Tag Archives: Dekalb

For veteran journalist, neighborhood trail leads to a new beat

Date: November 12th, 2012, 5:22 pm

Note from Michelle: This week’s column is by guest writer Ben Smith, who happens to be my husband. Many of you know him from his days as an AJC political reporter.

By Ben Smith

In my old life, hitting the trail meant following the money, traveling with a campaign or tracking down a criminal.

Today it simply means taking my dog for walks in the woods and keeping my eyes open.

Yet in the three years since I left the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and sought to reinvent myself in the digital age, I have discovered that my skills as a reporter easily translate to a “beat” that is much smaller, more isolated and surprisingly weird.
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Posted in Atlanta, Inspiration, Life Changes, Michelle Hiskey, Reinvention, Saporta, Transformation | Tagged AJC, Atlanta, Decatur, Dekalb, digital, employment, Hiskey, journalism, recession, Saporta | 1 Comment

Barbecue boss leaves blueprint for leadership

Date: October 15th, 2012, 5:43 pm

Paul H. Taylor was one of those people who spark the best in a community, and kept that spirit lit. With the Oak Grove United Methodist Barbecue, the Taylor fire is real and smokin’.

For a half-century, this big church in northeast Atlanta has roasted three tons of pork to feed 5,000 people, which takes between 400 and 600 volunteers.

An event so large and significant needs a strong volunteer leader. For the past decade, Taylor served as “Boss Hog.”

Taylor will be missed at Saturday’s 51st barbecue, which takes place from 11 am to 6 pm. He died at age 53 in an April bicycle accident on North Decatur Road. His untimely death highlighted all that Taylor contributed to the barbecue, which serves as a template for anyone in management. Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Inspiration, Life Changes, Michelle Hiskey | Tagged barbecue, bicycling, church, Dekalb, Grady, leadership, loss, Methodist, volunteer | 3 Comments

Coyotes: Wily, hungry and attracted to Atlanta’s buffet of outdoor cats

Date: March 12th, 2012, 12:16 pm

For those who link the ki-yotes’ plaintive howl to the romance of an old Western — the distant soundtrack as the cowpokes tell stories around the campfire – forget all that.

Coyotes’ story in urban Atlanta is about pests, pets and prevention.

Last week, Dr. Chris Mowry, a biologist from north Georgia who has studied coyotes, described their gritty survival skills to a crowd gathered at Fernbank Science Center for a forum titled, “How can humans and coyotes co-exist?” Continue reading →

Posted in Atlanta, Michelle Hiskey, Saporta, Transformation | Tagged Atlanta, cats, coyotes, Dekalb, Fernbank, Maria Saporta, Michelle Hiskey, SaportaReport, trapping, urban | 3 Comments

Forums aim to help small firms win work as Legislature debates “small businesses”

Date: February 28th, 2012, 3:34 pm

Two upcoming forums will provide information to small and minority companies seeking contracts to design and build projects in Atlanta to be funded with proceeds of the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation.

Presenters will talk about the procurement processes to be used to award contracts for planned transportation projects in Atlanta, MARTA, DeKalb and Fulton counties. Registration for the session Wednesday is closed, but openings remain for the March 6 event.

The forums occur as the state Legislature debates a proposal to redefine small business as it relates to state purchasing contracts. House Bill 863 would change the size of a small business, for purposes of competing for a state contract, from 100 employees to 500 employees.
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Posted in David Pendered | Tagged Atlanta, Beltline, Dekalb, Fulton, MARTA, Stacey Key, Streetcar, transportation sales tax | Leave a comment

Transportation sales tax: Proceeds could not pay for routine MARTA maintenance

Date: February 27th, 2012, 5:26 pm

Over the next year, MARTA expects to spend up to $700,000 maintaining its train tracks, grinding them into proper shape and otherwise ensuring they will safely carry trains.

The amount may not seem terribly huge for a system with a total annual budget this year of more than $740 million. The project also seems to be an expense that could be deferred in the expectation that it could be funded with MARTA’s portion of the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation, which will be on the ballot July 31.

Except, proceeds of the sales tax could not be used for the rail maintenance project, a top MARTA official said. And the reality of the need for routine maintenance, in and of itself, speaks to the ongoing challenge of maintaining and operating the system – especially in an era of MARTA’s own declining local sales tax revenues and the uncertainty of federal funding for transit nationwide.
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Posted in David Pendered | Tagged City of Atlanta, Dekalb, Fulton, MARTA, taxes, transportation referendum | Leave a comment

Atlanta region standing strong on regional transit governance and changes to MARTA Act

Date: , 3:52 pm

It should be so simple.

Establishing a regional transit governance structure and tweaking the MARTA Act to make the transit system more functional should be no brainers.

But when sound ideas are placed in the hands of some members of the General Assembly they somehow become distorted, convoluted and warped with political baggage.

Then when people and institutions object to proposed bills have been drafted with flawed thinking rather than common sense, those bills often just die on the vine and nothing gets done.
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Posted in Maria's Metro | Tagged ARC, Atlanta Regional Commission, Dekalb, Fulton, GRTA, John Eaves, MARTA, regional transit, transportation referendum | 11 Comments

The Atlanta region is adrift without an elected captain

Date: February 26th, 2012, 5:04 pm

By Guest Columnist JERE WOOD, mayor of the City of Roswell

Metro Atlanta needs more than a one-cent transportation sales tax to recover from the recession and regain its position in a competitive world. We need to work together as a region, not independently, to meet our transportation, water and other regional challenges.

To act as a unified region, we need leaders with the authority to speak for the region.

Who has the authority to speak for metro Atlanta?
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Posted in Guest Columns | Tagged Dekalb, foreclosures, Fulton, Georgia, Jere Wood, Kasim Reed, MARTA, metro atlanta, Nathan Deal, Regional Transit Authority, Roswell, traffic, transportation sales tax, unemployment | 9 Comments

Georgia Rep. Stephanie Benfield to become GreenLaw’s executive director

Date: February 22nd, 2012, 5:30 pm

By Maria Saporta

The environmentally-focused law firm — GreenLaw — has hired a new executive director.

Stephanie Stuckey Benfield, a DeKalb representative of Georgia General Assembly since 1999, will become GreenLaw’s executive on April 9.

The news was announced in an email to GreenLaw’s friends Wednesday by Greg Presmanes, who is chairman of GreenLaw’s board.

“I am so excited that Stephanie will be leading our team forward into its third decade of giving Georgia’s environment its day in court,” Presmanes said.
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