Category: Sections

By Maria Saporta

Fair Share for Transit, the coalition of 81 organizations advocating for greater investment in public transportation, made a final plea for its cause on Friday.

On Monday, the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable executive committee will approve its final draft list of projects that are supposed to total $6.1 billion. The full Roundtable must approve the final list by Oct. 15.

So far, the roundtable’s executive committee has identified a total of $3. 6 billion for transit projects, but its list was still $400 million above the $6.1 billion target.

By Maria Saporta

Update: A celebration of John Aderhold’s life will be held at Peachtree Presbyterian Church, 3434 Roswell Road, Atlanta, on Monday, August 15, 2011, at 11:00 AM. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be sent to the Carlyle Fraser Heart Center at Emory Hospital Midtown.

One of Atlanta’s business anchors — John Aderhold — passed away Wednesday afternoon after a long illness.

Aderhold helped shape Atlanta in several ways. He was instrumental in the development of the Georgia Dome, serving as chairman of the Georgia World Congress Center when the deal was being put together and the facility was built.

By Maria Saporta

The regional transportation sales tax “can not NOT pass,” according to Brian Leary, president and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine Inc.

Leary spoke at a luncheon meeting Wednesday, Aug. 10 of the Urban Land Institute’s Atlanta chapter about how the BeltLine belongs on the list of big ideas that has guided the growth of Atlanta.

The Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile circular rail corridor that envelops the central city, has emerged as one of the top priorities of Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration.

By Maria Saporta

The lead consultant hired to help pass the regional transportation sales tax in metro Atlanta has resigned.

Glenn Totten, CEO of Totten Communications based in Alexandria, Va., resigned late last week in a mutual agreement with the rest of the campaign team.

“At the end of the day, it was mutually agreed to due to the time commitment involved,” said Paul Bennecke, principal of Red Clay Strategies, one of the other consultants on the team.

By Maria Saporta

It was a big day in the decade-long history of the Drew Charter School in East Lake.

First, Comcast used the school as the platform to announce it Internet Essentials program in metro Atlanta — a program designed to help bridge the digital divide for those less fortunate.

Gov. Nathan Deal, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams and U.S. Rep. John Lewis all showed up for that event.

And as soon as that was over, a group of dignitaries went to one of the conference rooms at the school for a special announcement.

By Maria Saporta

People will soon be able to fly to Cuba from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Marazul, the oldest and most experienced charter and travel agency serving Cuba in the United States, has entered into an agreement with Delta Air Lines to begin direct charter flights from Atlanta to Havana.

Both Marazul and Delta have received all the necessary approvals in Cuba and the United States to begin this service.

“We’re excited to be partnering with Marazul on flights between Atlanta and Cuba,” said Trebor Banstetter, a Delta spokesman. “It reinforces Atlanta’s status as Delta’s global gateway, where we currently offer flights to more than 70 international destinations in 47 countries.”

By Maria Saporta

SunTrust Banks has entered into premier status with United Way Worldwide — announcing Wednesday that it has become a United Way Global Corporate Leadership Partner.

The Atlanta-based bank in 2010 gave a total of $8.4 million to United Way nationally, including $3.1 million to the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta through both the employee and corporate giving.

Of that, the SunTrust Foundation gave a total of $2.88 million in 2010. A supersized check of $2.88 million decorated the SunTrust board room during the announcement.

By Maria Saporta

An outside review of the official lists floating around on the possible transportation projects that will be part of the regional referendum has determined two disturbing trends.

First, it appears that “roads are faring much better than transit on the official short lists” presented by the staff of the Atlanta Regional Commission — even the list that is considered to favor transit.

And two, the projects that are on “those short lists are lopsided in favor of serving counties that don’t pay for MARTA.”

Those observations have been made by Ken Edelstein, editor of the GreenBuildingChronicle, who said that he has been pouring over the numbers in the various project list options and realized that “the vast majority of transit projects have essentially been pushed off the scenarios.”

By Maria Saporta

Little did we know that the Savannah Port really could be known as Atlanta’s port.

That’s what Curtis Foltz, executive director of the Georgia Ports Authority, told members of the Rotary Club of Atlanta on Monday.

Of the $15.2 billion of trade that went through the port in 2010, “ 60 percent of it — $8.1 billion — came from metro Atlanta,” Foltz said.

“We are almost branded as an Atlanta port,” Foltz said to the gathering of Atlantans.

By Maria Saporta

It was regional transportation day in Cobb County.

Tad Leithead, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission and a former chairman of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, gave the keynote speech at the First Monday breakfast on the upcoming transportation sales tax referendum in 2012.

During the question-and-answer period, Leithead was asked whether Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s desire to move the date of the referendum from the special primary date of July 31 to the general election on Nov. 6 would be successful.

“The momentum is moving towards delaying the referendum to November,” Leithead said. “The July primary day would have a lower turn out. And you don’t get a broad base of voters to the polls.”

By Maria Saporta

Georgians for Passenger Rail has analyzed cost projections for a commuter rail line between Atlanta and Griffin, and it has determined that the cost would be several hundred million dollars less than the estimates provided by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.

Gordon Kenna, executive director of Georgians for Passenger Rail, had a meeting with GRTA officials, who provided a breakdown of the various costs — construction, development and operations — for the pilot project.

GRTA’s has estimated that the project’s capital cost would be $463 million, including 30 percent for unallocated contingency costs.

By Maria Saporta

Trees Atlanta has decided it will take two people to replace its founding executive director Marcia Bansley.

Late Friday afternoon, Trees Atlanta announced that it is turning to two insiders to become co-executive directors.

Connie Veates, also will hold the title of chief operating officer and be responsible for development, special events, membership, communications, office management and finance.

Greg Levine will become chief program officer responsible for all of Trees Atlanta’s program areas, including NeighborWoods, the urban forestry crew, forest restoration, education and building maintenance.

By Maria Saporta

The board of the Atlanta Regional Commission voted today to pass its Plan 2040 — a 30-year blueprint accommodating future growth in a sustainable way.

But two board members — Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and C.J. Bland, a citizen member representing DeKalb County — voted against the plan because it included only minimal amount of transit. The plan calls for an investment of $61 billion in the region’s transportation network over the next 30 years.

During ARC’s presentation of Plan 2040 and how it related to the five-year Transportation Improvement Plan, Bland asked how much of future transportation funds would go towards expanding transit in the region.

By Maria Saporta

Usually, when the Atlanta Regional Commission holds its election to pick its citizen board members there’s little news or drama.

But the Citizen Member Election held on July 14 was an exception — both for who was elected and who wasn’t.

First, who was elected. The big news was that Liane Levetan, the former CEO of DeKalb County, was nominated by current DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis to fill a vacant position (Citizen District 7).

Levetan had been a longtime member of the ARC board in her former position, and she even ran to become ARC’s chair in 2000, but she lost out to then Gwinnett County Chairman Wayne Hill.