What a uniquely Atlanta tale. Atlanta-born playwright Alfred Uhry was honored at the Temple on March 30 – weaving together several strands of religious and racial history and prejudice. Uhry is an acclaimed author and playwright who has won two Tonys, an Oscar and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for dramatic writing. He is best known […]
Category: Maria’s Metro
Posted inMaria's Metro
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin finally getting her due
Although she was only mayor for two terms, from 2002 to 2010, Shirley Franklin has been a force in Atlanta dating from first term of Mayor Maynard Jackson, elected in 1973, when she served as his commissioner of cultural affairs. On Thursday, March 27, Franklin was honored with the naming of several blocks of Central […]
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Cherry Street Energy’s unique model to sell solar power to major customers
Michael Chanin knows exactly when the seed of Cherry Street Energy was planted. It was Friday, Sept. 18, 2015. “It was the light bulb moment,” Chanin said. “That was the seminal launch.” He was meeting with attorney Steven Richman at the Cherokee Town Club for a Friday fried chicken meal. Richman asked Chanin if he […]
Posted inMaria's Metro
Atlanta must go forwards — not backwards — when it comes to Beltline rail
When Andre Dickens was elected mayor in November 2021, I was filled with optimism and hope for the future of Atlanta. Here was a leader who ran on running an ethical government, building affordable housing and implementing rail transit on the Beltline. After eight years of the contentious administration of Mayor Kasim Reed and the […]
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Atlanta’s Ray C. Anderson Foundation to sunset in five years
The ray of light known as the Ray C. Anderson Foundation will sunset its operations by the end of 2030. The environmentally focused Foundation — named after the late corporate visionary Ray C. Anderson – decided it was time to “lean in” — to have as much impact as quickly as possible rather than be […]
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Metro Atlanta is dead last when it comes to economic mobility
Atlanta ranks 50th out of the top 50 metro areas when it comes to upward economic mobility. That’s according to Harvard University’s Raj Chetty and his research group Opportunity Insights, which published an updated economic mobility study in 2024. The initial economic mobility study came out in 2014. At the time, Atlanta’s rank was 49th, […]
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Michael Hightower’s career focused on lifting up the Southside
In the late 1990s, Michael Hightower was flying high. Hightower, a native of College Park, was serving on the Fulton County Commission (defeating a two-term commissioner in 1986) representing southwest Atlanta and South Fulton. He already had served seven years on the City Council of College Park — the first Black person elected to that […]
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Georgia exploring opportunities to lead in brain health and neuroscience
The Georgia Research Alliance has received a $475,000 grant to explore the opportunities for the state to become a dominant center for brain health and neuroscience. The Robert W. Woodruff Foundation provided the grant to identify high-impact research opportunities to understand and treat diseases that are part of the brain and nervous system. The landscape […]
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Atlanta keenly positioned to be the region’s center of gravity
The Atlanta region is at a significant moment in time. Leaders of several regional entities have one attribute in common. They all are from the City of Atlanta. For several organizations, it’s unprecedented to have a leader from the City of Atlanta serving at the helm. Take the Council for Quality Growth, which is celebrating […]
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Another seamless transition underway at the Woodruff Foundation
Few organizations in Atlanta rival the impact and influence of the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation and its related family of foundations. But if foundation leaders have their way, people will barely notice that Erik Johnson, 48, became the new president of the Woodruff Foundation on Feb. 1 following the Jan. 31 retirement of Russ Hardin, […]
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Rail transit key to Downtown revitalization
Atlanta has a strategic opportunity to embrace Downtown revitalization efforts by fueling new and improved transit service. In conversations with about a dozen business and civic leaders, it has become obvious that our city is at a pivotal juncture when it comes to Downtown and transit. First, stars are aligned to bring new life to […]
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Norfolk Southern’s Ed Elkins becomes 2025 chair of the Georgia Chamber
For the first time in its 110-year history, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce has an executive of a major railroad as its chair. Ed Elkins, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Norfolk Southern Corp., became chair of the Georgia Chamber at its Eggs & Issues breakfast on Jan. 14. On everyone’s chair at […]
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ArtsCapital|Atlanta: $100 million needed to stabilize regional arts groups
The Atlanta arts community can relate to the phoenix rising from the ashes as its symbol — just like our namesake city. Over the last couple of years, the arts community has had two key events to drive home that theme. On March 7, 2023, the Atlanta Lyric Theatre abruptly announced it was closing its […]
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Saying goodbye to Jimmy Carter: He left the world — and Atlanta — a better place
Former President Jimmy Carter defied the odds in life. On Aug. 20, 2015, Carter held a news conference to announce how melanoma had spread to his brain. For ordinary human beings, that would have been a death sentence. But Carter was no ordinary human being. Thanks to receiving treatment with a ground-breaking immunotherapy drug, Carter […]
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Remembering Steve Mensch, 62, a thrill seeker and film industry leader
The Sunday before he died in a small plane he had built, Steve Mensch was honored by the Atlanta Falcons as a tribute to all he had done to support Georgia’s film industry. Mensch, 62, was president and general manager of studio operations at Tyler Perry Studios. Mensch was so much more than his title. […]
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Mayor Andre Dickens says fixing MARTA will be a ‘big push’ in 2025
The Atlanta business community and Mayor Andre Dickens expressed concern about the state of MARTA, and they vowed that the transit agency would be a top priority in 2025. MARTA was a focus of the Dec. 13 meeting of the highly influential Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP), an organization that includes top business, civic and […]
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Celebrating John C. Portman Jr. – an Atlanta icon – on his 100th birthday
Renowned architect and developer John C. Portman Jr. did not live to see his 100th birthday. But it wasn’t for lack of trying. “The only person who is not here and was determined to be is my dad,” said Jana Portman, one of Portman Jr.’s children at a celebration of her father’s life on Dec. 4. […]
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Andre Dickens: ‘I just want to be mayor’
At the Monday luncheon meeting of the Rotary Club of Atlanta, Mayor Andre Dickens made a pitch for his top priorities — affordable housing, early childhood education, housing the homeless, public safety and water infrastructure. Dickens will be running for a second term as mayor in less than a year. Monday’s Rotary meeting was a […]
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A vibrant downtown Atlanta emerges as top priority
Downtown Atlanta has a new important ally. The Metro Atlanta Chamber, at its annual meeting on Nov. 21, spotlighted its new initiative, Downtown Reimagined, to help transform our central city into a bustling neighborhood. It’s a welcome development. Downtown Atlanta can benefit from a concerted and collaborative effort to reinvigorate our central business district. “I […]
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Ted Turner’s dedication to world peace and saving the earth as critical now as ever
Ted Turner is turning 86 on Nov. 19, and a party was held at the Atlanta History Center exactly one week before his big day. On a big video screen in the auditorium, Turner was beamed in from his downtown Atlanta residence flanked by his daughters, Laura Turner Seydel and Jennie Turner Garlington, along with […]
