Category: Columns

By David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed issued two strong challenges today to the group of elected officials overseeing the 2012 referendum for a penny sales tax to pay for transportation improvements.

Reed questioned the decision to hire a team to run the voter education and sales tax campaign that includes no women or persons of color. Reed also called for polls of voters to be scientific rather, than the informal polls conducted in recent months.

Tad Leithead, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, responded to Reed’s remarks. Leithead said the team’s leadership will hire local women and minorities and that future polls will be scientific.

By David Pendered

Kevin Green took time Tuesday to talk about his views of, and vision for, Midtown on the day he was named president and CEO of Midtown Alliance.

Green sees a bright future. Midtown faces good opportunities to continue growing into a pleasant and safe community, he says.

Read excepts of a conversation with Green about seven different topics. And be sure to see his thoughts about the potential for new retail shops in Midtown.

By David Pendered

Atlanta has decided not to identify the persons who will serve on the selection team that will recommend which companies should be awarded a concesssions contract at the airport.

Paul Brown, the airport’s concessions director, said the names of “experienced airport managers” who are chosen to serve on the selection committee – and even the number who serve on the committee – will remain confidential until after their work is done.

The selection team will review proposals from companies that want a piece of the lucrative food and beverage concession business at the airport. The selection team will recommend which companies should win a contract that will last at least a decade.

By David Pendered

Hard to believe by historic standards, but a recent report by Deutsche Bank shows it’s cheaper to buy a home than rent one in metro Atlanta.

In fact, metro Atlanta now is the cheapest city in the nation to buy as opposed to rent, according to a report by Deutsche Bank. The leading causes are plummeting home prices and low interest rates, the bank says.

The effort to help potential homebuyers benefit from this new reality is being led in our area by Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc.

On Wednesday, the Piece by Piece initiative that’s ANDP is coordinating will host a seminar titled, “Understanding Rehab Mortgages.”

By David Pendered

The Colorado governor headlined an entourage that met Friday with local elected officials who are working to win passage of a 1-percent sales tax to pay for road and transit projects.

The Denver delegation advised their Atlanta-area counterparts to run a transparent process, educate voters, and campaign with persistence. They said that was their formula for success with a 2004 transportation sales tax referendum.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper predicted metro Atlanta voters will approve the proposed sales tax by a 55-45 margin.

By David Pendered

Thank you, Susan Mendheim.

That was the message delivered with a standing ovation at the retirement celebration Wednesday for the outgoing president and CEO of Midtown Alliance.

Actually, the full accolade for Susan McNeill Mendheim came from from Harald Hansen, the retired chairman and CEO of First Union National of Georgia and a director of Midtown Alliance:

“Thank you so much for the many things you’ve done for Midtown. Thank you for so many things you’ve done for us.”

By David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced today the city’s development arm will be headed by a man who now works in President Obama’s administration.

Reed named Brian McGowan, who now is a deputy assistant secretary/COO in the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, as president and CEO of the Atlanta Development Authority.

In choosing McGowan, Reed passed over longtime ADA executive Ernestine Garey, who now serves as the ADA’s interim president. The third finalist for the job was Daniel Gundersen, who formerly served as New York’s commissioner of economic development and has White House connections.

By David Pendered

In the end, the Atlanta City Council voted Monday to recognize two of Atlanta’s ambassadors to the world – civil rights leader Xernona Clayton and architect John Portman.

The debate over the public honoring of two individuals who helped raise the city’s profile has raged since January. A city that has rarely hesitated to wipe its physical slate clean balked at renaming two downtown streets for Clayton and Portman.

The solution approved Monday provides for Clayton to be recognized by having street toppers with her name applied to the signs on a portion of Baker Street. Portman will be honored with the actual renaming of a portion of Harris Street.

By David Pendered

How would you define the culinary culture of the South?

Would entrees be shrimp and grits? Neckbones? Meatloaf? Fried chicken? Fried tempeh encrusted in peppercorns? Giblets and rice? Maybe a chili cheese dog?

A section committee comprised of airport executives will make this determination this summer when it recommends the hiring of companies to reshape the multi-billion-dollar food and beverage concession business at Atlanta’s airport.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and the Atlanta City Council will make the final determination of what constitutes Southern food when they approve concessions contracts that will last at least a decade.

By David Pendered

The enthusiasm of some Atlanta residents to weigh in on the rezoning of Fort McPherson once the Army vacates the property on Sept. 15 is just a bit premature, the man overseeing the process said Friday.

The conversation about rezoning Fort McPherson arose this week at Atlanta City Hall, a month before the city’s rezoning process is to begin. Civic advocates used a presentation of the official redevelopment plan to deliver their alternate ideas for redeveloping the 488-acre parcel located between Downtown Atlanta and the airport.

The group included influential speakers such as Sen. Vincent Fort, a Democrat who represents the area; Michael Dobbins, the city’s former planning director who now teaches at Georgia Tech; and Deborah Scott, the executive director of Georgia Standup who led the battle to ensure that affordable housing is provided in tax-subsidized developments along the BeltLine.

By David Pendered

The concessions industry is struggling to get its head around Atlanta’s novel approach to establishing new food and beverage businesses at the airport.

Companies seeking contracts want the city to be more specific than it has been in telling companies precisely what concept Atlanta wants at each of the 100-plus food and beverage shops that will be created.

The city responded Thursday by issuing a host of amendments to its original, April 5, request for proposals for concession businesses.

By David Pendered

MARTA is slated to show off its Buckhead Station Wednesday to companies that want a piece of its $13 million to $14 million renovation.

MARTA intends to build a north entrance and pedestrian bridges that will link the northern end of the station platform with land on both sides of Ga. 400, according to pre-bid documents posted online by the transit agency.

MARTA has always intended for its Buckhead Station to be better connected than it is with the surrounding neighborhood. Of all the MARTA stations, Buckhead Station is uniquely poised to serve tony travelers arriving at Atlanta’s airport with reservations at a top-end hotel in Atlanta’s best address for shopping, dining and office.

By David Pendered

The power of Atlanta’s tradition of building a team to achieve a big public dream was underscored Tuesday by a federal cabinet member speaking at the Carter Center.

If there had been a regional group working on the foreclosure crisis last year, the region would have been more competitive to receive some of the $1.93 billion awarded in 2010 to contend with the foreclosure problem, according to U.S. Secretary Shaun Donovan, of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Metro Atlanta now has such a consortium – the Piece by Piece initiative that includes more than 140 regional and national partners who collaborate with guidance from the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc.