The state Legislature closed its business this year without authorizing a BeltLine idea to raise some $100 million via a new tax on commercial and multifamily residential properties near the trail. But they did approve Atlanta votes on property taxes and extending a sewer sales tax.
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Posted inLatest News
Georgia House, Senate agree on metro transit overhaul
It took until very last hour of Thursday for final passage, but the Georgia House and Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill that they mean to be the first step toward a more seamless and robust transit network in metro Atlanta.
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Delta’s Ed Bastian: We won’t ‘let the state run our business’
Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian, in a rare public appearance since the airline discontinued discounted fares to National Rifle Association members, basked in the applause during the Global HOPE Forum meeting in Atlanta Wednesday.
Operation HOPE CEO John Hope Bryant initiated the conversation praising Bastian for standing up for what’s right despite having “somebody threaten your balance sheet.”
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Guess who’s coming to dinner? Joe Biden
In a major coup, the Center for Civil and Human Rights will honor former Vice President Joe Biden at its fourth annual “Power to Inspire” tribute dinner on May 17 at the Georgia Aquarium.
The event has become the biggest annual fundraiser for the Center, which opened in June, 2014, to showcase Atlanta’s role in the Civil Rights Movement and to serve as a gathering place to shine the light on current human rights struggles.
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Marcus Stroke Network comes as disease hits soaring number of millennials
The Marcus Foundation has donated $15 million to enhance the prevention and treatment of stroke in the Stroke Belt that covers 11 southern states. It comes on the heels of an analysis by Scientific American magazine that shows stroke is no longer a disease of the elderly — it’s striking a soaring number of millennials.
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Cousins CEO Gellerstedt: first ACP meeting with Mayor Bottoms one of ‘best’ ever
In its first meeting Friday morning with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms since taking office, the high-powered Atlanta Committee for Progress pledged to do all it can to help her have a successful administration.
Case in point, Bottoms talked about the cyber security attack the city experienced on Thursday, and several of the executives and professional services firms extended offers to help the city if need be.
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State lawmakers vote for closure of part of Downtown Atlanta’s Mitchell Street
The street that runs between Atlanta City Hall and the state Capitol has become a battle line between the near-neighbors Downtown.
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It’s official: MARTA board votes to hire new boss
A board vote that took less than a minute ended a process that took months: finding a new general manager and CEO of MARTA. Jeffrey Parker will take over leading the agency at a time of big expansion.
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Ga. lawmakers punt on protest of offshore oil drilling as historic oil lease goes to market in Gulf of Mexico
As Georgia lawmakers defer voting on resolutions to oppose oil exploration and drilling off Georgia’s coast, on Wednesday the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in the nation’s history was conducted for most of the Gulf of Mexico.
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Time to buckle down on BeltLine challenges, says its first planner
With huge population growth on the horizon, Atlanta’s at a moment where it needs to handle the challenges that are coming with the BeltLine, says its godfather, Ryan Gravel.
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Georgia House panel narrows immigration enforcement bill
A state House panel has approved a bill that supporters say is a fairly narrow proposal to help federal immigration agents eject bad guys from the country. But critics say the bill will have dire consequences.
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Fulton County commissioners vote to continue efforts to decriminalize mental illness
Fulton County commissioners took another step Wednesday toward ending the county jail’s reputation as the state’s largest mental institution. The goal is to treat mental illnesses through a network of programs based outside the jail, possibly in a future facility designed to provide treatment rather than incarceration.
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Carter Center: South Sudan has stopped the spread of Guinea worm disease
The Carter Center and Dr. Riek Gai Kok, the minister of health for South Sudan, made a historic announcement Wednesday morning – the African nation has officially stopped the transmission of Guinea worm disease.
For many years, the area that is now the nation of South Sudan was the most Guinea worm-endemic nation in the world. Now South Sudan is enjoying 15 consecutive months with zero Guinea worm cases.
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Georgia’s rural communities can seek federal funds for broadband
The successful rollout of a rural broadband program in Tennessee, highlighted Tuesday in a federal statement, could serve as a template for some of the upcoming broadband efforts that state lawmakers have supported in Georgia’s rural communities.
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Bill to raise $100 million for BeltLine muddles through state Senate committee
“I can tell you, the money that has been spent on the Atlanta BeltLine needs help. It’s not going to get completed without this, I don’t see how it’s going to happen,” said state Rep. Chad Nimmer, R-Blackshear, asking a state Senate committee to approve his bill.
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Derreck Kayongo resigns as CEO of the Center for Civil and Human Rights
Derreck Kayongo, president and CEO of the Center for Civil and Human Rights since December 2015, turned in his resignation on Monday.
Kayongo was the second CEO of the Center, which opened in June 2014. He followed founding CEO Doug Shipman, now president and CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center.e
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BeltLine elevates head of housing policy to cabinet level position
The Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. has elevated the position of housing director to a cabinet level position, underscoring BeltLine President and CEO Brian McGowan’s intention to sharpen the BeltLine’s effort to comply with City Hall’s mandate that the BeltLine develop 5,600 units of affordable housing along the corridor.
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Decades after the “I have a Dream” speech, Atlanta professors aim to measure the progess
“Fifty years later we should be at [parity], not because whites in America are doing worse, but because blacks in America are doing better,” said professor Nisha Botchwey, explaining data from the “Measuring the Dream” project.
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Atlanta, CSX, announce BeltLine land sale to “complete the J” on south side
Atlanta is planning to spend $25.8 million for land and an old rail line on the south side, where 4.5 miles of new BeltLine trail are to be built.
Posted inMaggie Lee
Vote after 7 p.m. in Atlanta? State bill would end that
Atlanta voters are unique in the state because every four years their polls are open until 8 p.m., an hour later than anywhere else in the state. A Georgia Senate bill would close all polls at 7 p.m.
