Category: David Pendered

By David Pendered

John Portman finally has a street named in his honor.

John Portman Boulevard at Historic Harris Street is the new name of Harris Street, which connects Centennial Olympic Park with Peachtree Street, and on a gateway to the Downtown Connector.

The renaming approved by the Atlanta City Council culminates a battle that has raged almost a year. The council renamed Harris Street in May, but the matter was taken to court by historic preservationists who were opposed by civic and business leaders – including former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young.

By David Pendered

A stupid teenage prank that went awry, not politics, was the reason behind the theft of a statue of Brer Rabbit, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.

The possibility of politics as a motive was first raise by Lain Shakespeare, executive director of the Wren’s Nest, the Atlanta home of Brer Rabbit author Joel Chandler Harris. Shakespeare feared the theft was connected to intemperate remarks by a Colorado congressman who compared President Obama to the “Tar Baby” in an Uncle Remus story.

However, Putnam Sheriff Howard Sills said confessions gathered in the investigation showed that the theft was a dumb stunt. Sills provided a full report of the probe that rocked Eatonton, where the statue was taken from the front yard of the Uncle Remus Museum, and wobbled the Wren’s Nest, where Shakespeare does a yeoman’s job of keeping Harris relevant.

By David Pendered

The case of the stolen statue of Brer Rabbit took a grave turn this morning when the sheriff threw the book at four teenaged men charged with its abduction and dismemberment.

Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills lived up to his promise to deal severely with suspects if the statue were damaged. That’s because Brer Rabbit is as much an icon in Eatonton, where author Joel Chandler Harris was born and the statue stolen, as he is in Harris’ adopted hometown of Atlanta.

Sills charged each man with a count of felony theft by taking. The penalty is prison “for not less than one nor more than 10 years,” according to state law. One lawyer has blogged that a conviction of felony theft “virtually ruins a person’s chances of ever getting meaningful employment.”

By David Pendered

Transit projects that would be funded with the proposed 1 percent transportation sales tax represent almost 55 percent of the $6.14 billion that would be raised in metro Atlanta, according to staff estimates.

An outside review of the current list of proposed transit projects shows that the major effects of this spending will be felt along three transit corridors. These three corridors would receive more than 60 percent money earmarked for transit, according to the review.

The review also shows that five proposals for major transit improvements received no funding at all.

By David Pendered

A team of well known consultants, who have deep political connections with both parties, was named today to run the transportation sales tax political campaign for all of Georgia – outside metro Atlanta.

The team was announced this afternoon by the Georgia Transportation Alliance, which is affiliated with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. The alliance is not publicly involved with the metro Atlanta campaign for the 1 percent sales tax for transportation.

This announcement puts the statewide campaign ahead of that in metro Atlanta, which does not have a lead consultant to coordinate the campaign to urge voters to support a 1 percent sales tax to pay for $6.14 billion in regional transportation improvements.

By David Pendered

Eatonton, Ga. – Mildred Lane just knew she’d never again see the statue of Brer Rabbit that had perched outside the Uncle Remus Museum in Eatonton.

“I’m afraid he’s gone forever, because Sheriff Sills would have found him already already – if he is going to be found,” Lane said as she sat Saturday on the bench outside the log cabin museum, where she’s the hostess.

Lane’s faith in Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills wasn’t misplaced. Sills found the statue Monday afternoon and is in the hunt for four young men who apparently broke off Brer Rabbit’s ear and smoking pipe while kidnapping him from a pedestal in front of the museum.

By David Pendered

Metro Atlanta voters now have something tangible to consider when they think about voting next year for a 1 percent sales tax for proposed road and transit improvements.

This story has been updated.

A list of just over 100 projects, priced at $6.14 billion, was approved Monday by a 5-0 vote by a group of mayors and county chairmen who comprise the Executive Committee of the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable.

The split between roads and transit started the day at about 45 percent for roads and 55 percent for transit. The final split appears to be in that ballpark, and committee staffers were busy late Monday digesting the final figures after four hours of negotiations.

By David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told DeKalb County’s Chamber of Commerce Monday that the planned transportation sales tax must be approved to ensure the region’s economic vitality in the future.

The transportation projects are part of about $14.5 billion in public infrastructure projects that are planned or underway, Reed said.

Taken in total, the projects represent such a major investment that competing cities never will be able to overtake metro Atlanta as the top region in the Southeast, Reed said.

By David Pendered

A statement released by Atlanta’s airport refutes findings by an economist at Georgia State University concerning the amount of information that’s readily available about the concessions trade.

The study by Bruce Seaman found that Atlanta’s airport is less transparent than other North American airports in revealing details of its concessions business. Passengers could be affected if some quality concessionaires decide the lack of information is enough to keep them from trying to open shop at the airport, Seaman said.

The airport’s statement contends that the airport does release large amounts of information about its concessions trade, and it urges researchers and the media to accurately report available information.

By David Pendered

A statue of Brer Rabbit has been taken from its pedestal in front of the Uncle Remus Museum in Eatonton, the hometown of Atlanta author Joel Chandler Harris.

“Speculation, as far as motive, runs from prank to scrap-metal sale,” said Stanley Lines, a retired school librarian who resides in Eatonton and runs a lively Twitter update about his community.

But there may be a more sinister motive to the missing statue, one inspired by politics and related to the current flap involving a congressman who compared President Obama to the “Tar Baby” story, said Lain Shakespeare, the descendant of Harris who oversees the Wren’s Nest, in Southwest Atlanta.

By David Pendered

Faced with a list of road and transit projects they just don’t want to cut any deeper, local elected officials now intend to ask the state Legislature for access to possibly more sales tax dollars.

But their hopes already have been dashed. Asked for comment on the pending request, a spokeswoman for the governor said late Thursday that the Legislature will not consider it during the special session that begins Aug. 15.

Clayton County Chairman Eldrin Bell did his part to raise the heat of debate by suggesting that the proposed – and moribund – commuter rail line from Atlanta to Griffin is the victim of a state agency’s effort to protect its bus service in the area.

By David Pendered

The political theater of the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation played out Tuesday in a harbinger of things to come as the final list of projects is crafted.

The day started with a show of solidarity by the Executive Committee of the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable. The committee voted unanimously to approve what turned out to be about $715 million in sales-tax-funded road improvements in five outlying counties – Cherokee, Douglas, Henry, Fayette, and Rockdale.

The day ended with remarks from DeKalb County officials and advocates who forcefully requested the committee to add the proposed MARTA rail extension along Eastbound I-20. Construction costs of the 5.4 mile route range from about $523 million to $769 million, depending on whose estimate is used.

By David Pendered

The political optics of the region’s proposed $6.1 billion transportation improvement program begins Tuesday, as the battle over projects spills for the first time into the public arena.

DeKalb County Commissioner Lee May has called a noon press conference – complete with “elected officials and supporters” – to discuss the exclusion of any new transit project to serve south DeKalb on the tentative short list that was approved last week.

May intends to pick up where he left off last week, when he addressed the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable’s Executive Committee after it voted for a $3 billion tentative list of transit projects. May took the podium to ring the bell of equity in transit and finance:

By David Pendered

It says something about the transparency of governance at Atlanta’s airport when more information is publicly available on LinkedIn than is provided by the airport.

The Linkedin page of an airport manager says concessions generate over $336 million in annual revenue. That sort of figure may be of interest to concessionaire competitors in the city’s current effort to sign vendors for the airport’s 125 food and beverage sites and 27 retail shops.

No such total revenue figure is available – much less more detailed data – in the airport’s concessionaires’ brochures or its presentations to prospective concessionaires, according to a new study by Bruce Seaman, an economist with Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.

By David Pendered

Metro Atlanta’s plans to use federal funding in addition to revenues from the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation were thrown into jeopardy Friday.

The chairman of the House Transportation Committee said he will not compromise on the spending plan he submitted last month, according to a report in the Aug. 6 edition of The Wall Street Journal. The budget proposal would cut current spending levels by about a third, according to some reports.

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) said he will fight as vigorously for the proposed cuts in the transportation budget as he did against certain spending in the battle that shut down the Federal Aviation Administration.

By David Pendered

The initial shape of a project list that voters are to see on a ballot next year for the 1 cent transportation sales tax referendum was approved Thursday.

This list is only a beginning point, and even it won approval by a narrow 3-2 vote. (See below for the roll call.)

Seven transit projects made the initial list, with a value of $3 billion. These projects were defined as “kickoff projects” because they are not guaranteed a spot on the list.

There is no list of road projects – yet. The initial shape of a road list is to be formed at a meeting to be scheduled within the next week by the Executive Committee of the Atlanta Regional Roundtable. Aug. 15 is the deadline for a final list.

By David Pendered

The ceremonial groundbreaking on Wednesday for a Cancer Treatment Centers of America hospital in Newnan is expected to attract an audience of 500 onlookers.

Part of the draw is just the pure joy watching economic development: Construction is pegged at $150 million, and the economic impact over five years is projected to be $500 million.

Part of the draw is political: The groundbreaking culminates a multi-year battle in the state Legislature. The debate was portrayed as pitting those who promoted choice in cancer treatment against those who wanted to keep insured patients at Georgia’s existing hospitals.

By David Pendered

Bennigan’s may be trying to make a come-back in its hometown by opening at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The restaurant appears to be in the group of restaurants that are in a white-hot battle to win a food or drink concessions contract at Atlanta’s airport.

Fifty-eight companies are competing for just a dozen spaces at which they can open a restaurant or beverage location – 11 spaces located on concourses and one in the coveted Atrium. Some companies likely represent several restaurants.

By David Pendered

Two of Georgia’s leading advocacy groups for the disabled have come out in favor of many findings in the state’s draft report on how to improve the system that transports the poor, elderly and disabled from home to health care in rural Georgia.

“It is a terrific start and we look forward to working with you,” concludes a letter by the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities and the Statewide Independent Living Council of Georgia.

The advocates contend that the state’s $138 million a year rural health care transit program would be eligible to receive funding from the proposed penny sales tax for transportation – if some recommendations outlined in the report are enacted.

By David Pendered

Manuel’s Tavern may open two taverns next year at Atlanta’s airport.

Atlanta’s iconic neighborhood bar has signed franchise agreements with two companies that are competing for a slice of the food and beverage business at Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport, tavern owner Brian Maloof said today.

A Manuel’s Tavern would open in Concourse A if one company wins. If the other wins, a tavern would open on Concourse D. There would be two taverns if each company wins an airport concessions contract, Maloof said.

“They will have what will look and feel like a Manuel’s Tavern at the airport,” Maloof said. “The menu will be the same as here. They will reproduce some of the original artwork. They are great people to work with.”