Ghetto Living Is Costly
June 23, 2011
I live in the ghetto on the bad side of I – 20 in Atlanta. I live there with two other adults, a cat named Puddin, a cocker named Arthur and a Newfoundland named Merlin. Should the Lord tarry, I’ll soon have four hens and a rooster named Spurrier. We live humbly not by choice. My most recent water bill came today from the City of Atlanta. The total due by July 4 is $271.16. The balance forward is 0.00. The water base charge is $5.86. The water usage charges is $70.71. The sewer base charge is $5.86. The Sewer Usage Charges is $188.73.
For several months several businesses dug up the streets around my ghetto house. I asked the nice workers about the diggin in the streets. They articulated “SEWAGE.” A sign on the Gin Rose Store up by Daddy D’z says something about $13,000,000 for a study on sewage or something. I told that nice worker that I was so very glad to help the City with this sewage thing; however, I didn’t want to pay it all myself.
With Shirley Franklin and our crack city government looking after us, we can sleep nights. Thank God for our leaders from the White House to the Outhouse. Do those City Water Mismanagement folks know that Anita Beaty lives in this house? Incidentally, this $271.16 is about average for the last 13 months.
James Wilson Beaty
Jeremiah 22.16
June 23, 2011
Judge Craig Schwall: “Wait a minute!” “Wait a minute!”
June 14, 2011
Judge Craig Schwall: “Wait a minute!” “Wait a minute!”
The following questions and answers are quoted from the Status Hearing on June 10, 2011, in the Superior Court of Fulton County. Mr. Hall is counsel for the Task Force. Mr. Moffett is counsel for Emanuel Fialkow. Mr. Kushner is counsel for Premium Funding Solutions. The Honorable Judge Craig Schwall is presiding.
Judge Schwall: Tuesday morning at 10:00 o’clock. And, Mr. Bonder, I’m not letting you out. Unless there is something else for us to take up, I will deal with that, and then I will order mediation after that. I don’t think there’s anything else we can take up.
Mr. Kushner: Are you lifting the stay, Your Honor, so our motion that has been pending since February can be – –
Judge Schwall: What stay?
Mr. Kushner: The leave to file the dispossessory.
Judge Schwall: No.
Mr. Kushner: What about getting the rent for the property?
Judge Schwall: No.
Mr. Kushner: They have been in the property free since June of 2006.
Judge Schwall: But you’ve got a piece of property that your own appraisal says is worth 4 to 5 million dollars.
Mr. Kushner: That’s their appraisal. Our appraisal doesn’t say it’s worth that.
Judge Schwall: What does your appraisal say?
Mr. Kushner: I don’t know that he has an appraisal. We estimated – –
Judge Schwall: I thought we were in court and everybody agreed what the property was worth.
Mr. Kushner: We were not in court. I wasn’t even a party.
Judge Schwall: Well, then get me a current appraisal.
Mr. Kushner: But be that as it may, Your Honor, even if at some point it can be sold for $4 million there are on-going expenses that the Task Force refuses to pay for. They refuse to insure the building so my client is forced to pay for that.
Judge Schwall: Is the building insured?
Mr. Kushner: Yeah, because we paid for it.
Mr. Hall: Your Honor, I am troubled by what I am hearing compared to what I have seen in the documents. I mean, I’m holding in my hand a document where there’s a discussion of Manny Fialkow demanding $200,000 be contributed from the other players in this case because he’s going to be the one to foreclose and kick them out. The whole idea – – I understand Premium Funding Solutions is owned by Manny Fialkow’s wife.
Judge Schwall: Wait a minute. Is that an email?
Mr. Hall: This is an email from A. J. Robinson to a player at Emory University. I’ve got Mr. Fialkow saying, these are how I structure my deals. I put up a personal guarantee. I take 50 percent of the return that comes above it. You, whoever loaned some money, to come in. I’ve never heard this gentleman’s name (Dustin Walsey) until today.
Judge Schwall: Did Mr. Fialkow personally guarantee the note to Premium Funding?
Mr. Kushner: No.
Judge Schwall: All right.
Mr. Moffett: That’s just a misrepresentation of the evidence, as I understand it.
Mr. Kushner: That predates even Ichthus buying the notes and foreclosing.
Mr. Hall: Counsel told me that Premium Finance Solutions was owned by Mr. Fialkow’s wife three weeks ago on the phone.
Mr. Kushner: That’s not what I told you. The two members are Sunshine Properties Group, one of the members of that is Mr. Fialkow’s wife. The other member is Mr. Walsey.
Mr. Hall: And none of that was mentioned when Your Honor asked a direct question a moment ago that there were two members to this entity and one was Mr. Fialkow’s wife..
Mr. Kushner: Is a representative of – –
Judge Schwall: Wait a minute. Mr. Fialkow’s wife is a part of Premium Funding?
Mr. Kushner: No. She is a member of an LLC that is a member of Premium Funding.
Note: Just one question. Are lawyers UNDER OATH whenever they answer a Judge’s questions?
James Wilson Beaty
Jeremiah 22.16
June 14, 2011
Judge Schwall: “Why has Mr. Fialkow’s deposition not been taken?”
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall asked TEAM GOLIATH attorneys this and many other questions on Friday, June 10, 2011. This Status Hearing began at 11:15 and ended at noon. It was short and sweet or not so sweet depending on one’s outlook for the future.
Three TEAM GOLIATH lawyers representing those accused of conspiracy and tortuous interference and fraud and collusion were physically present and two others were present by conference call. The roll call of attorneys reads as follows: Steven Riddell with Troutman Sanders on behalf of Central Atlanta Progress. Steven Kushner with Fellows Labriola on behalf of Premier Funding Solutions and he brought a Mr. Walsey with him. (Premier Funding Solutions is a Manny Fialkow company “owned” by Mr. Walsey.) Scott Bonder on behalf of Ichthus and with him is Valerie McClellan, the trustee. (Ichthus Inc. is yet another Manny Fialkow company formed in Nevada in 2010, now broke.). Lynn Roberson on the phone on behalf of (ADID) Atlanta Downtown Improvement District. Matt Moffett for the defendant Manny Fialkow, also on the phone with Moffett.
Baker Donelson attorneys Steve Hall and Bob Brazier were in the courtroom representing the Task Force.
Judge Schwall: Listen, I mean, I know I look stupid but I’m not. I’m not playing this game. Tell me about what Mr. Fialkow has done for the homeless since this lawsuit started? He’s so concerned about the homeless.
Mr. Moffett: Who is concerned about the homeless?
Judge Schwall: Mr. Fialkow, his first lawyers, when I first got involved in this case, said he wanted to provide services for the homeless. What has he done?
Mr. Moffett: Judge, he is involved in charitable endeavors.
Judge Schwall: That’s not the question I asked. What has he done for the homeless in Atlanta, Georgia?
Mr. Moffett: Well, Judge, I’m not prepared to answer what he has done, and –
Judge Schwall: Well, he’s on the phone. Let him answer. He’s on the phone, let him answer.
Mr. Moffett: Well, Judge, I certainly would object to him giving testimony. I didn’t know that this was going to be an evidentiary hearing.
Judge Schwall: Well, you know what, when I called this hearing you knew exactly what I was going to do. I was going to order Fialkow deposed on the stand. That’s why you all didn’t want to be here. Now, Mr. Fialkow is going to play games with me.
Mr. Moffett: I want to be there.
• * *
Judge Schwall: Why has Mr. Fialkow’s deposition not been taken?
Mr. Hall: Because they filed the SLAPP suit motion and refused to participate in discovery under the terms of that, and since then we have not been able to, and Your Honor, stayed discovery for the mediation. But I will say that the documentation that Ichthus provided in the beginning prior to the stay on discovery was woefully inadequate. They refused to give me any electronic data. They have consistently told me things that are simply nothing other than subterfuge.
Judge Schwall: All right. Let’s talk about things that are not going to happen. What’s not going to happen is no lawyers are getting out of this case. That’s number one. Number two, there is not going to be a dispossessory pending this lawsuit. So now that we understand where we’re going, and there will be a mediation, and this case has touched the City of Atlanta, it has touched the philanthropic community, the charitable community, those that are advocates for the less fortunate among us, and I would envision a global mediation, especially since the City of Atlanta has been sued in Federal Court, and especially since there is a HUD action looming, I would hope that all the players would want to come together and resolve this.
• * *
Three salient orders from Judge Schwall resulted from this Status Hearing, Friday, June 10, 2011, in the Superior Court of Fulton County:
1. A motion for Dispossession (the 8th motion) was denied and will not be offered again. This means that the Task Force and the people who live at the Peachtree Pine community may remain there until this case is settled in or out of court. In other words the 600 “chronically homeless” (a la Horace Sibley) community will stay put until the fat lady sings. Years may pass before she sings.
2. Judge Schwall ordered an immediate mediation calling everyone to the table. A few he named are United Way, the City of Atlanta, Emory University, Central Atlanta Progress, ADID, Philanthropist Manny Fialkow. This really is not the tip of the conspiracy. This mediation could take place as early as the middle of July.
3. Lawyer Bonder’s motion to withdraw from the case was denied. However, he’s $13,000 richer than when court convened because ADID through their lawyer and CAP through their lawyer agreed to pay Manny Fialkow’s arrears. Another part of his arrears is the $400 an hour tab that is running for the Special Court Master. Now a preacher and another lawyer will be paid to mediate.
Note: Several questions rise to the surface:
Why are ADID and CAP desperate to keep Manny Fialkow from being deposed? Which of the conspirators paid the nun-run Mercy Loan, Inc. the $900,000 that came through Ichthus, Inc. which now has no money? Does Emory University need the protective order that keeps their subpoenaed documents (10,000 pages) from the public? Fialkow must hid. What is the urban regime’s ultimate plans for the building at Peachtree and Pine? A sky scraper, perhaps? Why were two of Fialkow’s companies in this lawsuit formed in Nevada? Who is the new person just surfaced, Mr. Dustin Walsey? Lawyer Kushner told the Court that Walsey owns Premium Funding Systems, Inc.? Will Pete Walker and Mercy Housing be at the table to mediate?Where do the nuns think Ichthus, Inc. is now? How does the good wife Fialkow figure in all this? Was Manny Fialkow speechless when asked what he has done for the homeless? One thing he has done was to foreclose illegally the place where 600 “chronically homeless people” (Thank you, Hosby”) call home.
James Wilson Beaty
Jeremiah 22.16
June 13, 2011
“It’s time to face the facts.” Isaiah 9:1-7
June 7, 2011
It’s “Time to face the facts.” Isaiah 9:1-7
A Shirley Franklin supporter under the heading, “Time to face the facts,” writes, “Atlanta Mayors for the last two decades have been Jackson, Young, Campbell, Franklin and Reed. The Peachtree Pine argument claiming racism does not hold up and is beyond ridiculous.”
I am not clear how this comment relates to the questions asked by Steve Hall and the questions not answered by Mayor Shirley. However, the words of this quote are responding to my piece entitled, “Shirley Franklin On Discrimination,” posted June 3, 2011.
Mayor Maynard Jackson several times in my hearing advised Anita Beaty to “march on City Hall when we get out of line.” He attended Anita’s 50th birthday party in Grant Park. In a brief tribute he said that should Anita Beaty run for Mayor, he would vote for her. Of course the Mayor was joking on both counts, but his words revealed a man who cared.
I remember the winter afternoon some years ago when Ambassador Andrew Young stood with me at the foot of the hill at the corner of Courtland and Pine. We watched Joe Houston unload a van packed with women and children. They were coming for the night. An icy rain settled on the shoulders of our overcoats. Former Mayor Young, with tears, said, “God bless the Task Force and what you do.” Andy Young while Mayor of Atlanta founded the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, Inc. after homeless people froze to death on the streets.
Things change.
Mayor Bill Campbell to my knowledge never had a pleasant word for Peachtree Pine. In my hearing he told Board Chair Bob Cramer, “Bob, the Task Force has rights; the City of Atlanta has enforcement.”
If Shirley Franklin ever visited The Pine it was under the cover of darkness. She was invited many times. The closest I ever saw her come to the building was driving by down Pine Street. She drove slowly writing in a little note pad that she rested on her steering wheel. Her familiar, Debi Starnes, sent paid “plants” to make head counts in order to substantiate her bogus numbers. That move never worked for the Czar as her “plants” told the truth. Their numbers agreed with Task Force reports.
My friends who live at Peachtree Pine, especially the men in the two-year transition program asked me to vote for Mr. Reed. Many of the men I would trust with my life. When I asked why I should vote for Mr. Reed they told me that he came by during his campaign and said if elected he would come back to see them. I voted for Mayor Reed.
Isaiah 9:1-7 is an oracle that promises a better day in Judah, a joyful time under a new king, a different leader, one in touch with his people. Walter Brueggemann my favorite Hebrew Bible scholar entitles this seven verse oracle, “A Great Davidic Newness.” Verse 1 in this passage reads, “But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish.” The closing verse 7 reads, “His authority will grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
Sandwiched between these two verses are 5 verses that contain expressions such as, “those who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who live in deep darkness – – on them light has shined” (verse 2); “…the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressors you have broken” (verse 4); “…the boots of the tramping warriors shall be burned as fuel” (verse 5); “a child has been born for us, a Prince of Peace” (verse 6).
Brueggemann summarizes this passage, “This familiar and beloved oracle offers to Judah, driven as it is to distress, darkness, gloom, anguish, yet another chance.Judah’s soul was at stake. It changed primarily under a leader described in this passage.
Atlanta simmers downtown under the possibility of change. City Hall sizzles. Central Atlanta Progress boils. ADID doodles. The Chamber fries. All could change overnight. The “former time” can give way to the “latter time.” Pray that Mayor Reed might miraculously bring that NEWNESS. He is the Mayor of the PEOPLE of Atlanta, all the PEOPLE of Atlanta. The men at Peachtree Pine voted for him and are devoted to this day to him. We hear that he is a splendid young man with leadership qualities, not one to be dragged around by The Chamber and CAP as their Bellhop. Pray that the multimillion dollar United Way somehow could be fair, even honest in its distribution of the people’s money.
Imagine a Chamber of Commerce as interested in righteousness as it is in “commerce.” Imagine a Central Atlanta Progress as interested in justice as it is progress. Imagine a United Way united and not pushing the poor and those who serve them out of the way. Imagine Peachtree Corridor Churches locked into the concepts of the THRONE of David. The soul of our community is at stake. “It’s time to face the facts.”
Facts will be faced Friday at 11 am in Courtroom 5E (Judge Craig Schwall), Superior Court of Fulton County. His Honor has ordered ALL parties in the lawsuits against the City, Manny Fialkow, A. J. Robinson, CAP, ADID, Cousins Properties, etc. to be there to answer his questions. They will all be there. TEAM GOLIATH has 5 different sets of lawyers. Little Team David has one set of lawyers and 5 smooth stones. Better come early. “IT’S TIME TO FACE THE FACTS”
James Wilson Beaty
Jeremiah 22:16
June 7, 2011
Shirley Franklin On Discrimination
June 3, 2011
Mayor Shirley Franklin’s videotaped deposition was taken on March 15, 2011. It began at 10:23 a.m. and ended at 7 p. m. Steve Hall asked questions on behalf of the plaintiff. Lawyers for the Defendant from the City were Laura Sauriol and Jeffrey Haymore; from United Way, Daniel Beale and Alexia Wells; Shirley Franklin’s lawyer is Ruth Woodling. The following questions and answers are lifted verbatim from the text of the deposition beginning on page 312. For the sanity of my readers and my own, I have omitted reporting whenever Franklin’s lawyers said; “Object to the form of the question.” I have read the questions and answers of twelve depositions: Starnes (2), Richard Orr, A. J. Robinson, Horace Sibley, Dan Cathy, Rob Hunter, Protip Biswas, John Bassit, Greg Pridgeon, Bonnie Ware and David Wardell. I do not believe that all those depositions combined had as many “object to form” interruptions.
Trust me, very few questions from Steve Hall rested without one of the five lawyers questioning the question put to the witness. I want to spare you the lawyer drivel that covers these pages.
The following questions and answers begin on page 311:
Hall: Would you agree with me that if, again this is a hypothetical, if the City of Atlanta had made a decision not to fund and not to allow, as best it could, the Metro Atlanta Task Force to get funding because it served homeless black men on Peachtree Street, if that was the basis for the decision –\
Franklin: Mr. Hall –
Hall: Wait, wait, let me finish. If that was the basis for the decision –
Franklin: Then?
Hall: — would you agree with me that would be inappropriate?
Franklin: First of all, I have a black son, a black grandson, uncles, and I have people who are lawyers and people who are janitors. My life is like yours, full of people of all walks of life. I’ve already testified that my father, though educated, at times was on the streets of Philadelphia in my childhood and that I saw it. That is not something that was shared with me by someone else.
So if anything I have a particular empathy for folks who are on hard times. That does not mean that I can satisfy every single case. That does not mean that I can satisfy every single case. I believe that the City of Atlanta has an obligation to serve everyone fairly and justly; black men, black women, older women, young women, and anyone who is in need, to the best of our ability. And that we should aim at a level of excellence in our service, that we should be accountable for the public dollars that we spend, not just spend them and say we did good because we spent them, but be accountable for the quality of service that we provide. So in my conclusion, I would be very, very surprised if anyone in the City made that decision, and I certainly would not.
Hall: So given that preface then, the answer to the question I would think would be pretty easy for you. Would you agree with me, hypothetically, that if that was the basis for the City of Atlanta’s decision, because we don’t want homeless black men on Peachtree Street, that that would be inappropriate?
Franklin: I can’t even imagine that’s a possibility.
Hall: Then it should be easy to answer, Mayor Franklin.
Franklin: Well, it is easy to answer and I just did.
Hall: Okay.
Franklin: I can’t imagine. I mean that my imagination is such that we have had a City that has served people and I haven’t seen anything that suggests that that’s possible. So discrimination against anyone would be inappropriate.
Hall: And you would agree that it would be a constitutional violation, at least as you understand the constitution?
Franklin: No, sir.
Hall: No?
Franklin: No, I would not agree in this deposition on issues related to the constitution, because I am not a constitutional lawyer.
Hall: I understand that, and I understand your caveat. But as you understand prohibitions against discrimination, you have run a massive organization you told me with 7,000 that is not allowed to discriminate. Would you agree with me that if the decision to go against — if a decision to go against the Task Force had been made by the City because it helps black males and they are on Peachtree Street, you would agree in your opinion, that that’s a constitutional violation?
Franklin: I won’t answer the question in that format.
Hall: Okay. Why not?
Franklin: Because I don’t understand the reference to the constitution. I’m not a constitutional lawyer. You are asking me to jump from no set of facts to a hypothetical on a constitutional issue. I can’t go there.
Hall: I understand, but I see it as a pretty basic one.
Franklin: Perhaps for you.
Hall: Perhaps. But I think many people might see it as relatively basic based on their understanding of, a layman’s understanding of the law. And what you are saying is, as you sit here today, you cannot form an opinion as to whether if the City of Atlanta decided to go after the Task Force because it had black men on Peachtree Street,you can’t form an opinion as to whether or not that would be a constitutional violation?
Franklin: Should those facts exist, I would be talking to the City Attorney about those facts and from that would draw a conclusion.
Hall: Are you aware that the City of Atlanta Police Department in the lead-up before the Olympics preprinted arrest warrants before anybody had seen any crimes committed, that were filled out as homeless African-American male. Have you heard that before?
Franklin: That’s absolute news to me.
Note: Every word spoken by former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin was UNDER OATH. This videotaped, public record actually records our leader for eight years as saying she cannot imagine the City’s making a decision to not fund the Task Force because African-American males lived there. What ever happened to UNDER OATH?
James Wilson Beaty
June 2, 2011
Jeremiah 22.16
Dr. Jim Beaty 