The United Way of Greater Atlanta is exploring options for its downtown campus that could include the sale of the 4-acre property, as developers and their capital partners continue gravitating back to the city’s urban core.
Category: Maria Saporta
Articles by Maria Saporta
Posted inMaria Saporta, WABE
Commentary: Planners eye Atlanta’s potential growing pains
What does Atlanta want to look like when it grows up? That’s a question city planners are faced with.
They’ve launched the “Atlanta City Design Project,” which aims to be pro-active about how we handle future growth and development. For decades, we’ve been reacting to proposals from developers and market forces rather than setting our own course.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Architect Tom Ventulett honored for his vision
Upon being presented the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s “Visionary Award,” veteran architect Tom Ventulett shared one of his pet peeves – the ugliness of our highways.
Ventulett, a co-founder of the Atlanta-based TVSdesign architectural firm, first pushed back against him receiving the award.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria Saporta
Longtime Atlanta AT&T Mobility exec Ralph de la Vega moving to Dallas
By Maria Saporta
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on February 26, 2016
Atlanta’s top booster at AT&T, Ralph de la Vega, is moving to Dallas as part of his promotion to vice chairman of the international telecommunications company.
But Atlanta will continue to be a critical hub for AT&T, De la Vega said in a telephone interview before heading to Barcelona, Spain, for the annual Mobile World Congress, where he was a speaker on Feb. 22.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed: MARTA bill may not be dead
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, speaking to a gathering of civic leaders Monday morning, gave a glimmer of hope that the MARTA referendum may not be dead after all.
At a conference about the “opportunity gap,” Reed said that if there were a transportation referendum without MARTA, “just count me out.”
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Colleen Kiernan stepping down as director of Sierra Club-Georgia
Colleen Kiernan, director of the Sierra Club’s Georgia Chapter, has announced she will be stepping down on April 1.
A newsletter wrote that “we are bidding a fond but reluctant farewell” to Kiernan.
Posted inMaria Saporta, WABE
Commentary: Former Atlantan wins prize for military women aid
Social justice advocate Nancy Parrish received Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen Jr. Prize for Social Courage on Feb. 18.
It’s one of the most prestigious awards given in Atlanta, named in honor of late Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. He gained national respect in the 1960s for supporting integration in the South.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Business leaders speaking out against religious freedom bill
Concerned business leaders are stepping up their efforts opposing the “religious freedom” legislation that passed the Georgia Senate on Friday.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber gave a letter to every Georgia senator – stating that it had signed the Georgia Prospers pledge, an initiative led by former Republic Senate Majority Leader Ronnie Chance.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Metro Atlanta Chamber puts new leadership team in place
The Metro Atlanta Chamber announced several key leadership changes – both on its executive staff and its volunteer roles. The changes were announced at the Chamber’s executive committee meeting Thursday morning.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Fulton’s transportation stance nears consensus despite differences among mayors
Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves has been working for months to build consensus among all the mayors in his county on how to move forward with transportation funding.
At Tuesday’s meeting of Fulton’s mayors and county commissioners, the various political leaders moved a step closer to consensus – with the exception of Alpharetta Mayor David Belle Isle.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
More of Atlanta’s history erased with Tuxedo home demolition
It’s so sad to see a historic home demolished – especially without a full vetting of all possible options to save it.
That was the case with the “Maddox House” designed by famous Atlanta architect Phillip Trammel Shutze at 3665 Tuxedo Road.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Atlanta Braves back down saying the Hank Aaron Statue is staying in Atlanta
After more than a year of trying to lay claim to the historic Hank Aaron Statue and seeking to move it to its new ballpark in Cobb County, the Atlanta Braves now say the monument can stay in Atlanta.
In a statement released late Friday, the Braves called the fight over the statue “divisive” and not in the spirit of the Homerun King himself.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Mayor Reed: City ‘very close’ to 20-year Delta deal; thanks CEO Richard Anderson for commitment to Atlanta
The city is “very close to finalizing an agreement” with Delta Air Lines on a new 20-year lease at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told people attending the Atlanta Press Club’s Newsmaker Luncheon on Thursday.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Braves say there’s no agreement on Aaron statue, but Bottoms releases emails saying otherwise
The plot thickens.
After Keisha Lance Bottoms announced that the iconic Hank Aaron Statue would be staying in Atlanta based on a agreement she had reached with the Atlanta Braves, a spokeswoman for the baseball teams said that wasn’t true.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Keisha Lance Bottoms: Hank Aaron Statue to stay in Atlanta
The iconic Hank Aaron Statue of the homerun legend’s hitting No. 715 to break Babe Ruth’s record will stay in the City of Atlanta, according to Keisha Lance Bottoms, executive director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority.
The statue will remain at Turner Field, and it will not be moved to Cobb County to become part of the Atlanta Braves’ new stadium.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank discloses having curable prostate cancer
Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons and co-founder of the Home Depot, disclosed in an exclusive interview Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with curable prostate cancer.
Blank, 73, said that after multiple visits with different cancer specialists and hospitals around the country, he has opted to have surgery later this month.
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
John Ahmann named new executive director of Westside Future Fund
By Maria Saporta The board of the Westside Future Fund, a privately-funded entity aimed at improving the neighborhoods west of the new Mercedes-Benz stadium, has named John Ahmann its new executive director. Ahmann is the executive director of the Atlanta Committee for Progress, the entity that actually developed the concept for the Westside Future Fund […]
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Remembering the legacy Commerce Club
By Maria Saporta It has been more than five years since the Commerce Club moved from its original location near Five Points to the 191 Peachtree building. The prestigious Commerce Club is now more than 55 years old, and its Atlanta history runs deep. That was obvious on Saturday, Feb. 6 when there was a […]
Posted inMaria Saporta, WABE
Commentary: Citizens Trust moving, but continuing mission
Original Story on WABE by Maria Saporta Citizens Trust has been a fixture on Auburn Avenue for decades, but it will soon call Peachtree Street home. The bank was known for lending money to African-Americans who couldn’t borrow money from white-owned banks. And in the 1960s Auburn Avenue was called “the richest Negro street in […]
Posted inLatest News, Main Slider, Maria Saporta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed agrees to transfer 10 property deeds to APS
Given the new spirit of cooperation between the City of Atlanta and the Atlanta Public Schools, Mayor Kasim Reed said he is willing to transfer 10 property deeds to the school system.
Reed, speaking at the State of the City business breakfast Thursday morning at the Georgia World Congress Center, said he would ask the Atlanta City Council to transfer those deeds “right away.”
