The name of the game these days is competitiveness.
Many Georgia leaders are asking how can we create the most competitive economy in the United States, if not the world.
Gov. Nathan Deal, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Georgia Department of Economic Development launched a Competitiveness Initiative in 2011.
After 17 years in pro baseball, the Carlyles are used to rapid shifts in the foundation of their family’s life.
That’s why their family supporters are so precious to them, and that’s why when the earthquake shook Japan on March 11, 2011, the Carlyles pitched in to care for Akane Nakagawa, the single mom who had cared for them, and for her community that suddenly, desperately needed help.
By Maria Saporta
While the Atlanta preservation community is objecting to plans to demolish the historic home of the Atlanta Daily World, the parties behind the application released a lengthy statement Monday evening to present their point of view.
It is a joint statement from Alexis Scott, publisher of Atlanta Daily World and the building’s owner; and Valerie Edwards, an executive with the Integral Group, which wants to redevelop the property.
By Maria Saporta
At the First Monday breakfast of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, Georgia’s top economic development official made a passionate plea for the penny sales tax for regional transportation.
Chris Cummiskey, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, said passage of the tax would be key to the state’s ability to attract new companies and jobs over the next decade.
Twelve regions in the state will be voting on July 31 whether to approve the sales tax, which then would build a host of transportation projects in their individual areas.
Facebook Brand Timeline Last Wednesday was a pretty big day in the world of social media managers. Facebook unveiled its timeline for brand pages, and everyone should take note for several reasons. The main reason is all pages will convert on March 30, so you should be prepared. My favorite part about the timeline is […]
Emory Morsberger is still having incredible days, and now they are spent nurturing the Stone Mountain Community Improvement District.
In less than a year, the region’s newest CID has made demonstrable improvements to the quality of life and streetscapes in a teetering area along the Gwinnett/DeKalb county line.
But the vision of this CID goes beyond creating streets that are pretty and secure. It’s about creating jobs.
“Our goal is to create 2,000 jobs in the CID,” Morsberger said. “Our first priority has been to secure it and clean it up, and then we’re going to fill it up. We have 2 million square feet of vacant space in an industrial area that has 10 million square feet. Once we fill it up, we’ll create 2,000 jobs.”
By Chris Schroder
Chuck Leavell leads a musical life that most guys would trade everything to have – playing keyboards for the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton the Allman Brothers and later next month with John Mayer – but his Moment was one all the ladies will love.
Now at age 59, looking back on all that rock ‘n’ roll, Chuck really wants to talk about his true loves: his wife, family and his deep abiding care for the environment, support for which he is spending an increasing amount of his time and treasure.
If you’ve seen Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed give a speech over the past couple of years, you’ve probably heard his pitch about how important the deepening of the Savannah River is to Atlanta’s future.
For Reed, deepening the Port of Savannah’s channel to accommodate the larger ships soon to be coming through the Panama Canal is key to the development of the region, and thereby to the future health of our city.
If the mayor is correct, events took a fateful turn last week. Reed and other supporters of the Savannah harbor-deepening project now find themselves hostage to something with which they are ill-prepared to cope, namely, politics in South Carolina.
This is really the story of a sort of three-legged sack race, prompted by the Panama Canal expansion to be completed in 2014, and the lure of the riches to be gained by accommodating the larger container ships coming in its wake.
By Guest Columnist JOHN SIBLEY, senior policy fellow at Southface Energy Institute and former president of the Georgia Conservancy
Have you gotten used to thinking you have no choice on your power bill? We can’t choose our power company, so most of us pay the bill without looking past the total amount due – without even thinking about the amount paid for each kilowatt-hour or whether we have better choices.
For some odd reason, the folks in North Carolina think they are able to build a deep water port that could rival Charleston or Savannah for the massive vessels expected to sail through the expanded Panama Canal.
The Old North State even issued last week a draft copy of its governor-sponsored study into the possible project: “North Carolina Maritime Strategy.” Public comment sessions continue this week.
This possible port development is barely mentioned in Georgia, where the public discourse is of competition between Charleston and Savannah. Sometimes there’s a nod to a potential ocean port in Jasper County, S.C., which could complement the Savannah port along the shared river.
Yet North Carolina bears watching – the state is a fierce contender that already is a regional leader in areas including scientific research and development, banking and finance, transit and tourism.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, February 24, 2012
Rome-based Berry College has received an anonymous $10 million challenge gift to help provide at least 80 new full-time scholarships for students who combine their studies with work on campus.
We need to talk about “We Need to Talk about Kevin.”
Because, having lost its best shot at an Oscar when its star, Tilda Swinton, wasn’t nominated in the best actress category, it’s likely the film will slip in and out of town without much notice.
By Maria Saporta
Tax reform is still top of mind for Georgia House Speaker David Ralston.
Ralston was the breakfast speaker of the Commerce Society Thursday morning, when he provided an overview of what was in the works during this year’s legislative session.
In 2010, Ralston helped establish a Tax Reform council of business leaders and economists to look at how Georgia “could become the most competitive state in the nation in terms of jobs.”
The council went around the state to get public input before putting forth a set of recommendations that were presented to the state legislature for the 2011 session.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has funded the entire campaign for the extension of the 1 percent sales tax to pay for sewer upgrades with a $50,000 loan from his 2010 inaugural committee, according to campaign finance disclosures.
Reed’s inaugural committee has provided the only contributions received by the MOST campaign, according to a disclosure filed Feb. 24 with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission. Of the loaned sum, the campaign has spent $30,000 on polling and $5,000 on media – all of it with two firms located outside of Georgia.
The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce is hosting at least three campaign materials on its website in advance of the March 6 referendum. One file is a letter signed by three former mayors (Shirley Franklin, Sam Massell, and Andrew Young) urging readers to support the campaign and contribute to it. Two other files are fact-based documents about the purpose of the MOST and its use in the federally mandated $4 billion sewer upgrade.
By Maria Saporta
A passionate campaign is underway to save the historic Atlanta Daily World building on Auburn Avenue.
The Integral Group has applied for a demolition permit of the Atlanta Daily World building, and the application will be heard at the Atlanta Urban Design Commission meeting on March 28.
Already, the news of the possible demolition has awakened historic preservationists and community activists who are deeply concerned about another legacy building potentially disappearing from Sweet Auburn District.
Two upcoming forums will provide information to small and minority companies seeking contracts to design and build projects in Atlanta to be funded with proceeds of the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation.
Presenters will talk about the procurement processes to be used to award contracts for planned transportation projects in Atlanta, MARTA, DeKalb and Fulton counties. Registration for the session Wednesday is closed, but openings remain for the March 6 event.
The forums occur as the state Legislature debates a proposal to redefine small business as it relates to state purchasing contracts. House Bill 863 would change the size of a small business, for purposes of competing for a state contract, from 100 employees to 500 employees.
By Maria Saporta
I was so sad to hear about Monday’s passing of James E. Young, president and CEO of Citizens Trust Bank.
Young had been a strong behind-the-scenes player in the Atlanta business community — translating his rich experience in the banking and financial world into the city’s civic sector.
It was always a pleasure to see Young in action, and it was even more of a pleasure to hear about how he used his influence behind closed doors.
One of the last times I saw him was after a board meeting of the Commerce Club when Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was the guest speaker during the closed session.
Prior to the financial crisis, mortgages were sold and delivered nearly as easily as filling out a change of address slip at the post office for your new home. Anyone could choose to sell mortgages and anyone with a small bond could open a mortgage company. This was our industry from 1993 to 2008. Today, the landscape […]
On Saturday at 7 pm at St. Pius X Catholic High School gymnasium, you can see a team of local lawyers show up on a different court against a squad of Atlanta doctors with a prescription for winning.
The game, billed as “Jawbones vs. Sawbones,” will be played the weekend before the ACC college basketball tournament in Philips Arena. March Madness kicks off with a bit of March Malpractice.
“I hope their cardiologist brings his paddles,” one lawyer joked in an email.
The game benefits Side by Side Clubhouse, a day program for people who have experienced traumatic brain injury – a population that has swelled with returning troops. Brain injuries have also become more publicized through athletic concussions.
Over the next year, MARTA expects to spend up to $700,000 maintaining its train tracks, grinding them into proper shape and otherwise ensuring they will safely carry trains.
The amount may not seem terribly huge for a system with a total annual budget this year of more than $740 million. The project also seems to be an expense that could be deferred in the expectation that it could be funded with MARTA’s portion of the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation, which will be on the ballot July 31.
Except, proceeds of the sales tax could not be used for the rail maintenance project, a top MARTA official said. And the reality of the need for routine maintenance, in and of itself, speaks to the ongoing challenge of maintaining and operating the system – especially in an era of MARTA’s own declining local sales tax revenues and the uncertainty of federal funding for transit nationwide.
