A Microsoft security consultant this week began gathering intelligence and seeking input on metro Atlanta public safety concerns as the company plans its massive new Westside campus.
Author Archives: John Ruch
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‘Adaptive reuse’ of older buildings adapts to pandemic real estate trends
“Adaptive reuse” – the repurposing of older buildings for modern uses – is doing some successful adapting itself as the pandemic shakes up real estate. The urban trend is spreading into suburbs, remaking troubled malls and hotels, and the surge in industrial uses like delivery-oriented ghost kitchens.
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Atlanta City Councilmember Westmoreland comes out as gay
Atlanta City Councilmember Matt Westmoreland has come out as gay on the eve of his second term in office.
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Who should plan the park next to Atlanta’s controversial public safety training center?
Planning for Atlanta’s public safety training center is increasingly focused on adjacent parkland with no clear authority and no communication with groups who will include the green space in a South River Forest input process launching in January.
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Atlanta’s pioneering construction and demolition of public housing the focus of markers, exhibit
Atlanta has played a key role in America’s history of affordable housing: It was the city that pioneered federally funded public housing complexes – and also was the first to demolish them all.
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Mayor-elect Dickens announces inaugural weekend activities leading to Jan. 3 swearing-in
Mayor-elect Andre Dickens has announced a weekend of volunteer activities and prayer leading up to his Jan. 3 inauguration at his alma mater, Georgia Tech.
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A trailblazing effort to honor metro Atlanta’s Asian, Latino and immigrant communities takes its first step
A trailblazing effort is gearing up to identify and protect historic sites connected with metro Atlanta’s Asian, Latino and immigrant communities.
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A founder of Sandy Springs’ privatized government advises Buckhead cityhood backers
We wouldn’t be talking about Buckhead cityhood if it wasn’t for the landmark 2005 incorporation of its north metro neighbor Sandy Springs amid similar tensions over political unity and government services.
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New Buckhead cityhood opposition group’s debut meeting draws mayor-elect, other officials
A new community group opposing Buckhead cityhood drew Mayor-elect Andre Dickens and other elected officials to its Dec. 9 kickoff meeting.
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Buckhead cityhood becomes governor race issue as Abrams and Perdue take sides
Buckhead cityhood this week became an issue in the Georgia governor race as two main contenders took opposing stances.
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A closer look at Buckhead cityhood’s claims of public safety consulting and business deals
Bolstering the case for Buckhead cityhood are its advocacy group’s detailed claims of consulting public safety experts and cutting deals to attract new businesses contingent on the secession. But some of those alleged contacts — including a national law firm and the famous former head of the New York and L.A. police departments — say they have had no such talks, and most other claims could not be verified.
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Fulton’s COO named sole finalist to be next ARC executive director
The Atlanta Regional Commission has named Anna Roach, Fulton County’s chief operating officer, as the sole finalist to become its next executive director.
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Buckhead cityhood roundup: New opposition group, oath of office question, Kemp’s position
In some of the latest developments, a new opposition group has formed, oath of office questions have been raised, and the governor won’t say if he and Dickens share a definition of Atlanta that includes Buckhead.
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Buckhead cityhood would force reshaping of Atlanta City Council districts
Buckhead cityhood would force a redrawing of Atlanta City Council districts — within three years of an election and a normal redistricting — that could push newly elected leaders out of office and open several unprecedented legal questions.
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Dickens is next Atlanta mayor as runoff election shakes up city government
Andre Dickens will be the next mayor of Atlanta after trouncing Felicia Moore in a Nov. 30 runoff election that brought several other big changes to city government.
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Atlanta’s newly elected City Council and Board of Education will soon face redistricting
As Atlanta voters head to the runoff election polls today, a little-noticed fact is that many of them soon will no longer be represented by the officials they just elected. That’s because the long-delayed City Council and Board of Education (BOE) redistrictings are coming soon.
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After Confederate controversy, Rome experiments with naming diverse historic landmarks
Once upon a time, the Northwest Georgia city of Rome was ahead of most of the state on historic preservation programs. Now in the wake of a Confederate monument controversy, the city is experimenting with modern methods of diversity in preservation that might once again be a path for other towns to follow.
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Public safety training center plan looks at parkland; explosives site to move elsewhere
The Atlanta public safety training center’s planners’ responsiveness to local concerns — including a willingness to help design adjacent parkland — drew praise from an advisory committee at its November meeting. But one surprise change means an explosives detonation facility will be moved somewhere else to be determined.
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Buckhead’s Mary Norwood becomes a mayoral campaign issue, hires election monitoring company
Mary Norwood isn’t running in the mayoral race for a change, but Buckhead’s City Councilmember-elect has become a last-minute campaign issue between the two runoff candidates as sparks fly about Trump and Black voters. Meanwhile, Norwood herself says she has privately hired a company to monitor the election for voting problems.
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AJC’s World Series book chops out Native American controversy
Renewed controversy over the Atlanta Braves’ use of Native American stereotypes was one of the biggest stories surrounding this World Series season. But you wouldn’t know it from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s quickie book published to capitalize on the champs.
