Happy New Year

Happy New Year

It's 2009

Out with the old and in with the new as they say. As we say goodbye to 2008, I look back to see what made it the worst year in recent memory and also why it’s been the most interesting year.

City Of Atlanta Budget Cuts
Mayor Shirley Franklin broke the news that the city would have a $60 million budget deficit in 2008. She warned that city would have to make drastic cuts. Apparently while she was traveling all over the country accepting awards for being a great Mayor, she had been neglecting books. When questioned how she could let this happen a second time under her watch, she would deflect the question by saying something like it doesn’t matter how we got here, what matters is how we get out of it. In actuality it does matter how this happened. By knowing what caused this problem it can help competent leadership avoid this happening again and may also help in fixing the problem. The city laid off hundreds of workers, furloughed workers, closed fire stations and cut city services in an effort to save money. A second slap in the face came when Mayor Franklin announced that the deficit was even bigger than first thought. An effort to remove her from office would probably have been started if it weren’t for the fact that such an effort would put a strain on the city’s finances to recall the Mayor and hold a special election. At least there is good news, this is her last term in office.

The State Of Georgia Strapped For Cash
Even the great state of Georgia finds itself affected by the current financial crisis. Governor Sonny Purdue has ordered State agencies to cut spending up to 8% in an effort to beat a $1.6 billion deficit. The economy has been so bad, state tax revenue intake has been very slow. It didn’t help matters when the Georgia DOT announced that an audit revealed the agency had more than $450 million budget shortfall. The shortfall threatened many current and future projects for 2008. Among some of the state’s cut backs in spending are new hires, pay raises and non-essential purchases.

Brian Nichols
An Atlanta jury spared Brian Nichols from death in 2008. The trial finally started and concluded in a guilty verdict for the 2003 courthouse shooter. Nichols killed 4 people as he tried to escape the Fulton County Courthouse. He shot and killed Judge Rowland Barnes, courtroom reporter Julie Brandau, Fulton County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley and U.S Immigration and Customs agent David G. Wilhelm. The trial and conviction was more than fair. There was a huge backlash from legislators and the victims families about the jury being deadlocked on whether or not to sentence Nichols to death. Some Legislators even suggested that the law be changed so death is carried with a minimum of 10 Jurors voting in favor. I think it’s a bad idea. Although we put a lot of faith in the legal system, its not perfect, and innocent people are often found guilty. Taking someone’s life is huge, because that sentence one it’s been carried out can never be appealed. It should take all 12 jurors agreeing that this person should die for this crime. A person’s life is too precious to leave any room for doubt or errors. It’s all for or life in prison.

Marta’s Budget Woes
Marta, Atlanta’s rapid transit authority has announced its money problems and is not looking for ways to not only save money, but help generate revenue. Marta is looking into allowing vendors to sell food and drink inside rail stations. In order to do this, Marta would have to repeal its policy of food and beverage in stations, trains and buses. Marta is also looking at charging for parking, cutting bus and rail service to save money. A few years back, Marta spent an insane amount of money for a new fare collection system. Replacing the old token based system, that was said to allow for easy fare evasion. To solve the fare evasion would have simply assigned a gate monitor at stations for a fraction of what the new system cost. Money saved by doing that alone. Marta’s problems wouldn’t be so bad if it had more support. Part of the problem is that Marta is only operation in the immediate metro Atlanta areas of DeKalb and Fulton Counties. The other counties have long expressed no interest in bringing Marta to their community. However these counties have very recently started their own transit systems. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority is an agency with the state of Georgia that helps fund the transit systems in Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton counties. If this agency were to merge with Marta, and expand, maximizing the state’s money in transportation, We would have a transit system that connects more counties seamlessly. By combining agencies and resources the system would have a better chance of surviving the current financial crisis than going it alone.







Financial Meltdown
With the new year, say goodbye to some companies that were once staples in the financial world. Bear Stearns closes its doors. Bear Stearns was once the one of the world's largest investment bank and brokerage firms collapsed because of sub-prime mortgages.

Washington Mutual, the nation's largest savings and loan and Wachovia both two of more than a dozen of banks that failed in 2008. WaMu was bought by JP Morgan Chase. Wachovia was purchased by Wells Fargo, and will over the next three years assume the Wells Fargo brand.

The big dips in the stock markets cause many Americans investing their pensions to lose a substantial amount of money. Although many experts predict that the market will correct itself and that people will get back most of the money they lost, at the moment that path looks far away.

2008 saw the largest increase in gas prices. At one point each week brought new record in gas prices. The rise in prices started with the damage Hurricane Katrina made when it hit the gulf coast. After the disaster oil speculators drove the prices even higher, all to make a profit for themselves.

Increased gas prices ensured prices of almost all other consumer goods would also rise, especially food. 2008 saw the largest and fastest increase in food prices in history. In an economy where the bottom has fallen out, people where making hard choices on weather to buy food, medicine or gas to get to work. It's probably the top thing people will not miss about 2008.

Home foreclosures skyrocketed in 2008 especially in Dekalb County. As most sub-prime loans interest rates adjusted, most homeowners could no longer make their mortgage payments leading to beginning of the current financial crisis.


Store Closings
The economy's slide south proved to be too much for some major retailers. Circuit City filed for bankruptcy and is closing over 100 of its stores nationwide including all Atlanta area stores. KB Toys filed bankruptcy for a second time and closed its doors at many of its mall locations. The country's financial woes are also pushing a lot of other stores out of business like Mervyns Department Stores, The Sharper Image, Linens 'n Things, Value City, Bill Heard Automotive, The Bombay Company, Steak and Ale, Shoe Pavilion, and Levitz Furniture.

Michael Vick
What does a man do when he has fame and fortune? He runs a dog fighting ring of course. Michael Vick shocked many of his fans when it was discovered he funded an illegal dog fighting ring on his property. His arrest led to him being let go from the Atlanta Falcons and fired from endorsements. He is currently serving time in federal prison.

President-Elect Barack Obama
Senator Barack Obama made history by being the first black candidate to win a major party nomination. He went on to become the nation's first black President. He also set records in fundraising during his presidential campaign. President-Elect Obama will be sworn into office on January 20, 2009.

City of Lithonia
2008 also saw one of the nastiest and most embarrassing squabbles in politics Mayor Joyce McKibben vs. the Lithonia City Council and Lithonia Police Chief Willie Rosser. All parties behaved badly after the brouhaha when the Mayor attempted to fire the police chief. The city council rehired the chief and proceeded to lock the mayor out of city hall. Lawsuits were filed, people were arrested and prosecuted. It led to city government grinding to a crawl. Lithonia became the fodder for You Tube entertainment and numerous news reports over the political conflict. Eventually the Mayor’s rivals mounted a campaign that was successful in her being recalled and a new Mayor was elected. It’s funny how the Mayor is the only one out of a job when members of the city council and the police chief deserve to be ousted as well. Still no one really acknowledges the reason the battle lines were drawn in the first place. The mayor accused the Police Chief of unauthorized purchases and hiring issues.

Could This Be The Beginning Of The End For Circuit City?

A few weeks ago, Circuit City announced that it was closing over 100 of its store including all locations in Georgia. The company cited the ailing economy as the cause. Well I wish I could be one of those people that after hearing the news, their jaw drops and have such a surprised look on their face. Well I can honestly say that I’m not surprised, in fact I predicted the company’s downfall, but not because of current circumstances.

I’ve told this story it seems like hundreds of times, but I don’t mind doing it again. I only wish I had my blog around this time a year ago. Perhaps things would be different. Anyway… last Christmas I decided to treat myself to a new HD TV. Because I don’t believe in just walking in a store and buying the prettiest model I see, i did tons of research on brands, models and prices. After crunching all the info I decided that I would not buy just one, but two TV’s. When I bought my last two TV’s I paid nearly $2000. So when I decided to buy these new TV I was expecting to be paying around the same price. To my surprise the price had drop considerably, partly due to the demand but also because of the holiday discounting the stores do to move inventory. I quickly realized that for the price I was prepared to pay, I could buy two TV’s. My original intention was to buy an HD LCD TV for my den. But now I could also buy a TV for my new bedroom. So that is that was the plan I went with.

After careful research I choose two TV’s. They were two different brands, sizes and located at different stores. The TV for my den I decided to buy a Polaroid 42’ LCD TV from Circuit City. The best deal I could find for the size I wanted was on Circuit City’s website. So I bought the TV online would pick it up at the closest store. The Closest store to have the TV in stock was a 25 minute drive away. So by the time I was able to get to the store, they had already closed for the night. So I go the next evening to pick the TV up. By the time I get to the store the next night it’s already more than 27 hours since I originally ordered the TV and received email confirmation. So I go to where you are suppose to go, to present the confirmation number, ID, and method of payment verification. They tell me to go over to the merchandise pick up area. So I’m waiting over there for nearly 10 minutes, so I knock on the service window and ask about my TV. The lady that said they were trying to find a guy that was big enough to bring it out. So after another 6-7 minutes a guy emerges with the TV and helps me load it into my car. So after ordering the TV 27 hours ago, and waiting nearly 20 minutes, I believed that I was owed a gift card for waiting because of the Circuit City’s 24 minute guarantee. According to the store’s guarantee the time you wait in line inside the store is excluded from the 24 minutes. I waited nearly 20 minutes for my item to be brought out from the stockroom, when it should have already been ready to bring out. So I explain this to the manager on duty and they say no. You have to give them time to get the item. I countered, “That’s not what the guarantee states, if that were the case you would never be violating your guarantee.” So instead of arguing with the manger on duty, which turns out was only a supervisor, I decided to call the Store Manager the next day.

The next day comes and I call the store and ask to speak to the store manager, I’m told he’s not available but they were the Assistant manager. I tell her my complaint, and she says no problem. She gives me her name and tells me it won’t be a problem. So I’m happy that it’s resolved. The Assistant manager tells me to ask next time I’m at the store to get my $24 gift card. So a couple of days later I’m in the area and stop by and try to get my gift card. I’m told that the Assistant Manager I spoke with is off that day, and I would have to speak with her because no one knows about the situation. So I’m thinking ok, I’ll come back another day. I was kind of bummed in the fact that this store is 25-30 minutes away from where I live. I do not really want to make a special trip for the gift card. So I call the next time to see if she is there, and I speak with her to let her know I’m on the way, they she pulls a 360 on me. She totally changes her tune and says that she can’t issue me a gift card because of the incident. So I ask to speak with her manager, and he tells me the same thing. I get all the way to a regional manger that apologizes but doesn’t issue me a gift card. So At this point I’m pretty ticked. If it were not for the fact that the TV was so big, and I had a hard time getting it out of my midsize car, I would have taken it back. I was so mad; I came close to renting a truck or van just to return it. But I decided to exact my anger in telling people my story and not recommending Circuit City for anything.

You see my revenge is very satisfying to me. I’m the person that people I know go to ask recommendations on what to buy and where. So when I recommend brands or stores, I just don’t include Circuit City in my advice. So when people ask what about Circuit City or why I didn’t mention them, I explain what happened to me. I am happy to say that in the last year I’ve bought or helped people buy several thousand dollars worth of electronics. I’ve often joked about becoming an electronics personal shopper for people that are not tech savvy. My only concern with the downfall of Circuit City is the status of my extended warranty on the TV a purchased.

Circuit City shot itself in the foot a few years back. It put more emphasis on it’s spin off CarMax, that it allowed store like Best Buy and Wal-Mart to come up and take control of the market. They had to play catch up, like creating their tech repair unit fogdog after the successful launch of Best Buy’s Geek Squad. Sales have taken a nose dive for years, and the economy over the last few years did not help their position. Big box retailers still have not learned the basics of retaining customer loyalty. In this economy companies can’t afford to lose repeat customers. $24 dollar gift card in the long run is a small price to pay to retain a repeat customer. There isn’t much in Circuit City that one can buy for just $24, so pretty much any purchase made with the gift card will require additional money. That gift card would translate to additional purchases in Circuit City and another opportunity to sell even more merchandise. It’s a cliché, but it’s very true, a bad customer experience cost a company more customers as opposed to a good experience. People like to tell as many people that will listen to a bad experience, this blog entry as an example. I call it therapy for a frustrated consumer.

Georgia’s Senate Race Decided

The Georgia Senate race between incumbent Saxby Chambliss a Republican and Democratic challenger Jim Martin is finally over. Sen. Chambliss retained his seat by a clear majority. Chambliss beat Martin by receiving nearly 57% of the vote. Voter turnout for the race was about 20% of registered voters.

Both candidates put up a fierce 4 week long battle of campaign ads, big name speakers and of course the name calling and mud slinging that we have come to expect. Some of the Republican’s superstars came to Georgia to campaign for Saxby Chambliss such as Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Arizona Sen. And former Presidential candidate John McCain and for Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Jim Martin had Former President Bill Clinton and former Vice-President Al Gore come down and help his campaign. Martin had asked for the Democrats biggest star, President-Elect Barrack Obama. However it seems that the President-Elect wasn’t interested in making any kind of significant effort to help Jim Martin win the Georgia Senate seat and help the Democrats gain the so called “Super Majority”, 60 Senate seats that would make the democratic controlled senate filibuster proof. To his credit, President-Elect Obama did help Jim Martin’s campaign by recording a radio ad that was released the week before the run-off, robotic calls to residents to ask them to vote for Jim Martin, and he mailed out a postcard with “Happy Holidays” on it along with a picture of the Obama family.

I think that President-Elect Obama might as well make this mistake number one as the highest profile Democrat and as a leader. Let face it, the radio ads, postcards, and “robo” calls are all great, but making an appearance in Georgia would have been a 100 times more effective than all four combined. Georgia had record turnout for the Presidential election. Nearly a million and two-thirds fewer democrats voted in the runoff than the general election. The President-Elect could have taken a few hours at the beginning of the run-off campaign and towards the end to come down to Georgia and talk Jim Martin up, and help motivate people to go to the polls. I really believe that most people didn’t understand how crucial this election was to the democrats. Sure they heard all the spin on TV news show, but it’s different if the top Democrat himself, a superstar came down for the people to see and hear.

Barack Obama’s presence in Georgia would have been the extra boost needed to get people to the polls. People are still caught in the awe and excitement of his election. Having the President-Elect here campaigning for Jim Martin would one, tell people that the election isn’t over yet, two, that he cares about what happens in Georgia, three, that having a 60 seat in the Senate is so important it warrants’ his attention especially since it will help him make the changes he campaigned on. People clearly needed motivation to go to the polls for a run-off.

Recently the President-Elect revealed his choices for cabinet appointments, among them were current Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and former political opponent Hilary Clinton, nominated for Secretary of State. I think he made some great choices in people, however I don’t think it was very smart to pull an active and popular Senator from a seat that can be strangle defended by Hilary Clinton. But despite the difficult work he is obviously conducting in preparation for the transition of power, there isn’t any excuse why he couldn’t have hopped on a plane and come to Georgia for a few hours. As President-Elect he can be briefed or hold meetings anywhere he chooses. He has time to go to the gym for a couple of hours a day, he could have flown down and help win the Senate race in Georgia. I hope this doesn’t come back to hurt him politically in the future. He has such great plans; it would be a shame that his first mistake could affect the rest of his administration. Let’s hope it doesn’t.

I'm A Radio Contest Winner

So Wednesday morning something really kool happened to me. To be honest I still can't believe it. The V-103 radio morning show, "The Frank And Wanda Show" are celebrating their 10th Anniversary. So they held a contest to pick 10 winners that will get Frank And Wanda's favorite things. It's a play on the annual Oprah's favorite things she gives her audience.

So I never expected to win the contest. Here is how I entered, I recorded 90210 Tuesday night on the CW69 on my desktop computer. So later that night I go to my computer and the TV version of the "Frank And Wanda Show" was still on. I watched it for a while. Towards the end a women called in because she heard her name. So Frank Ski was telling people how to enter the contest, so that is when I decided to enter. I said what the hell, why not. I entered via the web as instructed. The show pulls two names each morning during the anniversary week one at 7:30 and one at 8:30. So the next morning I forgot to listen in at the 7:30 drawing. So I was think what are the chances that I would win anyway. V-103 is like the number 2 station in Atlanta, with nearly a half million or more listeners. What chance do I have of winning, right? So I listen in at about 8:10-8:15. So They finally pull the last name for the day, and I heard them call Stephan. I immediately thought to myself who names their children Stephan? i have never liked that name. People always mispronounce my name Stephen as Stephan. So I didn't even hear the last name until they repeated it and I realized that they were calling me. I couldn't believe it. So you only have 10 minutes to call in and claim you prize. So when I called in they ask me if it was Stephen or Stephan? I was so excited that I won that I didn't even care about that anymore... simple mistake right?

So I guess you are wondering what the 10 favorite things are.... well let me tell you that they are some pretty awesome prizes. Here goes...

Frank and Wanda's Favorite things are:

1. $100 Kroger Gift Card- just in time for the holidays

2. Life size 4 foot stuffed Mickey & Minnie Dolls - my mom loves them on her bed.

3. A bottle of Jean Paul Gaultier Perfume - very nice scent

4. A Dinner at Carrabbas Italian Grill with Frank Ski

5. A Verizon Blackberry 8330 Smartphone

6. A Panasonic Lumix Digital Camera- Sweet camera, 8.1 megs

7. A Night out on the town with Frank Ski with a night's stay at the W hotel, dinner at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and VIP passes to the Velvet Room - Let say I haven't had a night like this is a long time.

8. A King Size Ralph Lauren Goose Down Comforter

9. A Trip to Las Vegas with Wanda Smith to see Cirque Du Soleil

10. A Trip to New York City with Frank Ski to see the musical Wicked

How cool is that? I hear that Oprah's prizes this year isn't all that. The Frank And Wanda Show winners were treated to a breakfast at Justin's restaurant in Buckhead. Young Jeezy mad an appearance. There was cake and champagne by Moet.

I have to say Frank and Wanda's gifts are great.... and I can't wait to get back to the cities that never really sleep, fabulous Las Vegas and lovely New York City. What a way to celebrate an anniversary. It should definitely be a fun trip.

You Can Call Him Mr. President!

On November 4, 2008 the world watched in suspense as votes across the country were tallied leading to Barack Obama’s historic win. The Senator from Illinois, was elected the nations first black President. Now more than a week later, reality has set in for most people and it’s not the total calamity that many of President-elect Obama’s opponents thought it would be.

President-Elect Obama seems to moving in a very rapid and smart manner. He has made the financial crisis a top priority. He has his transition team in place before the election to make sure they “hit the ground running”. He has been having regular meetings with his economic advisory board made up of people he trusts.

This new president has many challenges starting out, the financial crisis being at the top, also, a high unemployment rate, a $10 billion a month war and a country divided by a long and brutal election cycle. The best thing Barrack Obama can do, is make sure he retain the help of the very best when it comes to the economy, foreign policy and the war in Iraq.

The transition of power looks like it may be a smooth one. This week President and Mrs. Bush met with the Obama’s at the White House. President Bush has vowed to make the transition as easy as possible. I believe that he will work hard to make sure that the transition is seamless.

Now is the time for all Americans to unite and work together to get this country back on track. The election is over. The winners have been very sensitive and not gloating at their victory. They are reaching out to the opposition to help solve the nation’s big issues. To me, that what a President does, lead the entire nation and not just the party they belong to.