Author Archives: Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

Mayoral candidate Lisa Borders, president of Atlanta’s City Council, received the top rating from the Committee for a Better Atlanta — a score of 95 out of a possible 100.

Former State Sen. Kasim Reed came in second with a score of 93. Mary Norwood, a city councilwoman who is thought to be the frontrunner in the race, received a score of 86; and attorney Jesse Spikes had a score of 81.

The fifth candidate, Peter Brownlowe, only received a score of 30. The sixth candidate, Kyle Keyser, did not participate.

By Maria Saporta

The Buckhead Coalition, a group of key business leaders based in Buckhead, is taking a stance in the city’s upcoming elections.

The Better Community Political Action Committee, the PAC of the Buckhead Coalition, interviewed the top candidates for mayor. It decided to divide its $2,400 contribution on a proportional based of a straw vote of the members present.

City Councilwoman Mary Norwood, who lives in Buckhead, was the top vote getter, receiving 56 percent. That meant the BC PAC wrote her a check for

By Maria Saporta

More and more students are being drawn to Georgia State University, according to its relatively new president Mark Becker.

Becker recently spoke to the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta saying “the future is nothing but bright” for Georgia State University.

Despite the recession, the number of applications to the university was up about 20 percent; and GSU accepted its largest freshman class ever — 3,000 students.

“In 1995, only 2,225 applied to go to

By Maria Saporta

We now know at least three gubernatorial candidates who will be seeking support from the environmental community.

At Wednesday night’s Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s Annual Patron Appreciation Dinner, two Democratic candidates for governor and one Republican candidate came — each making sure to work the room among some of the region’s top environmental leaders.

The first candidate I saw upon

By Maria Saporta

At today’s Atlanta Regional Commission board meeting, three men declared their intention to seek the chairmanship of the 10-county planning organization.

The three, in alphabetical order, are: Charles Bannister, chairman of the Gwinnett County Commission; Tad Leithead, a former executive with Cousins Properties who is now building his own public policy and lobbying firm; and Jack Smith, the chairman of the Fayette County Commission.

One of those three, or possibly someone

By Maria Saporta

Metro Atlanta is facing a tremendous transition in leadership, beginning with the chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Sam Olens, who has been chairman of the 10-county body since December 2004, is planning to step down so he can launch his campaign to run for state Attorney General.

Olens, who is also chairman of the Cobb Commission, has served two, two-year terms as ARC’s chairman.

At ARC’s board meeting this coming

By Maria Saporta

Internationally-renowned Atlanta architect and developer John Portman was given the Lifetime Achievement Award Thursday evening at the revived Governor’s International Awards.

The awards were co-sponsored by the World Trade Center Atlanta and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

For Portman, it was an opportunity to look back at the evolution of the global profile of Atlanta. He started design and construction on the Atlanta Merchandise Mart in the late 1950s and it opened in

Brian Leary remembers hearing about the Atlanta BeltLine from its very earliest days when he was working on his master’s in city planning at Georgia Tech.

Ryan Gravel, a fellow student, had been working on a master’s thesis about a 22-mile railroad corridor that encircled the inner city of Atlanta and how it could be redeveloped into one of the greatest urban revitalization projects in the city’s history.

“To me, there’s no greater opportunity to positively impact the future of Atlanta and its quality of life than the BeltLine,” Leary said in an interview Wednesday,

By Maria Saporta

The board of Atlanta Beltline Inc. has just selected Brian Leary, vice president of design and development for Jacoby Development and Atlantic Station, as its new president and CEO.

Leary is succeeding Terri Montague, who stepped down Sept. 1, but has remained as a consultant until her replacement was named. Montague was the founding CEO of Atlanta BeltLine Inc., the public entity in charge of developing the 22-mile railroad corridor that encircles Atlanta’s

By Maria Saporta

The Atlanta Streetcar — through the Georgia Transit Connector partnership — is making its best pitch to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

A public-private partnership between the City of Atlanta, MARTA, the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District and the Midtown Improvement District today is submitting its application for federal stimulus funding.

The proposal for up to $300 million for “shovel-ready” funding includes two

By Maria Saporta

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent has lived in some of the greatest cities of the world. So when he talks about Atlanta’s potential, it’s worth paying close attention.

“Atlanta has an opportunity to become a world-class sustainable city defined by smart growth, quality transportation infrastructure and world-class educators,” Kent said. “The greatest cities in the world are moving in that direction fast. Atlanta has an incredible opportunity take a lead.”

Kent spoke those words at Monday’s

By Maria Saporta

Cobb County Chairman Sam Olens and DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis stood like bookends at a recent DeKalb Chamber of Commerce’s breakfast that provided a snapshot of the region.

Despite being of different races and different political parties, the similarities of the two men is striking. Both are roughly the same age — in their early 50s; both are lawyers. And both appreciate the importance of the region as a critical part of being leaders in their individual counties.