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PEDS calls for safer pedestrian access to transit, provides toolkit for achievable safety upgrades

by David Pendered

A new report by PEDS calls on transportation planners to make pedestrian safety as important a goal as congestion relief, particularly near transit stops. The report also includes a toolkit for improving pedestrian safety near transit stops.

“We want safety to be a top priority, or as important as congestion relief,” Sally Flocks, PEDS president and CEO, said Sunday.

Flocks is slated to present the report Thursday to the ARC’s Transportation and Air Quality Committee. PEDS will ask ARC to conduct a pedestrian safety study. The Atlanta Regional Commission already is sensitive to the issue of pedestrian safety and now provides funding for last-mile connectivity efforts, Flocks said.

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A.D. King delegation to meet Queen of England at Nigeria’s celebration

by David Pendered

The Queen of England is slated to meet Martin Luther King Jr.’s sister-in-law during Nigeria’s centennial celebration next week in London.

Naomi Barber King is the widow of A.D. King, brother of the slain civil rights leader. She founded the A.D. King Foundation, which promotes a platform of non-violent social change that’s distinct from measures conducted in the name of the more famous civil rights leader.

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Free app provides riders with more information on transit arrival times

by David Pendered

A free app from researchers at Georgia Tech is the latest step toward providing transit passengers with the integrated information they need to know about the region’s public transit systems.

The app now provides arrival time for MARTA trains. It previously had provided arrival times for MARTA buses and Georgia Tech’s shuttles. Over time, developers plan to add arrival data for other transit systems in the Atlanta area.

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Obama budget stiffs Savannah harbor, funds programs used for Atlanta Streetcar, BeltLine

by David Pendered

Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday was quick to jump on President Obama’s budget proposal for not including money to start the Savannah harbor deepening project.

But the Obama proposal does contain money for other transportation projects that may be of help in Georgia, particularly in Atlanta. Deal said the state will begin deepening the harbor with funds it already has set aside for the job.

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Construction delays at Panama Canal could affect Savannah harbor project

by David Pendered

The $266 million that Georgia is setting aside for the planned deepening of the Savannah harbor is being protected by a proposed financial bailout of the Panama Canal expansion project.

The Savannah project is based on the premise that Savannah needs a deeper harbor to handle the bigger ships expected to transit the bigger Panama Canal. However, work on the canal resumed just last week – and only on a limited basis – after a two-week stoppage because of disagreement over $1.6 billion in cost overruns.

The entire budget for the canal’s expansion is $5.25 billion. The total cost now is forecast at nearly $7 billion, which is an increase of more than 30 percent above original projections.

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Falcons stadium: Land acquisition, connectivity report on neighborhoods await action by Atlanta City Council

by David Pendered

The Atlanta City Council is slated to cast a series of votes Monday that may resolve a bit of the uncertainty surrounding the planned Falcons stadium.

But no matter how the council votes, significant issues remain unresolved. Construction funding for the $1.1 billion stadium remains subject to a legal challenge that could derail the project. In addition, the council just this weekend received a highly anticipated report from Mike Dobbins that address issues of connectivity and community regarding the stadium site.

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GSU report blunt on economy: “Odds are against 2014 being breakout year”

by David Pendered

Everyone is looking for a breakout year for the economy. So much so that Georgia State University went ahead and said it probably won’t be so.

“Forecaster says odds are against 2014 being a breakout year for the economy,” is the headline that GSU put on its statement about the latest economic forecast by Rajeev Dhawan, of the school’s Economic Forecasting Center.

On Friday, the U.S. Commerce Department revised downward its estimate of quarterly growth at the end of 2013. The growth rate was dropped by 25 percent from initial estimates, from 3.2 percent growth to 2.4 percent.

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As sustainability becomes a jobs issue, Ga., NY follow different paths

by David Pendered

As Georgia vies for top talent and industry, a new program in New York that finances clean energy industries bears watching.

The New York Green Bank intends to help finance industries that hasten the transition to clean energy. The program is generally supported by the Sierra Club and headed by a banking veteran from Citigroup.

In comparison, Georgia environmentalists oppose a proposed water policy endorsed Wednesday by Gov. Nathan Deal: A plan to address low river flow in southwest Georgia by storing water underground and releasing as needed. The company that once pushed the plan withdrew following conflict-of-interest criticism from environmentalists.

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GRTA’s Xpress bus funding quietly becomes part of state’s base budget

by David Pendered

Georgia has quietly gotten into the business of subsidizing regional bus service in metro Atlanta.

Gov. Nathan Deal and state lawmakers have made barely a peep this year about providing about the $8.2 million that Deal recommended to pay for bus service provided by GRTA, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. This sum doesn’t quite cover a year’s worth of operations, and the legislature likely will fill the gap next year.

This transit funding is remarkable, if only for its history.

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Olympia building at Five Points to be restored to historic grandeur

by David Pendered

The historic Olympia building at Five Points is to be restored to its original grandeur, right down to the neon lighting from its days as the showroom for Wormser Hats.

The entire plan for the exterior of the building is based on photographs of the building when it opened soon after the Great Depression, according to Michael Wirsching, with Atlanta-based ASD Inc.

The building is to have a single tenant. Further commercial details were not available from city records and a principal with the owner, Florida-based Encore Real Estate, could not be reached for comment.

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Atlanta’s tech sector to prospect for capital, attention, in Silicon Valley

by David Pendered

There’s just something about a $19 billion price tag on a business acquisition that catches the eye.

This figure has to be in the back of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s mind as he prepares to lead a trade delegation to Silicon Valley. The group has meetings with 12 venture capital companies and social media platforms to invite them to invest in Atlanta tech companies.

The $19 billion is the sum Facebook has agreed to pay to purchase WhatsApp, a messaging giant. WhatsApp has more than 450 million monthly active users, and more than 70 percent of them are active each day, according to techcrunch.com.

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Transportation update: GRTA’s acting director, MARTA reorg on hold, Atlanta’s transportation planning

by David Pendered

Some degree of clarity is emerging in metro Atlanta’s cauldron of transportation planners, managers, and planning.

GRTA Executive Director Jannine Miller visited the Capitol Thursday to say her goodbyes to lawmakers and introduce them to Kirk Fjelstul, her deputy director who was named by GRTA’s board as acting director. Down Mitchell Street from the Capitol, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed remains without a transportation planning director as the city tries to figure out how to realign Martin Luther King Jr. Drive around the future Falcons stadium and implement its bike share program.

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Atlanta’s latest plan for MLK Drive: Shift vehicles onto a two-lane street

by David Pendered

Atlanta now is proposing to reroute traffic west of the Falcons stadium from Martin Luther King Jr. Drive to a two-lane residential street that has curbside parking.

The Parsons Brinckerfhoff engineering firm designed this solution to the closure of the MLK viaduct. The proposal would create a seamless MLK Drive corridor, Richard Mendoza, the city’s public works commissioner, said Wednesday during a work session convened by the Atlanta City Council’s Utilities Committee.

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Falcons can cancel stadium deal Sept. 30 if Atlanta doesn’t provide $200 million, Herndon Homes parking

by David Pendered

Terms of the deal for the Falcons stadium underscore the risks inherent in a delay in Atlanta’s sale of the bonds to fund the stadium, even as the Atlanta City Council appears to be in no rush to abandon land the state seeks for the stadium.

The Falcons can terminate the deal if Atlanta hasn’t sold bonds and deposited into the appropriate account at least $200 million by Sept. 30. The Falcons can back out if the former Herndon Homes public housing site isn’t made available for surface parking. There seems to be no mention of what happens if Atlanta declines to abandon its property.

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Symbols old and new capture angst emerging around Falcons stadium

by David Pendered

The Falcons stadium is the next “Peyton wall” of Atlanta, a lawyer said Monday, comparing the sports venue to an actual wall the city erected across Peyton Road in 1962 to separate black and white neighborhoods.

By another account, the stadium saga is Atlanta’s version of “Groundhog Day.” In the movie, actor Bill Murray relived the same depressing events day after day after day. Poor people are the protagonists in this comparison to real life.

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Atlanta’s funding for Falcon stadium delayed at least seven weeks by judge

by David Pendered

A seven-week delay in Atlanta’s schedule sell bonds to help pay for construction of the Falcons stadium was the immediate result of a court hearing Monday morning.

Bond validation petitions typically are open-and-shut matters. Lawyers for the government usually get a speedy ruling from a judge that allows the sale of bonds to proceed posthaste.

In the case of Atlanta’s bonds for the stadium, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Ural Granville set the next date for a bond validation hearing for April 10. In the meantime, opponents of the bond issuance can begin gathering at least some of the evidence they intend to use to try to prevent the city from issuing $278.3 million in bonds to help finance the stadium.

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MARTA expansion along I-20 in eastern DeKalb County a goal of proposed East Metro CID

by David Pendered

Civic leaders in south DeKalb County are trying – again – to improve the area, and this time their goals include the extension of MARTA bus and rail service along the I-20 corridor east to Mall at Stonecrest.

One caveat that may distinguish this organizational effort from its two predecessor’s is this plain call to extend MARTA service. The I-20/east route is among those MARTA GM Keith Parker says are contenders – once construction money is available.

Advocates say the CID would enable commercial property owners to raise money that could help provide the local match needed to draw down state and federal dollars. The CID funds also could target public safety, appearance, and roadway/sidewalk improvements.

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Georgia’s solar industry adds jobs as PSC calls for more solar energy

by David Pendered

Georgia has climbed to 16th place in the nation in 2013 for the number of workers in the solar industry, according to a new report by The Solar Foundation.

Georgia has added some 1,800 solar jobs since 2012, bringing the total number of jobs in Georgia’s solar industry to about 2,600, the report found.

“This report shows that the solar industry is putting people to work to meet a growing percentage of our energy needs with a pollution-free energy source that has no fuel costs,” Jennette Gayer, with Environment Georgia, said in a statement announcing the report.

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Lawsuit contends stadium bonds unconstitutional, violate Georgia’s environmental policies

by David Pendered

A court challenge has been filed against Atlanta’s plan to sell $278.3 million in bonds to help fund construction of the Falcons’ $1.2 billion stadium.

The motion to intervene portrays a breakdown in legislative and administrative processes all the way from the state Capitol to the Georgia World Congress Center Authority and to Atlanta City Hall.

The motion raises legal issues involving the constitutionality of the hotel motel tax; the demolition of two churches; failure to address state-mandated environmental concerns; and failure to ask the Atlanta Regional Commission to review the project as a development of regional impact.

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Mayor Reed’s legacy to be tested by challenge to city funding of stadium

by David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed may be bucking the adage that history judges leaders for their performance in battles not of their choosing.

One battle Reed did choose, and on which he will be judged, is to help the Falcons build a new stadium. The mayor has not been able to end the battle, though it was to have been over when the Atlanta City Council approved in December a community benefits deal that released $200 million in construction financing.

More than two months after that council vote, the stadium financing is still not a done deal: The city’s funding could be tied up in court for a year; a $200 million loan from the NFL is contingent on the city’s funding; and the state’s request to Atlanta to abandon land for the stadium is lingering in the Atlanta City Council.

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