Category: David Pendered

The Flint River ranks second on the list of the country’s most-endangered rivers, according to the latest ranking by American Rivers, a 40-year-old organization that works to protect waterways.

The Flint made the list for the same reason cited when it was included on the “Dirty Dozen” list compiled last year by the Georgia Water Coalition – poor water management.

The two reports essentially oppose the state’s plans for the Flint River, which have the stated aim of providing water at affordable prices. The river groups contend the plans will further reduce water flow in the Flint, harming living creatures and threatening the recreation-based economy of regions that rely on the river and its tributaries.

Atlantans are paying quiet respects to Boston following the explosions during the Boston Marathon.

Artist Walter Cumming was watching the event live on an internet feed, drawing during the race, and posted drawings from his sketchbook scant hours after the blasts. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed issued a statement. MARTA and other agencies advised that security has been increased, including what appear to be additional patrol cars parked near the state Capitol.

On Thursday, Atlanta Councilmember H. Lamar Willis intends to honor Boston’s victims with a moment of silence before his weekly run/walk, which he does with city employees.

MARTA’s fare hike planned for 2015 – possibly to $2.75 per trip – and the possibility of zone pricing doesn’t offset the lack of state funding for the system, a bond rating house has determined.

Fitch Ratings made its comments on MARTA’s fiscal situation in an advisory on MARTA’s planned sale this week of $26.3 million in sales tax revenue bonds.

MARTA’s entire revenue structure results in “thin financial margins,” the report states. Fitch took a look at MARTA’s financial projections and issued the following comment:

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has almost $1.5 million in cash in his campaign coffers, according to the latest campaign contribution disclosure report.

Reed is raising funds at a rate dramatically higher than last year. The mayor raised almost $325,000 in the first quarter of 2013. By comparison, Reed raised about $200,000 during the entire last half of 2012, reports show

The mayor is heading into a reelection campaign with no other contenders raising anywhere near the same amount of money, according to Reed’s report that was received April 5 by the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.

In 2008, Atlanta won the bid for the Final Four with a campaign theme of “1,000 steps.” On Sunday afternoon, the plan seemed to be a success.

The densest crowds were gathered around the festival in Centennial Olympic Park. Traffic, pedestrian and vehicular, elsewhere in Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead was no heavier than any normal Sunday afternoon on a pretty Spring day.

The city’s plans to rein in vendors and traffic congestion seemed to function as planned. The only items missing from the city’s plan were the huge advertising wraps that Downtown landlords were authorized to sell and drape from their buildings.

Atlanta’s spring cleaning of hazardous materials started with the collection of tons of stuff in March, even as the city looks ahead to a major collection effort on April 27.

The Eco Collection event, in Buckhead, brought in a mind-numbing amount of hazardous waste such as paint, electronics and fluorescent lightbulbs, according to a fact sheet released by sponsors Livable Buckhead and Live Thrive.

The next recycling event on the city’s agenda is the EcoDepot Recycling Day, April 27 at Turner Field. Mayor Kasim Reed’s Office of Sustainability and Councilmember Carla Smith are co-sponsoring the event, which is reported to be the largest of its kind in Atlanta.

Atlanta airport officials are adding retail and restaurant space in a move that will generate more money for the facility through concessions contracts.

The airport is adding an unspecified amount of concessions space through expansion projects on Concourse C and Concourse D. In addition, other existing space is to be converted to concession use as it becomes available, according to airport General Manager Louis Miller.

The process of selecting prime vendors to operate some of the new space is to begin closer to the time space becomes available, Miller said. The FAA’s review of the airport’s last round of concessions contracts ended last month, when the agency dismissed its probe into the certification of disadvantaged businesses that won contracts in 2012.

The ball is officially rolling on proposals to create one or more cities in northern DeKalb County.

Two DeKalb lawmakers filed legislation Monday that starts the two-year process of determining the feasibility of one or more new cities. If any of the proposals are deemed appropriate by the Legislature when it reconvenes in 2014, voters of the proposed cities could vote to incorporate their area as early as Sept. 16, 2014.

The general borders of the area to be reviewed are, roughly, I-85 to the west; North Druid Hills Road to the south; and I-285 to the north and east – except that the review will include part of the community of Tucker, located north of I-285.

Election season is rising at Atlanta City Hall, even though candidates won’t be able to qualify for seats until Aug. 26.

On Wednesday, the public tussle was over a proposed mural in Little Five Points. The painting is the kind of thing that used to appear on a building overnight, with no prior discussion other than among the anonymous artists.

Atlanta resident Ron Shakir demanded to know if the proposed mural had received all the required approvals before the Zoning Committee signed off on it. Then he raised a number of questions that foreshadow the issue of open government and consistent process that’s slated to be highlighted at a “gathering” planned for Friday at City Hall by mayoral candidates Al Bartell and Paul Luna.