It was election day here in Atlanta. Not really much to vote on, except for the mayor's race, which has the incumbent, Shirley Franklin, against, well, nobody.

I like Franklin. Four years ago, Atlanta's city government was a bloated mess with an $82m deficit; now it is running a surplus. Four years ago, the city was seen as hopelessly corrupt; now it has an Ethics Plan which, to the surprise of many local sceptics, has yet to embarrass the city. Four years ago, growth was confined to the suburbs; between 2000 and 2004 the city added 13,600 housing units, more than three times what it added in the entire 1990s. Hell, during that period, I moved into the City.

Franklin's approval ratings have run as high as 80%, and she was named one of America's five best mayors by Time magazine in April.

Franklin turned round the city's finances in part by cutting 1,000 jobs. She has also got her hands dirty fixing Atlanta's decrepit water-and-sewer system. Back in 1998, the city had settled a lawsuit with environmental groups and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, promising to meet water-quality standards. Franklin wasn't afraid to raise local taxes to pay for the $3 billion overhaul (though she has persuaded the state to lend the city $500m at low interest rates), a necessary task her predecessors were too timid to take on.

Yesterday, the City Council approved the $2B Beltline project, a 22-mile loop of mass transit, parks, trails and development circling the inner city. The new Atlantic Station is packed with restaurants and shops. The Georgia Aquarium is opening soon next to Centennial Olympic Park, to be followed next year by a revamped World of Coca-Cola Museum.

So, even though she is running unopposed, I took the time today to go to the polling station and cast a vote for Franklin, if for nothing else, to send her a message of "well done, Shirley."