Category: Latest News

By Maria Saporta

This story has been updated to include a response from the Atlanta City Council.

It’s a David versus Goliath story — Atlanta style.

On Monday, Matthew Cardinale, news editor of the Atlanta Progressive News website, won a case in the Georgia Supreme Court against the City of Atlanta.

Cardinale, who is not an attorney, filed a case against the Atlanta City Council for failing disclose which council representatives voted for and against an action at a retreat in February 2010. He argued that not disclosing those names was in violation of Georgia’s Open Meetings Act.

To read the ruling, click here.

By Maria Saporta

Updated version

If a judge’s ruling stands, it will be the end of era for homeless advocates — Jim and Anita Beaty.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall ruled late Friday afternoon that the Beatys have to vacate the Peachtree-Pine homeless shelter downtown by noon on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

Schwall also ordered that the shelter, which has housed between 300 and 1,000 homeless men each night since 1997, be closed by Aug. 31, 2012.

By Maria Saporta

For once, good news.

When it came to riding bicycles to work, City of Atlanta enjoyed the highest rate of increase in the nation between 2000 and 2009, according to a report released by the Alliance for Biking & Walking.

The report showed that bicycle commuting in the City of Atlanta increased by 386 percent in that decade.

But one of the reasons Atlanta’s numbers were so strong was because its base was so low.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said Wednesday that he has problems with the recommendations of the Regional Transit Governance Task Force. Reed was one of the members of that task force.

The recommendations that have been put in a draft bill include several issues that could be detrimental to the Atlanta region, and especially its largest transit system — MARTA.

“I’m going to be calm and thoughtful, but at this point I don’t have a very favorable view of the bill,” Reed said. “I have real unreadiness about it.”

By Maria Saporta

Robert Dale Morgan, who helped put Atlanta on the map for major sporting events, passed away Sunday from complications related to a brain tumor. Morgan was only 50 years old.

Morgan was key in the creation of the Atlanta Sports Council, and he headed the efforts to bring and host the 1994 and 2000 Super Bowl games to the Georgia Dome.

Morgan left Atlanta and moved to Houston where he took on several roles as president and CEO of the 2004 Houston Super Bowl XXXVIII Host Committee as well as president and executive director of the 2011 Houston Final Four.

By Maria Saporta

Chris Leinberger was genuinely surprised.

Leinberger, the urban land use strategist and developer who also is a visiting fellow of the Brookings Institution, was the keynote speaker at Partnership Gwinnett’s Redevelopment Forum — put on by the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce.

The half-day economic development conference at the Gwinnett Place Marriott in Duluth on Friday, Jan. 27, focused on redevelopment opportunities in the suburban county.

By Maria Saporta

At Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential luncheon Wednesday, something became clear — the non-profit leader has arrived.

Bill Bolling, the founder and executive director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank, was honored as the 2012 Georgian of the Year.

Even Bolling has called himself “an outlier” leader — someone who does not mirror our traditional perception of leaders — business executive or elected officials.

When Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed attends President Barack Obama’s “State of the Union” speech in Washington, D.C. tonight, he will attend with the belief that the Democratic President will win re-election in November.

Reed, who was the keynote speaker at an Atlanta Press Club luncheon today at the Capital City Club downtown, said he believes Obama will win, but that it will be a much closer race than it was in 2008.

Asked to analyze the Republican presidential primary race, Reed responded reluctantly.

By Maria Saporta

One of Atlanta’s leading business and civic leaders — Barry Phillips — passed away Monday of congestive heart failure.

Phillips was former chairman of the Kilpatrick, Cody, Rogers, McClatchey & Regenstein law firm, which is now known as Kilpatrick, Townsend & Stockton. He joined the firm in 1954, and he stayed with the firm for 43 years until he retired in 1997.

By Maria Saporta

Thanks to a unanimous vote by a city authority, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights is moving forward.

Invest Atlanta, the new name of the Atlanta Development Authority, voted Friday morning to give the attraction flexibility in how $28.5 million of Tax Allocation District (TAD) dollars could be spent by the developers of the Center.

Doug Shipman, president and CEO of the Center, said that the authority basically was supporting the decision to build the attraction in phases.

By Maria Saporta

Veteran Atlanta fundraiser Nancy Rigby has been named vice president of Cox Foundations. She will join Cox on Feb. 15 reporting directly to Jim Kennedy, chairman of Cox Enterprises.

Rigby has been serving as vice president and campaign director at Coxe Curry & Associates, Atlanta’s leading fundraising consulting firm, where she counseled organizations on strategic direction for fundraising, leadership and organizational sustainability.

During her tenure at Coxe Curry, Rigby worked with several non-profit organizations helping facilitate or direct their campaigns.

By Maria Saporta

Martin Luther King III is resigning as president of the King Center, effective immediately.

In a statement that will be released to the general public later today, King III said he will be devoting his future efforts “towards launching a new organization that will focus on supporting a new generation of young drum majors for justice worldwide.” He plans to announce further details in the coming weeks.

King III’s resignation follows a release issued by the King Center on Jan. 9 announcing that Bernice King would be taking over as CEO — replacing her oldest brother in that role.

By Maria Saporta

It’s live.

The King Center Imaging Project’s website — www.thekingcenter.org/archive — is making its debut on the holiday honoring the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. led a team of partners to digitize hundreds of thousands of documents from MLK Jr. and othef Civil Rights leaders and organizations so they could made available to people around the world who have access to the internet.

By Maria Saporta

ToolBank USA has a new board president — Nick Costides, vice president of information services with UPS.

Costides succeeds outgoing board president, Corky Martin, an executive with the Home Depot. He will remain on ToolBank USA’s board as immediate past president.

ToolBank USA’s board are the “guiding strategic force” behind the governance and development of the organization,

By Maria Saporta

The Clean Air Campaign has established an inaugural list of Platinum Partners.

To qualify as a Platinum Partner, at least 20 percent of all employee or tenant trips to a worksite had to involve alternatives to driving alone.

The effort, which is called “In Good Company,” includes a list of 130 employers and landlords — including some of the largest companies in metro

By Maria Saporta

Genuine Parts is putting its succession plan in place.

As expected, Genuine Parts announced Monday that its board had elected Paul Donahue to the position of president of the automotive parts, industrial products and business services company. In 2010, the company had revenues of $11.2 billion.

Tom Gallagher will continue to serve as Genuine Parts’ chairman and CEO. For the record, Donahue, 55, will be only the seventh president of the 84-year-old company. Previously Donahue had been serving as executive vice president of the Genuine Parts Co. and as president of the U.S. Automotive Parts Group.

By Maria Saporta

At the First Monday breakfast of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce, Fresenius Medical Care announced that it was adding 120 jobs by opening its new Peachtree Billing and Verification Office in Kennesaw.

The expansion will provide billing and insurance verification services for the company’s dialysis services operations in the Southeast. The facility will initially open with 75 to 80 employees, and it is anticipated that the new center will eventually employ up to 120 employees.

By Maria Saporta

This past week, I was able to moderate two different panel discussions — one on race relations and the other on the environment — and both left me optimistic with where we’re headed as a nation and a state.

The race relations panel at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta was part of the week-long Trumpet Awards, one of the most highly regarded awards programs for African Americans that was founded by our own Xernona Clayton.

By Maria Saporta

Marcia Prewitt Spiller, headmaster of the Children’s School for more than two decades, has been named as the Woodward Academy’s vice president and dean for academic affairs beginning July 1.

Spiller will succeed Ron McCollum, Woodward’s vice president and headmaster, who is retiring after 33 years at Woodward Academy, which is located in College Park.

In addition to leading the Children’s School, Spiller is chair of the National

By Maria Saporta

At the State of DeKalb County breakfast Thursday, CEO Burrell Ellis made a plea for “One DeKalb” and spoke against the “cityhood” efforts underway in communities such as Brookhaven.

It was the second annual State of the County breakfast, hosted by the Council for Quality Growth and the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce, that was held at the Thalia Carlos Community Center on Clairmont Road.