Holiday motorists in Georgia one day will see roadsides dotted with plants that are both native to Georgia and were grown in Georgia nurseries – as well as year-round flowers whose strategic placement is part of a new initiative to plant blooms that nurture bees and other insects that pollinate crops.
Author Archives: David Pendered
David Pendered, Managing Editor, is an Atlanta journalist with more than 30 years experience reporting on the region’s urban affairs, from Atlanta City Hall to the state Capitol. Since 2008, he has written for print and digital publications, and advised on media and governmental affairs. Previously, he spent more than 26 years with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and won awards for his coverage of schools and urban development. David graduated from North Carolina State University and was a Western Knight Center Fellow.
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Teen, green crusaders testify in support of Atlanta’s plan to reduce use of plastics
Metro Atlanta’s homegrown versions of teen climate activist Greta Thunberg appeared Tuesday at Atlanta City Hall to speak in favor of legislation aimed at curbing single use plastic bags, straws and other such items at Atlanta’s airport and other city-owned facilities.
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Atlanta issued $4.6 billion in building permits in 2017, uses 1993 rates to collect impact fees
Atlanta issued building permits for $4.6 billion of new construction investments in fiscal 2017 and charged the same rate for impact fees as in 1993 – money that’s used to improve mobility, parks and public safety. The mayor’s office says any potential revisions in fees won’t be ready until June 2021, not the February 2020 date sought by some on the Atlanta City Council.
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Hurricane Michael, trust betrayed: Two city officials, others indicted in $5 million fraud
A 35-count federal indictment for allegedly stealing money from the Hurricane Michael recovery effort was released last week in Panama City, Fl. The sum of $5 million was cited in the case against five defendants – including the former city manager and the community services director of Lynn Haven, a town clobbered by the storm.
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Rural teens flocking to cash-strapped education program; GBPI reviews dual enrollment
Students from rural Georgia are among the fastest-growing cohort of high school students enrolling in a budget-challenged program that pays for high school students to attend college class, according to a new report from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. Meantime, the governor’s floor leaders are heading an effort for the Legislature to contain the program’s escalating costs.
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Housing starts to tumble as state’s economy slows, GSU’s top economist predicts
A drop-off in housing starts in metro Atlanta will be one likely consequence of a state economy forecast to slow through 2021, according to a new report by Georgia State University’s top economist. A short supply of housing has already helped drive up sales and rental prices and fueled the lack of affordable housing, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission.
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Metro Atlanta ranks 3rd in nation for green-certified office buildings: CBRE
Metro Atlanta ranks third in the United States for the proportion of market certified green space in office buildings, according to a new report by CBRE. The report comes as former President Obama is to take a stage Wednesday at a green building conference in Atlanta, and Georgia Tech has opened the ultra sustainable Kendeda Building.
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Vision Zero mobility plan fueling hopes of safer travel in Atlanta
A spirit that feels a lot like hope surrounds the Vision Zero mobility policy announced by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. The city may have found a guiding light for moving folks no matter how they get around.
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Purina celebrates cat food factory that brings jobs, sustainable practices to Hartwell
At a commemorative opening ceremony Monday in Hartwell, Nestlé Purina PetCare is to celebrate a cat food manufacturing plant that promises to help lift a rural part of Georgia where manufacturing is king and locals work hard to attract new industry.
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2020 offers chance to intervene in permit review of alleged polluter of Altamaha River
The Georgia Water Coalition released its annual Dirty Dozen report Thursday and – for the seventh time – the report names the Rayonier Advanced Materials chemical pulp mill in Jesup as a polluter of the Altamaha River. Improvements could come in 2020, and a federal court order has observed the Altamaha Riverkeeper can play a role in the improvement process.
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South Fulton voters make bid to attract development by approving tax incentive
The lure of economic development prompted voters in the City of South Fulton to authorize the creation of special tax districts that could spur growth along corridors that once were vital industrial areas, such as Fulton Industrial Boulevard and Old National Highway – and possibly even along the Chattahoochee River.
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Atlanta likely to seek extension of 1 percent sales tax to fund sewerage clean-up effort
Atlanta voters in March 2020 likely will face a proposal to extend the 1 percent sales tax that pays for upgrading the city’s water and sewer system, following a vote Tuesday at Atlanta City Hall. This would be the first test of public faith in Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ administration since it revealed the sales taxes for Renew Atlanta and transportation will not complete the entire list of projects presented to voters.
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Stalactites, bass, ducks overlooked as water war focuses on oysters, farmers, metro Atlanta
No one seems to talk about stalactites in the Florida caverns, or the bass and ducks in and around Lake Seminole. Oysters, farmers and metro Atlanta get all the attention in the ongoing water litigation between Georgia and Florida. Last week’s hearing was no different.
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MARTA’s North Avenue Station project delayed so developers can mull complex site constraints
The competition for development rights at MARTA’s North Avenue Station is delayed by eight weeks to give companies time to digest additional technical information. Major companies have assembled at the table to review a premier live-work-play site in Midtown.
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Atlanta Audubon brings in leader experienced in governmental affairs, fundraising
Almost a year before Jared Teutsch was named to lead Atlanta Audubon, he wrote a column about green infrastructure techniques in his role with The Nature Conservancy. The techniques he espoused, and other matters, match well with Atlanta Audubon’s goals including its growing wildlife sanctuary program.
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Plan to ease Atlanta’s food desert restricts retail shops that sell no fruit, vegetables
Atlanta is poised to join an emerging national movement to restrict dollar stores from crowding into blighted neighborhoods and not selling fresh fruits and vegetables. The first major vote is set for Thursday by the city’s Zoning Review Board.
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Fulton County’s proposed new animal shelter could get green light Wednesday
As Halle Matula watched little Bambi run around the play area outside Fulton County’s animal shelter late Tuesday afternoon, Matula said she hopes county commissioners on Wednesday will approve the proposal to replace a crowded animal shelter that opened in 1978.
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Georgia’s family farms: Preservation efforts recognized by governor’s award
There are those who preserve Georgia’s past in photo archives before it falls to decay or development. Then there’s Madison-Morgan Conservancy, which aims to protect the past by giving it an economic foundation for the present and future.
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Atlanta City Council presses forward on impact fees to fund parks, mobility, more
The Atlanta City Council seems intent to raise in 2020 the one-time impact fees charged to new developments to raise money to provide the public parks, roads, police precincts and fire stations that serve growth. Frustration mounts as Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ administration has little to show for progress since Jan. 7.
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Ag report: Rain helped ‘settle some dust, but it came too late to help the crop any’
Recent rains were too little, too late and came at the wrong time to help Georgia’s cotton and peanut farmers, but winter grains crops will benefit. The drought maps that have become so commonplace don’t specifically address weather effects on the state’s agriculture industry.
