Holding Atlanta City Government Accountable

Press release issued today: December 15, 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ATLANTA ARBORIST FILES WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIM Former City of Atlanta Senior Arborist Tom Coffin today filed an “intent to sue” letter with the city for wrongful dismissal under the State of Georgia's Whistleblower Act.” Dr. Coffin asserts that he was fired for raising concerns about failure to enforce Atlanta's tree preservation laws while serving as field supervisor of the Arborist Division in Atlanta's Bureau of Buildings. Field arborists are hired as degreed professionals explicitly to implement and enforce Atlanta’s Tree Protection Ordinance. In the weeks prior to his abrupt dismissal in July Dr. Coffin was pressing his supervisor, Arboricultural Manager Ainsley Caldwell, to accept disciplinary charges he was making against two subordinate field arborists for official decisions they had made that violated the Code of Conduct of the city and the Standard Operating Procedures of the division. On July 14, ...

The Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD) announced today that it is planning to switch to a four day work week to save on expenses. This shortened work week is expected to increase the time it takes to get a permit by 10% (which already makes me question how it is that hours worked will be cut by 20% but actual production will suffer only 10%.... hmm). The shortened work week will also make it more inconvenient for you to get a permit to do general work on your home. It probably won’t help the trees too much, though. Sounds like the Arborist Department is perfectly happy with nothing more than “photos showing the structural failure” of your tree to allow you to remove it “immediately”. Anyone with a copy of Photoshop should be able to make the most robust tree look like it’s about to fall down. Below is the letter issued today from James E. Shelby , Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Community Development: December 5, 2008 Dear DPCD Stakeholder, Due to...