(THIS IS A TEST BLOG. THE CONTENT WAS TAKEN FROM DELTA AIR LINES BLOG.) Earlier today, Delta crew members flew from Atlanta into New York-JFK. Flights began bringing the first customers in since New York operations were suspended Sunday evening. The first was flight 2350 from Atlanta arriving at 12:02pm followed by Delta flight 269 from […]
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Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro
Women’s Foundation study drills down on poverty in Atlanta
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, November 2, 2012
Breaking the cycle of generational poverty in metro Atlanta will depend on reducing the number of teenage pregnancies and providing early education for children in need.
Those are a couple of the findings in a new Atlanta Women’s Foundation research study that was done by The Schapiro Group after a year of comprehensive analysis, interviews and voter polls.
Posted inGuest Column
Former UGA coach Jim Donnan lost sight of the true value of money
By Guest Columnist DAVID GELLER, founder and CEO of GV Financial Advisors
It might be hard to distinguish the barks from the boo’s at the University of Georgia these days. Not many football fans or alumni ever want to hear the name Jim Donnan again.
The former football coach was fired in 2000 after a less-than-stellar four-year career with the Georgia Bulldogs. After a large payout from the school, on top of the already high salary he made, Donnan became a commentator for ESPN. Now, he faces civil and potentially criminal charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (the other “SEC”) for allegedly participating in a Ponzi scheme.
So what happened?
Posted inLatest News
NFL’s Goodell: new football stadium to improve fans game day experience
By Maria Saporta
One of the biggest challenges that the National Football League faces today is to make the experience of going to a game better than staying at home and watching it on a high-definition television.
That’s what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told about 550 of the Atlanta Falcons’ most loyal fans at a Fans Forum at the Georgia World Congress Center before the team went on to win its eighth straight game in an undefeated season.
Posted inMaria's Metro
Seeking sound, courageous leadership for an increasingly diverse America
It was an unusual forum to ask: “Whatever happened to leadership?”
The occasion was a gathering of more than 20 years of alumni from the Regional Leadership Institute — a one-week immersion to get up-and-coming leaders to think regionally.
The Atlanta Regional Commission started the Regional Leadership Institute back in 1991 as the brainchild of then-executive director Harry West and former Gov. George Busbee.
Posted inDavid Pendered
ARC wins grant to help communities enable seniors to age in place
The Atlanta Regional Commission will use a new $150,000 grant from national donors to help four communities create programs intended to make it easier for aging residents to stay in their homes.
The money will enable ARC staffers to work with two neighborhoods in Clayton County, Morrow, Tucker, and Avondale Estates. The goal is to come up with ideas for local governments to adopt that improve infrastructure, programs and policies that support the ARC’s Lifelong Communities initiatives.
ARC has long been focused on the region’s aging population, and ARC Chairman Tad Leithead gave the subject special attention at the ARC’s State of the Region breakfast in October. Leithead included seniors in his vision for the future.
Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater
Bashing the hell out of ‘Seven Psychopaths’
I’ve been hoping SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS would stick around for another week for one reason and one reason only.
I want to bash the hell out of it.
It has and here goes…
“Seven Psychopaths” belongs to a genre I like to think of as “Quentin said he loved the script, but he’s booked solid through 2014.”
I picture it being screened in front of a bunch of giggly slightly-coked baby moguls who saw “Pulp Fiction” when they were about 12. They are sons of privilege who wish they could be tough guys. And they can…vicariously…in jumped-up movies like this. Especially one that wraps itself around Hollywood insider jokes.
Posted inLatest News
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell coming to Atlanta for Falcons game, Rotary talk and Gov. Deal meeting
By Maria Saporta
When the Atlanta Falcons play the Dallas Cowboys Sunday evening, there will be more on the line that just the team’s 7-0 record.
Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League, will be in the house — where he is expected to visit with some of the Atlanta Falcons top sponsors as well as owner Arthur Blank.
Before the game, Goodell will be attending a “Fan Forum” at the Georgia World Congress Center in the Building C Ballroom beginning at 5:30 p.m. when Falcons fans can ask the commissioner any question on their mind.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro
16 Georgia nonprofits rank among top 400 U.S. charities in donations
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, November 2, 2012
Georgia is still one of the most important nonprofit centers in the country, according to the 2012 Philanthropy 400 list, which shows that five of the nation’s top 20 charities are based in the state.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has been putting together this list for 21 years — measuring the amount that each charity receives in private donations. A total of 16 of the nation’s top 400 charities are based in Georgia.
Posted inLatest News
Todd Holbrook to become new CEO of Georgia Wildlife Federation
By Maria Saporta
The Georgia Wildlife Federation has a new president and CEO.
The Federation’s board has selected Todd Holbrook, former deputy commissioner of Georgia’s Department of Natural Resources, to head the organization beginning on Jan. 1, 2013.
Holbrook, who lives in Conyers, is joining the Federation after spending 27 years with the Georgia DNR in several roles — assistant director of the Wildlife Resources Division and chief of Game Management.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Airport vendor who hosted $1 million fundraiser for Obama at his Midtown home to defend his status as a DBE
An Atlanta airport concessionaire who hosted a $1 million fundraiser for President Obama – at his $1.2 million home in Midtown – is to appear before state officials next week to defend against a federal decision that he is too wealthy for his firm to qualify as a disadvantaged business enterprise.
Mack Wilbourn owns one of the four companies, all of which have airport concessions contracts, that federal authorities have determined are ineligible for a federal preference program intended to bolster small businesses.
Federal authorities contend the companies’ DBE certification may have given them an unfair scoring advantage in the competition for city contracts to run restaurants and sell beverages at the airport. Food and drink is a lucrative business at the world’s busiest passenger airport because passengers have little to do but eat and drink between flights.
Posted inLatest News
Literacy Action taps Austin Dickson as its new president and top executive
By Maria Saporta
Literacy Action, Georgia’s largest nonprofit provider of adult basic education, has a new president and executive director — Austin Dickson.
Before joining Literacy Action, Dickson served as director of philanthropy for Action Ministries, a statewide, faith-based, homeless services and basic needs organization. He also has worked for the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta on its regional and environmental initiatives.
Dickson is a Texas native and a graduate of Texas Christian University. He earned master’s degrees from the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where he was the student body president.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro
Column: Agnes Scott College taking $100 million campaign public
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on October 26, 2012
Agnes Scott College will publicly launch its $100 million “Greatness Before Us” campaign on Oct. 26.
More than half of the money — $58.2 million — has already been raised during the quiet phase of the campaign.
The same evening, the college also will launch its 1889 Society — for individuals and foundations that have given $500,000 or more to the institution, according to Elizabeth Kiss, president of Agnes Scott.
Posted inLatest News
Gov. Nathan Deal: timing of federal approval for Savannah port ‘fortunate’
By Maria Saporta
Key state leaders believe the deepening of the Savannah Port will go forward no matter who is elected as president on Nov. 6.
Gov. Nathan Deal said Tuesday, after a Georgia Chamber of Commerce “State of the Ports” luncheon, that he was relieved when the project received final federal approval a few days ago.
“We are fortunate that they made this designation before the election,” Deal said. “It’s an indication that this won’t be held up for political reasons.”
Posted inDavid Pendered
Airport contracts heat up: One firm with ties to Mayor Reed may be cut; GDOT sets DBE hearing on another
The Atlanta City Council is poised to consider terminating a $6.6 million contract at Atlanta’s airport that last year was awarded to an associate of Mayor Kasim Reed.
Meanwhile, the state Transportation Department has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 8 on another airport contract – this one for a lucrative vending concession. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered GDOT to conduct hearings into whether long-time airport concessionaire Mack Wilbourn, and three other vendors, qualify for preferential treatment as disadvantaged business enterprise. The FAA has determined the four owners do not qualify as DBEs.
The council’s Transportation Committee is slated to hear Wednesday a resolution to cut the city’s contract with A-National Limousine Service, Inc. Councilwoman Felicia Moore sponsored the measure that also calls for initiating the process of hiring another company to help airport travelers find ground transportation.
Posted inMoments, Moments Season 2
Mayor Kasim Reed’s college decision Moment prompted a year of silence with his father
By Chris Schroder
If you watched as Kasim Reed was sworn in as the 59th Mayor of Atlanta in 2010, you saw his parents proudly standing beside him.
Their influence on Kasim’s life has been constant with only one major bump in the road – his decision to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. Kasim was faced with one of the major pivotal decisions a young student must face – where to attend college. The decision is difficult for many, but for Kasim, the larger hurdle was informing his father, June, short for Junius.
“When I grew up, my dad – for many years, certainly since I was a boy – wanted me to go to the University of Georgia in Athens – the state’s flagship institution,” Kasim said.
Posted inSaba Long
Metro Atlanta still needs to focus on its water resources and conservation
Midway through his lecture, Charles Fishman paused to rest a package on top of his head — 24 packaged bottles of Publix branded bottled water. This, he said, represents the amount of water we use to flush a toilet.
Fishman, author of “The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water”, was in Atlanta Oct. 26 presenting a talk “Smart Water Solutions for Atlanta” on behalf of two initiatives — Smart Water Grid coalition and Georgia Water Wise Council.
Fishman’s talk provided anecdotes on water use failures and successes — both domestically and abroad.
Posted inDesign, Design and Our City, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership
A Run Along the Eastside Trail of the Atlanta BeltLine
Allen Post, author of the columns on Sprout Space in March 2012, writes this week about his experience with the new section of the Atlanta BeltLine. The photo is from Ryan Gravel, a senior urban designer for Perkins+Will, who conceived of the BeltLine while earning his master’s degree in architecture at Georgia Tech. Read more and […]
Posted inMichelle Hiskey
Atlanta memoirists risk writing truth about living relatives
Between family members, the truth is a delicate thing. That’s why memoirs are popular. We like reading about people who take the risk to bear witness to their intimate lives, because most of us will never go there, especially not in public.
This weekend, two Atlanta authors of new memoirs will speak locally about risking family relationships. Lynn Garson and Christal Presley overcame major emotional hurdles to confront and understand their family dysfunction.They crossed that emotional tightrope and stayed connected to the family members despite writing critically about them. Doing so changed them into healthier adults.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Toilet manufacturer bridges political divide with green products, processes
As presidential candidates spar over the value of the green economy, a toilet manufacturer in metro Atlanta is garnering acclaim for its green business practices from across the political spectrum.
Toto USA has received commendations from the EPA during the most recent Bush administration; then-Gov. Sonny Perdue; the Brookings Institute; Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, and – this month – the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. The awards recognize Toto’s environmentally friendly bathroom fixtures and sustainable manufacturing practices.
Bill Strang, senior vice president of Toto’s operations in the Americas, is fond of a catchphrase he employs to sum up Toto’s comprehensive approach to waste management: “There is no silver bullet, but there is silver buckshot.”
