Published on: 02/15/05

Politicians appoint task forces for one of three reasons: to tap experts who can find the best solution; to validate a conclusion that they've already preordained; or, most often, to provide cover for a decision likely to anger constituents.
So what did Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin have in mind when she named an 11-member task force to study the controversial proposal to build a parking deck in Piedmont Park?

It's hard to know, because Franklin has taken no official position on the proposed six-story, 800-space deck that would be cut into what is now a tree-covered hillside on the park's western edge. That's a bad idea for several reasons, not the least of which is that it would encourage visitors to drive to the park instead of using other forms of transportation that don't increase traffic congestion in the surrounding neighborhoods.

But the Piedmont Park Conservancy, a nonprofit group dedicated to park improvements, sees the deck as a way to raise revenue to fund an ambitious expansion and to pay for other programs. The neighboring Atlanta Botanical Garden has offered to pony up the $15 million construction cost and is offering to split parking fees with the conservancy.

Franklin is expected to announce task force members sometime this week, but she's already stated that some will be nominated by the conservancy and the Botanical Garden. That's a curious choice if she's seeking an objective review of the facts. Franklin must balance those choices with representatives of community groups who staunchly oppose the deck.

Better still, she should avoid interested parties on both sides and name a panel of specialists in park management and financing with no vested interest in the outcome. The task force must also conduct its business in public.
Of course, the best alternative of all is for the mayor and City Council to show some backbone and reject this shortsighted scheme altogether. Decision-making by task force is no way to run a government and Piedmont Park is no place to put a parking deck.