Category: Maria’s Metro

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

It’s a simple question.

Why hasn’t the business, political and civic leadership rallied to support MARTA in the same way it did to save Grady Hospital?

And it’s not just MARTA. It’s C-TRAN. It’s the Xpress buses. It’s Cobb Transit. And Gwinnett. In short, the region and the State of Georgia have failed to come up with a way to financially support transit.

As a result, C-TRAN is about to go out of business. And MARTA is facing a $120 million deficit in its next fiscal year — a deficit which will force the transit system to drastically reduce its operations beginning July 1.

A few years ago, Grady Hospital was in a similar precarious position.

The hospital was plagued with deficits, and there was talk the

A penny here. A penny there. And pretty soon you’re talking about some real money.

The sales tax is one of the most tempting taxes a government can pass. It generates millions and millions of dollars. And with the exception of when someone makes a major purchase like a car, consumers really don’t realize how much they’re paying.

As this column is being written, the state legislature is in a tug of war over whether it should give voters an opportunity to pass a transportation funding bill with a one-cent sales tax. It is the third or fourth year in a row when there has been a concerted, and so far unsuccessful, effort get such a bill to pass.

The city of Atlanta has the highest sales tax in the state — currently at 8 cents. (Four counties in the Atlanta region only have a 6-cents sales tax: Cherokee, Cobb, Douglas

Look what they’ve done to my school, Ma.
Look what they’ve done to my school.
(Apologies to songwriter Melanie Safka)

It used to be known as the College of Urban Life. Later it became the College of Public and Urban Affairs.

And then most recently the college morphed into the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University.

Last week, the word came out that the GSU administration was considering folding the Andrew Young School into GSU’s Mack Robinson College of Business. That led to the forced resignation of the recently-named dean of the Andrew Young School — W. Bartley Hildreth — who had protested the potential merger.

Now it appears that the administration has backed off that plan, and GSU is now seeking to fill the dean’s position and is

The economy sucks. Local governments are slashing their budgets. MARTA is facing a $120 million operating shortfall and may have to cut its service by 25 percent. Many people are suffering from unemployment and underemployment. And our region, economically dependent on growth, is lagging.

It’s easy to get depressed, easy to feel that our best days are behind us.

But I can’t help feeling optimistic about the future. Maybe it’s because winter is finally on its way out and spring is coming. Maybe it’s because I’m tired of being depressed and pessimistic.

Yet I can point to two experiences this past week that have taken me out of my current misery and lifted me to take a longer view of the future of our city. And that future is bright.

It’s been more than a year since I launched SaportaReport.

Now — 444 posts later — it looks as though the site might be around for awhile.

SaportaReport has been my experiment into the new world of journalism. It’s become my venue to share what’s going on in our community as well provide insights on the issues of the day.

Every week, guest columnists also have generously contributed to our community conversation — stimulating thoughts and ideas.

SaportaReport is not alone. A host of websites and blogs have sprouted as traditional news organizations have had to cut costs by shedding shed some of their seasoned journalists, either through buyouts, early retirements or layoffs.

The Burge Apartments at 210 North Avenue is being dismantled — removing pieces of my past brick by brick.

For the first 14 years of my life, my parents, my sister and I lived in the Burge Apartments in Apt. 71. The eight-story, H-shaped building has stood across the street from Georgia Tech’s administration building since 1947, built as a home for married students and faculty members.

My parents moved in the two-bedroom apartment in 1948 when Papa began teaching architecture and city planning at Georgia Tech. We lived there until 1970 when we moved to a home in Midtown, which felt as though we had moved to the suburbs.

So many memories. The Burge Apartments was sandwiched between Georgia Tech and Techwood Homes — giving my sister and I an amazing contrast in cultures and communities.

As children of Georgia Tech faculty, Elena and I (as well as the

Let me paint you a picture.

MARTA is facing a potential $120 million operating shortfall come July 1, a situation that will cause drastic decreases in transit service.

The Clayton bus system — C-Tran — is scheduled to end its service April 1 because the Clayton County Commission decided it could no longer afford being in the transit business.

The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority’s X-Press bus service in 2011 is facing an end to its federal new starts funding for many of its routes, which means that service will have to be eliminated or significantly reduced.

Cobb County Transit, which celebrated its 20th year anniversary last year, is facing budget challenges, and for the first time it might have to cut back on its bus operations.

When it comes to political muscle in Washington, D.C., Georgia has almost no pull.

The days of the late Sen. Richard B. Russell or the now-retired Sen. Sam Nunn are a distant memory. The days of a President Jimmy Carter and a Georgia mafia running Washington, D.C. is for the history books.

Today, we are the state that didn’t get invited to the national dance. With a Republican governor, a Republican-dominated legislature, two Republican United States senators, we have little pull with a Democratically-controlled White House and a Democratically-controlled Congress.

So we sit back and watch our neighboring states receive hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, from the federal government to finance their grand plans for high-speed rail and an upgraded infrastructure.

Oddly enough, we were in a similar spot back in late 2000 (just

Just when I’m ready to give up on Georgia, something gives me hope.

In this case, it’s two budding initiatives aimed at making the case for passenger rail travel and public transit throughout our state.

Of course, just to keep it real, if our state leaders were more enlightened about the need to invest and develop in rail and public transit, these organizations probably wouldn’t be necessary.

But here we are — a state that continues to lose ground when it comes to rail and transit.

Fortunately, there’s a large cadre of Georgia business and civic leaders who are not satisfied with the status quo. They have a vision that Georgia can regain its reputation as a leader in transportation.

The first is the organization — Georgians for Passenger Rail.

Tracks were being laid in front of the Metro Atlanta Chamber this week so Georgians could see an actual light rail car — making a stop in town for a couple of days.

The light rail vehicle, which also can operate as a streetcar, was on its way to Charlotte, N.C. as part of the North Carolina city’s second phase of its public transit system.

The symbolism was eerily ironic. The closest Atlanta was to seeing light rail was a two-day stop for a vehicle headed to our biggest competitor — Charlotte.

Of course Siemens, the German firm that designed and manufactured the light rail car, wanted Atlantans to see what they could have if they got their act together.

Proposals exist. The Atlanta streetcar. The BeltLine. But all those plans are just lines on paper. In Charlotte, permanent rail lines have been built, light rail vehicles have been purchased

France and Haiti.

A tale of two countries — one rich, one poor — both connected by a French heritage and little else.

Earlier this month, International Living Magazine named France as the best place to live among 194 countries across the globe.

Countries were ranked based on cost of living, culture and leisure, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety and risk and climate.

“For the fifth year running, France takes first in our ‘Quality of Life Index,’” the magazine wrote. “No surprise. It’s tiresome bureaucracy and high taxes are outweighed by an unsurpassable quality of life, including the world’s best health care. France always nets high scores in most categories. But you don’t need number crunchers to tell you its ‘bon vivant’ lifestyle is special. Step off a plane and you’ll experience it first-

This could be the year when the Georgia General Assembly agrees to allow the Atlanta region to put a referendum before voters on a penny sales tax for transportation improvements.

And after years of urging the General Assembly to do just that, now I’m questioning the wisdom of passing such a bill this year.

We probably have only one opportunity to pass a new transportation funding tool for our region. So it is critically important that we make the right choices for our future transportation needs.

Here is the problem. A possible bill to allow the region to vote on a one-cent sales tax is in the works, but an integral element of that bill is a project list of what transportation improvements the region could fund.

And it’s the project list that worries me. Will it include the kind of transportation improvements that metro Atlanta will need for

An older and more subdued G. Lars Gullstedt returned to Atlanta last month to visit the place where his dreams were never fully realized.

Back in the early 1990s, Gullstedt, a Swedish developer who had turned his sights towards Atlanta, was on top of the world.

He had built a real estate empire in Sweden, and he was well on his way to transform Midtown Atlanta.

One Gullstedt monument was built in Atlanta — the 51-story building that is the home of the Four Season Hotel. When it opened in 1992, the building was a one-of-a-kind development known as the GLG Grand.

The multi-layered building, which sits on 14th Street between the Peachtrees, includes an underground parking garage, a hotel with a conference area, offices, apartments, townhomes, condominiums, an athletic club and penthouses.

Gullstedt and his wife returned as hotel guests at the Four

At Dan Graveline’s retirement party last week, the theme of those paying him tribute was the same. They all credited Graveline for his professionalism in running one the best convention centers in the United States.

Graveline is the only executive director that the Georgia World Congress Center has known in its 33-year history. He came to Atlanta after a group of state officials went on a tour of convention centers in the mid-1970s and met Graveline, who was then assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

In short, when searching for someone to run its new convention center, state leaders turned to a professional who understood the meeting and convention industry. That was 1976.

Now the state is facing the same challenge — selecting the ideal person to run one of the largest convention centers in the

The boys are back in charge.

While most of the focus in the recent city election focused on the dynamics of race and Atlanta’s changing demographics, gender played an equal if not more significant role.

Think about it.

We’ve gone from electing our first woman mayor in 2001 — Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin — to now having another man as mayor — Kasim Reed.

We’ve gone from having two women city council presidents back to back — Cathy Woolard followed by Lisa Borders — to now having another man in that chair — Ceasar Mitchell.

In each of those races, there were strong women contenders. In the mayor’s race, at-large City Councilwoman Mary Norwood and Borders came in second and third respectively.

The morning after of the city of Atlanta’s run-off election, I received an email from a veteran player in local government — George Berry.

Berry served under four different Atlanta mayors — Ivan Allen Jr., Sam Massell, Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young. As the city’s aviation commissioner, he oversaw the building of Atlanta’s new airport. Berry also served as commissioner of what is now the Georgia Department of Economic Development. More recently, he served as an executive of Cousins Properties until he retired a few years ago.

In short, Berry has a long memory, great insight combined with decades of exemplary public service.

So after the run-off on Dec. 1 showing that former state Sen.

Life is not fair.

That point hit home once again this week.

On Thanksgiving morning, a friend of mine became seriously ill. She recently had moved in to our guest room — needing a place to stay and wanting to help me organize my home with 25-plus years of clutter.

So Thanksgiving morning, she tells me she is having agonizing pains in her stomach and that she needs to go to the hospital.

We get in my car, and she tells me she needs to go to Grady because she has no health insurance. This does not come as a surprise. I have known she has been living on the margins of society for years.

Our community is full of heroes who dedicate their lives to making Atlanta a better place to live.

As we give thanks this week, I would like to thank all our local heroes.

The abundance of great community leaders really hit home this past week.

It began with the induction of a new shining light — Bill Bolling, founder and executive director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank for 30 years. On Monday, Bolling received the Shining Light Award from Atlanta Gas Light and WSB-Radio — placed nostalgically on Peachtree Street in front of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Then on Thursday, Progressive Redevelopment Inc. — one of

Election year politics could impact the passage of a proposed sustainable building ordinance in Atlanta.

On July 6, the sustainable building ordinance was submitted to Atlanta’s city council as a way to encourage the development of greener buildings. But over the last five months, the ordinance has been stalled in the Community Development Committee.

The ordinance was held yet again at last week’s council committee meeting. The last opportunity for the bill to pass the committee this year will be Dec. 1, which just so happens to be election day for Atlanta’s run-offs.

The ordinance has to be approved by that committee before it can go to the full council for its Dec. 7 meeting, the last one of