European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 3, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A sort of Zurich or Dusseldorf with grit and grits by Hugh a. Mulligan associated press democrats arriving at the nation busiest Airport for their quadrennial political Binge will find the antebellum South not Only gone with the wind but without the prospector a sequel. Delegates looking for nostalgic flashbacks to crinoline petticoats and hoop skirts Moonlight and magnolias in modern Atlanta will just be whistling Dixie from memory and with no help at All from the convention podium. You won t hear Dixie and you won t see any Confederate flags at this convention vows Don Fowler a political science professor from South Carolina who is the convention s chief executive officer. Today s Atlanta is a vibrant dynamic City of the future which makes it an Ideal Host for the party of the  the stars and bars won t be quite out of sight. The Georgia legislature put off until after the convention a Battle Over redesigning the state Flag now three quarters occupied by the Confederate Battle Flag. While the chaos in Chicago at the 68 convention has not been entirely forgotten the Power Structure in this Sun Belt City in t greatly worried about unruly demonstrations when the convention is gave led to order on july 18. We should t have any trouble with demonstrations mainly because everybody running this City has been organizing them for 20 years allows Andrew Young the super Cool chief Salesman for Atlanta who in that two decade Span has moved from the ranks of civil rights marchers outside City Hall to the mayor s office inside. Having helped sell Atlanta to the democratic site selection committee his Honor a former . Ambassador to the United nations has just returned from Tokyo where he sold the City to japanese investors but not Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport As he keeps denying rumours to the contrary. The site selection committee of course was sold the new Atlanta which has just passed Chicago and new York As the nation s leading convention and Trade show Hub ranks As the third fastest growing High tech Center in the country and basks in its poll ratings by the Cushman Wakefield realty group As the nation s most liable  the big peach As some locals Are obliged to Call the confusing Metropolis Grid linked by 34 streets roads boulevards avenues and places named peach tree is the Home of coca cola Delta air lines Cable news network Georgia tech Emory University and Morehouse College the baseball braves basketball Hawks football Falcons and architect John Portman or the atrium King who waved his t Square Over the decaying downtown business District and brought Forth Well what else peach tree Center 11 City blocks of soaring Glass and Aerial skywalk linking seven office towers a mall and three hotels including the 1,674-room Marriott Marquis the country s largest convention hotel. Georgia s capital with its Gold Leaf domed Capitol modelled after the nation s Capitol and once echoing with the footfalls of Eugene Talmadge Lester Maddox and Jimmy Carter now eagerly projects itself As the financial capital of the South. Andy Young envisions it As the next great International City a sort of Zorich or Dusseldorf with grit and grits. More than 400 of Fortune s 500 corporations and five major japanese Banks have branches in hot Lanta As the business Boom is boosted on to shirts and buttons that delegates will find in their Welcome bags. A View of the downtown area of Atlanta a pulsing Metropolis envisioned by mayor Andrew Young As the next great International  new York times the site selection committee was taken to Stone Mountain the Confederate mount Rushmore where the equestrian figures of Stonewall Jackson Jefferson Davis and Robert e. Lee Gallop across two football Fields of solid Granite in the world s largest Bas Relief sculpture. But the sound track of Elvis Presley moaning Dixie was purged from the program during their visit. Stonewall Jackson got run out of town Long ago laughed cab Driver Lucian Hayer who had just attended Courtesy school and put new sheepskin seat covers in his 1976 Ford Wagon in deference to the arriving democrats. Folks around Here Are More into Michael Jesse and Maynard  Rock Star Michael Jackson writhed this Spring to sellout crowds for three nights at the Omni the basketball Arena where the democrats will perform their nominating rites in somewhat cramped quarters. Jesse of course is the charismatic candidate whose clout in the primaries could be tracked locally when his Campaign Headquarters moved from a storefront to a suite of offices in a downtown Bank. Maynard Jackson Atlanta s first Black mayor is said to be poised to run again. In keeping with Atlanta s Pride of racial Harmony More tourists today ask directions to the Martin Luther King or. Center with its eternal flame reflecting Pool and the Stark Tomb marked free at last than to Wren s nest where Joel Chandler Harris wrote of Uncle Remus and the tar baby. During downtime at the first National party convention Ever staged in Atlanta some of the 4,161 delegates and their alternates will no doubt attend services at the Ebenezer Baptist Church where King followed his father and Grandfather into the pulpit. Auburn Avenue where the Church is located is a Hub of Black history which the City has been trying to tidy up in time for the convention. A Facelift also has been Given to the Cyclorama the huge three dimensional evocation of the 1864 Battle of Atlanta executed a Century ago by German and polish artists. _ Confederate soldiers up on pedestals mostly stand Sentinel these Days Over the graveyards of Atlanta but there is a statue downtown of Constitution editor Henry Grady who a Century ago eloquently proclaimed a new South and what May be the nation s Only sculpture of Nelson Mandela South Africa s apartheid foe. What with the Jimmy Carter Library the High museum of Art a first rate symphony orchestra a thriving Avant Garde Art Colony and the refurbishing into a concert Hall of the Fox theater that moorish Mirage of a movie Palace Atlanta has become a cultural Center of compelling diversity. The other Day an electronic scoreboard atop an apartment Complex in Buckhead Yuppie bastion of the new wealth blinked out a population of 2,258,765 for greater Atlanta which now sprawls Over 11 counties including Gwinnett the nation s fastest growing. The score is expected to top the 4 million Mark by the turn of the Century. Atlanta is on a Roll says Ted Sprague president of the Atlanta convention and visitors Bureau which has an $8 million annual budget to woo Trade shows. This convention will bring International awareness of the new Southern hospitality Blacks and Whites working  Headquarters of Many major Black insurance companies construction firms and financial institutions Atlanta claims the nation s largest Black Middle class and elite corps of puppies Black Urban professionals whose handsome Homes and gardens ornament the Western suburbs. Long before he clinched the nomination gov. Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts ascertained that Atlanta has a flourishing Long established greek Community numbering More than 1,500 families. His Stepson John Dukakis spent months there organizing the Campaign locally and Ca Cusing Over Moussaka and stuffed grape leaves at various greek restaurants. Standards of Southern cuisine have altered considerably in Atlanta since Lester Maddox tended the velvet rope at his Pickwick cafeteria and barred Blacks with an a handle. Area restaurants offer a dazzling Choice of Continental Northern italian japanese Indian ethiopian something called Southern Nouvelle and even French Tsa Rist cuisine which has made Nickolai s the in place for the expense account set. Elegant eateries like the coach & six the Abbey and Panos & Paul s were deluged with convention week bookings within a few hours of Atlanta s being chosen by the democrats. Good ol1 boys from what s left of the once solid South will find Ham Hocks pot Likker and Catfish at Mary Mac s tearoom along with hush puppies those scrumptious bits of Fried Corn Batter tossed to the hounds after a Hunt in Plantation Days. There is also the varsity out by Georgia tech the nation s largest drive in. And thanks to democracy in dining delegates can enjoy soul food at Paschal s and Thelma s Kitchen just Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport top Phot America s busiest Airport handles More than 43 million passengers a Yean Margaret Lupo Center photo is the owner of Mary macs a bastion of traditional Southern cooking in Atlanta Don Fowler above chief executive officer of the democratic National convention takes a break outside the Omni Complex where the event will be gave led to order july 18. New York times across from the Omni. At Happy hour there will be standing room Only at Manuel s tavern a hangout for press and politicians co owned by Manuel Maloof chief executive officer of Dekalb county. The Omni with convention seating for Only 12,500, was Atlanta s weakest card in bidding for the democrats. Some delegations will be off the floor up in the stands and fewer than half the 4,000 corporate and foreign vips who attended the san Francisco conclave four years ago will get inside. The Omni s shortcomings Are offset by the huge Georgia world Congress Center next door. There the expected 15,000 Media types will be linked to the podium the 38 sky boxes the four super sky Booths for major networks and the main hotels by a futuristic 1,063-mile network of hair thin fiber optic strands. Southern Bell also is installing 130 video outlets 5,000 telephones in the Omni and another 5,000 in the press working area. All have 100 percent backup plus stacks of dry cell batteries standing by to keep the lines open for at least eight hours in a Power failure. Shuttle buses will relay the press and delegates to the Omni from the 49 convention hotels the farthest about 25 minutes away. The Pride of Atlanta on the move is its clean silent stainless steel Graffiti free subway system. A $30 million link to the Airport has just opened perhaps frustratingly just in time for the rumoured closing of the Omni station by the secret service. In recent months the subway has been bedevilled by late night crime which edgy commuters warn you is worse than new  Page 14 the stars and stripes sunday july 3,1988 the stars and stripes Page 15