Category: David Pendered

By David Pendered

Atlanta faces a tough challenge as it prepares to absorb Fort McPherson on Sept. 15.

For starters, there are all kinds of strings attached once the military vacates the property – from federal requirements that it provide housing for the homeless to the immediate need for its protection by Atlanta police and fire.

Moreover, the city has to devise and adopt a master plan for this 488-acre tract amidst a fundamental shift in the economy. Atlanta and the state are supposed to woo redevelopment partners for the property at a time the region’s commercial and residential markets are moribund and showing few signs of recovery.

No wonder one fellow has suggested turning Fort McPherson into a park with a Civil Rights theme, according to Michael Dobbins, a former Atlanta planning commissioner.

By David Pendered

Any niceties that ever existed between Atlanta’s public housing chief and Mayor Kasim Reed’s strongest appointee to the housing board evaporated Wednesday.

The two sparred over just two aspects of the housing agency’s budget – the use of outside lawyers and a communications firm. But the real issue was an open challenge to Renee Glover’s ability to lead the Atlanta Housing Authority, as she has since 1994.

At stake in this contest are the homes and future living conditions for about 50,000 residents in some 20,000 households. Plus, there is a myriad of contracts to be awarded and paid through an annual operating budget of just over $256 million.

By David Pendered

Competing plans for redeveloping Fort McPherson are starting to take the stage.

One plan that will be presented Wednesday carries extra heft. It was crafted by Georgia Tech students who were overseen by Michael Dobbins, a former Atlanta planning commissioner and current professor of practice at Tech.

“The big policy issue presented by Fort McPherson is whether this 488 acre site, which is roughly four times of the size of Atlantic Station, conceives of itself as interacting with the rest of city or remaining an enclave,” Dobbins said. “All of the planning so far treats it as an enclave.”

By David Pendered

If you build a Beltline park, they will come – and trash it.

That has been the experience with a park that opened May 14 following a $4.5 million restoration. D.H. Stanton Park is located in Southeast Atlanta, adjacent to the city’s planned corridor of transit, trails, greenspace and development.

“It’s extremely disappointing and disturbing, what’s happening at Stanton Park,” said city parks Commissioner George Dusenberry.

By David Pendered

State transportation officials are working to improve the program that transports the poor, elderly and disabled from their home to health care in rural Georgia.

This effort doesn’t garner the high level attention of the companion program to ease gridlock and enhance transit in urban areas. The headline-grabbing transportation mobility program is to lead to a vote next year on a proposed penny sales tax to pay for upgrades in metro Atlanta and other regions statewide.

The rural and human services transit program serves mostly the poor, old, and/or disabled. It’s funded at about $138 million a year to provide a patchwork quilt of transit services, mainly to health care facilities.

By David Pendered

There’s no cause for either celebration or concern – Atlanta does not intend to reopen talks about allowing bars to serve alcohol later into the night.

Councilman Michael J. Bond said Thursday that he’s received calls from folks concerned about legislation he filed Monday. They think he may want to create a forum to extend pouring hours.

That’s not the case.

By David Pendered

A call for campaign finance reform in Atlanta has resulted in Mayor Kasim Reed saying contracts awarded this autumn for the world’s busiest airport will be clean.

Common Cause of Georgia has issued a report contending that lucrative airport contracts usually go to benefactors of city politicians. The way to stop that, Common Cause says, is stop airport vendors and their agents from pouring money into campaigns.

About four hours after Common Cause met with reporters on the north steps of City Hall, Reed’s office released a 912-word statement. The headline: “Mayor Kasim Reed Expresses Confidence in Hartsfield-Jackson Airport Management.”

One key paragraph reverses a previous decision by the city’s Procurement Department concerning secret issues.

By David Pendered

The complete breadth of the campaign finance reform Common Cause is seeking from Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed became clear at the group’s media conference this morning.

If enacted, all companies that do business with Atlanta would be limited to a contribution limit of $250 over the course of four years for each candidate and office holder, according to Common Cause of Georgia.

The push for campaign finance reform by Common Cause is timed to coincide with the city’s pending award of contracts for all the food and beverage concessionaires at Atlanta’s airport. The amount of space up for grabs in contracts that will last at least a decade is about 191,000 square feet, which is equal in size to almost two average Wal-Mart stores.

By David Pendered

Common Cause of Georgia plans to stand before Atlanta City Hall Wednesday to call upon Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta City Council to reform campaign finance rules as the city prepares to issue lucrative concessions contracts at the airport.

“Our purpose is to publicly call for action to enact campaign finance reform as outlined in the report,” said Kirwin Swint, a political science professor at Kennesaw State University who wrote the white paper on the topic for Common Cause.

The white paper contends that campaign contributors have a history of winning airport contracts. That practice should stop, according to the good government group.

By David Pendered

Common Cause of Georgia has called upon Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed to reform campaign finance rules as the city prepares to issue lucrative concessions contracts at the airport.

Common Cause contends that campaign contributors have a history of winning airport contracts. That practice should stop, according to a white paper by the good government group.

Reed issued a lengthy response that concludes: “It’s time to stop resurrecting ghosts from the past and focus on the present and the future.”

Read the mayor’s full response at the end of this story.

By David Pendered

A group formed to educate voters about the 2012 transportation sales tax referendum met Friday to review its progress and to meet the three consultants who will coordinate a campaign fund raising effort.

The First Friday Transportation Forum includes representatives of interests ranging from banks to developers, paving contractors to apartment owners, the Georgia Conservancy to the AARP. Their common interests include improving transportation mobility and raising public awareness of the penny sales tax referendum next summer.

The fund raising consultants are Kristin Oblander, Candice Franklin and Rebecca Cummiskey. The three are veterans of political campaigns including:

By David Pendered

Local governments across the nation have yet to fall off the cliff and plunge into default, as predicted in September by superstar analyst Meredith Whitney.

That said, the near- and long-term fiscal future for local governments in metro Atlanta is grim, according to a panel of finance and fiscal experts who met Thursday at Georgia State University.

“Overall, we had these real-world people make presentations and their general conclusion is that it’s not going to get any easier,” said Dr. Michael Bell, a former CFO for DeKalb County and Atlanta who’s now a GSU professor of practice in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies.

By David Pendered

Metro Atlanta voters today can see the full list of transportation projects that their local elected officials will consider for inclusion on the sales tax referendum in 2012.

The list of projects was released this morning to the Atlanta Region Transportation Roundtable from the state Department of Transportation. The roundtable is comprised of elected officials from the 10 metro counties that are to vote on the penny sales tax in July 2012.

The roundtable is to cull the list of $29.8 billion worth of projects to an amount of about $8 billion, which is the amount the penny sales tax for transportation is expected to generate over the course of a decade in a 10-county metro area.

By David Pendered

The first delay has been recorded in Atlanta’s process of selecting companies for the multi-billion-dollar food and beverage concessions at Atlanta’s airport.

The three-week delay is the first in an aggressive schedule designed to have contracts signed in September by the Atlanta City Council. The council’s vote likely will authorize Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed to sign the contracts.

Airport General Manager Louis Miller said the delay stems from the city’s decision to amend the package of “requests for proposals” that were released in March.

“Not surprisingly, both large and small proponents have requested additional time to fully assess the changes to the RFPs,” Miller said. “We are happy to accommodate our proponents in a way that still allows us to meet our project deadlines.”

By David Pendered

A delegation from the Buckhead Coalition left Atlanta for Bermuda Thursday on a three-day trip to cement relations with the coalition’s new sister community.

The “sister community” relationship may be a first for Atlanta, which does have a rich history – dating to 1974 – of establishing relations with sister cities around the globe.

This is hardly the first time the Buckhead Coalition has struck out on its own. In 2004, the coalition commissioned its own neighborhood flag and sent one to the town of Buckhead, the Morgan County town of just over 200 residents that won’t relinquish its mailing address to its upscale cousin.

By David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed predicted Wednesday that metro Atlanta voters will reject the sales tax referendum for transportation in 2012 if the campaign is run by the current team of consultants.

The team consists of four white men – one from Alabama, two from Virginia and one from Marietta.

“The notion that this is the team … is stunning to me,” Reed said. “This is a huge problem, and if they want to go down this road and assemble a team that’s not inclusive and resembles this region, we’re going to lose.”

Tad Leithead, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, responded that the team eventually will hire local vendors who will reflect the region’s diversity.

By David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed issued two strong challenges today to the group of elected officials overseeing the 2012 referendum for a penny sales tax to pay for transportation improvements.

Reed questioned the decision to hire a team to run the voter education and sales tax campaign that includes no women or persons of color. Reed also called for polls of voters to be scientific rather, than the informal polls conducted in recent months.

Tad Leithead, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, responded to Reed’s remarks. Leithead said the team’s leadership will hire local women and minorities and that future polls will be scientific.

By David Pendered

Kevin Green took time Tuesday to talk about his views of, and vision for, Midtown on the day he was named president and CEO of Midtown Alliance.

Green sees a bright future. Midtown faces good opportunities to continue growing into a pleasant and safe community, he says.

Read excepts of a conversation with Green about seven different topics. And be sure to see his thoughts about the potential for new retail shops in Midtown.

By David Pendered

Atlanta has decided not to identify the persons who will serve on the selection team that will recommend which companies should be awarded a concesssions contract at the airport.

Paul Brown, the airport’s concessions director, said the names of “experienced airport managers” who are chosen to serve on the selection committee – and even the number who serve on the committee – will remain confidential until after their work is done.

The selection team will review proposals from companies that want a piece of the lucrative food and beverage concession business at the airport. The selection team will recommend which companies should win a contract that will last at least a decade.

By David Pendered

Hard to believe by historic standards, but a recent report by Deutsche Bank shows it’s cheaper to buy a home than rent one in metro Atlanta.

In fact, metro Atlanta now is the cheapest city in the nation to buy as opposed to rent, according to a report by Deutsche Bank. The leading causes are plummeting home prices and low interest rates, the bank says.

The effort to help potential homebuyers benefit from this new reality is being led in our area by Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc.

On Wednesday, the Piece by Piece initiative that’s ANDP is coordinating will host a seminar titled, “Understanding Rehab Mortgages.”