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
Friday, October 23, 2009
Women have made little to no progress on the boards or in the executive suites of Georgia’s public companies.
The Board of Directors Network (BDN) has been tracking the status of women in corporate boardrooms and executives suites for 17 years. Although there have been significant changes among Georgia’s publicly held companies over the years, as some companies have gone private and others have been acquired, the
By Maria Saporta
There’s a new look on Peachtree Street downtown.
The Hard Rock Café Atlanta has just put up a 30-foot neon guitar on the side of its restaurant at the corner of Peachtree and Andrew Young International Boulevard.
It replaces what had been the Cadillac icons that had hung precariously off the side of the building since November, 1992.
A bit of Atlanta history — which was reported earlier this year by my friend
By Maria Saporta
When Leonard Cohen came out on stage at the Fox Theatre Tuesday night, he told the audience: “I don’t know when we’ll pass this way again, but I promise you that tonight, we will give you everything we’ve got.”
And Cohen, accompanied by an incredible collection of musicians and singers, did just that.
For nearly three-and-a-half hours Cohen, defied his age of 75, singing songs from all phases of his musical career — one spans more than four decades. Few
By Maria Saporta
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Atlanta-based organization Men Stopping Violence has just received a major vote of confidence.
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson is announcing that Men Stopping Violence has been awarded $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice to organize and manage the first national initiative to engage men and youth in the work of addressing violence against women.
“It’s very exciting,” said Shelley Serdahely, executive
The Atlanta elections of 2009 will go down in history as turning point for our city.
This is our generation’s version of the 1969 election when for voters broke rank and defeated the candidate of the business community in favor of Sam Massell, a Jewish businessman.
Up until Massell’s election, it had been customary for the mayor of the city of Atlanta to become an honorary member of the Piedmont Driving Club. But that offer was not extended to Massell.
And by 1973, when Atlanta’s first black mayor — Maynard Jackson — was elected, the transition was complete. The predominantly white business community no longer had a hold
By Maria Saporta
One of my very favorite bands is Travis, a secret treasure of our time.
I was introduced to the Scottish band through 99X during its prime, and I have caught the band just about every time they’ve come to town. The last time was at the Tabernacle a couple of years ago.
Because I’m a true fan, when I heard that lead singer, songwriter Fran Healy was coming to town to do an acoustic set with guitarist Andy Dunlop, I knew I had to be there.
They did not disappoint. On Saturday
By Maria Saporta
Leave it to Georgia to put the train in reverse while the rest of the country is moving forward.
Vance Smith, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation, distributed a memo on Thursday, Oct. 15 announcing proposed “organizational changes” in his department.
“Over the last few months, we have worked diligently to strategically reorganize the Department to achieve greater efficiency in both functional alignment and program delivery,” Smith
By Maria Saporta
At the 12th annual Atlanta Interfaith Business Prayer Breakfast Thursday morning, keynote speaker Bernie Marcus had a mission — to teach two words of Yiddish to the crowd of about 1,000 people.
Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot who has become one of Atlanta’s leading philanthropists, was the first Jew to deliver the keynote prayer at the annual event held at the Hyatt Regency.
“I’m going to turn them all into Jews,” joked Marcus, who was pleased
By Maria Saporta
Friday, October 9, 2009
Atlanta will soon have a new shining light.
Bill Bolling, founder and executive director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, will be honored with the 2009 Shining Light Award, a most prestigious honor given to outstanding community leaders by Atlanta Gas Light and News/Talk 750 WSB.
The Shining Light Award, established in 1963, has honored former President Jimmy Carter; former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young; Home Depot co-founder and Georgia Aquarium benefactor Bernie Marcus; baseball legend Hank Aaron; Shepherd Center co-founder Alana
By Maria Saporta
A beaming John Portman greeted his friends and admirers Wednesday evening at a VIP reception that included a private preview of the exhibit of his art and architecture that will open Saturday at the High Museum of Art.
Portman is Atlanta’s own architect, developer, painter, scupltor, designer of furniture and lighting fixtures who sprinkles his philosophy in all his work.
While most of the people at the reception were familiar with parts of his work, few really knew the breadth of his many creative outlets.
By Maria Saporta
The message from Atlanta’s art community could be: “We will survive.”
The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund, at its annual lunch at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, announced its second round of grants for the year.
By giving grants twice a year, the fund has ramped up its giving to small- and mid-sized arts organizations because it recognizes that many arts and cultural groups are in a precarious position because of the economy.
“This economy has altered the way
Sometimes it feels as though Atlanta is living two different realities.
Our schizophrenia is surfacing during this mayoral election, and it’s not a healthy situation for our city or the next mayor.
Take last Wednesday. The top four mayoral candidates were part of a forum at the Temple. Listening to them, you would have thought the city has been at the brink of disaster for the past eight years and that it’s all doom and gloom. (In all fairness, City Council President Lisa Borders was far less negative than the others).
Then on Thursday, the Council for Quality Growth held its annual Four Pillars Award where it was honoring Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin for her distinguished leadership of the city for the past eight years.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, October 9, 2009
As Atlanta celebrates the career of its hometown architect John Portman, one of his earliest and most influential works is about to be demolished.
The Antoine Graves Senior Housing High Rise today is a boarded-up eight-story building across from MARTA’s King Memorial Station at Decatur and Hilliard streets.
It is the only public housing project that Portman has
(This is a sidebar to main Portman story on jump page)
By Maria Saporta
I woke up this morning to the news that President Barrack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Yes, it was a bit surprising, and perhaps somewhat premature. But it is an acknowledgement that Obama has changed the way the world views the United States under his leadership. His election reignited hope that we could resolve our global conflicts through means other than war. And that is no small thing.
Even Obama seemed to be a little embarassed to have received the prize.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, October 9, 2009
John Portman may be Atlanta’s ultimate Renaissance man.
During his lifetime, Portman has painted 380 works of art and created 257 sculptures. Add that to the numerous pieces of furniture and lighting that he’s designed.
At the same time, Portman the architect has designed 152 projects around the world that have been built or are under construction, and he’s produced countless conceptual designs and master plans.
By Maria Saporta
Just in case Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has been feeling low as she winds down her two terms as mayor, Thursday night should have made her feel valued and appreciated.
First Beth Schapiro, founder of the Schapiro Group, honored Franklin for giving her the courage to go out on her own to start her public affairs consulting firm 25 years ago.
“We were trying to get more women elected to office, particularly higher office,” Schapiro said of meeting with Franklin in the 1970s. “We can see how that worked out.”
By Maria Saporta
Call it the hot-seat mayoral forum.
At Wednesday evening’s Atlanta mayoral forum put on by the American Jewish Committee and the Temple, moderator David Lewis warned the candidates he was going to be tough.
Lewis, an independent filmmaker and a host at WMLB AM 1690, then told the four candidates he would grill each of them for 10 minutes with pointed questions.
Atlanta City Councilwoman Mary Norwood was first, followed by former State Sen. Kasim Reed, Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders and attorney
By Maria Saporta
Friday, October 2, 2009
Haverty Furniture Companies Inc. kicked off a celebration of its 125th year in business, one of a handful of Atlanta businesses to have survived so many years.
Haverty’s celebration took place Sept. 29 at the Crowne Plaza-Ravinia at the same times as Haverty’s 2009 Leadership Conference.
What makes Haverty’s so unique is that it has been run,
By Maria Saporta
EduPAC, an independent, non-partisan coalition of more than 30 Atlanta organizations, has endorsed its slate of nine candidates for the Atlanta Board of Education.
The slate continues a tradition that EduPAC started in 1993 to elect qualified representatives to Atlanta’s school board in an attempt to improve public education within the city limits.
The slate is as follows::
By Maria Saporta
So I got another dose of Bono tonight. A U2 show is always special, but I must admit that this was my least favorite of the four U2 concerts I’ve been to.
Why? The concert was in the Georgia Dome, which is too cavernous a place for rock ’n’ roll. With the exception of going to Rolling Stones concerts in the Georgia Dome, it’s difficult for a band to create that special ambiance in a sold-out, mega football stadium.
That said, a U2 concert brings a wonderful blend of music, political and social consciousness, and a camaraderie
