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Posted inDavid Pendered

From poverty to plenty: Atlanta could be a case study in reducing blight

by David Pendered

Two events Wednesday cast outlooks on poverty in metro Atlanta and a path that could lead one poor area toward prosperity.

A Harvard University professor confirmed a shocking report released earlier this year – social conditions in metro Atlanta are such that it is the worst major urban region in the country in terms of children born into poverty moving into the middle or upper economic classes.

At another event, Georgia Tech students outlined their ideas for revitalizing two poor neighborhoods near the Falcons stadium. Some recommendations address the very problems named in the Harvard study that are associated with intergenerational poverty.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta BeltLine: Westside Trail advances as city agrees to accept $18 million from US DOT

by David Pendered

The Atlanta City Council has authorized Mayor Kasim Reed to take the steps necessary to accept $18 million in federal funding for the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside Trail.

This TIGER V grant to the BeltLine was announced Sept. 9. The city council’s action is a mere formality, but one that’s required in order for Atlanta to assure the federal government it will comply with rules regarding the use of funds.

Councilmember Aaron Watson introduced the paper at the end of the council’s meeting Monday, as the final legislative act of his term. The funding will enable construction to begin in 2014, possibly as early as the summer.

Posted inTom Baxter

Psst… Georgia’s culture of secrecy thrives in a time of ‘transparency’

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

Want to know the biggest issue currently looming over state and local government? It’s a secret. Or to be more precise, it’s secrecy itself.

Secrecy has assumed a higher profile recently because of the important role it played in the deal to move the Braves to Cobb County. But secrecy is also at the root of the biggest story one county over, in Paulding. In a lot of ways, the plan approved by the airport authority a year ago last week to bring commercial airline service to the Paulding Airport is the first cousin to the Braves stadium deal. Except that in Paulding there’s no ball team in the mix and the reaction now that the deal has been disclosed has been considerably less celebratory.

The same set of attitudes that caused the Paulding airport authority to hold an executive session the day before Thanksgiving, then approve a lease agreement that in fact amounted to a major expansion in a brief public meeting, reach up into state government as well, beginning with the vast network of development authorities created by the state, and obliged by state law only to disclose their private dealings essentially to themselves.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta City Council passes plan for Falcons stadium areas; deal releases $200 million from city for construction

by David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed prevailed Monday when the Atlanta City Council approved a community benefits deal that will release $200 million in city funds for the future Falcons stadium.

Reed wanted a deal done by year’s end, and the council approved the deal unanimously. But the issue may not be over: Some civic leaders threaten to file a lawsuit to overturn the benefits deal and block the funds.

Invest Atlanta expects to begin accepting applications for projects in January. In addition, the council is to appoint members to a committee it created Monday that’s intended to promote job creation in the stadium neighborhoods.

As if to underscore the extent of blight in stadium neighborhoods, the council approved a $59,126 contract to cover four years of back rent for a police precinct in Vine City.

Posted inColumns, Michelle Hiskey & Ben Smith

As holiday cards grow rare, Randy Osborne sends daily letter with care

by Ben Smith

In the coming weeks, as Americans rush to shove hastily written holiday cards and form letters in mail boxes to friends and family members, Randy Osborne will still pen a letter a day to a stranger.

Osborne doesn’t care if his letters arrive before a day attached to a religious figure or public cause. More than a resolution, his Letter a Day Project is about connection through a nostalgic form of messaging. It is one man’s reply to a national nosedive in personal correspondence.

“I think people really want some kind of contact even if it’s from a stranger, something that takes time and attention,” said Osborne, 58, who teaches fiction and non-fiction writing at Emory University and co-founded Carapace, a monthly storytelling event at Manuel’s Tavern.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Forget buying stuff you and your loved ones don’t need; give a gift that lasts

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

‘Tis the season of materialism versus what really matters in life.

The juxtaposition of images and messages really collided for me this year following one of those relatively brief encounters with Bill McGahan, the founder of the just-launched Georgia Works! — a year-long program that is putting homeless men to work and helping them rebuild their lives.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta City Council to seek Braves advice on fixing Ted area, pass Falcons community benefits deal

by David Pendered

Never let it be said that the Atlanta City Council doesn’t have a sense of hope and humor.

The council will ask the Atlanta Braves to serve on a task force to recommend ways to spiff up the Turner Field area. The Braves intend to leave the Ted for Cobb County in the the 2017 season.

In addition, the council expects to adopt Monday the community benefits deal regarding the future Falcons stadium, which has riled some civic leaders, and a slate of recommendations on how to bolster Atlanta’s central business district – where the office vacancy rate is among the region’s highest.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Women directors are making progress on Georgia’s public company boards

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on November 29, 2013

Not so long ago, it appeared that a quota system was being used when a woman would be named to the board of a public company.

But the 2013 study by OnBoard, formerly the Board of Directors Network, reveals that many of Georgia’s public companies have moved beyond the quota system when it comes to women directors.

Posted inGuest Column

City of Atlanta’s ability to create community partnerships needs work

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist JENNIFER WILSON, environmental mediator and consensus builder with Mellifera Mediation, LLC

Members of the Community Benefits Plan Committee learned Nov. 20 that a draft version of a redevelopment plan for neighborhoods surrounding the new Falcons stadium had been submitted to the Atlanta City Council without the consent – or knowledge – of the committee. Already a tense process, this turn of events angered community representatives who had been involved in this work since July of 2013.

Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater

‘Kill Your Darlings’ — a backstage peak into an obscure Beat incident

Avatar photo by Eleanor Ringel Cater

As someone who never had much use for Allen Ginsberg or Jack Kerouac — the persona as well as the work — I wasn’t all tied up in literary raptures at the prospect of finding more (finding anything) about them.

Thus, “Kill Your Darlings” which is about an obscure but apparently true incident in their young lives, held little interest for me.

The title, is derived (perhaps) from a Faulkner quote — and frankly, I can’t think of anyone farther away from the Beat sensibility — in which he advised would-be writers — “In writing, you must kill all your darlings.”

Or perhaps the reference is to Stephen King who wrote.  “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

Sustainable wedding: Altar in a pecan orchard draws farmers from near, far

by David Pendered

This is the conclusion of our three-part series on Georgia’s sustainable food movement. Links to previous stories are at the bottom of this report.

Gordon – Farm weddings are all the rage these days, but that’s not why Chelsea Losh and Bobby Jones chose a rustic setting.

They live and work on Babe+Sage Farm. These two graduates of Georgia College have worked since summer 2011 to reclaim the old Oetter place and grow it into a sustainable vegetable farm.

Their wedding celebration showed that they have grown a way of life, as well. Friends traveled from farms as far as West Virginia and as near as Sparta. And there was a surprising link involving relatives in Alabama and the Jenny Jack Sun Farm in Pine Mountain.

Rain threatened to dampen the Losh-Jones wedding day, Nov. 23. There never was any real question the venue would be moved from an altar in a pecan orchard, a reception at a barn, and dinner and dancing on a field near the farmhouse.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: Atlanta’s CDC Foundation passes two major milestones

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on November 22, 2013

The Atlanta-based CDC Foundation has just passed two major milestones.

Since its inception in 1995, the CDC Foundation has launched more than 700 programs and it has raised $400 million to advance the work of the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Sustainable policies: New regulations may affect backyard farmers, organic growers as rules chase market

by David Pendered

Editor’s Note: This is the second story in our three-part series on Georgia’s sustainable food movement. The series concludes Thanksgiving Day with a visit to a farm-to-table wedding.

People should be allowed to grow food for their own consumption on their own property. At least, that’s the theory behind legislation pending in Atlanta City Hall and the Georgia General Assembly.

“Especially during these hard economic times, people ought to be able to raise their own food in their own yard,” said state Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates), who sponsored House Bill 618.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Falcons stadium funding clears hurdle; Atlanta City Council to cast final vote Dec. 2 on last provision

by David Pendered

This story has been updated.

The Atlanta City Council is slated to vote Dec. 2 on the community benefits deal that must be approved before the city can provide $200 million in construction funding for the future Falcons stadium.

The council’s Community Development Committee approved an amended deal at 7:20 p.m., almost four hours after residents of stadium neighborhoods first gathered in a crowded council meeting room.

The outcome of the city’s $200 million in stadium funding remains uncertain. Opponents have said they will file a lawsuit to prevent the city from issuing the funds.

Posted inTom Baxter

A roundup of state business rankings, and what they mean

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

Imagine how it would be if we chose the best college football team the same way business rankings size up the states.

Suddenly the Crimson Tide would have a lot of company. One football ranking might give the greatest weight to the team which has scored the most points. Baylor might be No. 1 in that one, despite its loss to Oklahoma State over the weekend. Another might pay more attention to ranking the worst teams than the best ones, with Florida an upset possibility this year.

This alternate reality is worth keeping in mind when sizing up Nathan Deal’s campaign ad  touting the state’s No. 1 rating for its business climate.

“Now, for the first time in history, Georgia is the No. 1 place to do business,” the ad says.
Not to take anything away from the historical significance, but the ranking,  in Site Selection magazine, is designed to reflect the specialized point of view of its readers, those on one side or another of the corporate-state site selection game.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Sustainable packaging: The food container is just as important as the edible contents it transports

by David Pendered

Editor’s Note: This is the first story in our three-part series on Georgia’s sustainable food movement. The second story will explore the state of the current sustainable food industry. The conclusion will visit a farm-to-table wedding.

Consumer criticism of the basic styrofoam cup once dimmed the future of Freshens, the large Atlanta-based yogurt and smoothie company.

Freshens’ ditched those non-degradable cups and replaced them with totally compostable ones in a dramatic example of the evolution in food packaging, according to Christian Hardigree, a professor at Kennesaw State University.

Posted inColumns, Michelle Hiskey & Ben Smith

Weekly potluck dinner turns Atlanta friends into family

by Ben Smith

The bonds of family and friendship can be created through the sacrament of a regular shared mealtime, and it  doesn’t have to be as seldom or elaborate as the big Thanksgiving event many of us will travel thousands of miles to celebrate this Thursday.

For several years, Owen Mathews has hosted what he calls Potluck Dinner every week at his Midtown studio. It has grown into a broad range of young to early-middle aged professionals of assorted ethnic backgrounds and experiences.

“It’s almost like we have family dinner once a week,” said Sara Le Meitour, who is engaged to another potluck regular.

Posted inMaria's Metro

A new Braves stadium in Cobb County shows metro Atlanta still doesn’t understand the concept of regionalism

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

Regionalism in metro Atlanta is such a tough concept to grasp.

It is not about each county or city government having its own international airport, its own professional sports stadium or its own water and sewer system.

Regionalism is about investing in regional assets that serve the entire 10-county or 20-county region.

Several of our top elected officials seem to be confused these days about the benefits of having a regional mindset. Their minds have become absorbed with thoughts of elevating their own government or what they think will best serve their own future political careers rather than looking at the true regional cost of their actions.

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