Maria’s Metro

Dedicated dollars needed to improve parks, green space in metro Atlanta

It’s the same old story.

When government budgets get tighter, one of the first items to get cut is in the parks and recreation department. While parks and recreation centers are vitally important to a city’s quality of life, when it comes to choosing between police officers and park maintenance, public safety usually wins out.

Two metro Atlanta governments provide alternative approaches that show different approaches on how to fund park acquisition and maintenance — the City of Atlanta and Gwinnett County.

Margaret Connelly, executive director of the advocacy organization Park Pride, sent out an “Alert” on May 10 saying that the proposed City of Atlanta budget by Mayor Kasim Reed would shift about $3 million from trust funds to help cover an operating budget gap for fiscal year 2014.
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Guest Columns

Despite rain, Atlanta region needs to keep conserving and harvesting water

terry lawler photo edit

By Guest Columnist TERRY LAWLER, executive director of the Regional Business Coalition of Metropolitan Atlanta

Last month metro Atlanta’s primary source of water reached a milestone: Lake Lanier is back to full pool and rising.

Not only is Lake Lanier full, Lake Allatoona is also full, and every lake on the Chattahoochee, Etowah, Coosa, Ocmulgee, Flint and Oconee rivers are either full or within a foot of being full.

But before we start to celebrate, let’s not forget that our presently abundant water resources can change quickly.

Things were a lot different last year. Last year at this time Lake Lanier was five feet lower and dropping.
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Chris Schroder – Moments

Fran Tarkenton ran onto the field in his first college game, launched a long drive and a legendary career

The Georgia Bulldogs were losing 7-0 in the fourth quarter in their season opener in Austin, Texas, when they fielded a punt on the five yard line. The University of Texas, then the #11 team in the country, seemingly had the game well in hand on that humid Saturday night, September 20, 1958. Eighteen-year-old Sophomore Fran Tarkenton was not only a third-string quarterback on the Bulldogs, his coach was planning to frustrate the ambitious athlete further by postponing his football career another year by designating him a “red-shirt” player.

As the offensive players ran onto the field, Fran looked over and saw his team’s star quarterback sitting on the bench. In a move that today would no doubt be played over and over on ESPN Sports Center highlights, Fran strapped on his helmet and ran onto the field and knelt down in the huddle and called the next play.
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Saba Long

Atlanta’s Project Grad helps a first generation of college students

“At first I didn’t think about college. I just wanted to get out of high school…but after I graduated I realized that wasn’t enough,” stated Kristy Williams.

Williams, a 2006 graduate of Booker T. Washington High School and the first of her family to earn a high school diploma remarked during a Project GRAD Atlanta panel discussion at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema following a recent screening of First Generation — a feature-length documentary following four California high school students hoping to break the shackles of poverty by pursuing a college degree.

Shot over three years, the documentary captures the struggles of these four students — Dontay, the inner city athlete; Soma, a fatherless Samoan; Jess, a straight A student afraid to leave her small town behind and; Cecilia, the fiercely independent track star and daughter of migrant workers.
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ABC Articles

Column: Kathy Keeley named new leader of disabilities group AADD

By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, May 10, 2013

The nonprofit All About Developmental Disabilities (AADD) has named a new executive director just in time for Mother’s Day.

The new director is Kathy Keeley, who has been serving as interim executive director since last August of the 50-year-old nonprofit. AADD provides support services, advocacy and training to more than 2,000 individuals and families living with developmental disabilities.
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