Latest From Maria's Metro
Mario Cambardella is a man of firsts. Cambardella was the first person to hold the title of urban agriculture director of a major city in the United States.
About Maria's Metro
Maria is a longtime Atlanta business, civic and urban affairs journalist with a deep knowledge of our city, our region and state. Since 2008, she has written a weekly column and news stories for the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Prior to that, she spent 27 years with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, becoming its business columnist in 1991. Maria received her Master’s degree in urban studies from Georgia State and her Bachelor’s degree in journalism from Boston University. Maria was born in Atlanta to European parents and has two young adult children.
More from Maria's Metro
Mario Cambardella is a man of firsts. Cambardella was the first person to hold the title of urban agriculture director of a major city in the United States.
The naming of Carol Tomé as the next CEO of UPS is a major breakthrough for women running major public companies in Georgia.
Last week marked the end of my tenure with the Atlanta Business Chronicle. It’s a strange time to be in transition. The world as we know it has changed as we try to figure out how we can survive during the Coronavirus outbreak, and none of us know what will happen and how we will be impacted.
The coronavirus has thrown me for a loop. What are we supposed to do? Not shake hands? No hugs? No kisses on the cheek?
What a journey! Our 2020 Leadership Atlanta class on Saturday traveled to Montgomery and Selma to confront the more sordid aspects of our nation’s shameful past and present – while asking ourselves the question civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. asked 53 years ago: “Where do we go from here?”
Update: The Atlanta Housing Authority met on Feb. 26 after this column had been published, and it voted unanimously to approve an amended settlement with Integral and its partners. After the vote, AHA Chair Chris Edwards said: "Hopefully we'll get out of the lawsuit business. It stops millions of dollars currently being spent on expensive litigation."
Bashing business has become a popular sport these days. And some of that bashing is well deserved. But we also must celebrate companies when they act in the best interests of their employees, stakeholders, their communities and the world.
By Maria Saporta Last week, Leadership Atlanta alums presented several “Big Ideas” for the region to kick off the organization’s 50th anniversary. The “Big Ideas” covered a spectrum – from teaching inmates the plays of William Shakespeare to nonprofit journalism to tracking health disparities. All the ideas stimulated thought and introspection. But one idea sparked […]
My favorite Anne Cox Chambers story dates back to the presidential campaign of 2008. Her close friend, Veronica Biggins, told me how Chambers and a small group of Atlantans had gone knocking door to door for then-candidate Barack Obama in Ohio, South Georgia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Louisiana and Texas.
What a mess. Back in November, I wrote a column about a couple dozen of high visibility trees in Midtown that were in danger of being cut down.
