Fulton Development Authority still needs a reformer

A week ago, Sam Bacote resigned from the Development Authority, one of the last remaining from the bad old guard at the agency.  He's the one our petition asks Chairman Pitts to replace with a reformer. Still no sign of who Robb Pitts will choose to fill that slot or how his choice will vote on needless giveaways in hot markets.

It was certainly encouraging that the new board blocked (4-4) the first tax break that developers asked them for.  Sam Bacote voted for it, by the way.  Flipping his seat to someone who will only approve breaks for projects that really wouldn't happen without one would change the game.

As a reminder of why change is so badly needed, the link below is to Richard Belcher's piece from Thursday on the last 3 years' $328M in breaks. Almost all in hot markets - so they come directly at the expense of school and city budgets for essential services. We did the TV interview in front of Fulton's record-breaking $57M giveaway, to developers of a massive office tower at 17th & Spring.  It's a poster child for the irresponsibility of the old guard, since it's in a booming area of prestige properties that clearly needs no incentives.

Let's hope the continued publicity will reinforce the new board's resolve to act as careful stewards of tax revenues for the future.