Monthly Archives: August 2010

By Maria Saporta

What a difference 20 months can make.

Back in the fall of 2008, Delta Air Lines was writing letters to bond underwriters questioning Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport’s construction plans and the related costs.

It was pretty clear that at the time, Delta would not support the city’s plans to issue bonds to build the new international terminal at the airport and that the airline was questioning the projected costs of the project.

Now consider today’s news conference.
Continue reading →

By Maria Saporta

The Atlanta Committee for Progress will have continuity of leadership for one more year.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was able to convince Phil Kent, CEO of Turner Broadcasting, to continue serving as chairman of the business advisory group through the end of 2011.

For the first time, the ACP board also identified a vice chairman who will chair the organization in 2012. That person will be Jim Hannan, CEO of Georgia-Pacific LLC. Hannan recently chaired the mayor’s search committee for a new chief financial officer for the city. Continue reading →

By Maria Saporta

Usually when Nobel Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus visits a city, he comes in for half a day to give a talk and sign some books before going out to his next destination.

But when Yunus came to Atlanta last week, he came for the better part of four days.

“This is very special,” Yunus said of his stay in Atlanta after speaking to a standing-only crowd at Georgia Tech’s College of Management. “When I go to a city, I hardly spend half a day, so this Continue reading →

By Maria Saporta

MACON – The two top candidates for governor addressed the Georgia Forward forum Wednesday in separate telephone conversations broadcast to the whole group.

Both candidates were asked the exact same questions, but of course, they had quite diverse answers.

For example, they were asked if they feel there is one Georgia, two Georgias or more.

“Certainly there’s only one Georgia,” said former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, the Continue reading →

By Maria Saporta

MACON – While not indicative of the whole state, people attending the Georgia Forward Forum in Macon had significant consensus in a pre-conference survey.

Laura Meadows, associate director of the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, presented the findings during a Wednesday morning session of the all-day forum.

Asked what were the top issues facing their local communities, the No. 1 response was jobs, followed by education and the lack of public transit. All those
Continue reading →

By Maria Saporta

MACON – A gathering of 200 statewide leaders from all sectors has come to Macon State College for an all-day forum on how to move Georgia forward.

The Georgia Forward Forum has been put together by Atlanta-based Central Atlanta Progress in an inaugural effort to unify the whole state.

Macon Mayor Robert Reichert compared the meeting to the thawing that occurs in the spring.

“Renaissance thinking begins slowly and surely with an increase in warmth and l Continue reading →