Are you smarter than an Atlanta mayoral candidate?

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Are you smarter than an Atlanta mayoral candidate?
October 13, 2009
by Jim Galloway
AJC

The Atlanta mayoral debate that was aired on 11Alive this afternoon was the 36th attended by the candidates.

So attempting to ask them something different has become a challenge. Which the TV station addressed with some game-show style questions intended to measure their knowledge of the city they want to govern:

Question No. 1: How many Atlanta foreclosures are on the market right now?

Jesse Spikes: “I don’t have a finite number. 60,000?”

Lisa Borders: “I don’t have a discrete number, either. I would tell you ZIP code with the largest number of foreclosures in the nation is 30318. So that’s where the vast majority of them are in the city of Atlanta.”

Mary Norwood: “It’s the southwest side, and – the number of foreclosures runs along the line from R.M. Clayton plant, south and west of downtown, and south and west of Grant Park, and that includes ZIP codes 15, 11, 10, 18, 31 and 14. So those ZIP codes have been affected the most. And it is thousands and thousands.”

Kasim Reed: “The number of foreclosures in excess of 15,000. We also have 6,000 condominum units that are currently available on the market right now, although they are not in foreclosure.”

Brenda Woods gave the answer as 10,954, according to RealtyTrac.com.

Question No. 2: How many Fortune 500 business does Atlanta have?

Borders: “I think we now have seven. I’m not positive, though.”

Norwood: “I’m saying 10?”

Reed: “Twelve.”

Spikes: “I’d say 10.”

Ted Hall gave the answer as nine, with11 in the metro Atlanta area, according to Fortune magazine.

Question No. 3: When was the last time you rode MARTA? How much did you pay then on a one-way fare, and how much is it now?

Norwood: “I – as a council…. I can’t tell you. Don’t remember.”

Reed: “Last time I rode MARTA was about a week ago going to my mom’s and I think the new fee is $2.25.”

Spikes: “Last time I rode it, it was $1.75. I rode it to the airport, and it was just increased. Did it go up a dollar?”

Borders: “I believe it’s $2, and I rode the MARTA para-transit system with my father, who is in a wheelchair.”

Woods gave the answer as $2.

The gimme question of the taping, at the tail end, was whether the Atlanta Falcons would have a winning season. All four candidates answered as if they’d already bet their mortgage payments on the team.

But Reed added this: “I want to make sure the Falcons stay in Atlanta. That’s the one we needed to ask Mr. Blank.”

Presumably, this is actually possible. Arthur Blank, owner of the Falcons, has given Reed a $2,000 check, according to last week campaign finance disclosures. He’s given the same amount to Norwood. To Borders, Blank gave $1,900.