Holding Atlanta City Government Accountable

From: Linda Trower Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:29:14 -0400 To: acaldwell@atlantaga.gov Cc: "Maslamani, Ibrahim", mnorwood , sheldon schlegman Subject: "no trees impacted" exception Dear Mr. Caldwell: On June 16, 2008 a building permit (#BB200802851) was issued to 125 Blackland Rd. for the construction of a fence. The application was streamlined using the "no trees impacted" exception. On or about July 18, 2008 this property was cited for the destruction of 14 trees. It appears the "no trees impacted" exception was not valid. Would you please explain how this happened? Thank you, Linda Trower Concerned Citizen

From a broadcast email sent by Mercy Wright on August 28, 2008: I came across an interesting announcement on City of Atlanta Online (the Official Website for the City of Atlanta) datelined August 19, 2008, but it is much older. I printed it, in case it gets taken down. I don't have a scanner, so I'll retype pertinent parts of the message titled NEW LEADERSHIP FORWARDS CHANGE IN CITY'S PERMITTING PROCESS: Last April, the City launched its Permitting Improvement Project to decrease the time it takes to issue a permit by 50 percent by 2007. Development opportunities in Atlanta are on an upswing, new residential permit applications have increased by 11 percent and new commercial applications have increased 95 percent in the past year. "With Atlanta's population expected to double in the next 25 years it is critical we meet the demand", says new BOB director Ibrahim Maslamani. The recent hire of four executive-level professionals in the Bureau of Buildings (BOB) an...

Email from Tom Coffin: August 28, 2008 Gregory J. Giornelli Chief Operating Officer City of Atlanta 55 Trinity Ave SW Atlanta, GA 30303 Dear Mr. Giornelli: I write in response to your August 26 letter to the City Council posted on the mayor’s website ( http://www.atlantaga.gov/ ). I do not know why you, as Chief Operating Officer of the city, feel compelled to speak for the Arborist Division and to deny its problems. Whatever the reason, your letter appears as an official communiqué from the mayor’s office. As such it prejudices the ongoing and supposedly independent investigation by the HR department into my still unexplained firing, compromising the investigation and reducing the possibility of an objective evaluation and judgment by the HR investigator. You complain of “misinformation circling that has obscured our track record,” one that makes the Arborist Division “one of the City’s bigger success stories.” I certainly do not deny the significant changes wrought by the Tree Protec...

From NeighborhoodNewspapers.com... "Because of the much-publicized firing last month of the city’s senior arborist, Tom Coffin, the arborist division may get scrutinized and some policies may be up for change." ...more

A broadcast email sent from Tom Coffin on August 26, 2008: The Community Development/Human Resources committee of the City Council today added a new dimension to the response to my firing as Sr. Arborist. In a unanimous vote the committee approved a resolution co-sponsored by Councilmembers Mary Norwood, Anne Fauver, C.T. Martin, Joyce M. Sheperd, Ivory L. Young, Jr., Cleta Winslow, Ceasar C. Mitchell and H. Lamar Willis to “request and authorize the City Auditor through the Audit Committee to conduct an independent audit of the Arborist Division of the Bureau of Buildings, Department of Planning and Community Development.” Not without a bit of farce, however. Ibrahim Maslamani, Director of the Bureau of Buildings, wrote the committee chair, Jim Maddox, saying “Due to the ongoing investigation by HR, we would like to postpone any public presentations on this issue until such investigation is completed.” Joyce Sheperd made the distinction between the “employment issue” of my firing befo...

From: Linda Trower [mailto:lindat01@hotmail.com] Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 6:47 PM Subject: Meeting with Clair Muller All - Councilmember Clair Muller met with my neighborhood this afternoon. She is very upset with Tom's firing and feels there is a lot of explaining to do. She said she will speak personally with Jim Maddox (he wasn't at the August 18 council meeting) and pass on the injustice done to Tom, the sham investigation being done by the Mayor, the "plan," etc. I felt very encouraged. Shel Schlegman is back from Miami. Shel and I will be at the CD/HR meeting tomorrow. I don't think we can speak, but if we can we are ready. Hope others will be able to attend. Thank you, Linda Trower Concerned Citizen

From: Linda Trower To: mnorwood ; Clair Muller Cc: sheldon schlegman ; jmaddox@atlantaga.gov ; jsheperd@atlantaga.gov ; ccmitchell@atlantaga.gov ; hlwillis@atlantaga.gov ; ilyoung@atlantaga.gov Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 9:48 AM Dear CD/HR Committee Members: Tom Coffin's firing becomes more insidious by the day. As you can see by the enclosed article , the Mayor's office put a lid on things from the beginning. Tom requested and was billed for 577 pages of email and after the request was "sent upstairs" received only 134. Tom has a legal right to see all 577 pages. Mr. Elder, the HR Investigator, promised to look into the "plan" and include Luz Borrero in his interview schedule. A few minutes later he recalled the earlier message. He will do neither. The investigation will go nowhere as long as it is being handled by HR (the Mayor). I implore the council to do a thorough investigation of Tom Coffin's firing without cause or recourse, the "pl...

From the Buckhead Reporter: "During its first meeting back from recess Monday, Aug. 18, the Atlanta City Council overrode Mayor Shirley Franklin's veto of legislation that restores council oversight of city personnel matters such as promotions, firings and raises. The council overrode the veto by a vote of 13-1."... more

From the Buckhead Reporter... "Speakers lined up in the Atlanta City Council chambers Aug. 18 to offer their protests over the sudden and unexplained firing July 29 of the city's senior field arborist, Tom Coffin. Councilwoman Mary Norwood put forth a council resolution to request and authorize 'an independent audit of the arborist division of the Bureau of Buildings, Department of Planning and Community Development.' E-mail messages exchanged between Bureau of Buildings director Ibrahim Maslamani and his boss, Steven Cover, in which Cover directs Maslamani to 'stick with our plan' and 'give Luz (Borrero, deputy chief operating officer for the city) a heads up,' emerged as part of the drama surrounding Coffin's firing." ... more

A broadcast email sent from Tom Coffin on August 21, 2008: Thanks to all who attended and all who spoke at the city council meeting on Monday. The city needs to know that people are concerned and are watching. Mary Norwood did introduce her resolution to investigate my firing and the arborist division. I hope the investigation is extended to the Department of Planning where the problem originates. The council voted to give the issue to the human relations and community affairs committee, which meets on Tuesday, 8/26, I believe at 1 p.m. The final speaker at Monday’s council meeting was Janelle Bazile, my erstwhile colleague and subordinate. She spoke about how "sad" it was that her supervisor – me --was implying that she and the other field arborists were not doing their jobs. She submitted a document to the council that I assume was meant to counter that impression. I will attach her document here: DJ Anthony's note: Due to file format incompatibility, I am presently una...

From Creative Loafing... "Tom Coffin loves trees. And when we say he loves trees, he reaaally loves trees. The unfamiliar face – who was the city's senior arborist until he was fired July 29 – is the epicenter of the latest scandal to emanate from already embattled City Hall. The city's failure to specify why Coffin was fired (or who called for it) has led many to speculate about the cause – and jump to the conclusion that developers saw him as a threat. Even the New York Times took notice – and questioned whether Atlanta's development machine had chalked a win over the environmental community." ... more

An email sent from the Office of Howard Shook in response to my email correspondence of August 11, 2008 . Note that Howard Shook's office had sent it's first inquiry about this property eight days earlier and had received no response. From: Shook, Howard Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 10:35 AM To: 'deLille Anthony'; 'David Robertson'; Franklin, Shirley; Norwood, Mary; Caldwell, Ainsley; Cover, Steven; Bazile, Janell Cc: 'Clair Muller'; Muller, Clair Subject: RE: OPEN SEASON on Buckhead trees began this past weekend Ainsley, Can you give us an update on your findings regarding these properties? Thanks for your help. Denis Taylor Office of Councilperson Howard Shook 404-330-6050 Jannel Bazile responded immediately: From: Bazile, Janell [mailto:jbazile@AtlantaGa.Gov] Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 10:48 AM To: Shook, Howard; deLille Anthony; David Robertson; Franklin, Shirley; Norwood, Mary; Caldwell, Ainsley; Cover, Steven Cc: Clair Muller; Muller, Clair S...

This email below arrived with an attachment I can't upload here because it is in an incompatible format. However, the attachment included an Open Records request filed by Christopher Trower on August 5 "to inspect and copy all public records of the City of Atlanta related to the policies and procedures for termination of City of Atlanta employees working in the Department of Planning and Community Development". The letter also stated that "My understanding is that these records must be made available within three business days of the date of this request." On August 18, thirteen days later, not three as required by law , a response was received from Joan Hudson, Business Manager with the City of Atlanta, which stated that the policies governing employees performing in a classified position can be found on the City's Web site but that these policies do not apply to unclassified employees who serve as employees-at-will. With that understanding, Tom Coffin'...

From: kathryn kolb Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 11:52 AM Subject: support investigation of Comm. Cover Dear Members of Atlanta City Council, I am very concerned about Comm. Cover and his subordinate, Mr. Maslamani's, actions in firing the City's top arborist Tom Coffin. A memo obtained through the freedom of information act shows that Cover, Maslamani and perhaps at least one high level member of the Mayors' staff apparently conspired for some time with a "plan" to get rid of the most knowledgeable and experienced City Arborist because he actually did his job in correctly administering the City's Tree Protection Ordinance. In the email, Mr. Maslamani tells Mr. Cover that many members of the public are beginning to speak out against Tom's reasonless firing, and Comm. Cover responds that he should not worry but should "hang in there and stick to our plan." This is quite simply disgusting. Tom's firing is an unconstitutional act - it is clear t...

The City Council meeting in which speakers were allowed to comment on Tom Coffin's firing was held this afternoon. While some speakers focused on the unfairness of his firing, most speakers stressed that they felt that firing practices were being used by the City Arborist Division as a way to wriggle out of having to enforce the Tree Ordinance. My speech (limited to two minutes) was as follows: “My name is deLille Anthony and I live at (address withheld). As a resident of North Atlanta, I am here to ask what kind of message does it send when (according to Tom Coffin’s report) the city arborist who filed 70 illegal tree removal cases during the first half of this year and conducted MORE site inspections than any other city arborist is replaced with a city arborist who filed only 1 illegal tree removal case during the first half of this year and conducted the FEWEST site inspections of all the city arborists ? I’ll tell you what message it sends. It says that all developers on t...

From Creative Loafing... "The controversy swirling around the firing of city arborist Tom Coffin is now being discussed on Daily Kos . A member on the left-leaning website posted a PDF of a e-mail communication between city Planning Commissioner Steve Cover and Ibrahim Maslamani, the director of the city’s bureau of buildings and Coffin’s former boss. In it, Maslamani asks for marching orders after support for the former arborist started pouring into City Hall. In his response, Cover tells Maslamani to 'stick to our plan' and to 'give Luz a heads up.'" (Click here to read the e-mail thread.) ... more

A broadcast email sent from Tom Coffin on August 16, 2008: Friends: I again give you my heartfelt thanks for your continuing support. I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic at this point. Much depends on the independence and integrity of the HR officer assigned to the case, Al Elder. He appears to be conducting a thorough investigation. He has agreed to look into the “plan” referenced by Commissioner Cover in his email to Mr. Maslamani, as well as to include Luz Borrero in his interview schedule. I don’t know when (or even if) he will issue a report or, if he does, whether it will be available to either the public or to me. Mr. Elder’s suggestion of a meeting between Cover, Maslamani, my supervisor Ainsley Caldwell and me has not materialized. There is continued media interest in the case. Ch. 2 scheduled another interview last week, only to cancel so the reporter could cover the molestation case in Clayton County. Both the AJC and Creative Loafing have stories in the pipeline. The AJ...

From: Linda Trower Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 8:41 AM To: (private citizens email addresses withheld) On 8/5/08 my attorney submitted an open records to the City of Atlanta (Mayor Franklin, Commissioner of the Department of Human Resources Benita Ransom and City Attorney Beth Chandler) for policies and procedures governing the termination of employees. It is ten days later and the request which by law must be answered in 3 days has not been answered. It appears that the Franklin administration has no regard for legalities when it comes to employee termination or responding to opens records requests. Linda Trower, Concerned Citizen

From the Daily Kos.... "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)." ... more

Internal emails obtained via Open Records Request, sent as an attachment to a broadcast email from Tom Coffin on August 13, 2008: From: Cover, Steven Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 8:49 AM To: Maslamani, Ibrahim Subject: Re: firing of arborist Tom Coffin Hang in there and stick with our plan. Give Luz a heads up. From: Maslamani, Ibrahim To: Cover, Steven Sent: Wed Jul 30 08:16:39 2008 Subject: FW: firing of arborist Tom Coffin The emails and phone calls started yesterday. Ibrahim K. Maslamani Director, Bureau of Buildings City of Atlanta 55 Trinity Avenue,SW Suite 3900 Atlanta, Georgia 30303 Office 404-330-6152 Fax 4O4-494-1979 From: Linda Trower (email address deleted) Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 5:34 AM To: Maslamani, Ibrahim Cc: Franklin, Shirley; Mobley, Frank Subject: firing of arborist Tom Coffin Dear Mr. Maslamani--- as a resident of NPU-A I am saddened and puzzled by your firing of Tom Coffin. Tom is the best arborist our area of town (Buckhead) has had. It app...

From: Barbara Baggerman To: info@green-law.org Cc: Charlotte Gillis, mnorwood@atlantaga.gov Subject: Environmental Heroes Celebration Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:56:21 +0000 Dear GreenLaw, Why is Shirley Franklin being honored as an environmental hero when her administration has become increasingly corrupt in terms of lack of enforcement of tree ordinances, stream buffer requirements, etc? Developers hire lawyers to find loopholes, demand variances to laws, and threaten lawsuits based on "economic hardship" if they are not accommodated, so city and county officials cave to their demands. Or they routinely break the laws and then blithely pay the (obviously inadequate) fines as a cost of business. Community groups protest, but their requests for enforcement are dismissed unless they have the money to also hire lawyers, which most don't, because they are volunteer organizations and are working for free. It is increasingly impossible to get any action out of city or county gov...

From: Rob Glancy Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 4:24 PM To: sfranklin@AtlantaGa.GovCc: 'Anne Fauver at Bellsouth'; 'Anne Fauver'; mnorwood@AtlantaGa.Gov; 'Dianne Olansky'; 'Pamela Papner'; 'Papner, Pamela'; 'Gillett, Ken' Subject: Disappointment regarding Tom Coffin's Dismissal Dear Madame Mayor: I am writing you to express my personal disappointment at the dismissal of Tom Coffin. I know you are hearing a lot of this lately, and I know it is being investigated, but I think it is important to hear this from a wide range of parties who have worked with him over the years. I have been the Parks Chair of NPU-F since 2004 and I have been the Parks Chair for The Virginia-Highland Civic Association since 2001. In these capacities, I have worked with Mr. Coffin and have always found him to be extremely professional, unbiased, effective and tireless in his work as an arborist for the city. Moreover, I believe his dismissal confirms the la...

A broadcast email from Mary Norwood sent on August 12, 2008: Good morning, At next week’s council meeting, I will introduce a resolution calling for investigation of the termination of Tom Coffin and broader questions regarding accountability for all city employees as well as their fulfilling their duties and tasks assigned. All of our employees must be accountable for the fair and impartial enforcement of all city rules and regulations and for the diligent and efficient performance of their jobs. Whether obtaining a building permit, paying a water bill, removing a tree, or having a street repaired, all citizens need to feel assured that our city is acting fairly and conscientiously as well as cost-effectively and fulfilling committed to making our city work again. The termination of Tom Coffin needs to be investigated and the arborist division as a whole reviewed. It is my understanding that the Mayor has asked for such an investigation and if so, I concur that this step is an importa...

From Creative Loafing... "That’s a damn good question. On one hand, you have an outspoken arborist who churned out more citations and inspections than his colleagues combined, holds a Ph.D in forestry from the University of Georgia, and by all standards and definitions, committed what may be the ultimate sin in municipal government: He actually — gasp — did his job. On the other, there’s…uhm. Well, no one really knows. Coffin says the firing was out of the blue and the city’s said it was not related to the $140 million budget shortfall. Surely there’d be a paper trail, right? So I stopped by City Hall yesterday to review his personnel file. Coffin, one of the founders of Atlanta’s legendary alt-weekly, the Great Speckled Bird , joined the arborist’s office in June 2000 and — save for a brief period in 2002 when he was laid off because of a budget crunch — looks on paper as if he was an exemplary employee."... more

An email I sent Mayor Franklin, Mary Norwood and Howard Shook: From: deLille Anthony Sent: Aug 11, 2008 12:32 PM To: sfranklin@atlantaga.gov , mnorwood@atlantaga.gov , hshook@atlantaga.gov Subject: OPEN SEASON on Buckhead trees began this past weekend Dear Mayor Franklin, With Tom Coffin out of the developers’ way, OPEN SEASON on Buckhead’s trees began this past weekend. A beautiful 22” magnolia tree was removed by R. Tree Service at 2668 Ellwood Drive, NE this past Saturday, in the Garden Hills neighborhood just blocks from my house. No posting was ever noticed by the neighbors who called to report this tree to me, and the tree appeared very healthy before its destruction. One neighbor asked R. Tree Service for a permit to cut the tree and the tree service was unable to produce one. I understand that Tom Coffin has already fined the owner of this property for cutting down trees illegally when the property was undergoing site preparation for an infill home. However, I can’t tell you wh...

From the 8/11/08 Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation E-Letter: Dear Members and Supporters, Last week, Senior Arborist Tom Coffin was fired without explanation.The story was so poignant, that the New York Times picked it up, as well as the Associated Press, Discover Magazine (Blog), Huffington Post, Fort Mill (SC) Times, Columbus (Ga) Ledger-Enquirer and The Examiner.com. See the link to the left for the NYTimes article. Please see the comprehensive letter written by Coffin to the Mayor and City Council below. I feel that the letter from the recently fired Tom Coffin, Senior Field Arborist for the City of Atlanta, to the Mayor and City Council, is a "must" read for every taxpayer. Here are a few questions of concern: 1. What has influenced the summary firing of Tom Coffin? The developers? His co-workers who have performed with a 'total lack of enforcement'? 2. What other City departments have similar cases? 3. Where is an accounting of the money collected from the mill...

There is something rather unsettling about the department charged with conducting the investigation of Tom Coffin's firing having just given themselves the most number of raises before City Council resumes greater oversight over pay raises, in addition to other matters such as reclassifying jobs . From the Buckhead Reporter... "City of Atlanta department heads have doled out at least $332,811 in raises to 69 employees in recent weeks in what appears to be an effort to reward certain workers before the City Council resumes greater oversight of personnel matters, including the granting of raises. ... The largest number of raises went to employees in the departments of Watershed Management and Human Resources ."... more

From the Buckhead Reporter... "Buckhead and northeast Atlanta neighborhood leaders and environmentally concerned residents are unhappy about the sudden firing of Tom Coffin, the senior field arborist for the city of Atlanta.Some question whether the only "cause" that could be cited in the firing would be that Coffin did his job too well in enforcing the city's tree protection ordinance, likely levying significant penalties on established developers and well-placed residents."... more

From a broadcast email sent by Dr. Jeri Breiner... dear mayor, having worked for dhr years ago, i do appreciate the constraints you must operate under. i know your power is restricted and has a path that we probably cannot understand. please do understand that our pleas are only personal because we believe you are our only hope to change a terrible wrong. Not just to reverse tom coffins firing, but to make sure that the fines he was about to impose are followed through by the arborist department and to make sure that department is not being told by the director of the bureau of buildings or his direct superiors to not carry out their jobs. although i know you are ending your term, i still hope the passion you have always shown still exists. there is a big problem in tree protection for your city, my city. developers know, as do home owners and contractors, that penalties after the fact are rarely followed through on, if they occur at all, when it comes to the tree ordinance. the same g...

Linda Trower sent the following email to Mayor Shirley Franklin with this attachment .... From: Linda Trower To: Franklin, Shirley Sent: Thu Aug 07 18:04:14 2008 Subject: Emailing: The Lorax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Dear Mayor Franklin --- If Tom Coffin is the Lorax, who do you think is the greedy Once-ler? How much more bad press before you do what is right, rehire Tom Coffin and investigate the disparities in tree code enforcement? Thank you, Linda Trower, Concerned Citizen Mayor Franklin responded... From: Franklin, Shirley To: Linda Trower Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 6:43 PM Subject: Re: Emailing: The Lorax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ms. Thrower, press coverage is an important source of some of the information, but in my 30 years of public service I've learned to rely on a combination a combination of sources before drawing conclusions. Popularity isn't on the list of reasons I ran for office. In this case I have taken action to discern the facts and w...

From: sheldon schlegman Sent: Thursday, August 07, 2008 5:49 PM To: mayor franklin Subject: Who fired our Lorax Open below Shel http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6650219631867189375

From the 8/7/08 Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation E-Letter: Dear Members and Supporters, Last week, Senior Arborist Tom Coffin was fired without explanation.The story was so poignant, that the New York Times picked it up, as well as the Associated Press, Discover Magazine (Blog), Huffington Post, Fort Mill (SC) Times, Columbus (Ga) Ledger-Enquirer and The Examiner.com. See the link to the left for the NYTimes article. According to sources, the battle has developers and builders on one side and Atlanta's trees on the other. Coffin cited over 70 violations of illegal tree removal from developers during his tenure. As of today, Coffin has not been told the specific reason for his firing. Couple this with developers wanting to use TAD funds for projects (on the ballot this November) and the blatant mismanagement of the City, we must wonder what is really happening and why a loyal, City worker was fired with no explanation. We urge you to email Mayor Franklin, calling for a full invest...

The Huffington Post picked up the New York Times story as soon as it was published. Here is a comment to the article from their Web site : "well it's nice to hear that at least someone was doing their job because when I drive through this city the question that repeatedly comes to my mind is: why does atlanta even have a tree ordinance? the developers here still clear-cut old large trees then replant saplings - and given the stress that these trees are under it is highly doubtful they will ever reach the size of the ones that are being cut down.I've lived here for almost 2 decades and I continue to be appalled at what the city allows developers to get away with here. we're running out of water and they still keep handing out the building permits. we're losing our oldest and largest tress to greed and the city just keeps handing out the permits. truely this city is f-ed at this point. so I guess given that developers always get their way in this place it comes as no...

From an broadcast email sent by Kathryn Kolb... Dear Mayor Franklin, I was shocked to hear of Atlanta Arborist Tom Coffin's reasonless firing from the City's Arborist Dept. What on earth prompted this? Instead of firing him, the city should have him train the other arborists -- he is the most knowledgeable person in that department on both tree health and on how the tree ordinance actually functions, and he has a great deal of experience, having done field work in accordance with all the various tree ordinance revisions for the last several years. If the City, or the administrator within the Bureau of Buildings was purposefully trying to reduce protection and oversight for trees in Atlanta, then firing Tom would be a good way to start that process. By firing the staff that enforces the ordinance, the administrative wing of City government conveniently side-steps the legislative process and the City Council Members who spent so much time and energy in helping to create the ordin...

From Discover Magazine blog... "The New York Times has a strangely touching story on this hippie guy whose job (until he got canned) was to speak for Atlanta's trees.... It's hard to imagine a worse PR move for a city whose most widely known non-peachtree features are Outkast and the headquarters of Coca-Cola. Especially because Coffin actually looks exactly like the Lorax. Fluffy beard and sad, paternal eyes and everything."... more .

From the New York Times... "ATLANTA — So proud are Atlantans of their sprawling canopy of dogwoods, magnolias and pines — and, of course, peach trees — that builders must pay hundreds of dollars for every tree they uproot, even with the city’s permission. Tom Coffin was fired last week without explanation as Atlanta’s senior arborist. The penalty for violators is far heftier: One developer was recently fined $24,000 for illegal tree clearance, and Tyler Perry, the movie actor and director, was penalized $177,000 for unauthorized deforestation on his property. But in the contest between trees and the area’s rampant development, the bulldozers have often won. That may explain why many tree lovers were upset last week when Tom Coffin, 64, the city’s senior arborist, was fired without explanation."... more

From: Debra R. Fowler Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2008 3:56 PM To: (private citizens' email addresses withheld); 'C. Claire' Cc: Mary Norwood Subject: Tom Coffin To All, I share each of your feelings regarding Tom Coffin, Bureau of Planning, Arborist etc-we can collectively in our neighborhoods by joining together be heard an make a difference—along with helping ensure Mary is our next Mayor-it is our only hope!! As an FYI, we have had personal experience with Tom Coffin. He is one of the FEW who cares, knows trees, enforces the ordinances in entirety and is not in collusion with any developer or homeowner only doing what is right for green, the law and environment, and City of Atlanta. He is honest, above board and operates with complete integrity. In our situation, we found blue signs were changed to yellow against the field advice (Tom Coffin) and this was done by Ansley Caldwell who is above Frank Mobley. It appears to me, it is the SAME city behavior as Campbell and Caldw...

From: Deborah Moscato Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 10:01 PM To: 'SFranklin@AtlantaGa.Gov'Cc: 'mary@marynorwood.com'; cmuller@atlantaga.gov Subject: Rehire Tom Coffin Dear Mayor Franklin: I am outraged at the firing of one of the best advocates we have in the city of Atlanta for our tree canopy. If anyone should be fired, it should be the manager who fired him or some of the other arborists who are not doing their job in enforcing our Tree Ordinance. For years, I have had frustrating experiences with the city of Atlanta and as well as careless contractors, including being involved in the appeal process only to lose to the developers & contractors. The trees are one of the MAIN reasons I moved to Atlanta from the suburbs 20 years ago. We need to stop the bleeding! Between this issue and the illegal alien problems we have right here in our neighborhood, I may choose to leave Atlanta if things don’t improve. Atlanta's tree canopy is invaluable and needs to...

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution: "Tom Coffin thought his bosses wanted to talk about the possible malfeasance he had discovered in the agency that enforces the city of Atlanta's tree ordinance. Instead, they fired him. Coffin lost his $50,700-a-year job as the city's senior field arborist on Tuesday after filing complaints against other employees. He alleged they looked the other way when developers and homeowners illegally removed healthy trees, approved construction sites when violations were obvious, and failed to regularly impose fines even after blatant disregard of the law." more....

Click here to be taken to the video news report Channel 11 aired on Tom Coffin's firing. (Click on the video screen to the right of the text article to view the video.)

From Creative Loafing... "Tom Coffin, a senior field arborist for the city of Atlanta, was fired on July 29 and has released a letter in which he outlines his concerns for the program that has both generated controversy and praise for its efforts to maintain Atlanta’s green canopy. In a letter addressed to Mayor Shirley Franklin, the Atlanta City Council, the Tree Conservation Commission and citizens at large, Coffin says he was fired after he raised questions about the lack of accountability expected of the arborists and lack of enforcement of the tree ordinance on certain properties. He also displays graphs that show he was one of the hardest workers the department had. Compared to his colleagues, Coffin conducted nearly double the number of property inspections. And according to graphs produced with information from the agency, his jurisdiction in the northeast quadrant of the city showed the highest number of ordinance enforcement and activities."... more