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.
Category: Latest News
Posted inLatest News
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.
Posted inLatest News
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.
Posted inLatest News
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.
Posted inLatest News
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.
Posted inLatest News
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.
Posted inLatest News
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
Posted inLatest News
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.
Posted inLatest News
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.
Posted inLatest News
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.
Posted inLatest News
MARTA seeks to develop small site at Peachtree Center Station, near ATL Streetcar
MARTA is looking for a partner to develop a plum of a property, a sliver of land in Downtown Atlanta that provides ready access to the Atlanta Streetcar and MARTA’s Peachtree Center Station.
Posted inLatest News
Mayor Bottoms names Richard Cox, a loaned executive, to serve as city’s COO for one year
tlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has made one of her first major appointments – Richard Cox as the city’s chief operating officer.
Cox is a loaned executive from Cox Automotive (no relation to the Cox family), who will serve the city for one year before he returns to the privately-held company. Cox, who currently serves as vice president of client advising ad performance for Dealer.com, brings more than 15 years of management experience to the position.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia Trust buys three parcels near Westside BeltLine
It’s a new day for the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, which purchased three properties near the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside trail in Washington Park and Mozley Park.
The Georgia Trust closed on the purchases Thursday – two houses and a vacant lot – with the intent of renovating the two homes and developing a new house on the vacant lot – all while keeping the properties affordable.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta’s Mayor Bottoms unveils $9 million effort to help low-income homeowners
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced three new affordable housing programs Friday to help low income homeowners from being displaced.
The three programs total $9 million, which the mayor said was a “drop in the bucket” of what needed to be invested to make Atlanta an affordable city for everyone.
Posted inLatest News
Water restrictions eased in metro Atlanta, though dry conditions continue
The state has eased watering restriction in several counties in metro Atlanta. All types of outdoor water use is allowed, but landscapes can be watered only from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m., according to a new advisory from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Posted inLatest News
MARTA selects another Parker to be its next CEO
MARTA’s Board of Directors Thursday selected Jeffrey A. Parker as its choice to be the agency’s next general manager and CEO.
Parker, who worked at MARTA as senior director of transportation operations from 2005 to 2008, currently is vice president of HNTB Corp., an infrastructure solutions firm that has worked closely with MARTA over the years.
Posted inLatest News
Metro Atlanta housing futures dinged in two new federal reports
Two federal reports released Wednesday dashed chilled water on the housing market in metro Atlanta and across the Southeast. One report predicted a continuing status quo of modest growth, and another forecast a weakening market due to the new federal tax law.
Posted inLatest News
AHA board misses deadline to call special meeting to refinance East Lake project; sends letter instead
The Atlanta Housing Authority did not call a special board meeting by Wednesday evening to vote on a plan to refinance the debt on the Villages of East Lake – a date needed for the project to receive $5 million in federal funds.
The Cousins Foundation sent a pointed letter to AHA’s board and executives following their Feb. 28th board meeting, when they did not put the East Lake financing on the agenda.
Posted inLatest News
Southface to recognize four leaders in sustainability at Greenprints program
Southface is preparing to recognize four projects that embody the philosophy of sustainability that forms the foundation of the Fulcrum Awards, which are a highlight next week at Southface’s Greenprints program.
