Author Archives: Maria Saporta

Every year, Atlanta hosts a conference called “Greenprints” to provide the latest thoughts on planning, architecture, construction and the use of natural resources.

The conference, which is put on by Southface and the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, brings togther the latest technology on green buildings as well as the people who are working to make our communities more sustainable.

The attendance at this year’s two-day conference (March 25-26) is not as great as in the last few years, but Southface executive director, Dennis Creech, was appreciative of the 300 people who

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, during her annual address at the Rotary Club of Atlanta on Monday, let it be known that Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is in good hands under the city’s control.

She also said she hopes the city will finish the year in the black, despite the current economic climate.

Rotarian R.K. Sehgal asked the mayor how she felt about some Georgia legislators exploring ways for the state to takeover Hartsfield-Jackson.

My friends with the Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers asked if I could help clear up confusion on what constitutes the different might of passenger rail.

It’s probably wishful thinking, but I keep hoping Georgia will decide sooner rather than later to dedicate its transportation future to rail as other states, like North Carolina, have done.

But I agreed that it would be helpful if we could agree on a set of definitions for the different forms of rail transportation.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber keeps hoping for a transportation funding bill to come out of this year’s General Assembly.

At its board meeting today, chamber leaders heard from Tommie Williams (R-Lyons), president pro tem of the state Senate, who bascially said that governance must come before new funding.

That has been the position of Gov. Sonny Perdue since he unveiled his plan to change the governance structure of the state’s transportation

Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall had one message for board members of the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Her work, with the community’s help, is not done.

At today’s board meeting, which is closed to the press, Hall was congratulated for being named the nation’s top superintendent last month by the American Association of School administrators.

“It took a lot of community support to get to where we are today,” Hall said in a quick interview

Regions Bank has promoted Atlantan Bill Linginfelter as area president for Georgia and South Carolina.

Linginfelter, a longtime Atlanta banker, joined Birmingham-based Regions Bank last June as area president for North Georgia. Previously, Linginfelter had been Wachovia Bank’s president for Georgia until a bank reorganization cost him his job in the fall of 2007.

It’s official.

The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce will now just become the Metro Atlanta Chamber.

“The ‘of Commerce’ is gone,” said Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, after his board meeting today. “The board decided that there are a lot of things we do that are not done by traditional chambers of

It’s been a little more than three months since Karen Huebner, a casualty of the city of Atlanta’s cutbacks, “retired” as executive director of the Atlanta Urban Design Commission.

Huebner, 60, and I had lunch today to talk about her life since leaving the city and her plans for the future.

“I would be interested in part-time work,” said

You have to start somewhere.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin unvieled the city government’s municipal carbon footprint today at a press briefing.

She was one of nation’s mayors who pledged a couple of years ago to a goal of reducing carbon emissions by 7 percent by 2012.

A thorough study, done by Georgia Tech Professor

Given the economic climate, Atlanta’s United Way came remarkably close to making its 2008 campaign goal of $82 million.

United Way held its “Appreciation Event” Monday evening at the Loudermilk Center, where Campaign Chairman Ed Heys announced that the community had raised $80.54 million.

Heys also announced that metro Atlanta now has a new top corporate United Way donor — Publix.

Former Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. would have been proud to have Dr. Helene Gayle receive this year’s Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Progress and Service from Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College.

That’s what members of the Allen family said on March 12 after hearing Dr. Gayle, president and CEO of Atlanta-based CARE USA, speak at a lunch in her honor.

The historic Crum & Forster building lives on.

The city of Atlanta’s Board of Zoning Adjustment denied an appeal from the Georgia Tech Foundation, in its quest to get a demolition permit.

The Bureau of Planning had denied Georgia Tech’s request for a demolition permit last year, and that decision was appealed by the foundation.

The BZA board voted 3-0 today to uphold the planning bureau’s decision to deny a demolition

The United States must actively change must of its behavior to reduce carbon emissions, but those changes actually could contribute to a much healthier economy and planet.

Bracken Hendricks, a senior fellow with the Center for American Progress, was the keynote speaker at Southface’s annual Visionary Dinner on March 11 at the Georgia Aquarium.

Hendricks has been focusing on the issues of climate change, energy independence,

Okay. Here’s the plan.

Former Gov. Roy Barnes and Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, considered the two strongest Democrats in the state, would run as a ticket. Barnes would run for governor. And Thurmond would run for Lt. Governor.

The question is whether this plan is a Democratic Party pipedream or an actual strategy for Democrats to regain control of the state capitol.

On paper, the plan has merit.

Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond told Atlanta Kiwanis today that the United States is “witnessing a restructuring of the 20th Century economy” — a restructuring that has led to 12.6 million Americans and 416,000 Georgians becoming unemployed.

Thurmond calls this time “the Great Recession” and in his mind, this period provides an opportunity for American workers.

“We can rebuild, re-educate, retrain tens of thousands of Americans,” Thurmond said.

Back in 2003, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin convened the top CEOs in the city to help her steer the city’s future.

The Atlanta Committee for Progress has been meeting ever since taking on such issues as Brand Atlanta, the BeltLine, the Peachtree Corridor, the Atlanta Education Fund, Grady Hospital and the city’s finances.

Most often the Atlanta Committee for Progress will launch an initiative, which will either be spun off into its own effort or assigned to an existing

Former Gov. Roy Barnes has gotten pretty good at deflecting “the question.”

He’s enjoying his thriving law practice in Marietta, and he loves spending time with his five grandchildren. So why would he want to enter the 2010 governor’s race?

But when Barnes is asked about the current state of affairs at the state capitol, his political passion quickly bubbles to the surface.