The new chair of the board that oversees Atlanta’s housing authority says wants to work with more partners in development, business and education to improve the city’s affordable housing stock.
Category: Columns
Posted inUncategorized
State Senate leader reboots transit hub talk
After years of fizzled discussions, the chair of the state Senate Transportation Committee said that he thinks conditions are getting ripe for metro Atlanta to get its own “Union Station.”
Posted inLatest News
Dead zone in Gulf of Mexico largest ever, as Georgia awaits ruling on water flow to Florida
The federal climate agency on Wednesday reported the annual dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is the largest on record – about the size of New Jersey. The report comes as Georgia awaits a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court over the amount of water that flows from Georgia into Florida. Florida says the flow is insufficient to support the oyster habitat in the Apalachicola Bay.
Posted inUncategorized
Invest Atlanta hits pause on Eastside TAD applications
For the time being, Atlanta’s development agency has stopped taking application for grants to subsidize and spur investment in the heart of the city.
Posted inLatest News
Deadline extended for $500,000 grant program to restore historic theaters
The Fox Theatre Institute has extended the application deadline for a grant program that is offering up to $500,000 in grants to restore historic theaters across Georgia.
Posted inColumns
Mayor Kasim Reed may award key employment contracts before leaving office
With less than six months remaining before he leaves office, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is working on all cylinders trying to accomplish as much as he can in the precious time he has left.
But all this activity has a downside.
The next mayor of Atlanta could inherit a City Hall where major policy moves, government contracts and personnel decisions will have been decided before he or she takes office.
Posted inTom Baxter
‘Adoptive forfeitures,’ ‘equitable sharing,’ and seizing people’s stuff
Can an administration in which the president seldom sleeps have a sleeper issue? If so, this administration’s sleeper issue is civil asset forfeiture.
Posted inColumns
A manicured lawn for all: Piedmont Park’s maintenance contract sets high goals
Though the Piedmont Park Conservancy reports investments of more than $66 million to restore and nurture Piedmont Park, the city of Atlanta still tends the park. Atlanta’s attention to detail is evident in the pending deal to maintain the lawn and flower beds.
Posted inSubmitted Photos
Photo Pick: Waffle House Museum. Avondale 6/29 by Kelly Jordan
Click each photo to enlarge:
Posted inColumns
‘Atomic Blond’ – a spy thriller featuring Charlize Theron as a M16 agent
How do you top playing Imperator Furiosa in 2015’s jaw-dropping “Mad Max: Fury Road?”
The answer is, you don’t. But if you’re Charlize Theron, you give it one heckuva try.
In “Atomic Blonde,” Theron plays Lorraine Broughton, a MI6 agent (same level as James Bond). The year is 1989 and the Berlin Wall is about to tumble. But before it does, she must retrieve a list of names that could compromise an entire network of agents, double agents, triple agents…you get the idea.
Posted inLatest News
Moving, storing, insuring contents of Central Library during renovation a heavy lift
Moving a household is hard enough. Moving the contents of the Central Library, in Downtown Atlanta, to storage facilities during the library’s renovation takes the concept of a move to a whole other level. The process is just getting started.
Posted inColumns
Demolition of Jordan Hall another sign of Atlanta’s dereliction of historic buildings
By Guest Columnist JAY SCOTT, a principal at Green Rock Partners, an Atlanta-based firm specializing in urban design, landscape architecture and planning
The Metro Atlanta YMCA is about to destroy a significant part of civil rights history in the African American Community, historic Jordan Hall. They are not doing it alone.
Their primary partners are the Woodruff Foundations and Invest Atlanta, who have given more than half of the $20 million necessary.
Posted inLatest News
Amtrak opens doors to bows, arrows after lobbying effort that included Rep. Woodall
In one of those, “who’d have thought” political efforts, Amtrak’s recent decision to allow archery equipment is being partly attributed to U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, a Republican who serves a district that stretches from Cumming to Loganville.
Posted inUncategorized
Auditors ding Atlanta parks maintenance
In the sticky months when grass and weeds threaten to overwhelm Atlanta, city parks staffing gets stepped up. But a new report by city auditors suggests a substantial number of parks could use more work.
Posted inLatest News
Transit politics: MARTA vows commitment to SW ATL; mayoral candidate retorts
Either MARTA intends to expand transit service in Southwest Atlanta, or MARTA and Atlanta are collaborating to bury Southwest Atlanta in favor of building a rail line to Emory University and its gridlocked Clifton Road corridor. At Atlanta City Hall on Wednesday, MARTA talked about its commitment to Southwest, and mayoral candidate Vincent Fort raised the Clifton corridor issue.
Posted inLatest News
DeKalb family in court challenge to federal marijuana ban
In a new lawsuit, a group of medical marijuana entrepreneurs and advocates, including one from DeKalb, are telling a federal court that Congress’ ban on cannabis is seriously misguided.
Posted inLatest News
Proposal to use Atlanta’s surplus property for affordable housing hits snag at City Hall
The idea sounds simple enough – provide Atlanta’s surplus property for use as construction sites for housing that’s affordable for a schoolteacher. Pending legislation to do just that uncorked a wide-reaching debate Tuesday among members of the Atlanta City Council over the city’s past and present efforts to promote a range of housing prices in the city.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta mayoral candidate questions possible transit spend at Emory
Some six weeks before Atlanta City Council is expected to vote on Emory University’s petition to join the city, a state lawmaker who’s running for mayor is raising questions about the equity of possible spending on a light rail line in the would-be part of Atlanta.
Posted inColumns
Measuring recovery, and global reach
Georgia’s progress in recovering from the 2008 recession has a lot to do with Atlanta’s continued influence as a business innovator recognized on a global stage.
