidate) while she presses for an investigation into the firing of Senior Arborist Tom Coffin. He was fired for no cause and with no due process. This reprehensible action is a step in a plan unknown to the citizens of Atlanta on the part of Ibrahim Maslamani (Director of Bureau of Buildings), Steven Cover (head of Dept of Planning and Urban Development), and Luz Borrero( Deputy Chief Operating Officer). Details and links after the fold.
This story has gained some national press and you can read some of the details here:
New York Times
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
Huffington Post
Creative Loafing
11 Alive, NBC Affiliate Atlanta
Here is a nugget from Tom Coffin:
He wrote that on July 21 he gave his supervisor, Ainsley Caldwell, data from the first six months of 2008 that show that the city's five other arborists, including Caldwell, investigated and made a total of 29 cases of "illegal removal of trees," while Coffin, by himself, made 70 cases.
Why do I say there is a plan? Well there is an official plan to stream-line the permitting process and that can be a good thing, of course. Here is the official plan of 2007. But prior to Tom Coffin being fired the plan was announced as a success and now completed by the city. See that report here.
But then again there seems to be another plan still in play. I will characterize it by this "lets let developers kill lots of trees without transparency or accountability to existing laws." A few of the laws that may have been broken here is Tom’s due process as a city employee, open records requests by Atlanta citizens, and the Tree Ordinance itself.
Here is an internal email, dated July 30th, between Ibrahim Maslamani (Director of Bureau of Buildings) and Steven Cover (head of Dept of Planning and Urban Development). This email exchange was in reaction to calls and letters of complaints concerning Tom's firing. See PDF here
The man with a plan.
Here is his official info.
A good man, Tom Coffin has been wronged here and our trees are at risk. Please all Atlantans who care about our green city, come to the City Council meeting on Monday and show them we have a voice too If you can not be there or are a citizen anywhere who just cares about this issue, please feel free to contact the Mayor and everybody on this list. The mayor seems to want to stay out of this by her comments and emails to concerned citizens. Mary Norwood could be spared as she is on top of this issue.
Shirley, Franklin, Mayor.
Office of the Mayor, 55 Trinity Ave. SW, Atlanta, GA 30303; Tel. 404-330-6100; E-mail: mayorfranklin@atlanta.gov
Councilwoman Mary Norwood , Post 2 At-large.
Atlanta City Council, 55 Trinity Ave. SW, Atlanta, GA 30303; Tel. 404-330-6302; Fax 404-658-6156; E-mail: mnorwood@atlantaga.gov.
Also, Georgia Robert, Council Assistant, E-mail: mnorwood@atlantaga.gov.
Councilwoman Anne Fauver, District 6.
Atlanta City Council, 55 Trinity Ave., SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303; Tel. 404-330-6049; Fax 404-658-6073; E-mail: afauver@AtlantaGa.Gov .
Also, Sheila Parrott, Sr. Legislative Aide to Councilwoman Fauver, E-mail: sparrott@atlantaga.gov
DISTRICT COUNCILMEMBERS
Carla Smith, District 1 404-330-6039 404-658-7156 csmith@atlantaga.gov
Kwanza Hall, District 2 404-330-6038 404-658-6454 khall@atlantaga.gov
Ivory Lee Young Jr., District 3 404-330-6046 404-658-7093 ilyoung@atlantaga.gov
Cleta Winslow, District 4 404-330-6047 404-658-6454 cwinslow@atlantaga.gov
Natalyn Mosby Archibong, District 5 404-330-6048 404-658-6659 narchibong@atlantaga.gov
Anne Fauver, District 6 404-330-6049 404-658-6073 afauver@atlantaga.gov
Howard Shook, District 7 404-330-6050 404-658-6510 hshook@atlantaga.gov
Clair Muller, District 8 404-330-6051 404-658-6454 cmuller@atlantaga.gov
Felicia Moore, District 9 404-330-6044 404-658-7966 fmoore@atlantaga.gov
C.T. Martin, District 10 404-330-6055 404-658-6263 cmartin@atlantaga.gov
Jim Maddox, District 11 404-330-6054 404-658-6061 jmaddox@atlantaga.gov
Joyce M. Sheperd, District 12 404-330-6053 404-658-6454 jmsheperd@atlantaga.gov
Full disclosure: I am an Atlantan who has been involved in a dispute over a very large tree on my yard with an infill, Mc Mansion developer who bought the lot next door. This dispute has been going on for over 3 years. I am very aware of many of the ordinances and personnel in this issue. Powerful interests may be pulling strings here. Lets pull on some ropes.