Category: Latest News

By Maria Saporta

The message from Atlanta’s art community could be: “We will survive.”

The Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund, at its annual lunch at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, announced its second round of grants for the year.

By giving grants twice a year, the fund has ramped up its giving to small- and mid-sized arts organizations because it recognizes that many arts and cultural groups are in a precarious position because of the economy.

“This economy has altered the way

By Maria Saporta

I woke up this morning to the news that President Barrack Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Yes, it was a bit surprising, and perhaps somewhat premature. But it is an acknowledgement that Obama has changed the way the world views the United States under his leadership. His election reignited hope that we could resolve our global conflicts through means other than war. And that is no small thing.

Even Obama seemed to be a little embarassed to have received the prize.

By Maria Saporta

Just in case Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin has been feeling low as she winds down her two terms as mayor, Thursday night should have made her feel valued and appreciated.

First Beth Schapiro, founder of the Schapiro Group, honored Franklin for giving her the courage to go out on her own to start her public affairs consulting firm 25 years ago.

“We were trying to get more women elected to office, particularly higher office,” Schapiro said of meeting with Franklin in the 1970s. “We can see how that worked out.”

By Maria Saporta

Call it the hot-seat mayoral forum.

At Wednesday evening’s Atlanta mayoral forum put on by the American Jewish Committee and the Temple, moderator David Lewis warned the candidates he was going to be tough.

Lewis, an independent filmmaker and a host at WMLB AM 1690, then told the four candidates he would grill each of them for 10 minutes with pointed questions.

Atlanta City Councilwoman Mary Norwood was first, followed by former State Sen. Kasim Reed, Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders and attorney

By Maria Saporta

EduPAC, an independent, non-partisan coalition of more than 30 Atlanta organizations, has endorsed its slate of nine candidates for the Atlanta Board of Education.

The slate continues a tradition that EduPAC started in 1993 to elect qualified representatives to Atlanta’s school board in an attempt to improve public education within the city limits.

The slate is as follows::

By Maria Saporta

So I got another dose of Bono tonight. A U2 show is always special, but I must admit that this was my least favorite of the four U2 concerts I’ve been to.

Why? The concert was in the Georgia Dome, which is too cavernous a place for rock ’n’ roll. With the exception of going to Rolling Stones concerts in the Georgia Dome, it’s difficult for a band to create that special ambiance in a sold-out, mega football stadium.

That said, a U2 concert brings a wonderful blend of music, political and social consciousness, and a camaraderie

By Maria Saporta

Tear down the Atlanta-Fulton Central Library? Not so fast, says the World Monuments Fund.
The fund announced today its list of international sites on its 2010 Watch — places that are in some kind of danger of being destroyed.

And the one entry from Atlanta is the Atlanta-Fulton Central Library, an eight-story, modern-style building that was designed by architect Marcel Breuer. The library, which was completed in 1980, 11 years after it was originally commissioned.

In its report, the fund said:

By Maria Saporta

The merger between the Commerce Club and the One Ninety One Club has moved one step closer.

The two clubs are announcing today that that they have entered into an agreement to combine their memberships and move to a new location on the 49th floor of the One Ninety One Peachtree Tower

The new club will keep the historic Commerce Club name, but it will be operated by ClubCorp, owner of the One Ninety One Club. Dallas-based ClubCorp will own the lease.

The highly-influential Commerce Club

By Maria Saporta

Southern Co. Chairman and CEO David Ratcliffe has had a bit of a balancing act ever since Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue tapped Georgia Power President and CEO Mike Garrett to lead the state’s efforts on finding a resolution to the water wars with Alabama and Florida.

And we now know how Ratcliffe is approaching this issue inside his company.

Southern’s subsidiaries operate in all these states, and the presidents of Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Gulf

By Maria Saporta

Mayoral candidate Lisa Borders, president of Atlanta’s City Council, received the top rating from the Committee for a Better Atlanta — a score of 95 out of a possible 100.

Former State Sen. Kasim Reed came in second with a score of 93. Mary Norwood, a city councilwoman who is thought to be the frontrunner in the race, received a score of 86; and attorney Jesse Spikes had a score of 81.

The fifth candidate, Peter Brownlowe, only received a score of 30. The sixth candidate, Kyle Keyser, did not participate.

By Maria Saporta

The Buckhead Coalition, a group of key business leaders based in Buckhead, is taking a stance in the city’s upcoming elections.

The Better Community Political Action Committee, the PAC of the Buckhead Coalition, interviewed the top candidates for mayor. It decided to divide its $2,400 contribution on a proportional based of a straw vote of the members present.

City Councilwoman Mary Norwood, who lives in Buckhead, was the top vote getter, receiving 56 percent. That meant the BC PAC wrote her a check for

By Maria Saporta

More and more students are being drawn to Georgia State University, according to its relatively new president Mark Becker.

Becker recently spoke to the Kiwanis Club of Atlanta saying “the future is nothing but bright” for Georgia State University.

Despite the recession, the number of applications to the university was up about 20 percent; and GSU accepted its largest freshman class ever — 3,000 students.

“In 1995, only 2,225 applied to go to

By Maria Saporta

We now know at least three gubernatorial candidates who will be seeking support from the environmental community.

At Wednesday night’s Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s Annual Patron Appreciation Dinner, two Democratic candidates for governor and one Republican candidate came — each making sure to work the room among some of the region’s top environmental leaders.

The first candidate I saw upon

By Maria Saporta

At today’s Atlanta Regional Commission board meeting, three men declared their intention to seek the chairmanship of the 10-county planning organization.

The three, in alphabetical order, are: Charles Bannister, chairman of the Gwinnett County Commission; Tad Leithead, a former executive with Cousins Properties who is now building his own public policy and lobbying firm; and Jack Smith, the chairman of the Fayette County Commission.

One of those three, or possibly someone

By Maria Saporta

Metro Atlanta is facing a tremendous transition in leadership, beginning with the chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Sam Olens, who has been chairman of the 10-county body since December 2004, is planning to step down so he can launch his campaign to run for state Attorney General.

Olens, who is also chairman of the Cobb Commission, has served two, two-year terms as ARC’s chairman.

At ARC’s board meeting this coming

By Maria Saporta

Internationally-renowned Atlanta architect and developer John Portman was given the Lifetime Achievement Award Thursday evening at the revived Governor’s International Awards.

The awards were co-sponsored by the World Trade Center Atlanta and the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

For Portman, it was an opportunity to look back at the evolution of the global profile of Atlanta. He started design and construction on the Atlanta Merchandise Mart in the late 1950s and it opened in

Brian Leary remembers hearing about the Atlanta BeltLine from its very earliest days when he was working on his master’s in city planning at Georgia Tech.

Ryan Gravel, a fellow student, had been working on a master’s thesis about a 22-mile railroad corridor that encircled the inner city of Atlanta and how it could be redeveloped into one of the greatest urban revitalization projects in the city’s history.

“To me, there’s no greater opportunity to positively impact the future of Atlanta and its quality of life than the BeltLine,” Leary said in an interview Wednesday,

By Maria Saporta

The board of Atlanta Beltline Inc. has just selected Brian Leary, vice president of design and development for Jacoby Development and Atlantic Station, as its new president and CEO.

Leary is succeeding Terri Montague, who stepped down Sept. 1, but has remained as a consultant until her replacement was named. Montague was the founding CEO of Atlanta BeltLine Inc., the public entity in charge of developing the 22-mile railroad corridor that encircles Atlanta’s

By Maria Saporta

The Atlanta Streetcar — through the Georgia Transit Connector partnership — is making its best pitch to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

A public-private partnership between the City of Atlanta, MARTA, the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District and the Midtown Improvement District today is submitting its application for federal stimulus funding.

The proposal for up to $300 million for “shovel-ready” funding includes two

By Maria Saporta

Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent has lived in some of the greatest cities of the world. So when he talks about Atlanta’s potential, it’s worth paying close attention.

“Atlanta has an opportunity to become a world-class sustainable city defined by smart growth, quality transportation infrastructure and world-class educators,” Kent said. “The greatest cities in the world are moving in that direction fast. Atlanta has an incredible opportunity take a lead.”

Kent spoke those words at Monday’s