The City’s original review committee for the public safety training center is complaining about its lack of input in a newer version, perhaps the ultimate example of the transparency and inclusion controversies swirling around both groups and the entire project. The Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee (CSAC) voiced the concerns at an Aug. 15 virtual meeting, […]
Author Archives: John Ruch
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Buckhead history advocate named new leader of Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation
A prominent Buckhead history advocate has been named the next president and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. W. Wright Mitchell, an attorney who founded the Buckhead Heritage Society, will take over leadership of the Atlanta-based Georgia Trust on Sept. 5. He replaces Mark C. McDonald, who is retiring after 15 years at the statewide organization. “As […]
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Atlanta’s historic Grant Mansion gets a new doorway from the past to the present
The grand front doorway of Atlanta’s historic L.P. Grant Mansion has been freshly reconstructed in the embodiment of preservation metaphors about portals to the past. The project “creates that natural gateway from the past to look at the future,” says David Yoakley Mitchell, executive director of the Atlanta Preservation Center (APC), which calls the 1856 […]
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Atlanta’s inspector general seeks tips to head off more corruption scandals
The City of Atlanta’s main corruption investigation agency is seeking to raise its public profile and attract more tips to head off more problems. After six years investigating corruption in New York City government, Shannon K. Manigault came to Atlanta in 2020 as the City’s first-ever inspector general – heading an office created in the […]
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Statewide preservation groups call for delay, review in Central State Hospital historic buildings’ demolition
A dozen statewide preservation organizations are calling for a 180-day delay in the recently authorized demolition of historic buildings at Milledgeville’s Central State Hospital to seek alternatives. An Aug. 1 letter to the state agency that operates the hospital campus was circulated by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and signed by 11 other groups […]
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Environmental group sues to halt public safety training center construction for alleged runoff pollution
An environmental group is asking a federal court to change or halt the construction of Atlanta’s public safety training center due to alleged sediment runoff pollution. The South River Watershed Alliance (SRWA) filed a lawsuit on Aug. 1 against the City and the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF), the facility’s private planner, in U.S. District Court […]
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Midtown’s mysterious new roundabout followed a road of private, secret plans
The mysterious appearance of a new roundabout and exit on a state highway ramp in Atlanta’s bustling Midtown sparked concern early last year from neighbors who wondered why Georgia transportation officials would build such a thing without public input. The truth turned out to be much stranger. Despite remaking public roadways, the roundabout on the […]
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‘Vote to Stop Cop City’ gets another 60 days, more signature-gatherers in major court victory
In a major court victory, the “Vote to Stop Cop City” referendum effort will get at least 60 more days to gather signatures, which can now be done by nonresidents of Atlanta as a federal judge says the ban on their participation is likely unconstitutional. The July 27 preliminary injunction in the lawsuit Baker v. […]
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Governor OK’s demolition of historic Central State Hospital buildings in surprise to preservationists
Demolition of three major historic buildings at Milledgeville’s Central State Hospital campus was approved this week by Gov. Brian Kemp, the latest surprise to preservationists concerned about their future. In two July 25 executive orders, Kemp authorized the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities (DBHDD) to demolish three large and significant structures: the […]
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In DeKalb’s protest politics, ‘park reopening’ doesn’t mean what you think it means
Even in the creative political wordplay that abounds in the “Defend the Atlanta Forest” and “Cop City” protest controversies, it’s pretty special when the words “park reopening” don’t mean what you think they means. DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond last month announced a $1.8 million “plan to reopen” Intrenchment Creek Park, which he ordered closed […]
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Both sides in ‘Vote to Stop Cop City’ lawsuit state their cases, tease bigger battles
With a federal judge poised to decide whether to extend the clock on the “Vote to Stop Cop City” referendum effort in a lawsuit over who can collect signatures for it, both sides have laid out their initial cases – and teased bigger battles about the vote’s validity that may well end up before the […]
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MARTA’s labor union says it approved a new contract after more than a year of talks
MARTA’s labor union says it has voted to approve a new contract after negotiations that dragged on for over a year. Details of the contract approved by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 732 in a July 17 ratification vote were not immediately available. “We would like to announce that the contract was ACCEPTED,” wrote ATU […]
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AJC fires top investigative reporter after finding errors in Bulldogs misconduct story
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week fired a top investigative journalist after finding errors in a story that alleged the University of Georgia (UGA) Bulldogs football program protected players accused of sexual misconduct or assault. The firing of Alan Judd was announced deep inside a July 19 AJC story that left some big questions unanswered, including […]
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Cox scion’s defection over ‘Cop City’ shines a light on media conflicts, old-money power
The Cox family’s Marxist black sheep very publicly separating from the flock this month over their support of Atlanta’s public safety training center made for a cartoonish passing amusement in the right-wing press. Here in Atlanta, the defection of Jim “Fergie” Chambers Jr. is a bigger story than that. It’s a rare insider’s view of […]
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DeKalb activists sue for right to collect ‘Vote to Stop Cop City’ signatures, restart clock
Four DeKalb County activists have filed a federal lawsuit seeking the right to collect petition signatures for the “Vote to Stop Cop City” referendum – and restart the 60-day clock on the process. The referendum effort seeks to put the City of Atlanta’s lease of land to the private Atlanta Police Foundation for its controversial […]
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An LGBTQ news site disappears in a warning to all media in the digital age
Project Q Atlanta silently disappeared from the web one day in April, sending 14 years of crucial LGBTQ community journalism into a digital netherworld from which it may or may not return. It joins a long list of digital media – famously including Creative Loafing Atlanta – whose archives have been totally or partially lost […]
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Groundbreaking set for BeltLine trail through Piedmont Park, 10th/Monroe intersection fix
An Aug. 4 groundbreaking is set for the Atlanta BeltLine’s trail through Piedmont Park, a project that also includes long-awaited bicycle and pedestrian safety changes to the intersection of 10th Street and Monroe Drive. Atlanta BeltLine Inc. (ABI), the planner of the trail and transit loop, says it expects to introduce the project’s contractor at […]
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In ‘Vote to Stop Cop City,’ organizers build a democratic challenge to Atlanta’s backroom ways
The “Vote to Stop Cop City” referendum effort may or may not do just that. Either way, its organizers already see the campaign as an unprecedented, history-making challenge to the old “Atlanta Way” of backroom deal-making. The call for direct democracy is coming from a broad coalition of left-wing groups, some with a record of […]
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Legal support group for protesters returns after leaders’ controversial arrests
A legal support organization for protesters against Atlanta’s public safety training center says it returned to operations this week, nearly a month after three of its leaders were controversially charged with money laundering and charity fraud. The Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF) announced its return on June 26 on social media, saying it is using the […]
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2023 City of Atlanta Design Awards honor many projects around town
The 2023 edition of the City of Atlanta’s annual Design Awards honored many projects, organizations and people around town June 23. There are two categories of awards whose nominees are voted on by different groups: the Awards of Excellence, chosen by the Atlanta Urban Design Commission, which oversees changes to historic buildings, and the Community […]
