The Metro Atlanta Chamber announced several key leadership changes – both on its executive staff and its volunteer roles. The changes were announced at the Chamber’s executive committee meeting Thursday morning.
Author Archives: Maria Saporta
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.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Column: CAP to honor one of Atlanta’s best known and least known leaders
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on February 12, 2016
When Central Atlanta Progress holds its annual breakfast meeting on March 31, it will honor one of Atlanta’s best-known leaders and one of its least known.
The annual Dan Sweat Award will go to Bernie Marcus, who co-founded The Home Depot Inc. and who donated the Georgia Aquarium to the city and state — a gift of at least $250 million.
The annual Turner Community Leadership Award will go to Dr. Andrea Videlefsky, founder of the Daffodil Project, a worldwide project done in partnership with Am Yisrael Chai! to honor the 1.5 million children who died during the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Europe. Downtown Atlanta has planted 175,000 daffodil bulbs — more than in any other city.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Arthur Blank reflects on cancer: ‘Live life to its fullest’
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on February 12, 2016
Arthur Blank is approaching cancer the same way he has approached his business, sports and philanthropic career — methodically, strategically and heart-felt.
Blank is the high-profile owner of the Atlanta Falcons, a team he bought after leaving The Home Depot Inc., which he co-founded with Bernie Marcus and others.
In a deeply personal Feb. 9 interview given exclusively to Atlanta Business Chronicle, Blank spoke about being diagnosed with cancer and its prognosis; advice he would give other men; and how it has helped him adjust his priorities.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Fulton’s transportation stance nears consensus despite differences among mayors
Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves has been working for months to build consensus among all the mayors in his county on how to move forward with transportation funding.
At Tuesday’s meeting of Fulton’s mayors and county commissioners, the various political leaders moved a step closer to consensus – with the exception of Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
More of Atlanta’s history erased with Tuxedo home demolition
It’s so sad to see a historic home demolished – especially without a full vetting of all possible options to save it.
That was the case with the “Maddox House” designed by famous Atlanta architect Phillip Trammel Shutze at 3665 Tuxedo Road.
Posted inColumns, Main Slider, Maria's Metro
Let’s design a safer Atlanta for pedestrians and cyclists
Shifting Atlanta from a city centered around cars to one focused on people on foot or bicycles faced a reality-check on Friday.
Alexis Hyneman, a 14-year-old student at Grady High School, lost her young life when a car hit her while she was riding her bicycle Thursday at the super-confusing intersection of 10th Street, Monroe Drive and the Atlanta BeltLine.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Atlanta Braves back down saying the Hank Aaron Statue is staying in Atlanta
After more than a year of trying to lay claim to the historic Hank Aaron Statue and seeking to move it to its new ballpark in Cobb County, the Atlanta Braves now say the monument can stay in Atlanta.
In a statement released late Friday, the Braves called the fight over the statue “divisive” and not in the spirit of the Homerun King himself.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Column: College Football Hall of Fame CEO search takes unexpected turn
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on February 5, 2016
John Christie, interim CEO of the College Football Hall of Fame who was considered to have the inside track to the permanent job, has taken his name out of the running.
Christie has been the longest-serving executive at the Hall, starting with the project five-and-a-half years ago. He was the Hall’s chief operating officer when John Stephenson Jr. was the CEO. When Stephenson joined Chick-fil-A, Christie was a natural candidate for the top job.
But then Christie had an epiphany in mid-December, and he realized that he didn’t have as much passion running the hall day-to-day as he did during the challenging five years it took to develop and open the Hall.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Mayor Reed: City ‘very close’ to 20-year Delta deal; thanks CEO Richard Anderson for commitment to Atlanta
The city is “very close to finalizing an agreement” with Delta Air Lines on a new 20-year lease at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told people attending the Atlanta Press Club’s Newsmaker Luncheon on Thursday.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Braves say there’s no agreement on Aaron statue, but Bottoms releases emails saying otherwise
The plot thickens.
After Keisha Lance Bottoms announced that the iconic Hank Aaron Statue would be staying in Atlanta based on a agreement she had reached with the Atlanta Braves, a spokeswoman for the baseball teams said that wasn’t true.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Keisha Lance Bottoms: Hank Aaron Statue to stay in Atlanta
The iconic Hank Aaron Statue of the homerun legend’s hitting No. 715 to break Babe Ruth’s record will stay in the City of Atlanta, according to Keisha Lance Bottoms, executive director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority.
The statue will remain at Turner Field, and it will not be moved to Cobb County to become part of the Atlanta Braves’ new stadium.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
City, developer still committed to Underground Atlanta deal
By Maria Saporta and Amy Wenk
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on February 5, 2016
Despite another delay in the closing of the Underground Atlanta sale to WRS Realty, both the city and the developer said they are committed to the deal.
The transaction has gotten held up over a proposed land swap between the City of Atlanta and the State of Georgia.
The city has committed to the developer that the sale would include a state-owned parking facility located in between Underground and Georgia State University. And the state is interested in swapping that for the Bobby Jones Golf Course in Buckhead.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank discloses having curable prostate cancer
Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons and co-founder of the Home Depot, disclosed in an exclusive interview Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with curable prostate cancer.
Blank, 73, said that after multiple visits with different cancer specialists and hospitals around the country, he has opted to have surgery later this month.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Mayor Reed to work to keep city ‘equitable’ in 2016
By Maria Saporta and Amy Wenk
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on February 5, 2016
Building an equitable Atlanta will be a central theme of Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration in 2016.
Reed disclosed his commitment to making “sure Atlanta is a place for all us,” during an editorial board meeting with Atlanta Business Chronicle on Feb. 2.
“It’s not going to be just a traditional race conversation,” Reed said. “It’s going to be about the future conversation. How do millennials afford to live in the city of Atlanta? How does anybody afford to live in the city of Atlanta? How do you learn from London, New York, San Francisco … that are dealing with real issues around equity?”
Posted inColumns, Main Slider, Maria's Metro
For Georgia to remain competitive, investing in MARTA and transit are key
For decades, Georgia has had several road-building initiatives geared to attracting new companies to the state.
They’ve been called developmental highways or the Governor’s Road Improvement Program (GRIP) – and they’ve all involved spending hundreds of millions of dollars of state money to build four-lane roads to almost every corner of the state.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
John Ahmann named new executive director of Westside Future Fund
By Maria Saporta The board of the Westside Future Fund, a privately-funded entity aimed at improving the neighborhoods west of the new Mercedes-Benz stadium, has named John Ahmann its new executive director. Ahmann is the executive director of the Atlanta Committee for Progress, the entity that actually developed the concept for the Westside Future Fund […]
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Remembering the legacy Commerce Club
By Maria Saporta It has been more than five years since the Commerce Club moved from its original location near Five Points to the 191 Peachtree building. The prestigious Commerce Club is now more than 55 years old, and its Atlanta history runs deep. That was obvious on Saturday, Feb. 6 when there was a […]
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Column: Citizens Trust Bank set to make historic move
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on January 29, 2016
For nearly 50 years, Citizens Trust Bank has been an anchor at 75 Piedmont Avenue a block from Auburn Avenue.
But the bank will be relocating its headquarters to 230 Peachtree St. in early February — marking a significant move for both the bank and the city.
“It’s really bittersweet,” said Cynthia Day, president and CEO of Citizens Trust Bank. “What I’ve said to my employees is we are changing our location, but we are not changing our mission or our legacy. We will carry that with us.”
Posted inMaria Saporta, WABE
Commentary: Citizens Trust moving, but continuing mission
Original Story on WABE by Maria Saporta Citizens Trust has been a fixture on Auburn Avenue for decades, but it will soon call Peachtree Street home. The bank was known for lending money to African-Americans who couldn’t borrow money from white-owned banks. And in the 1960s Auburn Avenue was called “the richest Negro street in […]
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed agrees to transfer 10 property deeds to APS
Given the new spirit of cooperation between the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Public Schools, Mayor Kasim Reed said he is willing to transfer 10 property deeds to the school system.
Reed, speaking at the State of the City business breakfast Thursday morning at the Georgia World Congress Center, said he would ask the Atlanta City Council to transfer those deeds “right away.”
