While we have been working to tackle the diseases of poverty, the diseases of wealthier countries have sneaked into the same populations we serve.
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Posted inLatest News
NCAA’s Emmert: Atlanta’s chances to host a future Final Four are good
By Maria Saporta
So far, so good.
Mark Emmert, president of the NCAA — which is putting on the 2013 Men’s Final Four event in Atlanta, could not be more pleased with how the championship festivities are going. And he offered encouraging words about Atlanta’s chances of winning future Final Four championship events.
“I can’t thank this community event for putting on this big event,” Emmert told members of the Rotary Club of Atlanta at lunch on Monday. “It’s been spectacular. I don’t want to jinx it.”
Posted inRobinson School of Business, Thought Leader, Uncategorized
The “Right” Amount of Conflict
The question for most organizational leaders is how to have the right amount of conflict to spark creativity and not let the fire burn too hot or spread too widely.
Posted inMoments, Moments Season 2
Ann Curry’s Moment was served with a surprising offer at lunch two decades ago
President and Owner of Coxe Curry & Associates Ann Curry had her Moment during a business lunch more than 20 years ago – presenting her with an opportunity that surprisingly summoned core values instilled in her decades earlier by her grandmother.
Ann’s Moment was during the summer of 1991 while she was chair of the board for Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Foundation. The library had formed a foundation to raise private money for the library system and had been working with a fundraising consulting firm, Coxe & Associates.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s fundraising accelerates in 2013, latest campaign disclosure report shows
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has almost $1.5 million in cash in his campaign coffers, according to the latest campaign contribution disclosure report.
Reed is raising funds at a rate dramatically higher than last year. The mayor raised almost $325,000 in the first quarter of 2013. By comparison, Reed raised about $200,000 during the entire last half of 2012, reports show
The mayor is heading into a reelection campaign with no other contenders raising anywhere near the same amount of money, according to Reed’s report that was received April 5 by the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.
Posted inPublic Relations, Thought Leader
Visiting PR clients in person should be an easy task, but sometimes it takes that old Southern charm
Visiting PR clients in person should be an easy task, but sometimes it takes that old Southern charm.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen Prize honors John Lewis; Atlanta’s spirit
By Maria Saporta
Georgia Tech has found a way to capture Atlanta’s spirit with its annual Ivan Allen Jr. Prize in Social Courage award — by linking the greatness of the city’s former mayor with some of the most notable leaders of today.
This year, the prize went to John Lewis, a Civil Rights leader who has been representing Georgia’s 5th District in Congress since 1987. The prize was given on April 4, the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., which added to the poignancy of the award and its historical significance.
In fact, Georgia Tech’s Ivan College of Liberal Arts has made the awarding of the prize a major educational event that takes place over two days to give students an insight of the leadership that has set Atlanta apart from other cities over the years.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Final Four fans stay close to Centennial Olympic Park – on a brilliant Sunday afternoon
In 2008, Atlanta won the bid for the Final Four with a campaign theme of “1,000 steps.” On Sunday afternoon, the plan seemed to be a success.
The densest crowds were gathered around the festival in Centennial Olympic Park. Traffic, pedestrian and vehicular, elsewhere in Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead was no heavier than any normal Sunday afternoon on a pretty Spring day.
The city’s plans to rein in vendors and traffic congestion seemed to function as planned. The only items missing from the city’s plan were the huge advertising wraps that Downtown landlords were authorized to sell and drape from their buildings.
Posted inMaria's Metro
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed flexes political muscle on stadium deal
When Invest Atlanta voted 8-to1 Thursday morning in favor of a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed almost broke out into an end-zone victory dance.
Yet the dynamics behind the two-and-a-half year effort to get all the necessary governmental approvals for a new stadium involved a series of twist and turns, handshakes and broken promises, unusual alliances and political intrigue that set off waves in this year’s city elections and next year’s state elections.
So many issues about how the stadium will be designed to fit in with the surrounding neighborhoods and how the communities can benefit from this $1 billion investment will hinge on the ability of the various personalities and entities to work together for the greater good.
Posted inGuest Column
Houses are selling like hotcakes, but appraisals are not keeping up to date
By Guest Columnist BILL GOLDEN, an independent Realtor with RE/MAX Metro Atlanta Cityside
You know what they say about there being no rose without a thorn? Well, the real estate market in Atlanta is looking quite rosy these days, but that does bring its share of thorns into the landscape.
With a record low inventory of homes on the market, houses are selling like hotcakes. Every agent I know has a backlog of ready, willing, and able buyers waiting for the right listing to come up. The same scene plays out over and over again — a good new listing comes up for sale, and there are multiple bids on it within a few days, sometimes within a few hours.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Buckhead recycling gathered tons of waste; April 27 is next city event for disposing hazardous materials
Atlanta’s spring cleaning of hazardous materials started with the collection of tons of stuff in March, even as the city looks ahead to a major collection effort on April 27.
The Eco Collection event, in Buckhead, brought in a mind-numbing amount of hazardous waste such as paint, electronics and fluorescent lightbulbs, according to a fact sheet released by sponsors Livable Buckhead and Live Thrive.
The next recycling event on the city’s agenda is the EcoDepot Recycling Day, April 27 at Turner Field. Mayor Kasim Reed’s Office of Sustainability and Councilmember Carla Smith are co-sponsoring the event, which is reported to be the largest of its kind in Atlanta.
Posted inLatest News
MARTA’s Keith Parker knows system has challenges but sees opportunities
By Maria Saporta
Keith Parker, MARTA’s new general manager and CEO, must like a challenge.
After surviving his first session of the Georgia General Assembly, Parker seems no less enthusiastic about the potential to turn MARTA into a sustainable and beloved urban transit system.
At the monthly Sustainable Atlanta Roundtable breakfast gathering Friday morning, Parker presented his impressions of MARTA’s challenges and opportunities after being on the job for four months.
Posted inLatest News
Lord, Aeck & Sargent and Urban Collage merging into one firm
By Maria Saporta
Two well-known Atlanta-based design firms are merging as of today.
The architectural firm of Lord, Aeck & Sargent and the urban, planning and design firm — Urban Collage, are now one company, according to LAS Chairman Tony Aeck. The combination of the planning and architecture expertise into one firm will provide an added benefit to their clients, he said.
Urban Collage, which has an expertise in campus planning and has offices in Lexington, Ky. in addition to its headquarters in Atlanta, also will broaden the footprint of LAS, which has offices in Ann Arbor, Mi.; Austin, Texas; and Chapel Hill, N.C. Urban Collage plans to continue operating under its name, at least for now.
Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater
Eleanor goes to the movies —top four at the box office — not top four to see
When the top four movies at the box office are (in descending order) “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” “The Croods,” “Tyler Perry’s Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor” and “Olympus Has Fallen,” which do you choose to write about?
Why not take a stab at all four?
“G.I Joe” is based on a doll — I mean, action figure — first popularized in 1964. He has gone through several incarnations since then, including movies, comics and video games. He has even, like Alice and her mushroom, changed sizes: 12 inches originally, then shrunk to 3 ¾ inches, then released in both sizes.
Posted inLatest News
StoryCorps celebrates new ‘flagship’ home at the Atlanta History Center
By Maria Saporta
The founder of StoryCorps came to Atlanta Wednesday evening to celebrate the opening of the “flagship” home for the ambitious oral storytelling initiative.
“We are here to launch StoryCorps Atlanta 2.0,” said Dave Isay, founder and president of StoryCorps.
StoryCorps, which has been taping stories of Atlantans out of StoryBooth at Public Broadcasting Atlanta’s WABE since October, 2009, has relocated to the Atlanta History Center. The StoryBooth studio is now based in the Franklin Miller Garrett library, named after the infamous Atlanta historian.
Posted inDavid Pendered
BeltLine’s Eastside Trail: Replacement bridge to improve access, safety
Construction started Wednesday on a replacement bridge above the Atlanta BeltLine, one that is to improve safety for users of the bridge and to provide better access to the Eastside Trail and the BeltLine’s proposed transit line.
The $4.5 million, yearlong project was delayed from a planned start date of March 18. The cause was utility work that had to be done before crews started to demolish the existing bridge.
As with many public construction efforts in Atlanta, this one is presented as a BeltLine project. Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. is involved and funding comes from a federal program that provides bonds for projects in economically distressed areas, which were provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro
Column: Tough economy hurts United Way of Greater Atlanta campaign
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, March 29, 2013
The economic recovery has not yet trickled down to United Way of Greater Atlanta.
When United Way holds its campaign celebration April 1 on the center court at Philips Arena from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., it will announce an expected shortfall of $2.7 million from its$80.7 million goal for 2012.
“The campaign is hard,” said Milton Little, president of United Way of Greater Atlanta. “The economy may have some positive signs for some, but for those of us raising money, it’s still a very difficult environment.”
Posted inPublic Relations, Thought Leader
In PR, we are always looking for the next big thing. After the past few weeks, I’m convinced you are looking at it.
In PR, we are always looking for the next big thing. After the past few weeks, I’m convinced you are looking at it.
Posted inMichelle Hiskey, Michelle Hiskey & Ben Smith
A vision and volunteers turn a toxic dump into Zonolite Park
A raccoon’s muddy tracks are a small shining symbol of the transformation of an asbestos-laden wetland in northeast Atlanta into an Atlanta public park, and the perseverance of volunteers who envisioned that nature could trump industrial pollution.
Zonolite Park is 12 acres near Briarcliff and Clifton Roads, where for two decades beginning in 1950, freight trains stopped at the W.R. Grace Co. plant and dumped as much as 1,225 tons of raw material for attic insulation marketed as Zonolite. The park’s reinvention also shows how a supply chain can bring in business and killer byproducts. Reversing that damage took a chain of volunteers willing to help restore the ecosystem.
Posted inSaba Long
Invest Atlanta hoping to attract energy of young entrepreneurs to town
For the past few years, many corporate and city leaders believed the Atlanta Development Authority (ADA), headquartered in a drab brick building, did not properly reflect the energy of the city.
What the research and development team is to a company, a development authority is to a city or state.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is pushing the city to sharpen its competitive edge, starting with the rebranding of the Atlanta Development Authority, now known as Invest Atlanta.
