Category: Contributors

Upon hearing that AT&T is moving some of its executives out of Atlanta, the Metro Atlanta Chamber has had to shuffle its plans for future leadership.

Glenn Lurie, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Operations, was in line to become chairman of the Metro Atlanta Chamber in 2018. But the chair-elect informed the chamber that he is moving to AT&T’s headquarters in Dallas as part of a decision to move about 300 key AT&T leadership personnel out of Atlanta.

The City of Atlanta Tuesday unveiled the plans for the Grant Park Gateway Project – a new parking garage that will be located on the footprint of the existing eight acre parking lot next to Zoo Atlanta along Boulevard Avenue.

The $48 million facility is a 1,000-space parking garage that will look more than a park than a structure for cars. It will address parking demands while reducing traffic congestion and improving overall safety in the area, according to the city’s Media Advisory.

The Junior League of Atlanta celebrated its Centennial Monday by giving away three grants worth a total of $1 million to local nonprofits in Atlanta.

“Today’s event was 100 years in the making and 10 years in planning,” said Deanna Anderson, this year’s JLA president, at the luncheon Monday held at the Piedmont Driving Club. “The million dollars represents 10 years of fundraising. We have finally arrived.”

The state agency overseeing the construction of the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium knew in February there were possible issues that could delay its opening.

That was when the Atlanta Falcons approached members of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (GWCCA), the state agency that will own the project, to inform them of potential construction delays. The possible complications stemmed in part from the one-of-a-kind retractable roof, GWCCA executive director Frank Poe said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

By Maria Saporta When I heard that Fulton County Commissioner Joan Garner passed away earlier today, it hit me hard. Joan was a fellow breast cancer survivor. We fought the good fight at almost the exact same time, and we knew we would be forever linked in that sisterhood none of us had ever wanted […]

The opening of the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been delayed again.

The new stadium is now scheduled to open with two Atlanta Falcons preseason games – one against Arizona on Saturday, Aug. 26, and the other versus Jacksonville on Thursday, Aug. 31.

The revised schedule will have the greatest impact on previously-scheduled matches in August of the Atlanta United soccer team. It is not known when or where those two games will be played.

For the first time in recent memory, a regional consortium is addressing public education in metro Atlanta.

Learn4Life, a collaboration of four regional entities, released its baseline report Tuesday for how students are doing across five counties and eight school districts in the Atlanta region.

By Maria Saporta On the morning of the official opening day of the new Atlanta Braves stadium at SunTrust Park, Terry McGuirk and Mike Plant took a moment to reflect on the journey that brought the team to Cobb County. McGuirk, chairman and CEO of the Atlanta Braves, and Plant, president of development, were part […]

Atlanta will continue to play a pivotal role for Turner and its media properties –including CNN, whether or not the merger of AT&T and Time Warner goes through.

That was one of the messages Turner CEO John Martin shared with the Atlanta Press Club Thursday during a Newsmaker luncheon.

Retired Atlanta Police Chief George Turner has a new job.

Turner will become vice president of safety and security for the Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena beginning on May 1.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed held a press briefing Friday to reinforce what a good steward his administration has been with the city’s finances.

Reed had repeatedly said his goal was to leave the city with a “rainy day fund” of $175 million – the amount the city has in its reserves at the end of his second term as mayor (January, 2018).

From the outset, I must disclose that I co-chair the Atlanta Press Club Debate Committee, a role I’ve held for the past two decades.

On Wednesday night, we had a couple of firsts when we put on a debate with the candidates running for the 6th Congressional District seat most recently held by Tom Price, who was named by President Donald Trump to become the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The back-and-forth leadership struggle continues at Morehouse College, one of the best known historically black colleges in the United States.

The rift bubbled to the surface when the Morehouse Board of Trustees decided in January to not renew the contract of President John S. Wilson, who has been in office for the past four years.

After the faculty passed a vote of no-confidence in the College’s Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Davidson last month, the board issued a statement in response earlier this week.