Category: Maria’s Metro

Why does it seem as though North Carolina is moving forward while Georgia is slipping backwards?

At last week’s Georgia Forward Forum at Macon State University, there was at least one answer to that question.

The keynote speaker of the day was Anita Brown-Graham, director of North Carolina State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues.

Back in the 1950s, North Carolina’s social and economic indicators were at the same level of Mississippi. It was a rural, tobacco- and textile-oriented economy, reminiscent of the old South.

But in the past 50 years, North Carolina has been gaining momentum. In 1990, the population was in North Carolina was

Bipartisanship is still possible — even in a polarized state like Georgia.

That bipartisanship was in full force on Monday, Aug. 16 when U.S. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minnesota) gave a luncheon speech at the Council for Quality Growth’s 25th anniversary celebration at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North.

Oberstar, who chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, clearly had the clout to bring together politicians on both sides of the aisle.

Among the Georgia politicians in attendance were: U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, a Democrat; U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a Republican; U.S. Rep. Tom Graves, a Republican; U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a Democrat; and former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal,

First it was MARTA. Now it is the Xpress buses operated by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.

The suburban system is facing a significant shortfall in operating funds, and as a last resort, it is contemplating having to shut down the system.

To avoid such a drastic outcome, GRTA cut service on 16 Xpress routes on July 6, and GRTA spokesman William Mecke said “we will be even more aggressive at the end of the year.”

GRTA also has a proposal to revamp its fare structure and adopt a distance-based fare increase, which will result in significant increases for some of its riders. GRTA also is proposing to end its reciprocal fare arrangement with MARTA

The magic number on Thursday morning was 17.

Seventeen homeless people Thursday morning agreed to leave the streets for a home — apartments that they would share with others.

They also agreed to work with assigned case managers and develop a plan to transform their lives — enter an addiction rehabilitation program, begin counseling for mental illnesses, help get necessary legal papers so they could begin getting disability checks or other support.

It’s called “Streets to Home” — a program that Metro Atlanta’s United Way and the Regional Commission on Homelessness have modeled after a similar program in New York City called

Too many of my contemporaries are dying, years too young.

Debra Halpern Bernes, my high school classmate, passed away last week after fighting cancer for two years. The synagogue was full of family, friends and associates who marveled at how she had been able to keep an infectious upbeat attitude despite her pain.

For those of us who attended Grady High School 40 years ago, it was another one of those unpleasant reunions. After the service, a group of us gathered to outside the Ahavath Achim Synagogue for hugs and even a group photo. Another one of our classmates had left us.

One of the last times we had gathered was in May, 2007 when

At this past week’s Regional Transit Committee meeting, the Atlanta Regional Commission’s David Emory made an interesting presentation.

A total of eight light rail projects are included in the Concept 3 plan. They would cost about $8 billion to build, and they would have an annual operating cost of $200 million.

Coincidentally, if metro Atlanta voters pass a regional sales tax for transportation, it would raise about $8 billion over 10 years.

I couldn’t help myself. I began to think about how wonderful it would be if the Atlanta region would spend most, if not all, of the new sales tax revenue on transit projects.

The eight light rail projects in the Concept 3 Plan actually would

Crosswalks. Some would rather watch paint dry than talk about crosswalks.

But well-designed crosswalks can make all the difference in the world when it comes to developing a city that welcomes pedestrians.

Atlanta’s crosswalks — or lack there of — is one of my pet peeves. There’s probably no better barometer about how pedestrian-friendly a city is than the way it designs and maintains its crosswalks.

Friends of mine roll their eyes when I start talking about the beauty of painted piano keys that safely outline the space reserved for those walking from one side of the street to the other.

Those wide white-painted stripes command respect for pedestrians and clearly communicate to cars their boundaries.

To reinforce the message, some cities change the pavement

More people living downtown is key to creating a vibrant center city for the Atlanta region.

That is the view of Paul Kelman, executive vice president of Central Atlanta Progress, who recently announced his retirement effective July 16 after 22 years with the downtown business organization.

Kelman is the longest-serving employee in CAP’s 70-year history — providing continuity for the organization through at least seven different presidents, and even filling in as interim president during one of its transition periods.

He is the one member of CAP’s staff who dates back to the tenure of legendary president Dan Sweat — who led the organization during the pivotal 1970s and 1980s — when Atlanta’s political power shifted from white leadership to black

By Maria Saporta

The magic number on Saturday was 2.5.

Jim and Sarah Kennedy donated $2.5 million to the Atlanta Beltline.

Kaiser-Permanente also donated $2.5 million to the Atlanta Beltline.

And their combined $5 million gift will build 2.5 miles of a multi-purpose trail stretching from Monroe Drive at Piedmont Park to DeKalb Avenue.

On Saturday, there was a celebration to announce both gifts and the latest development plans for the Beltline — a 22-mile corridor that will lasso intown Atlanta.

The long term vision for the Beltline calls for green space with miles of bicycle and pedestrian trails, a transit line and new

Maybe the second time will be the charm.

The City of Atlanta hopes the federal government will give its streetcar plan a green light during the second round of TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants.

City leaders are presenting their revised streetcar proposal to the Atlanta City Council this week and need the full council’s approval before July 16 when pre-applications are to be submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Atlanta and Georgia did not fare well during the first round of TIGER grants — when $1.5 billion were distributed to transportation projects across the nation. In the first round, the federal government was offering 100 percent of the funding.

This round is not quite as generous. Only $600 million will be

A transit evolution is underway in metro Atlanta.

But what form it will take is still a mystery.

What key regional leaders do know is that the status quo is no longer acceptable.

The incremental progress for transit is literally running on parallel tracks.

On one track is the state legislature and the state government. After several years of inaction, the state legislature passed a transportation bill that will permit regions to vote on a penny sales tax two years from now.

The bill was flawed, however, because it singled out MARTA — stipulating that none of those sales tax revenues could go to existing MARTA operations. The bill also mandated a new governance structure for the MARTA board and established a

What’s a socially- and environmentally-conscious consumer supposed to do?

I haven’t bought gas at an Exxon station since 1989 following the disastrous oil spill of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker hit a reef in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989.

It was a matter of principle. Exxon’s response to the oil spill was slow, defensive and insensitive. All these years, I have not wanted to spend my money on a company like Exxon.

On the other hand, I truly believed BP was worthy of my money.

I really got to see what BP was made of back in 2000 when I was working on a column about our upcoming smog season.

At the time, the state of Georgia had passed requirements for

Something was wrong.

Walking along Auburn Avenue during the Sweet Auburn Festival, we stopped by the crypts of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King — one of the most sacred spots in Atlanta.

We sat next to the eternal flame and realized that the coals were cold and the eternal flame had been extinguished.

How could that be? Wasn’t an eternal flame supposed to burn forever?

Underneath the flame, there was a plaque saying that the eternal flame had recently been refurbished by the Atlanta Gas Light Co., the keeper of our city’s Shining Light Awards.

So sitting there, I sent an email to John Somerhalder, CEO of

If Atlanta feels a bit more flush with lofy ideas this week, credit the Congress for the New Urbanism.

The 18th annual meeting of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU18) will bring more than 1,000 architects, planners and related professionals to Atlanta from Wednesday through Saturday.

The theme of CNU18 is “New Urbanism: Rx for Healthy Places.”

Two of Atlanta’s bright lights — Georgia Tech professor Ellen Dunham-Jones and architect Laura Heery Prozes — have been the local organizers of CNU18. They have explored every avenue to find ways for the Atlanta region to benefit from this influx of urban leaders.

They are partnering with a host of local organizations — from Central Atlanta Progress, the City of Atlanta, the Atlanta

It’s just not good enough.

There’s a lot of self-congratulatory back patting going on in this town. After years of failed attempts, the Georgia legislature finally passed a bill that will allow 12 different regions in the state to pass a one-penny sales tax for their transportation needs.

But this bill is flawed. And patting ourselves on the back is premature at best.

The flaw? The bill falls short in helping the Atlanta region pay for its transit needs — arguably the greatest need that we have.

Then there’s the maliciousness of this bill against MARTA — the largest transit agency in the state and the one that is the backbone for all the other transit systems in the region.

What a disappointment House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones (R-Alpharetta) has turned out to be.

Thanks to her insistence, MARTA got screwed — plain and

Not so long ago, Arizona State University had a mediocre reputation mainly known as being a top party school.

And then in 2003, Dr. Michael Crowe was tapped to become ASU’s president, and all of that changed.

Today there are a total of nearly 70,000 students on ASU’s four campuses in the Tempe and Phoenix urban area, and Crowe has garnered a national reputation as a transformative leader.

But to the Atlanta delegation that was visiting Phoenix as part of the annual LINK trip put on by the Atlanta Regional Commission, the most important contribution that has occurred under Crowe’s leadership is the relationship between the university and the metro area, particularly downtown Phoenix.

The result is the New American University — a bold declaration designed to make a national splash, according to Grady Gammage, an attorney and an ASU faculty member at the

If it’s 2010, it must be Phoenix.

About 110 leaders from throughout the Atlanta region will leave Wednesday morning to spend three days in Phoenix as part of the annual LINK trip.

This is the 14th annual LINK (Leadership, Involvement, Networking, Knowledge) trip where regional leaders visit a city to learn about how that metro area is handling its challenges.

In Phoenix, the major topics the group will explore will be water, higher education, immigration and transportation.

LINK is organized by the Atlanta Regional Commission, and the decision to go to Phoenix was made shortly after U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson ruled last July that the Atlanta region has no legal right to rely on Lake Lanier for most of its water supply.

The judge gave the Atlanta region three years to come up with a way to resolve the issue, possibly by reaching an agreement

Update: Georgia Senate Appropriations Committee restored funding for the Georgia Council for the Arts on Tuesday. The budget now has to be approved by the full Senate and by the House-Senate conference committee before going to Gov. Sonny Perdue for his signature.

“Georgia is in a race for the bottom.”

So said a community leader during a panel discussion this past week.

Although the topic of the discussion was not the arts, it might as well have been.

Last week, the Georgia House of Representatives passed a $17.8 billion state budget that would totally eliminate the Georgia Council for the Arts. That would give Georgia the dubious distinction of being the only state in the country without a council for the arts.

Few institutions are more important to Atlanta than the King Center.

And few families are more important to our city’s legacy than the family of Martin Luther King Jr.

Unfortunately, for the past several years, the three living children of the late Civil Rights leader have been at odds — saddled with legal and financial disagreements that threatened to destroy their parents’ legacy and the future of the King Center.

But now that three children have laid down their swords, partly due to the involvement of an outside mediator, the opportunity exists for each of them to follow their own paths by working in roles where they excel.

But a danger also exists that the three children will take on challenges where they could fail or give in to their own

To aspire or not to aspire. That is the question facing the City of Atlanta today.

Historically, Atlanta has always been an aspirational city. Back in the late 1800s, it willed itself to be the capital of the New South by putting on national events, such as the Cotton States Exposition in 1895.

The following century, Atlanta willed itself to be the “world’s next great city” or the “city too busy to hate.” It also built what is now the world’s busiest airport. And it aspired to host the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

In short, Atlanta is a city that has always aspired to be something grander than the city it has been. And then it has had to live up to its own hype by turning its dreams into reality.

But during our most recent mayoral election, none of the candidates offered an aspirational vision. Instead, they focused on all the problems facing the city — from budget shortfalls to