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.
William “Bill” Taggart, the former president and CEO of Atlanta Life Financial Group, is joining the executive leadership team at Morehouse College.
In his new role, Taggart will serve as executive-in-residence and chief operating officer with primary responsibility for the Office of Institutional Advancement.
The High Museum of Art is naming Randall Suffolk, currently director and president of the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Okla., as its new director.
The announcement came just two days before the departure of Michael E. Shapiro, who has been the Nancy and Holcombe T. Greene Jr. director of the High since March of 2000 after joining the High in 1995.
Suffolk will assume his role at the High on Nov. 2.
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 24, 2015
In the ongoing push by Rotary International to eradicate polio around the world, Atlanta Rotarian Wilton Looney is challenging the local club to intensify its support.
Looney, whose wife Martha suffers from polio, has donated $918,000 to the cause–previously challenging the Rotary Club of Atlanta to match his gifts. Now he’s getting some help.
When it comes to winning a $30 million federal Choice grant, Atlanta leaders are hoping the second time will be the charm.
Once again, Atlanta is a finalist for a Choice Neighborhoods Implementation Grant awarded from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Atlanta has been selected as one of nine finalists from a total of 33 applicants. It is not clear how many finalists will win a Choice grant during this cycle.
One of Atlanta’s favorite sons – Ted Turner – got 11 blocks of Spring Street named after him at an official unveiling ceremony on July 21.
As someone who has admired Ted Turner for decades, I believe that we as a city can and should do so much more to honor our hometown hero.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 24, 2015
MARTA is moving forward with plans to bring a rail line to Clayton County.
The rest of the region is eyeing developments in Clayton because that could serve as a template for how MARTA could expand in other metro counties.
The transit agency has been meeting with Norfolk Southern Corp. about the possibility of using the railroad’s right-of-way to build a parallel track so that MARTA could provide exclusive passenger service on that line, according to Rich Krisak, the agency’s chief operating officer.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 17, 2015
Don’t tell anybody, but Georgia Tech has surpassed its $1.5 billion capital campaign. It met that goal last October.
Although it’s not really a secret, Georgia Tech just doesn’t want people to stop giving. It is still out there knocking on doors hoping to raise as much as it can before the campaign officially ends at the end of this calendar year.
The Atlanta United soccer team has narrowed its search for a major training facility to sites in Cobb and DeKalb counties.
A decision is expected shortly because it’s one of the key pieces that needs to be put in place before the season opens in spring 2017.
“We are currently in discussions with DeKalb County officials on a potential property for the training ground, but no definitive agreement is in place at this time,” the team said in a statement released today.
How can the 755,400 people in metro Atlanta and north Georgia who are “food insecure” best be served with access to fresh, healthy affordable and clean foods?
That was the “Food Access” challenge issued by the Center for Civic Innovation and the Atlanta Community Food Bank launched earlier this year.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 17, 2015
When Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson shared the stage July 13 at the Rotary Club of Atlanta, their interaction would best be described as a love fest.
But there were many plots and subplots at play during their performance.
MARTA executives on Thursday unveiled plans to make the transit agency more customer friendly. They announced a new partnership between MARTA and Uber as well as unveiled a pilot program to have wi-fi on 50 MARTA buses
The Uber partnership already is on MARTA’s mobile app; and executives said that free wi-fi should be available throughout the whole system (on all buses, rail stations and trains) within a year.
By Maria Saporta Atlanta business, political and civic leaders gathered under the sweltering hot sun on Tuesday morning to thank Ted Turner for helping put the city on the map. Hundreds of people came – many sitting in the shade of a huge tent provided by the City of Atlanta on the parking lot across […]
The West End MARTA Station could be a window into the future.
There was a time when MARTA discouraged commercial activity within its stations.
But on Friday, Jan. 17, transit executives welcomed the official launch of the Fresh MARTA Market at the entrance of the West End station.
Mixed emotions surround the possibility of the Metro Atlanta Chamber selling its headquarters overlooking Centennial Olympic Park.
A host of issues – and a myriad of views – are wrapped around the proposal by the Georgia World Congress Center to buy the building, tear it down and replace it with green space.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 10, 2015
This is where Kevin Cantley, president and CEO of the Cooper Carry architectural firm for the past 20 years, remembered the first time he became aware of the Urban Land Institute.
It was in the 1970s when he was at the College of Architecture at Georgia Tech working on land-use maps. He was told to use the ULI coloring system — residential was yellow; office was blue; retail was red; institutional was purple and park land was green.
“That pretty well established in my mind that ULI was important since they had control of the colors,” Cantley said. “I have come to know ULI as the recognized authority of responsible land-use planning.”
A giant oak in Atlanta’s education forest has fallen.
Dr. Wood Smethurst, co-founder of the Ben Franklin Academy – and its headmaster until July 1, passed away Tuesday morning of pneumonia.
Smethurst was a quiet yet powerful force in Atlanta’s education circles – pushing the envelope in ways to teach students who may have faced a myriad of challenges in their lives.
By Maria Saporta and Amy Wenk
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 10, 2015
The owners of SkyView Atlanta are planning a new attraction that would be taller and aims to be more thrilling than the 20-story Ferris wheel overlooking Centennial Olympic Park.
SkyView Atlanta, which is celebrating its second anniversary on July 16, has extended its land lease under the Ferris wheel for another 20 years.
And it has entered into a 20-year lease on an adjacent piece of property where it plans to develop the second attraction.
“We are designing a ride that’s never been done before,” said Todd Schneider, one of the owners of SkyView Atlanta.
Less than two weeks after Dentons placed its signature in Atlanta, the world’s largest law firm announced the hiring of a couple of new members to its government affairs practice.
Jeff Hamling, who has been serving as vice president of state and federal affairs for the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, will join Dentons on July 27 as senior managing direct.
Note to readers: I had intended for this week’s column to be a Part 2 about Metro Atlanta Chamber’s plans to sell its building for the expansion of Centennial Olympic Park. But I ran out of time and didn’t reach out to the various people I thought should weigh in on the topic. So my plan will be to write it next week.
Proctor Creek. Those two words conjure up so many images for people who know Atlanta.
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on July 3, 2015
Several top members of Atlanta’s consular corps will be moving or have already moved on to new posts, bringing a new wave of foreign leaders to the city’s global scene.
The dean of the consular corps, Paul Gleeson, is returning to Ireland in July. He has served as Ireland’s Consul General in Atlanta since the consulate opened in August 2010. It was Ireland’s first new consulate in the United States since the 1930s.
