Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin finally getting her due

Although she was only mayor for two terms, from 2002 to 2010, Shirley Franklin has been a force in Atlanta dating from first term of Mayor Maynard Jackson, elected in 1973, when she served as his commissioner of cultural affairs.

On Thursday, March 27, Franklin was honored with the naming of several blocks of Central Avenue to Shirley C. Franklin Blvd SW, as well as the renaming of Westside Park to Shirley Clarke Franklin Park.

That’s not all. On Feb. 27, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights surprised Franklin by announcing that the new east wing, now under construction, would be named after her. And in February, Franklin was part of an Emerald Necklace panel describing the efforts to create new parks along the Atlanta Beltline.

In short, Franklin’s longevity as an impactful leader in our city cannot be overstated.

Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young has often said that he could travel the world when he was mayor (1982-1990) because Franklin was running the city as his chief operating officer. During Mayor Bill Campbell’s tenure (1994-2002), she helped Atlanta prepare and put on the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

Soon after, Franklin admitted that both Jackson and Young approached her a couple of years before the 2001 election.

“Maynard took me to lunch and said: ‘Andy and I have talked, and we think you should run,” Franklin recalled. She then told Jackson and Young: “If you won’t talk to me about for a year, maybe I can do this.”

During that time, Franklin was part of an influential group of women who would meet on a regular basis to talk about what was going on in the city behind the scenes. One day, Franklin comes to the lunch and says that several people are pushing her to run for mayor. 

“I’m not here to get your advice on whether I should run,” she asked us. “If I do decide to run, what should my messaging be?”

For two hours we talked about that her message. Out of lunch and several other conversations she had with others, her campaign slogan was: “If you make me mayor, I’ll make you proud.”

Mission accomplished.

• She advanced the Atlanta Beltline from an idea to reality. 
• She acquired Martin Luther King Jr.’s collection of papers that were about to be sold to the highest bidder in a Sotheby’s auction. 
• She created the Atlanta Regional Task Force on Homelessness. 
• She put together the plans and vision for the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. 
• She acquired the Bellwood Quarry land that became the Westside Park, now Shirley Clarke Franklin Park. 
• She launched the Atlanta Committee for Progress. 
• She helped put together a financial way to pay for $2 billion to fix the city’s sewer infrastructure and led the effort.
• She quickly became a regional mayor, working with the Atlanta Regional Commission, being part of the annual LINK trips and attending ARC meetings — something previous mayors rarely did. She also created the Metro Atlanta Mayor’s Association.
• She had the insight to push for a property tax increase before she left office, knowing the city and the country would be facing a dire economy.
• More importantly, she began her tenure as mayor by getting Bain Consulting to donate its expertise by conducting a “best in class” analysis of cities all over the country to help guide Atlanta into becoming a world-class city.

“You had a vision that was 50 to 100 years out,” Mayor Dickens said at the street-renaming ceremony. “We are a better city because of your leadership.

Franklin, who was exceptionally humble for a political leader, was quick to shine the spotlight on others.

“This park wasn’t my vision,” she said at the Westside Park renaming. “Like much of what I got done, it was someone else’s vision, and I just tried to make it happen.” 

Atlanta City Council President Doug Shipman got an opportunity to witness Franklin’s leadership up close. He was tapped to lead the effort to develop the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and he served as its CEO, with Franklin serving as his co-chair.

“A lot of what she did as mayor were long-term investments,” Shipman said. “She has done things that continue to be important. She certainly thought beyond her time in office, but not for her own benefit. I see Shirley as being able to build platforms that others can expand upon.”

Shipman said it’s important to recognize how she’s touched men and women spanning many different generations — with many people describing her as their mentor.

“Shirley has very strong views about what good government should look like and what Atlanta should be,” Shipman said. “One of the things she’s often said: ‘Everything is hard to do, so you might as well do the important things.’”

Even when she was estranged from a couple of Atlanta mayors, namely Campbell and Kasim Reed, Franklin continued to work for the good of the city.

She has served as a “de facto” power for local politics — helping launch the political careers of Mayor Dickens and his chief policy advisor, Courtney English, to name just two.

Franklin learned from the best. Her ex-husband, David Franklin, was a political consultant who brought her to Atlanta shortly after they got married to help Jackson get elected. 

“David and I stayed friends after we got divorced,” Franklin said at the street renaming. “We talked politics. Successful politics is all about addition, not subtraction.”

The political bug was passed down to their son Cabral Franklin, who also was a savvy political consultant before he died from lung cancer in 2015.

At the street renaming, Franklin recognized her mother, Ruth Lyons White, who died in 2006 when her daughter was mayor, for always believing in her. 

“She’s shining down on me like Cabral and David,” Franklin said.

For Franklin, getting all this recognition makes her a bit uncomfortable. But she has described herself as being a feminist since she was a teenager. She has told me countless times that women have not gotten proper recognition — either for their role in the civil rights movement or in the development of Atlanta.

I once showed her a list of all the people who had been honored with Shining Light Awards by WSB and Atlanta Gas Light from 1963 to 2009, and she quickly counted how women were woefully underrepresented.

“It really is overwhelming to me because I didn’t do this for recognition,” Franklin said at the park renaming. “On the other hand, there are not enough things named for women. So, if I have to be an example of that, I welcome it.”

Note to readers:

For the five decades I have known Shirley Franklin, I’m honored to consider her as a friend and one of her mentees. That doesn’t mean we haven’t had our differences. When she was mayor, I wrote several critical columns about various plans and initiatives she was working on.

After an especially critical column, I saw her that day; she was as friendly as always. “Did you read my column?” I asked her. I was surprised by her attitude because I’m used to being confronted by various mayors, beginning with Jackson to the present. She then responded: “You were just doing your job.”

It takes a great leader to be able to accept differing views from a journalist while keeping the lines of communication open and maintaining a cordial relationship. If only more political leaders behaved the same way…