Category: Columns

By David Pendered

An Atlanta official who was deeply involved in the airport concessions contracting program left her job with the city two weeks before Atlanta announced its decision to cancel the initial process and start anew, a city official confirmed Wednesday.

Contracting Officer Carla Cail left her city job on Aug. 17. On Sept 2, Atlanta COO Peter Aman announced the city was cancelling the concessions procurement process and would issue new requests for proposals. Aman didn’t mention Cail’s departure, although her name arose in conversation.

“She left city employment on Aug. 17, 2011 to accept a better opportunity,” Sonji Jacobs, Mayor Kasim Reed’s spokeswoman, said in an email Wednesday. There was no elaboration.

By David Pendered

The state has signed a contract to replace the bridge on U.S. 41 across the Chattahoochee River, and the project has renewed issues related to the Nature Conservancy’s purchase of riverside land almost 40 years ago.

The conservancy in the early 1970s purchased 16 acres in a negotiation that also allowed construction of an apartment complex with 427 homes to be built on the remainder of land held by developers Julian LeCraw and Tom Towles.

This past May, Cobb County took almost a half-acre of the Columns at River Parkway property to allow for the bridge replacement project.

By David Pendered

Even on the second round of bids, concessionaires who want a concessions contract at Atlanta’s airport had lots of questions about the process.

In fact, vendors submitted 157 questions. These questions provide a glimpse into the secret world of contracting that spans from local restaurants to global giants of the concessions industry.

The queries submitted by vendors indicate the level to which they are struggling to manage their way through the massive procurement process in a climate of heightened security and immigration compliance. In addition, some questions try to pry open the proposals that were rejected, possibly to learn more about the competition’s plans.

By David Pendered

The Chattahoochee, Flint and Savannah rivers have made the 2011 Dirty Dozen, a list of the worst offenses against the state’s waterways, according to the Georgia Water Coalition.

“This is more than a list,” Jerry McCollum, president of the Georgia Wildlife Federation and a founding member of the Coalition, said in a statement released Monday. “This is a call to action for Georgia’s citizens and its leaders. The sites populating this list are only poster children for the larger problem of a system that is failing to protect our water, our fish and wildlife and our communities.”

The Chattahoochee ranked fourth, the Savannah ranked third and the Flint River ranked seventh on the list.

By David Pendered

The construction of the planned streetcar system in Downtown Atlanta cleared its first big hurdle Wednesday at Atlanta City Hall.

The Finance Committee of the Atlanta City Council approved measures needed to start building the streetcar system. The committee approved plans to:

Lease almost two acres for a future parking lot and maintenance barn beneath the Downtown Connector, between Auburn and Edgewood avenues;

Provide a total of up to $10.7 million to relocate water and sewer utilities, and to add enhancements related to the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists along the streetcar route.

By David Pendered

The second round of proposals for concessions contracts at Atlanta’s airport looks a lot like those submitted for the first round.

The only difference is that one company, a joint venture that had been disqualified from Round 1, dropped out of competition for Round 2. However, half of that company did resubmit even more proposals with a new partner, city records show.

Atlanta also changed some reporting requirements concerning whether a company’s employees may legally work in this country. The reporting issue was one reason the city announced on Sept. 2 that it was throwing out all proposals and starting the bid process anew.

By David Pendered

By osmosis, Atlanta has absorbed Savannah’s port.

Atlanta’s mayor, Kasim Reed, has become the local face of the proposed deepening of the Savannah Harbor. Atlanta’s media seems to pay more attention to the latest twists in the two-decade process of deepening the harbor than to progress on the new international terminal at Atlanta’s airport.

The main news out of last week’s State of the Ports luncheon was the number of jobs the ports created in the metro Atlanta area. Meanwhile, one of Gov. Nathan Deal’s comments – concerning the transportation sales tax referendum – barely registered.

By David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed outlined his vision Tuesday for the airport to greatly expand its role as a freight handler.

Reed said he can see the day when passengers use the airport by day, and in the wee hours the airport becomes a major freight-handling facility. Reed made the comment during a panel discussion at the third annual State of the Ports Luncheon.

“At midnight, the airport should be handling cargo,” Reed said, adding that he wants to see the airport join the ranks of the top 10 cargo handlers.

By David Pendered

All bets are off when it comes to guessing what entity state lawmakers will select or create to run metro Atlanta’s assortment of transit systems, as ordered by Gov. Nathan Deal.

GRTA would be a logical starting point, as some lawmakers suggested last week. On Monday, Sen. Steve Thompson (D-Marietta), who co-sponsored the bill that created GRTA in 1999 for then-Gov. Roy Barnes, said that role was part of the original vision for the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.

The state Department of Transportation shouldn’t be ruled out as a contender. State law provides for GDOT to own – and operate – transit systems.

By David Pendered

Some of the wind seemed to have gone out of the sails of Occupy Atlanta by Sunday afternoon.

The crowd was smaller than that of Sunday a week ago. Those who were at Troy Davis Park, nee Woodruff Park, seemed a bit like the crowd who’d arrived at a hot party after it had peaked.

Mayor Kasim Reed may have contributed to the lackluster feeling. Reed has provided the group wide privilege at the city’s iconic park in the heart of the central business district. On Sunday, the mayor forbade an unpermitted concert and it was summarily cancelled.