kasim reed is the mayor of atlanta. >> mr. mayor, welcome to "nightly business report." >> glad to be with you. >> tom: you were recently successful in closing a budget gap, overhauled pension obligations, including a new 401(k) type plan for new employees as opposed to traditional plans. how's that gone over? >> i think it's gone over well. we passed it at the end of the day after a very tough debate with 15 votes, but it's going to yield $270 million in savings over 10 years, $500 million over 30 years. it's freed up between $22 million to $35 million in the budget. we were able to balance our budget and finish it in pretty good fiscal shape. we also put $20 million in reserve. >> tom: how about hiring? is it going to allow you to hire more, or will it hurt hiring because it's not a traditional pension anymore? >> tom, we're seeing the number of applicants who apply for every opening we have is very high. we don't see that in the short term at all, just because of the overall economic environment. >> tom: okay. >> we're able

in a photo which made the front page, that's future mayor kasim reed. >> i remember that. . >> as a young child, reed would help the volunteers searching atlanta's woods every saturday. >> we literally would walk through wooded areas chaperoned and we would walk for a period of time until about an hour before nightfall. >> but now a new twist in the murders. patrick baltazar, the 20th victim, would be the last child to turn up in a wooded area. a day or two later an official would tell reporters fibers and dog hairs were being collected from the victim's clothing. the next child to die would be found in a river wearing nothing but underpants. fewer clues now for larry peterson. >> we're talking maybe a dozen or dozens of fibers as opposed to hundreds or potentially a thousand fibers. >> the 13-year-old victim was found beneath this bridge over the south river in atlanta's suburbs. a driver crossing that bridge earlier in the week saw a man leaning over the railing. it turned out to be the same afternoon jo-jo bell disappeared. at trial, the witness said the man was wayne wi

. >> that's the future mayor, kasim reed. >> i remember that. d help the volunteers searching atlanta's woods every saturday. >> we literally would walk through wooded areas, chaperoned, and we would walk for a period of time until about an hour before nightfall. >> but now, a new twist in the murders. patrick baltazar, the 20th victim, would be the last child to turn up in a wooded area. a day or two later, an official would tell reporters that fibers and dog hairs were being collected from the victim's clothing. the next child to die would be found in a river, wearing nothing but underpants. fewer clues now for larry peterson. >> we're talking maybe a dozen or dozens of fibers as opposed to hundreds or potentially thousands of fibers. >> the 13-year-old victim was found beneath this bridge over the south river, in atlanta's suburbs. a driver crossing that bridge earlier in the week saw a man leaning over the railing. it turned out to be the same afternoon joe joe bell disappeared. at the trial, the witness said the man was wayne williams. joe.

it's just one of the tough issues atlanta mayor, kasim reed is tackling. it's this week's segment.or is leading the charge at the 10k. >> obesity is more than at an l atlanta problem, it's a southern problem. as a mayor of the city, i can start with myself. >> he is talking about taking on the alarming obesity epidemic, and the mayor is also talking about setting the pace and creating a path to fiscal responsibility for a city of more than 500,000 residents. he went from a $2 million deficit in the red, to a surplus. he is making current employees contribute to their pensions, and new employees will have to enroll in 401(k)s. it is a gamble that paid off for reed now, but meant hurting some supporters. >> there's no question that i would not be mayor but for the support of my friends and labor. >> the city of atlanta is hurting much like the rest of the nation's urban areas. surprisingly, tourism and conventions provide the many jobs for atlanta residents. >> the city of atlanta is financing a $1.6 billion project that provides 30 to 50 million in direct investment right now. >> he