SAN DIEGO, CA – Housing affordability and homelessness are front-and-center challenges in San Diego – a region where 46 percent of the area is dedicated for conservation that is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Indian reservations as well as military land.
The focus on affordability parallels the conversations occurring in Atlanta, which has become increasingly focused on being a region where the people of modest income can still afford to live.
SAN DIEGO, CA – On the second day of the metro Atlanta LINK trip to this southern California city, Georgia leaders discovered differences and similarities between the two regions.
In San Diego, one out of every four jobs is related to the military, generating an economic impact of $50 billion a year and employing up to 140,000 people in the south California region.
SAN DIEGO, CA – It’s hard for residents of San Diego and Tijuana to see where the U.S. border begins and Mexican border ends.
In fact, San Diego and Tijuana consider themselves to be “CaliBaja” or “Calexico” or “Mexicali” – all names that represent a mashing together of the southern edge of California with the northern edge of Mexico.
The Atlanta delegation arrived in San Diego Wednesday morning – West Coast time – spending its first stop at Liberty Station, a redeveloped Naval training center that has been turned a complex of art galleries, shops, offices and restaurants.
Mark Cafferty, president and CEO of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., told the Atlanta delegation that Liberty Station is one of the most successful redevelopments of a former military complex in the United States.
Talk about timing.
Morehouse College hosted a town hall meeting Thursday afternoon with Howard Schultz, founder and executive chairman of Starbucks; and Rosalind Gates Brewer, Starbucks’ president of the Americas and chief operating officer.
The town hall, which had been planned for month, took place less than a month after two black males were arrested at a Starbucks in Philadelphia for hanging out at the café without buying anything.
In 2016, the Home Depot Foundation committed to investing $250 million veteran-related causes by 2020.
On Friday, the foundation will announce it has reached its $250 million goal – two years early.
Leadership Atlanta has released the names of 89 community leaders who will participate in its Class of 2019 program – the largest class in the organization’s 49-year history.
The Class of 2019, representing such diverse industries as education, law, corporate, religious, nonprofit, technology, media, healthcare, politics and government, share a common desire to move Atlanta forward by delving deeply into the city’s issues, according to a Leadership Atlanta news release.
The city of Atlanta is stepping back from a 2017 lawsuit against its former housing authority CEO, the Integral Group and its boss, a longtime and prominent city contractor who’s built mixed-income developments for the authority.
“The city has dismissed, without prejudice, its lawsuit against Integral Development and related corporate entities and individuals,” a city spokesperson confirmed in a text Thursday evening.
The Coca-Cola Co.’s 2018 annual meeting of shareholders at the World of Coke was one of the tamest in the company recent history.
There was no one shouting “Killer Coke.” There were no protesters out in front. There were no angry vocal shareholders. There were no combative exchanges with executives. And no one had to be forcefully removed from the meeting.
A regional initiative to improve educational outcomes in metro Atlanta’s five core counties – Learn4Life – released its second annual report at a Metro Atlanta Chamber event Tuesday morning.
The “State of Education in Metro Atlanta” report highlights the cradle-to-grave approach to improve outcomes for all students. Learn4Life encompasses eight school districts in those five counties – Atlanta, Fulton, DeKalb, Decatur, Cobb, Marietta, Gwinnett and Clayton.
John A. Williams would have loved his memorial service.
Family and friends gathered Monday at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Buckhead to remember the 75-year-old apartment developer who died on April 16.
“He was larger than life, but most of all my father was a builder,” Jay Williams told a full sanctuary. “He built companies – two great ones.”
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Dec. 22, 2017
The Trust for Public Land has reached its $12.7 million goal to build out the Rodney Cook Sr. Park in Vine City, with the hope that it will be open in time for the Super Bowl in February 2019.
George Dusenbury, state director of the Trust for Public Land, said the grand vision for the park appealed to both the community and the philanthropic community.
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Dec. 22, 2017
During a recent tour of English Avenue and Vine City, Frank Fernandez of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation highlighted numerous initiatives that have begun to take root on the Westside.
A former check-cashing business is being transformed into a restaurant. Several vacant lots have been turned into neighborhood parks. Police officers are moving into the neighborhood thanks to an initiative of the Atlanta Police Foundation. Westside Works has a new home where it is training residents in the fields of construction, heath care, culinary arts and soon childcare.
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Dec. 15, 2017
The Woodruff Arts Center will be able to continue its Family Fun programming over the next three years thanks to a new philanthropic grant.
The Lettie Pate Evans Foundation, which is part of the Robert W. Woodruff family of foundations, has awarded the Woodruff Arts Center an extension grant of $5.1 million to allow Family Fun to continue – offering free access to music, visual arts and theater for another three years.
As published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Dec. 8, 2017
Atlanta’s housing advocates reminded newly-elected leaders of their commitments during the campaign to address the city’s affordability problems.
“It’s an exciting and challenging time for us,” said Bill Bolling, the facilitator of the Atlanta Regional Housing Forum meeting at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Dec. 6, a day after the election. “We finally got affordability to the top of the list. We need to hold [elected leaders] accountable and be allies” in helping make Atlanta more affordable.
The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Clark Atlanta University over ownership of former Morris Brown College land – virtually exhausting Invest Atlanta’s legal options on the case.
The Georgia Supreme Court reaffirmed last year’s ruling by the Georgia Court of Appeals, which agreed that Clark Atlanta had legal right to the Morris Brown property.
Updated: A memorial service to celebrate the life of John A. Williams will be held on Monday, April 23 at 2 p.m. at Peachtree Presbyterian Church at 3434 Roswell Road NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30305. A reception will follow the service at the Cherokee Town Club at 155 W. Paces Ferry Road NW, Atlanta Ga 30305. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Piedmont Heart Institute or a charity of your choice
Listening to Atlanta’s own Shawn Mullins at the Atlanta Dogwood Festival on a beautiful Saturday night in Piedmont Park (Photo by Maria Saporta)
The Atlanta premier of the “Maynard” documentary Saturday night attracted devotees of the late Mayor Maynard Jackson.
The film was a featured presentation of the Atlanta Film Festival, which actually was launched when Jackson was in office.
It was a day of sad memories as Atlanta marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of its hometown spiritual leader – Martin Luther King Jr. – on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
At the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, King’s family gathered at King’s crypt to lay a wreath and to commemorate the actual moment of King’s death 50 years ago.
