Author Archives: Maria Saporta

Readers,

After five months online, SaportaReport is delighted to let you know of some improvements to our site.

Most significantly is the addition of Lyle Harris, a longtime colleague of mine at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Lyle was a reporter and later an editorial writer focusing on the environment, housing, land-use and transportation issues.

Now he will be contributing his expertise

By Maria Saporta

Spreading the word.

James Shepherd, the inspiration and co-founder of the Shepherd Center, used Facebook to send his friends the message, along with this link, that the Atlanta hospital is among the top 10 rehabilitation centers in the United States.

U.S. News & World Report has just put out a ranking of the “Best Rehabilitaton Hospitals.” Atlanta’s Shepherd Center ranked 9th among a list of more than 150 hospitals in the country.

The rank was based on Shepherd’s reputation by specialists in the medical

By Maria Saporta

City of Atlanta bonds already allocated to the proposed Center for Civil and Human Rights will pay off the balance of a $32 million loan used to buy a premier collection of Martin Luther King Jr.’s papers.

The finance/executive committee of the Atlanta City Council just approved the plan this afternoon in a 4-0 vote. The plan still needs to be approved by the full council and the Atlanta Development Authority.

Three years ago, Atlanta leaders came together to buy the King papers on the eve before they were to be sold at a Sotheby’s auction. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin

Two metro Atlanta leaders are working with the Obama administration to establish its urban policy agenda.

Catherine Ross, director of the Center for Quality Growth at Georgia Tech; and DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, were in Washington D.C. Monday as part of a round-table discussion advising the new White House Office of Urban Affairs.

President Barack Obama addressed the urban and political leaders in the afternoon explaining how the federal government can develop policies to improve housing, education and transportation systems in urban areas.

“The president is going to put his

By Maria Saporta

U.S. Sen. SaxbyChambliss (R-Georgia) gave Atlanta Rotarians today the minority party’s perspective of the changes being proposed by the Obama administration.

In short, Chambliss’ message was that the administration was shifting the nation to having a government-owned and managed automobile industry, the insurance and banking sectors and health care.

And the administration’s policies will mean higher taxes for the richest Americans and record deficits that are unsustainable.

By Maria Saporta

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation is providing a grant of $1.28 million to help expand “Smart Start” — the early learning initiative of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.

The two-year grant will be used to replicate a program called “SPARK,” a national school readiness model thw creates broad community partnerships among early learning centers, faith-based organizations and family and social service nonprofits.

The Early Learning Community Based Partnerships help make sure that children are prepared for school by

By Maria Saporta

It’s not unusual for campaigns to change over their staff, said Stacey Abrams, the new campaign manager for Lisa Borders’ mayoral bid.

Abrams spoke to me on Friday explaining all the changes that have occurred. That includes Abrams coming on board July 1 as the new campaign manager, replacing Verna Cleveland; and the replacement of five other key campaign officials.

“With the exception of one, every one resigned,” Abrams said, adding that the former staff members have worked closely with the campaign during the

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta BeltLine Inc. has reached an agreement to buy nearly 3.5 miles of the railroad corridor that’s currently owned by the Georgia Department of Transportation for $13.5 million.

The property includes the southwest section of the BeltLine as well as part of the Southeast portion.

The BeltLine has a three-year option to acquire the property, and a one year option to buy it at that price. If it doesn’t exercise the option within 12 months, then the property will have to be reappraised, according to ABI spokesman Ethan Davidson.

The UPS headquarters in Sandy Springs was the perfect place to throw a “hometown” celebration for Ann Stallard, who recently became chair of United Way of America.

Stallard, CEO of Graphic Communications of Lawrenceville, is an Atlanta treasure who has been a longtime civic player in women and social issues. There was a lot of local pride Wednesday evening that she had been tapped by the national United Way to chair that board.

So why was UPS the ideal place to celebrate Stallard’s new role?

The Atlanta-based Fortune 500

This email just came into my inbox.

It’s from Rick Blalock, a longtime media/public relations player in Atlanta who most recently has been with the Lisa Borders mayoral campaign.

Don’t know the story behind the story, but personnel changes are not that unusual in the ups and downs of the political scene.

Here’s Rick Blalock’s email:

Good evening: