Category: Latest News

By Maria Saporta

Maybe it’s a good sign for Home Depot that its annual meeting Thursday morning only lasted 70 minutes.

The low-key annual meeting hit a poignant emotional note when Home Depot Chairman and CEO Frank Blake introduced four associates from Joplin, Mo. Blake awarded them with the company’s “Angel Award” in the name of their fellow associate, Dean Wells, who died during massive tornado while trying to protect customers.

Shareholders gave the Joplin associates a long and enthusiastic standing ovation, and they applauded when Blake spoke about Joplin, saying: “We are committed to the community, and we’re rebuilding that store.”

Overall, the comments and questions from shareholders were respectful and thoughtful — sometimes from opposite ends of the

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta has been a city all too willing to tear down its history.
But for several decades, the Atlanta Preservation Center has been working toward changing Atlanta’s reputation.

The Atlanta Preservation Center has just released its 2011 list of Most Endangered Historic Places. The list includes 19 of Atlanta’s most significant buildings, neighborhoods and landscapes that the center believes “are in danger of being demolished, redeveloped or lost due to neglect.”

The Atlanta Preservation Center has been publishing an endangered list since 2001, and it has been successful in helping preserve some of the city’s most important

By Maria Saporta

As the Georgia World Congress Center Authority lunch board meeting took place Tuesday, the Atlanta Thrashers were announcing that they were moving to Winnipeg — the second time that the city has lost a professional hockey team.

Oddly, the topic of the Atlanta Thrashers leaving the city never came up at the GWCC Authority meeting.

Although there is no official tie to the Thrashers, the hockey team has played in Philips Arena — across the street from the GWCC convention center — for the past 11 years. The GWCC does own and operate the

By Maria Saporta

At Southern Co.’s annual meeting in Callaway Gardens Wednesday, a theme came through loud and clear — it’s time for one of the nation’s largest utilities to become more focused on renewable energies and reduce its emphasis on coal.

The overwhelming majority of shareholder questions and comments revolved around Southern’s commitment (or lack thereof) to increasing its portfolio of renewables — especially solar and wind.

By Maria Saporta

Maybe there will be a Screen on the Green season in 2011 after all.

The City of Atlanta has just sent out a media advisory about a “major announcement” concerning the 2011 Screen on the Green season.

Several weeks ago, the Piedmont Park Conservancy announced it was canceling the popular outdoor movie series because it had been unable to secure a top corporate sponsor.

The media advisory, however, strongly implies that the situation has changed.

By Maria Saporta

The Midtown Alliance has selected its next president and CEO — Kevin Green, currently executive director of the Clean Air Campaign.

Green will succeed the well-respected Susan Mendheim, who has served as president of the Midtown Alliance (originally the Midtown Business Association) since 1982.

Green has been executive director of the Clean Air Campaign for the past four years. The organization helps implement innovative transportation and air quality programs for employers, commuters and schools througout the Atlanta region.

David Pendered’s Q & A with Kevin Green

By Maria Saporta

The partnership between the City of Atlanta and the State of Georgia continues to strengthen.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told members of the Rotary Club of Atlanta Monday that on June 1, he and Gov. Nathan Deal will be traveling together to Washington, D.C. to meet with more than “half a dozen cabinet officials” about several issues including the deepening of the Savannah port.

“I hope I’m not stealing the governor’s thunder,” Reed said. “We’ll be working shoulder to shoulder now with only one thing in mind — what’s best for the City of Atlanta and what’s best for the State of Georgia.”

By Maria Saporta

What a study in contrasts.

The Atlanta Press Club hosted U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at an early afternoon session on Friday at the Commerce Club. Cantor, a super serious legislator, talked about the multiple challenges facing the nation.

Over and over again, Cantor made the point that the House Republicans have been proposing solutions, but that neither the Democratic legislators or President Barack Obama’s administration had presented any detailed plans — be it on Medicare, Medicaid or other major policy issues.

By Maria Saporta

It was Atlanta’s turn in the TimeWarner rotation.

The multi-faceted media company held its annual meeting in Atlanta Friday morning at the Omni Hotel — providing shareholders an upbeat picture of the company and its three major operating units.

Atlanta is home to Turner Broadcasting System, which owns TNT, the Cartoon Network, CNN among a host of other cable channels.

“This is a good intimate gathering,” said Jeffrey Bewkes, TimeWarner’s chairman and CEO, obviously commenting on the fact that not a huge crowd of shareholders attended

By Maria Saporta

The Woodruff Arts Center has implemented a major reorganization in its board — at the same time as it elected Larry Gellerstedt, CEO of Cousins Properties, as its new chair. He succeeds Phil Kent, CEO of Turner Broadcasting System.

The arts center used to be governed by an 80-member board that only met twice a year. Although there was an executive committee that was in charge to keep a closer eye on the center’s operations, the overall board still had the legal responsibilities on the decisions.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told the arts lovers attending the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund luncheon Thursday: “I did a bad thing.”

The mayor was referring to his budget proposal that called for cutting the city’s arts and cultural budget by 50 percent — from $470,000 to $235,000.

“We had to make a lot of hard and tough decisions,” the mayor told the luncheon crowd about how the city’s general fund budget has contracted by $100 million since 2008 to its smallest level in more than two decades.

But on Wednesday, while jogging, the mayor — who has been a strong supporter of the arts long before he took office — began to second-guess himself.

By Maria Saporta

Georgia planning professionals were relieved when Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a bill on May 17 that would have gutted the state’s local planning guidelines.

Senate Bill 86 — the Qualified Local Governments/Certified Retirement Communities — would have removed the requirement for communities to prepare comprehensive plans for their counties and cities.

The bill had been written to address concerns of smaller cities and counties over the state-imposed law (that’s been around since the days of Gov. Joe Frank Harris’ administration in the late 1980s) because of the costs of developing and maintaining the plans so they can be obtain certification for “Qualified Local Government” status.

Dan Reuter, land use division chief for the Atlanta Regional Commission, sent out an

By Maria Saporta

It had been 20 years since Primerica last held an annual shareholders meeting, and then the life insurance company was known as the A.L. Williams Corp.

But on Wednesday, May 18, the new, independent Primerica held its first annual shareholders meeting at its headquarters in Duluth — an uneventful meeting that lasted just 22 minutes.

Chairman and Co-CEO Richard Williams stood in front of a large sign with bold letters: “Let Freedom Ring.”

By Maria Saporta

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce has hired its first-ever vice president for federal affairs.

The new vice president is Jeff Hamling, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia’s 6th district). Hamling also was Price’s 2006 Congressional re-election campaign manager. He also worked with U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson on his first campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2004.

The Georgia Chamber decided it needed to establish the new position to serve as an advocate for the state’s business community and be a liaison between the chamber and Georgia’s Congressional delegation and federal agencies.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta’s African-American legacy will live on in the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, thanks to a new gift announced Tuesday morning.

The family and business associates of the late Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson are leading a fundraising effort among minority business owners to raise $2.5 million for the center.

Jackmont Hospitality, a company founded by the former mayor, has pledged $250,000 towards that effort. Also Jackson’s daughter, Brooke Jackson Edmond; business partner Daniel Halpern; and Jackson’s widow, Valerie Jackson, will champion that special fundraising initiatives for the center.

By Maria Saporta

The country’s central problem today is its debt, according to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia).

Isakson, who spoke Monday at the annual luncheon of the Georgia Council on Economic Education at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said the issue was finally coming to a head over having to raise the nation’s $14.2 trillion debt limit.

“Eventually, you have got to pay the piper,” Isakson said. “We’ve probably got 60 days to deal with the problem of raising the debt limit.”

Isakson, however said that the limit should not be raised without “consequential commitments on behalf of the administration and Congress” to limit the debt through spending cuts and changes in entitlements.

Dear Readers,

Good changes are under way at saportareport.com.

On Tuesday, we will launch the first weekly edition of the SaportaReport e-newsletter that will highlight our latest offerings — stories and columns — appearing on my website. Over the past several months, several of you have asked to become SaportaReport subscribers, and we are happy to finally be able to oblige.

saportareport.com has been a unique venue for news and commentary on issues and people important to citizens who care about metro Atlanta. And we are happy to tell you about several new offerings.

Recently, saportareport.com has increased its coverage, adding former AJC reporter David Pendered as a regular writer covering local government and community stories, as well as former AJC film critic Eleanor Ringel Cater, who is contributing a weekly movie column.

By Maria Saporta

The City of Atlanta has big plans to make Atlanta more sustainable.

But those plans have been on a slow burner because of a transition in leadership in two key organizations — the City of Atlanta and a related non-profit entity.

That is about to change.

Sustainable Atlanta, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing policies and programs to improve the sustainability of our city, has just hired a new executive director.

Suzanne Burnes, a veteran in environmental circles, will become Sustainable Atlanta’s new executive director on June 1.

By Maria Saporta

They were sitting side-by-side at Thursday morning’s official announcement that Porsche would locate its new U.S. headquarters at Aerotropolis Atlanta near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

In a media advisory, Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed had called a joint press conference in the North Wing Rotunda of the Georgia State Capitol to make “a major announcement on economic development and job creation.”

For people in economic development circles, they couldn’t remember the last time that the governor of Georgia and the mayor of Atlanta had stood side-by-side to make such an announcement.

By Maria Saporta

The Piedmont Park Conservancy just announced that it is canceling the 2011 season of “Screen on the Green.”

The film series had to be canceled because the conservancy was unable to find a partner to produce the event after the management of Peachtree TV — its former sponsor — had changed. Turner Broadcasting System had provided the funding for the Peachtree TV sponsorship.

Peachtree TV had informed the conservancy in January that it would no longer produce the popular free open air film series, and the conservancy had been trying to find other