This is a different kind of Black History Month. It began early, with a Black academic’s rebuke of Stacy Abrams on an Atlanta-based podcast. It includes studies of reparations by Spelman College and Emory University, plus the release of C.T. Vivian’s memoir.
Category: David Pendered
Articles by David Pendered
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Election-year urban renewal plans could imprint Mayor Bottoms’ legacy on race, class
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ administration has proposed three election-year urban renewal initiatives that, if enacted, could imprint the mayor’s legacy on the city’s divisions around race and class for years to come.
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Joe Biden, Scranton, Lackawanna River, and me
JERMYN, PA. – My parents are buried on the banks of a river that passes near Joe Biden’s childhood home in Scranton.
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Truck traffic in metro Atlanta: No end in sight as freight moves in Georgia
By David Pendered
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of periodic reports on freight logistics in metro Atlanta and Georgia.
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Mortgage debt rising among older homeowners; metro Atlanta faces decisions
Mortgage debt continues to rise among the nation’s homeowners age 65-plus. More than a quarter of the 80-plus crowd now has mortgage debt, according to findings by the Federal Reserve and Harvard University.
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Georgia Power’s new rate program may raise prices for some residential customers
Paycheck-to-paycheck workers may be especially vulnerable to higher-than-standard power bills after a new rate program for Georgia Power takes effect Jan. 1, 2021, according to the consumer advocacy group Georgia Watch.
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Mental health: Take a walk, play with ducks, blow off steam with Gen Z lyric video
The summer smash refrain, “Lowkey F2020,” does as good a job as any of the surveys in summing up the nation’s mental and emotional health. One balm that still works, say those who promote it, is spending time outdoors.
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Georgia lawmakers face calls for police reform, end of some military-style weapons
The call for police reform following the death of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery has been sounded for the session of the state Legislature that is to begin in January. Six such proposals have been submitted in the state House.
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Rural broadband: Metro Atlanta touched by shortages state’s PSC is to address
Georgia’s woes with rural broadband don’t seem so rural when it turns out the shortages include portions of metro Atlanta’s urban core – in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties. By Dec. 15, a plan to help alleviate the shortages is due from the state utilities regulator.
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Hosea Williams: ‘Unbought, unbossed’ civil rights leader died 20 years ago
The name Hosea Williams was scarcely mentioned in 2020, the year three civil rights icons died. Williams’ life and work in the movement was commemorated this month in a small ceremony, on the 20th anniversary of his death.
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After election dust settles: Transit expansion continues in Atlanta, Clayton County
Transit expansion in metro Atlanta will continue in Atlanta and Clayton County. The region will go without eye-popping transit projects once envisioned in Gwinnett and DeKalb counties, nor will Newton County pilot a transit system, in the foreseeable future.
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City of South Fulton takes steps to spur $2 billion in development over 20 years
The City of South Fulton has taken tangible steps to promote a projected $2 billion in growth, over 20 years, in two sections of the city that face different types of challenges – the rural west side and the commercial east side of town.
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Tenant, health, equity advocates rally to defend challenge to CDC eviction ban
Affordable housing, LGBTQ rights and pediatric health are among the issues that have emerged in a federal lawsuit in Atlanta that pits landlords of millions of rental homes against the CDC’s efforts to prevent evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Volunteer environmental groups: Formidable force for Chattahoochee, South rivers
Volunteer environmentalists are fighting two separate battles to keep pollution out of the Chattahoochee River and South River, the two biggest waterways in metro Atlanta.
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COVID-era culture calls on marketing sector to create new types of messages
Turning State Farm Arena into Georgia’s biggest polling place may be a marketing stroke of brilliance. The COVID-driven stampede to online everything also puts the marketing sector at a pivot point in today’s culture.
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Atlanta Fed president urges new rules for banking in minority communities
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic pointed to a few Atlanta neighborhoods to explain why the Federal Reserve intends to revise the law that governs banking in many minority and lower-income communities.
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As military base closures loom, Georgia’s team led by former U.S. naval secretary
With a round of military base closures possibly on the horizon, Georgia is taking steps to defend its installations. Gov. Brian Kemp has named a former secretary of the Navy to lead the effort.
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Atlanta’s equitable development: No easy answers, but other cities could light way
As Atlanta struggles with the idea of equitable development in blighted areas, such as along the southern crescent of the Atlanta BeltLine, efforts in Washington, Detroit and Boston present real-time examples.
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Two Black, Democratic women are the face of change in Cobb, Gwinnett counties
Two Black women, both Democrats, have changed the political dynamics in Cobb and Gwinnett counties in the 2020 election cycle. One is an incumbent county commissioner campaigning for the position of county chair; one promotes candidates and the GOTV effort as head of the county’s Democratic Party.
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Deluxe Corp. cites sustainable values in new offices in Sandy Springs, Minneapolis
Recent headlines about Deluxe Corp. have focused on the 700 high tech, $90,000-plus salary jobs it is to bring to Sandy Springs. Barry McCarthy chose his words in a recent conversation to shine a light on corporate values that include community outreach – without mentioning his own lengthy record of service.
