By Maria Saporta
Friday, May 7, 2010
After several aborted attempts, the Peachtree-Pine shelter for the homeless was foreclosed upon on May 4.
The lenders who own the building on the edge of downtown and Midtown Atlanta, and the Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless, had been trying to work on an agreement for the past several months on th
By Maria Saporta
It was a power day at the monthly board meeting of the Commerce Club.
Michael Garrett, president and CEO of the Georgia Power Co., was the speaker of the private luncheon on Thursday.
After the meeting, Garrett said he gave the Commerce Club board an update on the latest in the water negotiations between Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
Garrett was named by Gov. Sonny Perdue last summer to head the efforts to reach a multi-state agreement on the allocation of water.
At that time, Georgia had just been handed a devastating ruling by a federal judge saying that the metro area did not
Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. has become the first and only public company in Georgia with four women on its board.
The company added two women directors this year: Veronique Morali, chairman of Fimalac Développement, parent company of the international financial services organization Fitch Group, joined the board in February; and Phoebe Wood, a principal at CompaniesWood, a
By Maria Saporta
Is Georgia, especially metro Atlanta, losing out economically by not promoting renewable energies?
The recent LINK trip to Phoenix by 100-plus of Atlanta’s top regional leaders made the answer seem obvious. Yes.
The Greater Phoenix area, by comparison, has seized on renewable energy technologies — solar in particular — as providing a promising path for future economic development.
Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, said Arizona has passed renewable solar incentives and is encouraging the development of solar technologies and applications.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, April 30, 2010
In what could be the shape of things to come, two Atlanta nonprofits have joined forces to have more impact on the community.
As of May 1, the Samaritan House and the Atlanta Enterprise Center are becoming one entity called the Atlanta Center for Self-Sufficiency.
“Nonprofits are having the same problems as for-
By Maria Saporta
Despite claims by some legislators in Phoenix, the majority of Latinos Arizona do not support the stringent new immigration bill that recently was signed into to law by Gov. Jan Brewer.
“That’s a bald-faced lie,” said Daniel Ortega, chairman of the National Council of LaRaza and a leading critic against the new bill. “I challenge any one to show me those statistics that the Latino community supported this measure.”
Ortega was speaking Friday morning to the LINK delegation of Atlanta leaders meeting in Phoenix. It was an equal time moment, because Thursday morning, one of the sponsors of the new bill, Russell Pearce, had made a passionate case in favor of the new immigration law.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, April 23, 2010
Tradition, continuity and smooth transitions are qualities that best describe one of Atlanta’s Fortune 500 — Genuine Parts Co. The second page of its annual report has a chart that tracks the company’s sales since its founding in 1928.
Last year, the company’s sales declined 9 percent over 2008, only the second year in the company’s history where sales were less than the year before.
By Maria Saporta
Selling Phoenix has just gotten harder.
So said Barry Broome, CEO and president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.
Broome, who is one of the leading players in promoting economic development for Arizona’s largest metro area, has been the top business leader “fielding most of the immigration calls” from people outside the state.
When Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a controversial bill regarding illegal immigrants last week, the state has been in the middle of a firestorm of negative national attention.
Half-jokingly, Broome said the legislature
By Maria Saporta
(Updated)
It was shortly after 9 p.m. in Phoenix when Joe Bankoff got the call.
House Bill 335 — the bill to help local communities raise funds for the arts and economic development — had died for lack of time.
Bankoff, president and CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center, is in Phoenix as part of the annual LINK trip when Atlanta leaders go to other cities to learn how different communities approach their problems and issues.
During the past year, Bankoff also has been instrumental in helping draft and advance the arts bill through the legislature. A coalition of arts and cultural
By Maria Saporta
One of the leading champions of Arizona’s controversial immigration bill passionately defended the state’s need to clamp down on illegal aliens.
State Sen. Russell Pearce, who has had a career in law enforcement, described a dangerous Arizona overrun by gangs and criminals, many of whom have crossed the border into the state illegally.
Pearce told an influential group of about 100 Atlantans on the annual LINK trip said the media’s reporting of the new bill has been full of “misinformation.”
At one point, Pearce questioned allowed “how the president of the United States can stand up and support law breakers rather than law makers.” Pearce said Phoenix is second in the world in
By Maria Saporta
Back in 1950, Phoenix was the 57th largest metro area in the country. But six decades of growth have made Phoenix the 12th largest metro area in the United States, not far behind Atlanta, which ranks as 9th.
After World War II, several electronics firms moved their operations to the Phoenix area, creating a strong manufacturing base. Then the growth started coming along with a housing boom that helped make the Arizona city one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country.
Not so long ago , Phoenix was the second fastest growing metro area in the country. And then the economic downturn of the last couple of years
By Maria Saporta
About 100 metro Atlanta leaders headed to Phoenix Wednesday on the 14th annual LINK trip.
The group was first given a bus tour of the communities of Tempe, Scottsdale and Phoenix, seeing first hand the desert-like landscape with a system of canals and lakes aimed at capturing every drop of water. Phoenix only gets an average of seven inches of rainfall each year.
The Atlanta Regional Commission selected Phoenix as the 2010 LINK city as a way to learn how another metro area has been able to manage a limited water supply.
But this trip had another ingredient — the scrutiny of an Atlanta television station.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, April 23, 2010
After nearly two years of study, top local business and civic leaders are convinced that Georgia needs a cohesive organization to advocate for early childhood education.
The Early Education Commission, co-chaired by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart and Spelman College President Beverly Daniel Tatum, recently delivered its final report with one overarching
By Maria Saporta
A revolutionary bill is worming its way through the legislature.
House Bill 335, formerly House Bill 1049, would permit each county in the state of Georgia to vote on a partial penny sales tax for the arts, quality of life initiatives and economic development.
For the first time in Georgia’s history, counties may be able to pass a fractionalized, multi-purpose sales tax depending on the needs in the various jurisdictions. The bill, however, would require that a small percentage of that sales tax would be spent on the arts and cultural attractions.
Earlier today (April 26), the bill passed out of the House Rules Committee. It will go to the Senate floor tomorrow for a
By Maria Saporta
Friday, April 16, 2010
Few mothers are as proud of their daughters as Liane Levetan is of her daughter Claresa “Resa” Levetan.
“It’s a story of a local girl does well,” former DeKalb County CEO Levetan said. “This will change the world.”
Since graduating from Emory University School of Medicine in 1983, Resa has become a leading endocrinologist specializing in the field of diabetes.
By Maria Saporta
After years of holding most of its annual meeting in Wilmington, Del., the Coca-Cola Co. has moved its gathering for shareholders to metro Atlanta for the last two year.
It’s wonderful to have the Coca-Cola annual meeting in our town.
After all, the soft drink company’s roots run deep in our city. The secret formula was born here. The drink was first sold in Atlanta. And Coca-Cola has had its operating headquarters in Atlanta from the beginning.
At Wednesday morning’s annual meeting, Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent acknowledged the importance of the
By Maria Saporta
Friday, April 16, 2010
He’s everywhere. Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young is as busy as he’s been in years.
Just consider a sampling of what he’s been doing this month:
On Wednesday, April 7, he served on a panel discussion at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta with John Hope Bryant, an author who is founder of Operation Hope.
By Maria Saporta
Just in case y’all haven’t noticed, the Atlanta Hawks have a really strong basketball team this year.
And the first playoff game of the season showed just how strong the Atlanta Hawks really are. At the Saturday evening playoff game, the Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks —102 to 92. In fact, the Hawks led the entire game.
Now I don’t claim to be a sports writer, but I’ve been a longtime fan of the Atlanta Hawks going back at least 30 years.
The beauty of this year’s Atlanta Hawks is the depth of talent and the ability for the players to play as a team. There is
By Maria Saporta and Dave Williams
Friday, April 16, 2010
Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond, a Democrat, is said to be strongly considering a run for the U.S. Senate, according to people who are close to him.
That means that Thurmond, who has been elected statewide three times, would be running against incumbent Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the November election. So far, no other serious politicians
By Maria Saporta
As we wind down to the last couple of weeks of the legislative session, it feels like déjà vu, all over again, when it comes to a transportation funding bill.
Once again, despite outward appearances of unity early in the session from Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston, the various branches of government can’t seem to agree on which way to go.
When it was clear that the governor wasn’t going to get the transportation bill that the he had proposed and that the amended bill was not something he could live with, legislators had to move to a
