Category: Sections

By Maria Saporta

For tree lovers, the crisis has been averted.

House Bill 501, which would have allowed the cutting of trees along interstates and the state’s limited access highways, failed to make it out of the House Rules Committee.

It therefore has died a timely death, at least for this year.

“Whew,” was the reaction of Marcia Bansley, founder of Trees Atlanta.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta officials and the Atlanta Falcons reached a deal to build a new $1 billion stadium that addresses most of the concerns raised by the Atlanta City Council and the surrounding communities.

The tentative agreement was announced at a press conference Thursday afternoon at Atlanta City Hall with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed flanked by Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur M. Blank, Gov. Nathan Deal and 10 members of the Atlanta City Council.

The agreement would include $50 million investments in infrastructure improvements around the new stadium as part of the actual costs of constructing the project.

By Maria Saporta

An imminent agreement for a new Atlanta Falcons football stadium will include several assurances for the surrounding communities, according to Penelope McPhee, president of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.

Arthur Blank, a co-founder of the Home Depot, is the owner of the Atlanta Falcons.

McPhee was one of the panelists at the Atlanta Regional Housing Forum program Wednesday morning on how to leverage large projects to bring equitable development to communities.

By Maria Saporta

Tree lovers are alarmed over a bill that passed the House Transportation Committee Monday in a 7-5 vote that threaten trees located along the state’s interstates and limited access highways.

House Bill 501 will require the state to cut all trees along interstate and limited access highways that are tall enough to reach the highway. The bill uses the word “shall” — not “will” or “can” — but “shall.”

By Maria Saporta

Technology is changing so quickly that even Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson is having a hard time keeping up.

That’s what Peterson, who will celebrate his fourth anniversary at Georgia Tech in 27 days, told the Rotary Club of Atlanta Monday.

“I’m trying to keep up with the rate and pace of change in technology,” said Peterson, who envisioned that when he came that he would be able to catch up with all that was going on at Georgia Tech in his first few years. “Because of the rate of change, I think I’m losing ground.”

By Maria Saporta

They’ve become the French bookends in Atlanta.

From March 16 through March 26, Atlanta will hold the 14th Atlanta Francophonie Festival — a multicultural event geared to all the cultures in the world where French is spoken — 57 countries in all.

And the Consulate General of France announced last week that it is bringing back France-Atlanta. The fourth annual high-level exchange between France and Atlanta will take place between Oct. 23 and Nov. 10. The theme is: Together Towards Innovation.

B y Maria Saporta

The legacy of Ray Anderson, a corporate champion of sustainability, will live on at Georgia Tech.

The Ray C. Anderson Foundation has awarded a $750,000 grant to Georgia Tech to establish the Center on Business Strategies of Sustainability (CBSS) within the Ernest Scheller Jr. College of Business.

The new program will be developed by Dr. L. Beril Toktay, operations management professor and Brady Family Chair at the Scheller College of Business.

By Maria Saporta

The National Center for Civil and Human Rights will begin turning dirt next week, according to Doug Shipman, its executive director.

The attraction has just received its land disturbance permit from the city, which will enable its construction crews to secure the site, establish sidewalk closures and prepare the site’s access road. Construction is still on track for the project to be completed by mid 2014.

A ceremonial ground-breaking event was held on July 27, 2012.

By Maria Saporta

Every day 19,000 children die from preventable causes — imagine a sold-out Philips Arena of children dying day after day after day.

“It’s obscene,” said Dr. Ed Lloyd, chief operating and financial officer of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. “Have any of us read about this appalling tragedy in the newspaper — about 19,000 children dying every day? Many children are just forgotten…. I’m just outraged that this is not being blasted in the media. Nearly half of these deaths are occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Lloyd was speaking as part of a special reception on “Connecting Atlanta to Africa Through Global Citizenship” on Feb. 21 at the Robert W. Woodruff Library at the Atlanta University Center.