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Posted inLatest News

MARTA board reviewing fall out from 2012 legislative session

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By Maria Saporta

The MARTA board is exploring all options to meet a potential shortfall in operating dollars in 2013 as a result of the state legislature not acting to remove the 50-50 restriction in how the agency spends its sales tax revenue.

When MARTA was created, there was a stipulation that 50 percent of its budget go towards capital spending and 50 percent towards operating. Since MARTA has been unable to expand the system, it has sought the flexibility to spend more of the tax revenue on operating expenses.

Posted inMoments, Moments Season 1

Joyce Fownes’ Moment transformed her – just as her design team transforms workspaces

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By Chris Schroder

Joyce Fownes has completely transformed the workspace of many of her firm’s clients, proving again and again that interior design can alter how employees interact with each other.

Ironically, she found herself completely transformed one recent Easter morning when she felt spiritual “lightning” travel through her body. She hasn’t been the same since – at home or at work.

Posted inMichelle Hiskey

Common ground with the homeless raised as Easter approaches

by Michelle Hiskey

Regardless of religion, we all are equaled through humbling moments.

The Palm Sunday service at the Church of the Common Ground in Woodruff Park repeatedly chipped at the gap between the homeless worshippers and those who were much better .

Staring into a street person’s face to see the face of Christ is a stark discovery of one’s own neediness – for status, approval and fleeting comforts.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Federal funding for transit, roads unclear as region ponders July vote on sales tax

by David Pendered

It’s now clear that the vote in metro Atlanta on the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation will occur with few clues from the federal government about its intention to pay for 12 percent of the work.

Federal funding now is in the region’s budget to pay for almost $847 million of the projects that are to be completed if voters approve the 10-year sales tax, which is to raise $6.14 billion in local dollars. The federal money appears throughout the region’s construction list.

But Congress did not pass a federal transportation bill last week, in advance of the March 31 expiration of the previous continuation funding bill. President Obama on Friday signed a 90-day continuation bill, which had been approved by the House and Senate, to forestall a shutdown of federally funded highway and transit projects.

Posted inGuest Column

Auburn Avenue community stands ready to help developer renovate historic buildings

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist MATTHEW GARBETT, president of Fourth Ward Neighbors

In 1976, Sweet Auburn was designated a National Historic District. Yet the buildings came down.

By 1992, the National Trust for Historic Preservation recognized Sweet Auburn as one of the 11 most endangered historic places in America. And the buildings still came down.

Posted inLatest News

State legislators fail to give MARTA the needed flexibility on how it spends local funds

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

It gets so bloody depressing.

Once again, MARTA has gotten screwed. This time, it was at the hands of the State Rep. Mike Jacobs, State Rep. Steve Davis and other misguided colleagues who have lost sight of what being a legislator is all about — to act in the best interests of the state.

In the closing minutes of the 2012 legislative session, political motives and missteps failed to remove the noose around MARTA’s neck that forces the transit agency to spend 50 percent of the sales tax it collects on capital improvements and 50 percent on operations.

Posted inTom Baxter

A flash of transparency lights the end of a dismal session

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

Late in the last night of this year’s legislative session, in that hour when so much mischief famously has been done, there was a brief but illuminating flash of red which revealed the way things work under the Golden Dome and the potential of social media to disrupt the old order.

You can it watch it, starting at the 3 hour 16 minute mark, on this Georgia Public Broadcasting archive video.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: Atlanta University presidents want new West End CID

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By Maria Saporta
Friday, March 23, 2012

The presidents of the Atlanta University Center are throwing their full support behind a proposal to create a West End Community Improvement District.

Morehouse College President Robert Franklin invited the other AUC presidents to his home March 19 to meet with potential donors who would help pay for the effort to create a West End CID and revitalize the area.

Posted inDavid Pendered

ARC moves ahead with effort to create regional transit governance system

by David Pendered

The Atlanta Regional Commission on Wednesday took a formal step toward determining if it can create a transit governance system to serve the region until the Legislature creates one of its liking.

The ARC board voted unanimously Wednesday to seek proposals from law firms to determine the boundaries of the ARC’s authority to oversee regional transit. Legislation on the issue that was proposed by Gov. Nathan Deal’s Transit Governance Task Force failed in the 2012 session.

The ARC’s vote affirms a request for action from its Regional Transit Committee, which the ARC describes as a policy committee focused on transit planning, funding and governance.

Posted inLatest News

Developer and land owner abandon plans to demolish Atlanta Daily World building

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta and David Pendered

What an amazing turnaround.

Just hours after the Atlanta Urban Design Commission unanimously voted to deny a demolition permit for the historic Atlanta Daily World newspaper building on Auburn Avenue, the developer and building owner said they are dropping their plans to demolish the building.

In a statement, Alexis Scott, publisher of the Atlanta Daily World; and Valerie Edwards, executive vice president of the Integral Group, said they would not appeal the decision of the Atlanta Urban Design Commission.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed eyes $250 million to $750 million for city infrastructure

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By Maria Saporta
Friday, March 23, 2012

The next big challenge for Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed will be to tackle the estimated $922 million backlog in the city’s infrastructure — namely roads, bridges and sidewalks.

The mayor is looking at several financial options to pay for that backlog, including going to voters with a bond package that would be a minimum of $250 million and could be as much as $750 million.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta Daily World building gets demolition reprieve from powerful city panel

by David Pendered

By Maria Saporta and David Pendered

The red brick building on Auburn Avenue that once housed the Atlanta Daily World newspaper is getting a reprieve from the wrecking ball.

A developer’s proposal to tear down all but the front portion of the building was rejected unanimously by a powerful Economic Review Panel that reports to the Atlanta Urban Design Commission.

The commission later voted unanimously to accept the panel’s report and deny the demolition permit.

Posted inLatest News

Almost nothing happens at AHA board meeting

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By Maria Saporta

Going to Atlanta Housing Authority board meeting can be surreal.

After having not met since Jan. 5 and despite having several lingering thorny issues (see previous post) on its plate, the AHA board met Wednesday as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

For starters, the chairman — Dan Halpern — was on vacation. And only four of the seven board members were present — enough for a quorum.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta Housing Authority board to meet Wednesday; leadership is still in limbo

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

When the Atlanta Housing Authority board meets on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., it will be the first time in nearly three months.

This is the same board that placed restrictions on Renee Glover, AHA’s president and CEO, last fall.

The board said she could not hire or fire any employees. It also stipulated that she could not enter into any contracts worth more than $10,000 without board approval.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Inside the loop: A look at who’s behind the push for a transportation sales tax

by David Pendered

A baker’s dozen of community leaders serve on the boards of two campaigns to promote passage of this summer’s vote on a proposed 1 percent sales tax that is to raise $6.14 billion to build roads and transit.

The two campaigns are run by two distinct organizations. Both MAVEN and Citizens for Transportation Mobility, Inc. are set up with the Secretary of State as non-profit corporations, and one is registered as a fund-raising committee with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.

The campaign strategy is for MAVEN to educate voters through April. CTM then will start a persuasion campaign to convince voters to actually go to the polls during the July 31 primary election and support the referendum.

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

Next Steps for Sprout Space

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Whenever I tell people about Sprout Space, Perkins+Will’s new concept for modular classrooms, the reaction is overwhelmingly positive. If you are involved in education at all or have ever had a child attend classes in a traditional trailer, then you know first-hand how important this issue is. As for marketing Sprout Space, we have recently […]

Posted inTom Baxter

Diverging timelines favor Democrats, so far

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The insensate calendar says we’re at the end of March, but without the basketball you wouldn’t know it. It could be well into May by the way it feels outside, and the political calendar has become just as confusing as the weather.

The presidential election has spun out into very different timelines, Red and Blue. A lot of Republicans still want it to be February, while the Democrats should be hoping this was July.

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