As reported by Jay Bookman of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Reg. Required), the trial of former mayor Bill Campbell is inflaming racial tensions and challenging notions of Atlanta as a modern, competent metropolis: “When Campbell left office, the city of Atlanta faced an $80 million budget deficit that he had hidden from public view. To help close the gap, Atlanta had to lay off more than 250 workers, many if not most of whom were black people for whom a government job was their foothold in the middle class. They’re the victims, not Casino Campbell.

Even after those layoffs, incoming Mayor Shirley Franklin was forced to raise property tax rates by 50 percent just to keep the city afloat, making it even more difficult for low-income and fixed-income residents to hang on in this rapidly gentrifying city.

Their plight was made more precarious still by the fact that while Campbell was cavorting in Paris, Memphis and Vegas, a pressing problem with the city’s water and sewage systems blew up into a full-blown crisis, requiring an investment of billions of dollars after he left office. The city sales tax had to be increased, sewer and water rates went through the roof, and the pain that inflicted hurt Atlanta’s poor, elderly and working class most of all.”

Vicarious Guilt