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DeKalb County’s interim CEO: Works with Republicans, funded by Democrats, educated as a cleric

by David Pendered

The Democrat chosen by Gov. Nathan Deal to serve as interim CEO of DeKalb County wrote a piece with a Republican colleague that appeared last week on Shirley Franklin’s website. It calls for the position of CEO – and DeKalb’s entire form of goverment – to be eliminated.

Although DeKalb County Commissioner Lee May will reach across the aisle, he has strong backing from the state’s leading Democrats. Former Gov. Roy Barnes’ law firm contributed to May’s 2012 reelection campaign, along with the family-owned company headed by former Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor.  Michael Thurmond, the former state labor commissioner who now serves DeKalb as interim school superintendent, contributed.

May opposed the proposed 2012 transportation sales tax, saying it provided too few benefits to south DeKalb. About the same time, May said he was considering running against incumbent CEO Burrell Ellis because he disagreed with the direction Ellis was taking the county.

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Solar energy meeting follows PSC ruling that Ga. Power significantly expand its solar portfolio

by David Pendered

Now that Georgia's utility regulator has authorized the additional development of solar power in the state, attention is turning to questions of how that power will be governed.

In less than a year, Georgia’s Public Service Commission has approved 735 megawatts through solar power arrays. Georgia Power voluntarily provided the first 210 megawatts that was approved last winter. The PSC voted last week to require the additional 525 megawatts as part of a broader Georgia Power docket.

The solar expansion happens to have come to a head just as the Georgia Solar Energy Association hosts a forum on Thursday in Atlanta. The featured speaker is coming from North Carolina, where there was a movement this year to roll back some of the state’s significant goals for producing renewable energy.

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Proposed four-lane road in middle Georgia promoted as traffic reliever for I-20 in Atlanta, helpful to port

by David Pendered

Community leaders who advocate for a new highway that would improve access between LaGrange and Macon are pitching the proposed road as a way to ease traffic congestion in Atlanta and freight shipments to and from the state port in Savannah.

The proposed highway earned high marks from the consultant who drafted the recent long-term transportation plan for the Georgia Department of Transportation. For their part, GDOT officials have said the state has scant dollars for major new projects.

But the economic challenge hasn’t stopped two regional commissions – Three Rivers and Middle Georgia – from launching a campaign urging GDOT to conduct a corridor study. Among the reasons they cite for the road is the relief it could provide to I-20 in Atlanta.

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Proposal to have Atlanta Streetcar planning done by BeltLine hits snag over who’s to pay for the research

by David Pendered

Atlanta’s effort to bring more of the planning for the expansion of the Atlanta Streetcar under the wing of the Atlanta BeltLine has hit a snag at Atlanta City Hall.

This particular situation is not expected to be significant. But it is the latest in a series that has led to the delay of at least a year in the planned opening of the Atlanta streetcar’s current route.

The current snag involves the source of up to $6 million to pay for planners and planning consultants to work on the streetcar expansion project. The city council’s Finance Committee raised a question that may delay legislation that had been slated for adoption by the council on Monday: What sources of taxpayer dollars will the Atlanta BeltLine use to pay for this long-range planning.

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Reed announces new film office one day after council committee calls for it to report at least seven times a year

by David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s office announced Thursday that the mayor has created an Office of Entertainment to oversee the film industry, in accordance with an ordinance approved July 1 by the Atlanta City Council.

The announcement came one day after the council’s Finance Committee approved legislation that would require the new office to report a total of at least seven times a year to two of the council’s standing committees – finance and community development.

“While we support the film commission, we want to make sure that … it is done in a way where we are all on the same page,” said Councilperson Joyce Sheperd, the lead sponsor of the council’s proposal.

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Atlanta City Council wants monthly accountability reports on business incentives offered by Invest Atlanta

by David Pendered

The Atlanta City Council is trying to get a handle on the incentives offered by Invest Atlanta during negotiations over business relocations.

The measure comes as the council wrestles with the increasing independence exercised by the leaders of the city’s development arm, which is chaired by the mayor. On Wednesday, the council’s Finance Committee approved a resolution that calls on the city’s CFO to submit monthly reports to the council on the incentives Invest Atlanta orders paid to businesses. The full council is to vote on the plan July 15.

Committee Chair Felicia Moore shelved a sterner measure she’d proposed that called for a non-binding council vote before Invest Atlanta could offer such incentives. Moore, who introduced both papers, said the stricter proposal was unlikely to win enough votes to pass.

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Mayor Reed has $1.6 million in campaign cash, buys office furniture from an online liquidator

by David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed continues to attract campaign contributions at a rate that shows no signs of cooling as he prepares for election to a term that increasingly appears to be his second in office.

Reed has $1.6 million in cash on hand, according to a campaign disclosure report received July 6 by state campaign officials. Reed raised $320,621 and spent $161,141 during the second quarter of the year.

Reed’s financial prudence may be evident in the office furniture purchased for the campaign office. Reed’s campaign bought it from an online liquidator for $3,562. The next day, April 16, the campaign received a credit in the amount of $65.68, according to the report.

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Beautification of Peachtree Street bridges the first step in vision for adorning Downtown Connector

by David Pendered

A long-awaited effort to create iconic bridges across Atlanta’s Downtown Connector is culminating this summer and a final design is due before the year’s end.

The first two projects involve Peachtree Street, Atlanta’s signature boulevard. The working draft for the enhancements is evocative of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a world famous bridge that’s located in the host city of the 2000 Summer Olympic Games that came right after the Atlanta games.

If all goes as planned, the Peachtree Street bridges will be completed in March 2015. About that time, planning is to begin for three other bridge projects. The $5.35 million in construction funding for the Peachtree Street bridges is coming from a combination of business, state, and philanthropic sources, according to a recent presentation to the board of the state Department of Transportation.

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Tollway authority uses reserves to cover first budget without Ga. 400 tolls – $12.2 million drops away

by David Pendered

As Chris Tomlinson made the rounds after his appointment in March as head of the State Road and Tollway Authority, he joked that the pending end of the unpopular tolls on Ga. 400 provided him with an easy start to the job.

The SRTA budget approved June 25 suggests the honeymoon is over and the hard task of governance in lean economic times has begun.

SRTA projects a shortfall in its operating budget of 36.7 percent, or $7.6 million, in an expense budget of $20.7 million. SRTA intends to cover the shortfall with $5.8 million in reserves and revenue from two other sources.

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As transportation sales taxes roll in elsewhere, metro Atlanta ponders how to provide traffic relief

by David Pendered

Three regions in Georgia where voters in 2012 passed the 1 percent sales tax for transportation have raised a total of $54 million from January through May, according to a report last week from the state finance commission.

That may not seem like a lot of money in comparison to the billions of dollars the tax would have collected if metro Atlanta voters had approved it. But it’s a pot of construction money some may envy as municipal officials in metro Atlanta continue to raise the question of how to ease traffic congestion in this region, where voters rejected the sales tax referendum.

Transportation was the sole subject discussed during a June 24 luncheon that was part of the annual conference hosted in Savannah by the Georgia Municipal Association. More than 120 municipal officials attended the lunch, according to the July newsletter of the Metro Atlanta Mayors Association.

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Atlanta struggles in first steps to provide $200 million for Falcons stadium as community deal lingers

by David Pendered

Atlanta got off to a rocky start Tuesday in its important first steps toward selling $200 million in bonds to help pay for construction of a new $1 billion Falcons stadium.

Atlanta can’t sell any stadium bonds until after the Atlanta City Council approves a deal with stadium communities. The first meeting to reach the deal ended Tuesday with little progress. Invest Atlanta officials, who convened the meeting, said they’ll rewrite their planned scope of work and delay the deal’s adoption past their target of Sept. 25 – and await further instructions from Mayor Kasim Reed, who chairs their board.

As a result, Atlanta’s posture in the stadium deal is that it can’t say with any confidence when it will give the Falcons any of the $200 million in construction financing. Nor can Atlanta say how it will resolve the situation in which a church is blocking the stadium site preferred by the Falcons.

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Northside Drive: $2 billion in planned development may spur road’s renewal

by David Pendered

Two billion dollars in investments near Northside Drive in downtown Atlanta ought to go a long way toward promoting the rejuvenation of a gritty, five-mile stretch of the road located south of I-75.

A new study from Georgia Tech posits that this investment may catalyze landowners and civic leaders to evolve Northside Drive from a patchwork of low-density uses into a grand transit boulevard – one that links I-75 and I-20 as it passes Atlantic Station, Georgia Tech, new Falcons stadium, the Atlanta University Center and West End – that induces new east-west connectivity.

This $2 billion investment is the low end of the total sum envisioned for the new Falcons stadium and the Georgia MultiModal Passenger Terminal, the still-official and still-tongue-tying name of the transit hub and mixed-use development planned for downtown Atlanta.

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GSU’s public health program gains academic heft as Atlanta raises its profile as a center for global health

by David Pendered

Georgia State University has received the green light to transition its Institute of Public Health to the GSU School of Public Health, which will strengthen the program as an independent college within the university.

The authority to expand the program arrives at a time metro Atlanta’s civic leaders are pressing for the region to become a leading center for global health. Georgia State’s existing public health program specializes in urban health, chronic diseases and violence prevention.

Brown University, the Ivy League school in Rhode Island, is the only other institution authorized in the June 8 review cycle to expand its public health program to a school of public health. The approval was granted by the accrediting agency, Council on Education for Public Health.

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Most metro counties among most healthy in Georgia, says ARC report

by David Pendered

Forsyth County ranks as the most healthy county in Georgia, according to a new report by the ARC that shows five other counties in metro Atlanta are among the state’s top 10 counties in terms of health outcomes.

Clayton County is the only metro county ranked in the unhealthy category based on health factors, according to the ARC report. Barrow and Spalding counties are in the middle ranges, and the remaining counties are all in the healthy range.

The ARC reached these and other conclusions by analyzing data from the recently released County Health Rankings report, produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, and the Georgia Department of Public Health.

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GEMA, FODAC sign deal for providing wheelchairs, etc during disasters

by David Pendered

Georgia now has a formal arrangement with FODAC to provide medical devices such as wheelchairs and hospital beds to those that need them during catastrophic disasters.

The plan means that Georgians who need durable home medical equipment will be able to look to a single entity to provide the gear they need. The plan also provides for training programs to instruct those who will be working in emergency shelters on how to meet the needs of those who rely on home medical equipment.

The agreement between Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security and FODAC provides for FODAC to store home medical equipment and distribute it through a protocol established by the state and its emergency response partners.

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It may not be broken, new report says of the way needy, rural Georgians are transported to critical destinations

by David Pendered

Georgia has a new idea about how to contain the state’s burgeoning cost of transporting the poor, elderly and disabled in rural counties: Improve the existing system.

Initially, state officials were leaning toward a recommendation that Georgia consolidate the management and delivery of rural transport services. The new proposal suggests better management of the existing system, while continuing to examine the concept of bundled services.

The new plan will be available for public review shortly on the GRTA website. After the public comment phase, the final plan that includes public comment is slated to be adopted Aug. 14 by the Governor’s Development Council, which is the same board that oversees GRTA.

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Atlanta BeltLine: City to condemn property to develop park, trail

by David Pendered

Atlanta is preparing to condemn private property to further the development of the Atlanta BeltLine.

Although just a few acres are involved, this marks the first time Atlanta has exercised its power of eminent domain to develop a park or trail related to the BeltLine.

Condemned land will be used to expand Enota Place Park, in southwest Atlanta, which was one of the original 13 jewels in the “emerald necklace” vision of the BeltLine that was used to promote the concept in its formative days. The Southwest BeltLine Connector Trail will be built atop some condemned properties.

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Atlanta’s airport to install touch screen directories to help passengers find their way around concourses

by David Pendered

Airline passengers should find it easier to navigate their way around Atlanta’s airport once a new wayfinding system is installed in time for this winter’s busy travel season.

The $2.1 million project calls for interactive touch-screen signs to replace the existing static signs throughout the airport. The work is to be paid for by the city’s aviation fund and overseen by the consortium of airlines that manage the common areas of the airport.

The decision to replace the static signs stemmed partly from the success of the interactive signs in the Maynard Holbrook Jackson Jr. International Terminal, airport General Manager Louis Miller told the Atlanta City Council’s Transportation Committee in March.

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Planning for water in metro Atlanta and its effect on rivers that nurture oysters in Apalachicola

by David Pendered

Editor’s Note: This is the third of three stories this week that look at water issues that affect metro Atlanta. Click to read the first story and the second story.

The debate over how to meet the water needs of metro Atlanta comes down to two different principles – whether the region should use less water, or provide greater supply through additional reservoirs.

Even that reduction doesn’t go far enough. For one, there’s not a consensus on how much water the region will need in the future. In addition, there’s little agreement on the data and science used in the debate.

If this sounds familiar, it is – transportation and the proposed 1 percent sales tax that was on the ballot in 2012 to pay for roads and transit. One difference with the water debate is that the public probably won’t be asked to decide for or against whatever solution is reached by water planners over the next two years.

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Prayers for rain, Senate takes on Supreme Court ruling – all part of Georgia’s water policy issues

by David Pendered

Editor’s Note: This is the second of three stories this week that will look at water issues that affect metro Atlanta.

Metro Atlanta probably celebrated too swiftly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year the region may continue to draw drinking water from Lake Lanier.

Though the ruling was rightly portrayed, by Georgians, as a major victory, the battle is far from over. The U.S. Senate toyed with the court’s ruling last month before it adopted omnibus water legislation. Water proposals abound in Georgia – where lakes are full six years after a governor led prayers for rain.

All of this results in water supply remaining one of the region’s major policy questions. Not to be overlooked are neighboring communities, and creatures, who rely on the same sources of water.

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