A statue of Martin Luther King Jr. was unveiled Monday morning on the grounds of the State Capitol – exactly 54 years after the slain Civil Rights leader delivered his “I have a dream” speech during the March on Washington.
For Georgia, it was a moment of celebration.
Atlanta voters can be fairly certain they’ll be hearing from 13 candidates for mayor and three candidates for city council president, based on preliminary reports. There’s no news since early July on the raising and spending of campaign funds, when two frontrunners for mayor were more than $900,000 in combined debt for a job that pays less than $150,000 a year, according to reports.
The demonstration project hasn’t even opened, and Atlanta already is expanding its deal with the Georgia Tech Research Alliance to crunch data in an effort to move commuters – whether by foot, bike or vehicle – more quickly and safely through the busy North Avenue corridor.
Three hours after being named as the next president and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine Inc. Wednesday morning, Brian McGowan was having lunch at Ponce City Market with Ryan Gravel, the visionary who first proposed the BeltLine concept in his Georgia Tech Master’s thesis.
“I’m optimistic he will be able to take the BeltLine in a direction it needs to go,” Gravel said of his Wednesday meeting with McGowan. “I’m always excited about the opportunity to shift the leadership so the project can reach the potential we have been talking about all these years.”
Atlanta BeltLine Inc. (ABI) is replacing President and CEO Paul Morriswith a former top executive with Invest Atlanta and the Metro Atlanta Chamber.
Following an executive session Wednesday morning, the Beltline’s Board of Directors voted to elect Brian McGowan as the agency’s new president and CEO. Morris is stepping down from the position effective Sept. 11.
Paul Morris, president and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine Inc., is on his way out.
The board of Atlanta BeltLine Inc. met in executive session Wednesday morning for less than an hour, when it decided that there would be a change in leadership.
Morris has been under fire for the past month, largely because the BeltLine has not fulfilled its goals for affordable housing along the 22-mile corridor.
Four men with considerable perspectives on the Atlanta BeltLine are to convene Aug. 31 at the Atlanta History Center for what could be a wide-ranging discussion on the nation’s largest urban renewal project. Panelists include two original BeltLine visionaries and a scholarly author, and a moderator who once oversaw a non-profit that propelled the BeltLine concept and secured $40 million worth of land for it.
Mercedes-Benz USA has received approval from the U.S. departments of labor and veterans affairs to offer a registered apprenticeship program. Graduates are all but guaranteed a job at virtually any Mercedes Benz dealership in the country.
Georgia’s utility regulating agency voted Tuesday for an action intended as a show of support for the struggling Plant Vogtle. Meanwhile, in bankruptcy court, filings show lawyer fees are mounting and creditors are claiming they aren’t scheduled to paid for labor and supplies.
Frank Blake, the retired chairman and CEO of the Home Depot, is not a fan of Amazon – a company that is disrupting the retailing industry.
“Amazon is a dark star,” Blake said. “I really don’t like Amazon.”
Blake was the guest speaker Monday at the Rotary Club of Atlanta, where he was asked about the impact of e-commerce on retailing.
This week, ALLISON HUTTON, of Georgia Humanities, uses the story of the peach to examine a period in Georgia when what the state would become was far from certain.
By Allison Hutton
Blueberry Street. The Pecan Road Race. The Broiler Bowl. The Peanut State.
These names, honoring the agricultural industries in which Georgia ranks first (according to data compiled in 2014), may be more accurate, but “peach” has a certain ring to it that’s hard to replicate. And why would we want to?
The peach and its ascendancy to Georgia’s favorite and most famous stone fruit helps tell an important story of Georgia: who lived here, who worked here, and how we became who we are today.
Years after the city inventoried millions of dollars in sidewalks and ramps that need work, plenty of obstacles still stand between Atlanta and accessibility.
Gov. Nathan Deal has appointed Gwinnett County schools CEO/Superintendent Alvin Wilbanks to chair of a statewide committee to evaluate a proposed leadership academy for top educators. The committee is part of Deal’s ongoing efforts to have the state intervene in chronically failing schools.
For the second consecutive week, Georgia is free of drought conditions. The weather story of this summer has been so much rain that it hindered the crop harvest in north and south Georgia, according to state and federal reports.
Atlanta’s development authority is offering something to folks from other countries who invest in Atlanta builds: legal U.S. residency.
There’s a move afoot to knit the uppermost Flint and its headwater channels into a network of parks and trails, turning areas around the airport into green destinations.
The Atlanta Community Food Bank has received a grant of $250,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help low-income folks buy more fruits and vegetables. The funding is likely to help offset the impact of a food desert that stretches across a swath of Atlanta – an area where fresh produce can be hard to find.
The 10 counties of metro Atlanta together have absorbed enough new residents to fill a good-sized city in just a year, according to a new estimate.
Georgia State University is maintaining the momentum in the days approaching the Aug. 31 home opener in its new football stadium with the announcement the field is named for noted alumnus Parker H. “Pete” Petit. Petit Field will be the centerpiece in a stadium still open for naming rights.
Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. President and CEO Paul Morris on Wednesday gave his organization a “qualified” C and D grade on affordable housing so far.
