Atlanta’s quest to host the 2015 Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates has taken yet another twist falling just short of a final decision.
The last week could be described as one where the Summit moved two steps closer and one step back with receiving a final green light to move forward from all the necessary players.
The construction moratorium along Memorial Drive could be lifted in early June, and new energy could be put behind a dormant task force that was supposed to implement a well-received planning study for the corridor, according to legislation introduced Monday to the Atlanta City Council.
For those who don’t want to be, or can’t be, one of the “select few” to own a new condo in Midtown and walk to work and play, GRTA is preparing to change its Xpress bus service in ways intended to improve the commute for current and future riders.
Winners of a design competition to retrofit and enhance two of Atlanta’s bridges over the Downtown Connector were announced Friday at the AIA national convention that is meeting in town this week.
The two winning designs – one for the 10th Street bridge in Midtown and the other for the Courtland-McGill bridge in downtown – were selected “blindly” by a panel of design professionals.
Atlanta’s next likely hotspot for redevelopment, Memorial Drive, could be relieved of a six-month building moratorium following a meeting Friday between a dozen affected developers and the sponsor of the moratorium, Atlanta City Councilmember Natalyn Archibong.
One of Atlanta’s highest-profile companies – Intercontinental Exchange Inc. – held its annual shareholders meeting Friday morning, but the press was not allowed in the meeting.
ICE, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, has the legal right to close off the meeting to the press.
But for a company that wants to play in the big leagues, it needs to start acting like the public entity that it is and open up its doors to the outside world.
The 2015 Atlanta Jazz Festival is receiving 22 percent of its operating funds from the car rental tax. The month-long event culminates with a three-day celebration over Memorial Day weekend.
Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves is asking Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens to weigh in on the “potential ethical violation regarding the appointment of City of Atlanta Councilwoman Keisha Lance Bottoms to serve as executive director of the Atlanta-Fulton County Recreation Authority.”
Eaves delivered a letter to Olens on Thursday asking for an investigation by the AG’s Law Department to “determine whether any ethical or legal provisions have been or may be violated by such appointment.”
Response by Reed Administration to Saporta Report Columns Published on May 4 and May 11, 2015
ATLANTA – Fort McPherson is one of the most important properties in the City of Atlanta, and its future is worthy of engaged and spirited public dialogue.
Georgia is preparing to sell $75 million in bonds to fund transit needs statewide, and the state is devising the criteria by which the money will be disbursed, GRTA’s executive director said Wednesday.
Michael Robison, the founder and former CEO of of Lanier Parking, was acquitted of rape charges Tuesday afternoon in a Nantucket jury trial.
The jury deliberated two hours and 40 minutes before acquitting Robison, who retired from Lanier Parking in early 2014 after selling the company.
The sale of most of Fort McPherson to filmmaker Tyler Perry is “imminent,” and Perry met with area residents May 4 to discuss their concerns for how his future complex will relate to the neighborhood.
The Atlanta BeltLine plans to sell a 1.5-acre, tree-covered parcel next to Piedmont Park to a developer who’s to build a mix of shops and residences, most likely apartments. Proposals are due Friday.
Atlanta’s prospects of hosting the Nobel Peace Laureates Summit in November have become even more challenging as the deadline to present a solution to the international body has been extended until May 13.
Further complicating an already messy situation, three members resigned Friday from the board of Yunus Creative Labs – the entity that has been in charge of putting on the Summit. The three board members were Laura Turner Seydel, who had been chairing the host committee for the Nobel Peace Laureate Summit; Jason Carter, the grandson of 2002 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jimmy Carter; and Willis Potts, former chairman of the Georgia Board of Regents.
In a city that doesn’t hesitate to tear down old buildings, Georgia Tech is providing glimpses of the iconic structures that created Atlanta’s marquee Peachtree Street corridor.
The founding CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights – Doug Shipman – is stepping down in early June – nearly one year after the attraction opened.
Shipman has been involved with the project for the past decade. It began as a 10-week pro-bono consulting assignment that turned into developing, opening and running the Center this past year.
TORONTO – Metro Atlanta leaders received a dose of reality Friday about transportation investment in Canada’s largest city.
The 110 Atlanta leaders on the 19th annual LINK delegation heard from a panel of transportation executives in Ontario about how much the Greater Toronto Area is spending on just its transit infrastructure.
TORONTO – One probably could not find two mayors more different that Toronto’s former mayor – Rob Ford – and its current mayor – John Tory.
Ford gained international notoriety for his drug and alcohol problems along with skirmishes and outlandish, yet strangely comical behavior as mayor.
So when citizens of Toronto – the largest city in Canada – went to the polls last October, they elected a leader who was the opposite of Ford.
A surprisingly high proportion of Republicans in Gwinnett County support expanding MARTA in their county, the pollster who conducted the poll said Wednesday.
TORONTO – The first stop for 110 metro leaders from Atlanta on the 19th annual LINK trip Wednesday was the “suburban” city of Mississauga.
But it was unlike any suburban city in Georgia.
Back in 1974, Mississauga’s population was about 250,000, the city’s chief administrative officer – Janice Baker – told the LINK delegation. Today its population is closer to 750,000 – substantially bigger than the City of Atlanta – the biggest city in Georgia.
