Category: Latest News

By Maria Saporta

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation — hoping to bring new life to 10 special places in the state — has come out with its latest “Paces in Peril” list.

The 10 historic locations are sprinkled all over the state — from Rutherford Hall at the University of Georgia in Athens to Chattahoochee Park Pavilion in Gainesville to the W.W. Law House in Savannah to the Secondary Industrial High School in Columbus.

The 2012 Places In Peril list includes the historic railroad buildings including AMTRAK’s Brookwood station on Peachtree street to the 1912 Norfolk Southern buildings next to the gulch in downtown Atlanta.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta is the third largest market for Wells Fargo, according to the bank’s CEO John Stumpf, who spoke to the Atlanta Press Club at a Newsmakers luncheon on Monday at the Commerce Club.

But despite the city’s importance to the bank, there is no Atlantan on Wells Fargo’s board.

“If we could find the right person from Georgia, that would be welcomed,” Stumpf said in an off-the cuff interview after his talk. “That is one of the things we absolutely would like to do.”

Stumpf said that when looking for new board directors, the bank looks for “a diversity of experience and a diversity of geography” as well as other factors. “We are always looking for great directors,” he added.

By Maria Saporta

Thanks to a multi-million dollar gift from philanthropist Bernie Marcus, Grady Memorial Hospital opened its new and expanded Level 1 trauma center Friday — transforming the formerly dingy emergency facilities into a brightly-lit, modern and state-of-the-art center.

That is the latest project that’s part of a $325 million campaign to upgrade and improve the largest public hospital in the State of Georgia. The fundraising effort so far totals nearly $319 million, meaning about another $6 million needs to be raised.

One of the major donors to the campaign was Marcus, who contributed $20 million to Grady for two major projects. Just 18 months ago, Grady held a ribbon-cutting ceremony opening the Marcus Stroke and Neuroscience Center. That was followed by Friday’s ribbon-cutting of the $7 million Marcus Trauma Center.

By Maria Saporta

Hundreds of people turned out Wednesday night at the Mason Murer Gallery to celebrate the PATH Foundation’s 20th year anniversary.

The “cocktail buffet” was hosted by Cindy and Bill Fowler, who is chairman of the PATH Foundation; and Sarah and Jim Kennedy, who have been the most generous donors to the organization.

“It’s amazing that a small group of cyclists got together and said: ‘Let’s build a few trails before the 1996 Olympics,’” Jim Kennedy said at the event. “Today we have 170 miles of multiuse trails around the City of Atlanta and Georgia.”

By Maria Saporta

The Latin American Association has eliminated its CEO position and has streamlined its organizational structure, according to an announcement Oct. 19.

The restructuring includes making Jeffrey Tapia, the association’s chief operating officer, will become responsible for leading the organization. Tapia has been working for LAA for several years and has worked with other Latino organizations for more than 30 years.

“We are appreciative of the leadership that former CEO Millie Irizarry has provided the LAA during these last three years,” said Carmelo Alvarez, chair of the nonprofit organization and an agency field executive for State Farm. “With the economic challenges facing nonprofits,

By Michelle Hiskey

The “Occupy Atlanta” protesters have set up in a downtown green space they call “Troy Davis Park.” For them, the recently executed Georgia man symbolizes how the strong oppress the weak.

But for a more creative, stronger message, they should play up their site’s name. Woodruff Park was named for a rich, powerful Georgia man who used his wealth to empower the weak – and the rich and powerful today could use a role model like Robert Winship Woodruff.

Robert Winship Woodruff’s name is on our main arts center, all over Emory University (including the main library and the Health Sciences Center) and his money seeded the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

By Maria Saporta

The Atlanta Regional Commission’s search committee has selected long-time Atlantan Doug Hooker to be the new executive director of the regional planning agency.

The ARC board will vote on Hooker’s nomination in the next couple of weeks, possibly at a rescheduled board meeting to permit a 14-day advance notice.

Hooker currently is employed as vice president and director of Southern States for Atkins engineering and services firm that was formerly-known as PBS&J.

The search committee, chaired by Cherokee County Chair Buzz Ahrens, conducted a national search before unanimously picking Hooker as its lead candidate.

By Maria Saporta

In 1994, the Atlanta Housing Authority was one of the worst in the country.

“It was basically managing substandard housing units in a substandard way,” recalled Henry Cisneros, who was secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development at the time. “It was one of those authorities that HUD was considering taking over under my watch.”

That’s when Renee Lewis Glover, who had been serving on the AHA board, agreed to quit her job as a corporate attorney to become CEO of the troubled authority.

“Renee brought excellence,” said Cisneros, who was in Atlanta on Oct. 7 to participate in a national conference. “She did what I would assert is the best job running a housing authority in the country.

By Maria Saporta

All eyes were on Arthur Blank at the Georgia Conservancy’s annual “ecoBenefête” dinner Thursday, Oct. 13 at Puritan Mills.

Blank, the co-founder of the Home Depot and the owner of the Atlanta Falcons, was accepting the “Distinguished Conservationist” award on behalf of his family and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.

The Georgia Conservancy had made the decision to honor both Arthur Blank and his wife, Stephanie, before the couple announced that they were separating after 16 years of marriage.

A video tribute to the Blanks highlighted all the contributions that the couple and the family foundation had made to the environment.

By Maria Saporta

Two sentiments dominated Tuesday’s Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable meeting.

First, there was a feeling of relief and exhilaration that the diverse interests in the region were able to find consensus.

And the second feeling was that now it was up to the state to become a full partner in the development and funding of transit in the Atlanta region.

“It feels good,” said Tim Lee, chairman of the Cobb Commission after the roundtable was able to agree on a strategy for the remaining four amendments to the draft list of transportation projects.

By Maria Saporta

If Elisabeth Marchant has her way, Atlanta will become a hub of women’s issues and collaboration.

Three years ago, Marchant started Womenetics, a global media platform that reaches readers in more than 140 countries.

And then Marchant started the annual Womenetics conference in 2010 bringing thought leaders from around the country and the world to focus of four different areas — economic employment, health and hunger, education and literacy, and human rights.

By Maria Saporta

Aaron’s Inc. has elected a woman to its all-male board — fulfilling a commitment that founder Charlie Loudermilk had made 18 months ago.

The lease-to-own retailer has elected Cynthia Day, the senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Atlanta-based Citizens Trust Bank.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Cynthia as a member of our board of directors,” said Robin Loudermilk, CEO and president of Aaron’s, in a statement.

“Cynthia has achieved remarkable success as the first woman to hold a COO position with Citizens Trust,” Loudermilk continued. “Her 20-year career in banking and finance is a

By Maria Saporta

The City Hall press conference for the BronzLens Film Festival Wednesday provided an opportunity to voice support for tax credits and incentives for the film and video industry in Georgia.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed thanked Gov. Nathan Deal, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and House Speaker David Ralston for keeping those tax credits in place.

As a result, the mayor said that in the past year, more than 250 films and video projects took place in Georgia contributing $1.5 billion to the state’s economy, employing 25,000 Georgians.

By Maria Saporta

Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson gave the annual United Way campaign speech to the Rotary Club of Atlanta Monday, but he also shared his insights on the airline industry and the U.S. economy.

Anderson is the 2011 campaign chair for Atlanta’s United Way — hoping that the community will raise a total of $80.4 million for the region’s social and human services.

The relationship between United Way and Rotary dates back to 1913, according to Milton Little, president of Atlanta’s United Way. United Way, then called Associated Charities, been founded in 1905 to help Atlantans survive a devastating ice storm. But my 1913, the organization had been had fallen on hard times.

By Maria Saporta

Renee Lewis Glover, the nationally-acclaimed CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority, is negotiating her departure from the organization after 17 years at its helm.

A statement from AHA stated that “the new board members appointed by Mayor Kasim Reed have made it clear that they would like to have change in leadership at the AHA, which is fully within the prerogative of the mayor and the board.”

Glover and members of the board have been working “cooperatively” to come up with a “mutually acceptable terms of separation and an orderly transition,” the statement continued.

Ever since Reed was elected mayor, there has been an estrangement with AHA. The mayor never found time in his schedule to meet one-on-one with Glover. Also, he began appointing board members who regularly challenged Glover’s leadership and her policies in running the organization.

By Maria Saporta

Indianapolis, Ind. — Atlanta developer Tom Cousins witnessed first-hand the early phases of the “miracle” that he pulled off in the transformation of East Lake community at the Avondale Meadows community in the northeast section of Indianapolis.

In an effort to spread the success to cities across the country, Cousins founded Purpose Built Communities; and he was able to get philanthropic support from two business superstars — billionaire Warren Buffett and former hedge fund leader Julian Robertson.

On Wednesday, the three investors in Purpose Built Communities were able to cut the ribbon on Avondale Meadow’s community center at the East Village — a mixed income development that is replacing a neighborhood that had five public housing projects and had become a haven for crime and poverty.

By Maria Saporta

While most other industries in Georgia have been contracting, one industry is booming — the bioscience industry.

At Georgia Bio’s Life Sciences Summit at AmericasMart on Tuesday, the results of a new economic impact study by University of Georgia economist Jeff Humphries were released.

The study showed that the life sciences industry has a $19.5 billion impact annual in Georgia — leading to 18,000 direct jobs and 75,000 direct and indirect. Those jobs pay $4.4 billion in salaries and generate $500 million in state and local taxes.

By Maria Saporta

The City of Atlanta has won a major decision in the federal case involving the Metropolitan Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless.

The Task Force has owned and operated the homeless shelter at the corner of Peachtree and Pine streets in downtown Atlanta.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash ruled in favor of the city in every element of the lawsuit, concluding that the Task Force owed the city $147,288.73 in past due water bills.

By Maria Saporta

The Clean Air Campaign will soon have a new executive director — Tedra Cheatham, currently the chief operating officer for the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce.

Cheatham will succeed Kevin Green, who was selected in May to be president and CEO of the Midtown Alliance.

The Clean Air Campaign conducted a search with the help of the Goodwin Group firm.

“At the end of the day, Tedra was the perfect fit,” said Renay Blumenthal, who chairs the Clean Air Campaign’s board. “Tedra’s experience as a leader, a convener and a conduit for advancing positive growth will be instrumental as the Clean Air Campaign works to accomplish its mission.”