DATE: August 17, 2007
PUBLICATION: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA)
EDITION: Home; The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SECTION: Mike King for the Editorial Board

Now that a Fulton County judge has cleared the way for the controversial parking deck at Piedmont Park, the two nonprofit groups pushing the plan should acknowledge that their relationship with the city-owned park makes them subject to the state's Open Records Law.

Piedmont Park is Atlanta's equivalent of New York's Central Park, a focal point for public events and recreation for residents from around the metro area. Whatever happens there has huge public interest, especially any plans that fundamentally alter its appearance and accessibility.
 
The Piedmont Park Conservancy and the Atlanta Botanical Garden, the two nonprofits that raise private money for their activities at the park, contend records covering their role in the parking deck plans are not public documents even though both have contractual arrangements with the city to use or manage the park land at no cost. But under those arrangements, the city must approve any substantive changes at the park or at the garden, which sits on land that was formerly part of the park. The city gave the necessary approvals in 2005 when the parking deck was authorized by the City Council and Mayor Shirley Franklin over heated opposition.

The parking deck plan resulted in a lawsuit filed by another group, Friends of Piedmont Park, which contended the plan violated state and city laws governing public construction and that the city was illegally providing land for the deck. The group also sued for access to the records of both the conservancy and gardens.

Earlier this week, Fulton County Superior Court Judge T. Jackson Bedford rejected most of the claims of the anti-parking deck group, which means construction can proceed. He said the question of whether the conservancy and botanical gardens should be open to public inspection needs further study. Bedford plans to schedule a hearing on the issue sometime next month.

Both the conservancy and the gardens seek to cloak their work at the park in secrecy because they are private organizations. But clearly the work they do is not just for the benefit of their members. The contractual arrangements they have with city government amount to carrying out a public function, which makes them subject to the Open Records Act.

Their role at Piedmont Park is similar to that of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and Central Atlanta Progress, which promoted the city's interest two years ago in recruiting the NASCAR Hall of Fame to locate downtown. They also contended they were not subject to open records requests. The Georgia State Court of Appeals eventually ruled both groups were acting on the city's behalf and their records on the NASCAR bid should be open. (The NASCAR hall went to Charlotte.)

With the fight over the parking deck essentially won, the Atlanta Botanical Garden and Piedmont Park Conservancy should concede they too are carrying out a public function for the city and open up the pertinent records on the parking deck plan to public inspection. By not doing so, they leave the impression they have something to hide.

— Mike King, for the editorial board