Latest News Archives - Page 143 of 272 - SaportaReport

Echo Street

Atlanta City Council approves Westside project with lower density and more affordable housing

by Sonam Vashi August 6, 2018 9:17 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

The Atlanta City Council unanimously approved plans on Monday for the Echo Street Communities development in English Avenue, one of the first large-scale developments in the area that has triggered strong alarm among many residents concerned about gentrification on the Westside.
The affordable housing plans for the project, which also includes thousands of square feet in office space and retail, match the city’s guidelines, with 35 potential additional affordable units in the works.

Open records, open meetings and the uses of sunshine law for everyone

by Maggie Lee August 6, 2018 6:43 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

If there’s any policy you care about, if you are a supporter of any activist group that works on politics or policy — it’s worth knowing about those “sunshine” laws, and maybe using them yourself.

astronaut eric boe

Georgia Tech grad to lead NASA’s testing of commercial crewed spacecraft

by David Pendered August 5, 2018 7:49 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

A Georgia Tech grad was named to the nine-member team of astronauts who are to serve aboard the first commercial crew flight tests of a spacecraft designed to transport humans to the International Space Station and other low-orbit destinations.

MARTA train

MARTA board reviewing Gwinnett deal, vote expected next month

by Maggie Lee August 2, 2018 6:48 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

MARTA’s service area may be about to get a lot bigger. That is, if Gwinnett voters decide they want to join. A contract between the two is set to go in front of county voters in March, and the transit agency’s board will consider the same language as early as next month.

GBPI, people-powered prosperity

New GBPI poll shows strong support for new taxes to boost education, families, health

by David Pendered August 1, 2018 5:14 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

A new poll commissioned by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute shows a majority of those polled support programs and additional taxes in order to improve the state’s public schools, train workers, provide child care for working families, and expand health coverage.

MARTA Downtown. Credit: Kelly Jordan

Gwinnett schedules referendum on joining MARTA

by Maggie Lee August 1, 2018 9:42 amFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

“Success lives here,” goes the official saying about Gwinnett. “But it commutes to Atlanta,” goes an unofficial rejoinder. Well, Gwinnett has taken the first step in setting up more transit, scheduling a public vote on whether to set up a new sales tax to pay to join MARTA.

Atlanta Audubon wins grant for garden in Washington Park, intern to study wildlife, plants

by David Pendered July 31, 2018 5:19 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

The Atlanta Audubon Society has won a national grant totaling $23,950 that it is to use for two purposes – paying an intern to work in the wildlife sanctuary program, and building a garden in historic Washington Park, Atlanta’s first greenspace dedicated to African Americans.

vine city, without cyclist

The affordable housing that’s hidden in plain sight

by Maggie Lee July 30, 2018 6:23 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

Atlanta’s creating more luxury apartments than low-cost ones, which is part of why many people worry that the age of an affordable Atlanta is coming to an end. But what might be a big part of an affordable housing fix is hidden in plain sight.

tybee island flooding

Non-profit climate group campaigns for new taxes to combat rising sea levels

by David Pendered July 29, 2018 5:17 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

The passage of a $192 million bond referendum in Miami last year established that taxpayers are willing to shoulder debt to ward off rising sea levels. A group that helped fund that campaign is connected to a digital company that now offers free science-based predictions on rising sea levels along Georgia’s coast.

Peachtree Center station

Developer gets green light for TOD at Peachtree Center MARTA Station

by Maria Saporta July 29, 2018 8:32 amFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

A developer seeking to do a transit-oriented development at the Peachtree Center MARTA Station got a green light Thursday at an agency committee meeting.

MARTA recommended the venture of RD Management and Kelco/FB Winecoff LLC as the preferred developer to build on the southwest corner of the MARTA Peachtree Center Station – a small piece of property that’s only 8,000 square feet.

Sea turtle nesting on Georgia’s coast off last year’s pace

by David Pendered July 28, 2018 4:22 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:38 pm

As the sea turtle nesting season winds down along Georgia’s coast, the number of nests appears to have dropped by about 21 percent compared to this time last year, according to preliminary data compiled by seaturtle.org.

After a rough primary season, Georgia GOP Chairman John Watson emceed a Republican unity rally Thursday, with numerous party leaders on stage and rallying a crowd. Credit: Maggie Lee

Georgia candidates start new round of campaigning with talk of jobs, values

by Maggie Lee July 27, 2018 6:15 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:37 pm

After both parties (mostly) picked their candidate teams this week, Democrats were quick to make a pitch as the party of jobs in a business-friendly Georgia. And Republicans talked about jobs too, but the GOP kicked off its unified campaigning with a rally heavy on conservative values.

Bacterial testing of river water a new feature of Float on the Flint this autumn

by David Pendered July 26, 2018 8:44 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:37 pm

The fifth annual Fall Float on the Flint River event this autumn offers a new attraction – the monitoring of bacterial levels in the river in light of the release of up to 1 million gallons of raw sewage into the river this summer from sewage facilities in Albany.

Attendees at a hearing of the Mayor’s Advisory Council on Immigrant Detention at City Hall on Wednesday. Credit: Maggie Lee

Activists call on Atlanta to shut out ICE

by Maggie Lee July 26, 2018 12:49 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:37 pm

“It shouldn’t be that Atlanta, an icon of the civil rights movement, has six minutes from here a detention center.”

DeKalb County courthouse

DeKalb County’s fiscal posture improving, but not out of the woods, Moody’s reports

by David Pendered July 24, 2018 8:17 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:37 pm

Analysts with Moody’s Investors Service thought enough of DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond’s promise to balance the county’s budget to include the promise in their credit analysis of the county.

It’s only only a passing comment. But given the gravity of these credit analyses, its inclusion in the July 18 report is noteworthy:

UMC children's home, 3

Proposed $6 million track a focus of debate over Decatur’s plan for former children’s home

by David Pendered July 22, 2018 4:43 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:37 pm

The ink is barely dry on Decatur’s “unified concept plan” for retooling the 77-acre site the city purchased from the United Methodist Children’s Home, and already there’s a lively online conversation about which aspects of the plan should developed first.

Atlanta police chief asks for an assist from some judges

by Maggie Lee July 20, 2018 6:52 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:37 pm

“I can’t explain some of the decision-making,” Shields said. “There are a couple of judges that routinely let people go.”

manufacturing

Fed’s Beige Book notes shift in employers’ choices for filling vacant jobs

by David Pendered July 20, 2018 4:13 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:37 pm

Jobs remain hard to fill in metro Atlanta and across the Southeast, though business leaders continue to resist raising wages to attract employees, according to the latest federal report on the economy.

Atlanta agency head reprimanded, but keeps job, after review of spending

by Maggie Lee July 20, 2018 11:43 amFebruary 17, 2023 3:37 pm

Eloisa Klementich will stay on as leader of Atlanta’s development authority, but loses her employment contract after a review of a nonprofit that’s linked to the agency and Klementich herself.

kia motors, sewage

Federal funding to improve city sewage system overwhelmed by Kia plant

by David Pendered July 19, 2018 5:16 pmFebruary 17, 2023 3:37 pm

The federal government has provided its second round of funding to help improve the sewage treatment system in Hogansville, where growth in population and industry related to the nearby Kia manufacturing facility has overwhelmed the city’s sewage system, according to the statement announcing the latest loan.