"Panel rejects effort to rename Hartsfield"

Saturday, September 13, 2003

Panel rejects effort to rename Hartsfield 
City Council will make the final call 
By D.L. BENNETT 
The Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution 


The racially polarizing debate over how to honor former Atlanta Mayor
Maynard Jackson is far from over, despite hopes that an advisory panel could
help resolve the matter.

On Friday, the commission formed by Mayor Shirley Franklin to come up with
honors for Jackson and former Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. said it will suggest
honors that do not include changing the name of Atlanta's Hartsfield
International Airport.

The 17-member commission found consensus only for naming a planned $982
million international terminal at Hartsfield for Jackson, or erecting a
statue of him at Atlanta City Hall.

The recommendations will disappoint Jackson supporters who have said the
airport should be named solely for the city's first African-American mayor,
who was instrumental in its expansion.

But that would mean removing the name of William B. Hartsfield, who was the
city's longest-serving mayor.

Several members of the City Council, which will make the decision on how to
honor Jackson and Allen, were quick to say Friday that they will push their
own proposal to change the airport's name.

"They've done their job, and now we will do ours," said Councilman C.T.
Martin, who supports adding Jackson's name to Hartsfield's on the airport.
"We will see where it goes. You can never predict what this council will
do."

Council members Derrick Boazman and Ivory Lee Young Jr. also balked at the
advisory panel's recommendation and will push for "Jackson International
Airport."

"We are the policy-making party of the city of Atlanta, so it would be wrong
to present the findings of the commission as the end-all to the discussion
of the airport," said Young.

An informal poll of City Council members indicated most of them don't want
to say where they stand.

But some said they will support the recommendations of the advisory
commission.

"I support it," said Councilwoman Clair Muller said. "I think they did a
great job."

Councilwoman Debi Starnes said she will "put a lot of stock in their
recommendations. I think the commission has been very deliberative and
thoughtful and I plan to take their recommendations seriously."

Report expected Sept. 19

The commission will issue a written report on Sept. 19 that will say they
reached consensus on suggestions that Atlanta should name the planned
international terminal, a road leading to the new terminal and the existing
international concourse at Hartsfield after Jackson, who died June 23. The
council also should consider erecting a statue in Jackson's honor at City
Hall, the commission decided.

For former Mayor Allen, who died July 2, the committee agreed a statue
should be erected either near Turner Field or at City Hall.

Franklin, who has tried to manage the racially charged debate over renaming
the airport without being dragged into taking sides, said she will wait for
the commission's final report before commenting on her next actions.

Franklin has supported the recommendations of every committee she has
created during 21 months in office, and has previously said she is very
supportive of the present commission.

"The international concourse is a spectacular facility," Franklin said.
"I've pledged to the committee I will be heavily guided by their
recommendations."

The co-chairman of the commission, Georgia-Pacific Chairman A.D. "Pete"
Correll, said he felt good about the recommendation to name the planned
international terminal for Jackson.

Correll, who led the commission with co-chairman Jesse Hill, former Atlanta
Life Insurance chairman, said: "I had no idea of the magnitude and
magnificence of the [planned terminal] until 10 days ago. I wish we had all
seen that earlier."

Terminal to open in 2006

The international terminal is scheduled to open in late 2006. At just under
1 million square feet, it will be an expansive glass and metal structure
with wide-open spaces and views of downtown Atlanta. The terminal will have
its own ramp off I-75.

The planned addition will cost three times as much as the airport expansion
Jackson oversaw 23 years ago, which came in at $305 million. The mayor used
that project to create economic opportunity for minority contractors.

Supporters of retaining Hartsfield's name atop the airport have also been
vocal in expressing their views. Thousands sent e-mails to the advisory
panel and to Franklin.

William B. Hartsfield is called the "father of aviation" in Atlanta because
he saw the airport as the key to economic prosperity long before passenger
flights were common means of travel. Under Hartsfield's watch, the city
purchased Candler Field and developed the Atlanta Municipal Airport.

While Correll expressed an upbeat assessment of the commission's work, there
was not total agreement on the panel about not suggesting an airport name
change to council.

The commission members used key pads and a computer program to rank
suggested honors for the former mayors after visiting 22 proposed sites this
week. Their rankings were tabulated and plotted on a graph.

All the results will be sent on to the City Council. The panel's report,
Correll said, will stress the suggestions the members ranked the highest.

The proposals for renaming the airport showed the panel members evenly
split. Some members ranked the suggestions a 10, while others scored them a
1.

3 proposals considered

The commission also tested members with up-or-down votes on three proposals:
Renaming the airport Jackson Airport, Jackson-Hartsfield and Hartsfield
Jackson.

The first vote was 10-to-5 against the name change. The second was 9-to-6
against, and the last was favored 8-7. Commission members said the votes
reflected their own deep divisions and those of the public.

"If one looked at all the input that was provided, I don't think there was
an incredible driving theme," said Leo Mullin, a panel member who is
chairman of Delta Air Lines. "We were taking excellent suggestions from all
over the lot."

State Rep. Bob Holmes, chairman of Fulton County's legislative delegation,
said the advisory commission's recommendations won't bring an end to
divisive debate. Some public meetings on the issue were marked with heated
remarks exhorting black elected officials to stand up for Jackson.

"People feel so strongly they are not going to compromise," said Holmes, who
said he supports naming the new terminal for Jackson. "People are going to
be split."

Holmes said taking Hartsfield's name off the airport would be "rewriting
history." The state representative said he hopes the City Council would
adopt the recommendation of the advisory panel and move on.

Aaron Turpeau, a longtime Jackson friend, said he would continue to push for
changing the airport's name.

John Bascom, who helped gather more than 50,000 signatures on a petition to
change the airport's name, said the lobbying attention will be turned on the
council.

"I thank God we still have the opportunity with the City Council," Bascom
said. "I totally disagree with the committee's recommendations. I say it was
a fraud from the beginning."

Friday's final meeting of the panel was civil and respectful, unlike public
hearings where speakers attacked the commission and called for it to
disband.

Commission members Lovett Stovall, owner of a screen printing company, and
Gerald Durley, pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church, questioned
whether the committee had properly taken into account public input and
petitions.

"I don't think we were supposed to reflect the general sentiment," said
committee member George Goodwin, retired chairman, president and CEO of
Manning, Selvage & Lee, a public relations firm. "We were supposed to
reflect our opinions."

Ingrid Saunders-Jones, a Coca-Cola Co. executive who once worked for
Jackson, stressed that: "We were supposed to crystallize and report
recommendations. That's why there are several variations on a theme relative
to parkspace, statues and the airport."

After the City Council receives the commission's recommendation, council
members will determine how to go about making a final decision. Some want
all recommendations sent to a special City Council committee. Otherwise,
various proposals would be scattered among several City Council committees.

Some on the City Council have suggested the debate be delayed weeks or
months to allow the council to first deal with the city budget and a
prospective sewer rate increase.


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