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Posted inLatest News

As campaign for referendum heats up, different groups are targeted

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Maria Saporta

The campaign for the transportation sales tax is going into high gear with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed in the driver’s seat.

After several radio interviews, Reed went to the Eco-Office at Southface to stand with representatives of more than 20 environmental organizations in solid support for the regional transportation sales tax. (See below for complete list).

But the elephant in the room was the Sierra Club, the high profile environmental organization that has come out against the tax — arguing that the roads on the project list will continue to encourage sprawl. The Sierra Club is opposing the tax because it believes there should be a new project list with more transit.

Posted inDavid Pendered

ARC chair refutes lawmakers who criticized project list of transportation sales tax as political, transit heavy

by David Pendered

The chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission returned fire today on state legislators who’ve criticized the list of projects to be built if voters approve the proposed transportation sales tax.

“To suggest a better list is out there … is simply unfair to the incredible work that’s been done,” said Tad Leithead, ARC’s chair. “No stone has been left unturned.”

Leithead did not identify the target of his remarks. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leaders Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) led a group of five lawmakers who called during an event at the Capitol for voters to reject the proposed 1 percent sales tax.

Posted inLatest News

Leadership DeKalb’s Sara Fountain retiring after 10 years as its director

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By Maria Saporta

Sara Fountain graduated her 11th class of Leadership DeKalb, and then decided to retire as the organization’s executive director.

Fountain has been head of Leadership DeKalb for more than a decade — and over that time more than 800 adults and young people have graduated and been involved with the organization.

“Serving in a community leadership training capacity has been both exciting and fulfilling,” Fountain said in a statement Wednesday. “I have met some of the greatest people, and it has been a privilege to serve this outstanding organization. Connecting our members to issues facing our region for the past 11 years has been a wonderful experience.”

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: Woodruff Foundation gift will help remake Agnes Scott building

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the ABC on Friday, July 20, 2012

Agnes Scott College has received a $6 million gift from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation to bring new life to Campbell Hall, which has been vacant since 2003.

“We are very excited,” said Elizabeth Kiss, president of Agnes Scott College. “We have these beautiful historic buildings, and some of them have been in need of tender love and care. Campbell Hall was the biggest target of opportunity. We wanted to create spaces that are 21st Century living and learning spaces.”

Posted inLatest News

Jerry McCollum to retire as Georgia Wildlife Federation CEO at year end

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By Maria Saporta

Long-time environmental leader Jerry McCollum will be retiring as CEO of the Georgia Wildlife Federation on Dec. 31. McCollumn has worked for the Federation for 25 years.

“Jerry’s leadership is responsible for bringing the Georgia Wildlife Federation to the pinnacle of effective wildlife conservation in Georgia and across the nation,” said Matt Nichols, chair of the Georgia Wildlife Federation’s board. “His are big shoes to fill but we will do our best and that process will begin right away.”

Posted inMoments, Moments Season 1

Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff’s Moment was seeing his mom and dad together one last time

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By Chris Schroder

Thomas Dimitroff likes to live life in the fast lane. In his free time, you will find the highly successful general manager of the Atlanta Falcons pushing the limits in extreme sports, such as snowboarding, mountain biking, rock climbing or riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Under his management, the Falcons have had four consecutive winning seasons, made three playoff appearances and have reset expectations to be considered as one of the elite teams in the NFL.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Sales tax campaign: “I feel delighted” at raising $6.5 million, says finance chairman Dave Stockert

by David Pendered

This story has been updated with details of campaign contributions and expenses.

By Dave Stockert’s account, he and the campaign finance team have done their job in helping to convince voters to support the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation.

They’ve raised about $6.5 million to pay for the advocacy campaign being waged by Citizens for Transportation Mobility, the group Stockert chairs. Now it’s up to the professional campaign staff to prevail with the resources at hand, Stockert said in a meeting with reporters Monday afternoon.

“I feel delighted that we raised it,” Stockert said. “We’ve taken that issue off the table. I think we have an effective campaign. I’m confident it will be good enough when we get to July 31. We don’t have to win 80 percent.”

Posted inDesign, Design and Our City, Thought Leader, Thought Leadership

Two Conditions Must Change to Ensure Productive Transportation Planning

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In part six of this series on urban design, Perkins+Will principal David Green discusses the two questions our region needs to ask itself as we deal with transportation issues and the upcoming referendum and the two conditions that have to change. In this series we have discussed how, for the past 100 years or so, we have […]

Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater

A commentary on movies and violence, ‘Dark Knight’ and Colorado tragedy

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A Dark Knight rose in Colorado last week.

Except he wasn’t a knight. And he was worst than dark. And the only way he “rose” was by climbing up the steps at the stadium-seating theater.

We know the rest. Or enough of it. The acts of valor, the names of the dead, the stories of near misses and dead hits. We know what the guns were, how much ammunition he ordered and where he got it. We even know his name.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta BeltLine releases 2012 list of artists and performers for fall season

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By Maria Saporta

The Atlanta BeltLine has selected dozens of artists and innovative works to be part of its fall season of public art — 70 innovative works of performance and visual art.

The annual, two-month-long exhibition has become is not only the largest temporary public art project in the city; it also is one of the most popular attractions of people who enjoy traveling the BeltLine.

Posted inTom Baxter

Educator finds his mission leading students ‘from soap to citizenship’

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Another school year will be beginning soon, and Tom Keating will be about the mission which has occupied nearly half his 40-year career as an educator: school toilets.

He has, he says, “been a lot of places, and done a lot of stuff” as a consultant and director of Project CLEAN (Citizens, Learners, and Educators Against Neglect), the organization he launched as the vehicle for his crusade to make school restrooms cleaner, safer and generally more civilized. He and his cause have been the subject of numerous articles, including a front-page Wall Street Journal story. He’s worked in 18 states, and several foreign countries.

Consulting with school systems on how to improve their restrooms has never been a lucrative calling, however, and even more so in these days when music teachers are getting layoff notices and school janitorial services are being outsourced. It’s increasingly harder to get the attention of harried principals and school superintendents, but Keating is nothing if not insistent.

“They can blow me off, but I don’t go away,” he said.

Posted inLatest News

Transit is becoming more visible in last days of regional sales tax push

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By Maria Saporta

Atlanta’s proposed transit projects now are taking center stage in the 11th hour effort to pass the regional transportation sales tax.

From July 21 to July 24, transit leaders from around the country are meeting in Atlanta just a week before the region will decide whether to invest in rail and bus transit in the 10-county area.

And the campaign proponents for the tax now are showcasing transit on youtube, on cable television, at transit stations and with new brochures that outline how transit will be expanded if the regional transportation sales tax passes on July 31.

Posted inMichelle Hiskey

Would Jesus vote yes on the T-SPLOST?

by Michelle Hiskey

A conversation with Rhodes Scholar Katharine K. Wilkinson, 29, provoked this question as related to her recent book, “Between God & Green: How Evangelicals are Cultivating a Middle Ground on Climate Change” (Oxford University Press).

While the issue of climate change is global, and her book focuses on national politics, Atlanta is where Wilkinson started to become aware of the vast natural resources in the Appalachian foothills and beyond.

Only much later did Wilkinson, an agnostic, begin the see the power and numbers of the people in Atlanta and beyond who call themselves evangelical Christians.

“If you understand American evangelical Christianity, representing at least a quarter of the U.S. population, as the politically and theologically complex, fractious, and ultimately mainstream phenomenon that it is, then you’ll appreciate the nuance and sensitivity with which Katharine Wilkinson navigates her subject,” said a Boston Globe reviewer. “Wilkinson tells a vitally important, even subversive, story.”

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Downtown Atlanta transit hub could get boost from feds

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By Dave Williams and Maria Saporta
Published in the ABC on Friday, July 20, 2012

The Obama administration may put a rush job on a proposed transit hub in downtown Atlanta.

The Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal is being considered for a national list of infrastructure projects to be expedited through streamlined federal environmental review and permitting, Derrick Cameron, MMPT project manager for the Georgia Department of Transportation, said July 18.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Metro Atlanta faces ultimate test of whether we are a cohesive region

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The regional transportation sales tax vote on July 31 will define metro Atlanta.

For me, there are two prevailing issues. Are we as a region ready to act as a unified region? And are we enlightened enough to expand our skeletal mass transit system?

One of the most distressing outcomes of the whole debate for and against the regional transportation sales tax has been how it has polarized the region. Some days it actually feels as though we are two regions — a region within I-285 that embraces transit and a region outside of I-285 that wants to invest in roads.

Posted inDavid Pendered

New report: Nation’s mayors say cities should invest more in transportation

by David Pendered

A new report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls upon the nation’s metropolitan areas to increase their investment in transportation.

The report presents a view from 30,000 feet and says nothing about where the money for construction is to come from and little about transit. It doesn’t say a word about metro Atlanta’s upcoming vote on a proposed 1 percent transportation sales tax, nor does it mention any of more than two dozen transportation referendums on ballots this year across the country.

But the 116-page report is choc full of interesting facts and forecasts about metro Atlanta (and other cities) that could help voters decide how to mark their ballots on the July 31 referendum. A few highlights include:

Posted inGuest Column

Atlanta’s higher education brand broader than just research universities

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist MIKE GERBER, president of Cross Channel Initiatives and former president of the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education

The Metro Atlanta Chamber’s five year strategic plan, Forward Atlanta, places higher education front and center in the effort to make the metro region globally competitive.

For the most part, the focus is on research universities, which makes sense given those institutions’ educational and economic impacts.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Beer and wine sales: Yes to Starbucks; No decision on package sales at CVS at Peachtree Center

by David Pendered

This story has been updated to correct the days the CVS pharmacy is open.

Starbucks will be allowed to sell beer and wine at two locations in Atlanta, but a controversial request by CVS to sell package beer and wine at a new store at Peachtree Center remains in limbo.

Atlanta’s License Review Board has approved permits for Starbucks to sell beer and wine for on-premise consumption at stores at near the OK Cafe, at 1230 West Paces Ferry Road, and near the Walmart on I-75, at 1801 Howell Mill Road. The permits will be issued unless they’re denied by Mayor Kasim Reed.

The board took no action on the CVS proposal for a permit to sell beer and wine for off-site consumption. CVS wants to sell package alcohol at the struggling Peachtree Center, which leasing sheets show was 42 percent vacant before the store opened. CVS didn’t have a representative at the meeting and the item wasn’t called for discussion.

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