Maria Saporta, executive editor, is a longtime Atlanta business, civic and urban affairs journalist with a deep knowledge of our city, our region and state. From 2008 to 2020, she wrote weekly columns and news stories for the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Prior to that, she spent 27 years with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, becoming its business columnist in 1991. Maria received her Master’s degree in urban studies from Georgia State and her Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Maria was born in Atlanta to European parents and has two young adult children. She launched SaportaReport in February 2009.
By Maria Saporta
In his second term as Georgia’s senior senator, Republican Saxby Chambliss has emerged into a rare breed in Washington, D.C. He’s become bi-partisan.
This evolved Saxby Chambliss demonstrated his ability to work across the aisle when he insisted that U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) appear with him on Monday at the Rotary Club of Atlanta.
Chambliss and Warner have teamed up to
By Maria Saporta
April in Atlanta. Dogwoods. Azaleas. Warm days. Cool nights.
It’s no wonder why we celebrate our place on earth during the month of April.
So the speech that the Right Honourable John Gummer, Lord Deben of the British House of Lords gave at Southface’s Visionary Dinner at the 200 Peachtree building on March 31 keeps playing in my
By Maria Saporta
Friday, April 8, 2011
The leading flag bearer for “new nuclear” in the United States — Atlanta-based Southern Co. — is as committed as ever to a nuclear renaissance.
That is despite the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 10 — an event that is leading many utility companies and foreign governments to put their nuclear plans on hold.
But not Southern Co., which is moving forward with its plans to build two new nuclear units (Units 3 and 4) at Plant Vogtle near Augusta — the first new nuclear projects in the United States in three
For Atlanta, it is opportunity squared.
The federal government, into two separate planning grants, is strategically targeting the neighborhoods around the Atlanta University Center for a multi-dimensional renaissance.
As this week’s guest columnist, Clara Axam, explains, Atlanta first received a $500,000 “Promise Neighborhood” planning grant from the U.S. Department of Education last fall to improve the educational opportunities in the poor communities around the Atlanta University Center.
By Maria Saporta
A Georgia passenger rail advocacy organization is moving its headquarters from Atlanta to Macon.
Georgians for Passenger Rail, founded in 2009, has been promoting the development of rail travel throughout the state.
But the organization has been focusing most of its efforts on creating passenger rail
By Maria Saporta
Friday, April 1, 2011
For 26 years, the No. 1 advocate for Atlanta’s trees has been Marcia Bansley.
As a tree’s age can be measured in rings, Bansley’s tenure as the founding executive director of Trees Atlanta can be measured in trees. Under her leadership, Trees Atlanta has planted or distributed 81,000 trees.
Now Bansley has decided to retire, effective in mid-May, when she intends to begin studying architecture. She will join Trees Atlanta’s board.
Filling in as interim director will be Connie Veates, a past president of Trees Atlanta’s board.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, April 1, 2011
Atlanta business leader Dick Anderson is headed to Washington to become chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve System, effective April 18.
Anderson, a former executive of BellSouth Corp. and AT&T Inc., also will serve as director of the Federal Reserve System’s management division. In all, about 1,000 people will be under his supervision.
“To me, it’s the marriage of business and public service,” Anderson said. “It is a really high impact policy-making organization during the biggest economic challenge that we have faced in recent times. What makes it so appealing is that it is so central to the economy.”
It is a pleasure to watch Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s courtship with leaders from around the state.
As a former state senator and representative, this is familiar territory for Reed. But since he’s become mayor, he has perfected the message — as goes Atlanta, so goes Georgia; and as goes Georgia, so goes Atlanta.
The latest venue for Reed’s deepening relationship with state leaders was at the quarterly board meeting of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, held on March 31 on the Georgia Tech campus.
By Maria Saporta
A long-time parks and green space advocate — Margaret Gray Connelly — is bringing new life to Park Pride, the leading Atlanta-based nonprofit focused on our region’s public
By Maria Saporta
A Fair Share for Transit Rally attracted more than a hundred leaders and citizens from a couple dozen organizations and governments on Tuesday evening at the Georgia Railroad Freight Depot.
The bottom line — the 2012 referendum for a new regional transportation sales tax should have a fair share for transit and not be dominated by funding for roads.
But what is a fair share?
That was the question I asked numerous people attending the reception.
The first person I asked was Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.
“I’m not going to say,” said Reed, who is a member of the Atlanta Regional Roundtable,
By Maria Saporta
Friday, March 25, 2011
A partnership between a builder, a developer, a public relations executive and a homeless shelter is growing great rewards — literally.
Downtown Atlanta unveiled its first community garden March 23 in a what will be a unique way to provide healthy food, job training and therapy to more than 500 homeless and recovering men currently served at the Atlanta Mission.
The Atlanta Urban Garden is located on a 2.36-acre property, managed by The Integral Group LLC, has sat vacant waiting to be sold and redeveloped. The land sits across Centennial Olympic Park Drive from the
By Maria Saporta and Urvaksh Karkaria
Friday, March 25, 2011
AT&T Inc.’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile will put Atlanta in the catbird seat in wireless communications.
AT&T Mobility, the wireless arm of Dallas-based AT&T and the fastest-growing part of the company, is headquartered in Atlanta.
“I think this deal and this merger can be nothing but good news for Atlanta,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, in an exclusive interview March 23. “Atlanta will be home to a unit of AT&T that is the growth engine, that will continue to grow for the foreseeable future, and that’s a good thing.”
De la Vega also said that plans call for AT&T Mobility’s headquarters to remain in Atlanta
The Atlanta Regional Commission will “not miss a beat” while it is in search of a new director, according to its chairman, Tad Leithead.
In a wide-ranging conversation Sunday afternoon, Leithead shared his views of where the regional planning agency is today and where it’s headed in the future.
And Leithead also made it clear that he would not be a candidate to become the ARC’s next director, a move that several people in the community have suggested.
“When you write up a job description, I won’t be qualified,” Leithead said. “I’m not a planner, and I’ve never managed planners. Chairing the organization and being the
By Maria Saporta
Georgia can become a “poster child” for balancing environmental and economic interests, according to Allen Barnes, director of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources’ Environmental Protection Division.
Barnes was the keynote speaker at Friday morning’s Environmental Awards presented by the Atlanta Business Chronicle at the Georgia Aquarium.
“Environmental sustainability and economic sustainability can and must co-exist,” Barnes told the breakfast gathering. “Georgia can be the poster child of that principle.”
Barnes added that Georgia has a great concentration of Fortune 500 companies that
By Maria Saporta
Gov. Nathan Deal hinted that progress is being made in the private water negotiations with Alabama and Florida, during a “Meet and Greet” event Wednesday evening at the Georgian Club in Cobb County.
“I’m working diligently,” Deal told the gathering elected and civic leaders invited by the Council for Quality Growth. “This is the kind of thing you can’t even tell your wife about, and I can’t tell you either. I think you are going to be pleased by what we are going to produce.”
Deal said he was encouraged by the latest court hearing on the appeal of Judge Paul Magnuson’s ruling that would drastically reduce the amount of water metro Atlanta can withdraw from Lake Lanier in July 2012 if an agreement is not reached. But Deal said Georgia can’t rely on the possibility of a
By Maria Saporta
Friday, March 18, 2011
For the first time since 2007, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. is launching a new national advertising campaign. The theme is “Keep Climbing.”
Simultaneously, the airline is launching a marketing campaign aimed specifically for an Atlanta audience by reaffirming its local ties to the community. The title of the Atlanta campaign is: “It’s more than headquarters. It’s home.” The ads also include a logo that says: “70 years as Atlanta’s hometown airline.”
Just one perk of the Atlanta celebration is that Delta has been sponsoring free valet service at Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza for the month of March.
By Maria Saporta
At a pivotal moment for metro Atlanta, a major transition in leadership is underway.
Chick Krautler, director of the Atlanta Regional Commission, announced today his plan to retire on June 30 after 11 years with the planning agency.
Krautler’s retirement follows the departure of two other key members of the Atlanta Regional Commission’s senior team — Tom Weyandt, the agency’s director of comprehensive planning; and Tony Landers, ARC’s director of community services.
At the same time, ARC is playing an integral role in helping put together a list of projects that would be included in the regional transportation sales tax referendum scheduled for August, 2012. The project list must be approved in October.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, March 18, 2011
A broad-based coalition of business, civic and community leaders are urging Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed to do everything he can to prevent the Atlanta Public Schools from losing its accreditation.
The blue-ribbon Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP) told Reed March 14 that the school system must become his top priority and that he should explore every avenue available — including state involvement — to break the governance logjam that currently exists on the Atlanta Board of Education.
While leaders fell short of calling for a state
It’s no secret that women took a “shellacking” in 2010 November elections in Georgia.
No woman won a statewide elected office although several women were in the running. And that followed the 2009 local elections when we witnessed a transition in the City of Atlanta from a woman Mayor and a woman City Council President to men holding both those positions.
So the special election in Gwinnett County on Tuesday, March 15 was a welcome development when Charlotte Nash won decisively in a race against three male opponents.
What’s even more interesting is that Gwinnett now has a majority of female commissioners — three out of the five. In
By Maria Saporta
The Mayor of Midtown has left us.
Larry Steven Collins was the man who knew everybody’s name when they walked in the door at the Sig Samuels drycleaner at the corner of Monroe Drive and Eighth Street.
Collins, 54, passed away on Wednesday, March 16 after two years of fighting ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
It’s hard to describe what a vital community role Sig Samuels and the Collins family have played in Midtown. It has been the unofficial gathering spot and meeting ground for people picking up or dropping off their laundry.
The windows of the historic looking storefront often are plastered with all kinds of community notices and election posters.
