Being in a sort of multimedia mood today, I thought I’d go back and share some audio from my breakfast with Kirkman Finlay III the other day.
Here’s the audio. Just click on it.
I hope that works OK for you. Let me know if you can’t get it to play.
This is from the very end of the interview. The grill room at Cap City had thinned out and gotten fairly quiet, so the quality is pretty good. Also, knowing he was being recorded, Kirkman sort of gave a summing up of what he had already said, and did a good job of getting his main points across concisely.
You’ll hear him making his point about 75-100-125, and also griping about being called “Chicken Little,” and saying other things I mentioned on my previous post.
Here’s hoping you find it edifying.
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Part of the reason his colleagues did not listen to Chicken Little Finlay was that early on, he tended to present himself and his ideas in incendiary packages of arrogance. I have to give him tons of credit for learning how to get people to listen to him and to get things done, unlike our governor. On the other hand, Kirkman was reported to have opposed the Five Points parking garage more out of spite than any good reason–indeed, the consultants ultimately hired pursuant to Belinda’s initiative validated the original plan–but too late to implement it and, after having spent money on consultants instead of listening to our own on-staff expert, John David Spade–who has published articles in industry journals, having insufficient funds left to accomplish structured parking in the central area….
I think Kirkman is undoubtedly a good financial thinker, although his businesses have not fared as well as one might have hoped. A lot fo the improvements can be laid at Steve Gantt’s door, but kudos to City Council for giving Steve his head.
Kirkman also showed some surprising human decency in getting the walkway put in along Atlas Road for his elderly and disabled poor constituents, for example. He’s not just about his fat cat friends in Heathwood and the like. He has also stood up for Sam Davis’s district’s right to take its turn next in the improvement sweepstakes–as soon as conditions improve, anyway.
I am concerned about the influence in city affairs of Big Business and the Plutocrats (there’s a band name for you). While we ought to hear from every stakeholder, and we do not want the flight of the wealthy as has occurred in other cities, and to some extent earlier this one, we must govern for the benefit of especially, if not solely, the residents, rich and poor. Right now, we have decent enough checks-and-balances, I think, between business interests and residents’ interests, this could change either because of a strong mayor, or because we elect the plutocrats’ candidates.
The plutocrats have their private country clubs, for example, and perhaps do not support publicly-funded recreational opportunities as much as they might. Parks and walking paths are popular across the board, and recreation programs for the poor may prevent (juvenile) crime further on down the road.
We could do a lot worse than have Kirkman as mayor, but we could, perhaps, do better.