Articles by David Pendered
MARTA’s latest contract negotiation with its labor union could help MARTA curb personnel costs by reducing absenteeism and the overtime costs it creates.
Absent workers represent one of the main categories where MARTA could cut costs, according to the management audit conducted in 2012 by the consulting firm KPMG. MARTA covers for absent workers by approving overtime pay for their replacements.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has appointed Dan Halpern, a politically influential Atlanta businessman whom Reed previously placed on the board of the Atlanta Housing Authority, to represent Atlanta on the board of the Airport West Community Improvement District.
This CID was formed earlier this year to promote a region west of the airport. The CID’s board approved in June an annual budget of $1.6 million to fund various planned improvements.
The corporate headquarters that Cousins Properties is developing for Genuine Parts Co. in Cobb County exemplifies the optimism within the commercial industry that’s cited in the Atlanta Fed’s latest “beige book.”
The 150,000 square foot building is a boon to the region’s construction-related industries. Cousins has developed the concept and site solutions. HKS Architects and Hendrick Interior Design is handling the design.
Memorial Drive has the potential to become a visually interesting and vibrant corridor along its section from Oakland Cemetery east to the Atlanta city limit, at Candler Road in DeKalb County.
At least, that’s the opinion of a group of Georgia Tech students who have spent their fall semester analyzing Memorial Drive. On Wednesday, they unveiled a report they and their professor think is so well developed that parts of it are ready to be implemented.
Atlanta’s airport has not kept pace with concerns raised about cyber security, according to a new city audit.
The laundry list of unresolved issues includes former airport contractors having access to computer systems regarding the airport; and network issues at the airport so critical that the report said specifically that it did not name them for fear the issues would be made public.
Georgia State University and the CDC have teamed up on a two-year research project to evaluate how the Atlanta BeltLine is affecting the quality of life of people who live near it.
The BeltLine is the nation’s largest urban renewal project. As such, there’s a great deal of interest in the degree to which the BeltLine can improve the physical and mental well being of people who live near it or use it regularly.
Atlanta will continue to allow 10-year-old taxis to operate in the city under legislation slated for adoption Monday by the Atlanta City Council.
This is to be the fourth waiver of the age limit on the city’s taxi fleet since Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration began an effort in July 2011 to clean and modernize the city’s fleet of up to 1,600 vehicles for hire.
MARTA has scheduled two meetings in early December to enable the public to learn about, and comment on, plans to advance the proposed light rail line that’s to stretch from the Lindbergh Station, through the Clifton Road corridor, to the Avondale Station.
The proposed light rail line that would serve the Emory University area has been discussed for nearly 20 years.
Brookhaven would pay $683,000 to provide city services to two areas that have asked to be annexed into the city, according to a recent report from the city manager.
The cost would cover compensation and equipment for five additional police officers needed to serve Executive Park and the campus of Children’s Health Care of Atlanta, as well as for one code enforcement officer.
Atlanta is taking a small but potentially significant step to aid blighted neighborhoods.
Inmates from the city jail will be deployed to board up buildings that are open and vacant, in cases where owners won’t secure them. The program aims to reduce the number of structures available to harbor vermin, disease, and criminals.
Florida has submitted a $26.1 million proposal to improve water issues that affect the Apalachicola River basin. Funding is to come from environmental penalties paid in connection with the 2010 oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
The document Florida filed doesn’t address the effect this proposal could have on the state’s water dispute with Georgia, which involves the Apalachicola watershed.
Atlanta low-balled the event, but the city on Thursday hosted an industry forum that is an early step in the process of building a major park along the Atlanta BeltLine, at the old Bellwood rock quarry.
At the forum, Atlanta presented information to vendors who may want to help establish a water reservoir at the old quarry. While the reservoir is immensely important, the public’s attention has been more attracted to the prospect of a huge new park to be built on the same site on Atlanta’s west side.
A new report by Pew Charitable Trusts shows that Georgia is a national leader in solar power and clean energy.
Released Tuesday, Pew’s report provides more information for policy makers as the nation prepares to respond to new federal policies. The policies are to compel states to reduce carbon emissions associated with power production.
A significant test of Sandy Springs’ commitment to its vision of a pedestrian oriented downtown is to get its first public hearing Thursday before the city’s Planning Commission.
A developer proposes to rezone 10.9 acres along Roswell Road in order to build 329 apartments and 16,000 square feet of retail at the current Marshall’s Plaza. City planners say the four-story project is simply too dense for the walkable town center Sandy Springs intends to establish along this stretch of Roswell Road.
Recent settlements regarding Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Institute of Arts speak to the role of a civic sense of duty in keeping a city’s cultural doors open.
The ASO intends to secure up to $33 million in donations to endow 11 new musician chairs by 2018, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The DIA will remain open with an aid package that includes $366 million contributed over 20 years by local and national foundations, according to the bankruptcy court ruling.
Atlanta is poised to ask the ARC to help fund a $200,000 study intended to help guide the redevelopment of neighborhoods surrounding Turner Field.
The ARC would provide $160,000 and the city’s match of $40,000 would be provided by the city and by Invest Atlanta, the city’s development arm, according to legislation that’s due to be adopted Monday by the Atlanta City Council.
The words of a Spelman College graduate were a guiding principle in the historic bankruptcy settlement of Detroit.
“Democracy is not a spectator sport,” is the quote by Marian Wright Edelman, valedictorian, Class of 1960, and 11-year chair of Spelman’s Board of Trustees. Edelman founded the Children’s Defense Fund in 1973 and serves as its president.
Almost 100 acres of undeveloped land along the Chattahoochee River, located just south of Buford Dam, has been put up for sale by the city of Sugar Hill.
And there’s more than just the land to whet interest. The site overlooks Richland Creek, where gold was mined in the 1830s as prospectors looked for nuggets far from the crowds who’d flocked to Dahlonega in the gold rush of 1828.
A taste of things to come in the management of Georgia’s water resources may be evident in the federal lawsuit filed over the role of Lake Allatoona as a source of drinking water for metro Atlanta.
The lawsuit rekindles a host of issues including: Gov. Nathan Deal’s plan to build or expand water reservoirs; water conservation efforts; and the federal government’s pending Water Control Manual for the Chattahoochee River system.
The issue of regulating Uber-type taxi service in Georgia is to arise again today in the state Legislature.
A study committee formed by the state House is to convene its first meeting to consider the topic of “for-hire transportation services.” The House formed the committee following the controversy surrounding a proposal that would have regulated Uber, Lyft and other app-based taxi services.
