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By Maria Saporta

Maybe there will be a Screen on the Green season in 2011 after all.

The City of Atlanta has just sent out a media advisory about a “major announcement” concerning the 2011 Screen on the Green season.

Several weeks ago, the Piedmont Park Conservancy announced it was canceling the popular outdoor movie series because it had been unable to secure a top corporate sponsor.

The media advisory, however, strongly implies that the situation has changed.

By Maria Saporta

The Midtown Alliance has selected its next president and CEO — Kevin Green, currently executive director of the Clean Air Campaign.

Green will succeed the well-respected Susan Mendheim, who has served as president of the Midtown Alliance (originally the Midtown Business Association) since 1982.

Green has been executive director of the Clean Air Campaign for the past four years. The organization helps implement innovative transportation and air quality programs for employers, commuters and schools througout the Atlanta region.

David Pendered’s Q & A with Kevin Green

By Maria Saporta

The partnership between the City of Atlanta and the State of Georgia continues to strengthen.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told members of the Rotary Club of Atlanta Monday that on June 1, he and Gov. Nathan Deal will be traveling together to Washington, D.C. to meet with more than “half a dozen cabinet officials” about several issues including the deepening of the Savannah port.

“I hope I’m not stealing the governor’s thunder,” Reed said. “We’ll be working shoulder to shoulder now with only one thing in mind — what’s best for the City of Atlanta and what’s best for the State of Georgia.”

By Maria Saporta

What a study in contrasts.

The Atlanta Press Club hosted U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at an early afternoon session on Friday at the Commerce Club. Cantor, a super serious legislator, talked about the multiple challenges facing the nation.

Over and over again, Cantor made the point that the House Republicans have been proposing solutions, but that neither the Democratic legislators or President Barack Obama’s administration had presented any detailed plans — be it on Medicare, Medicaid or other major policy issues.

By Maria Saporta

It was Atlanta’s turn in the TimeWarner rotation.

The multi-faceted media company held its annual meeting in Atlanta Friday morning at the Omni Hotel — providing shareholders an upbeat picture of the company and its three major operating units.

Atlanta is home to Turner Broadcasting System, which owns TNT, the Cartoon Network, CNN among a host of other cable channels.

“This is a good intimate gathering,” said Jeffrey Bewkes, TimeWarner’s chairman and CEO, obviously commenting on the fact that not a huge crowd of shareholders attended

By Maria Saporta

The Woodruff Arts Center has implemented a major reorganization in its board — at the same time as it elected Larry Gellerstedt, CEO of Cousins Properties, as its new chair. He succeeds Phil Kent, CEO of Turner Broadcasting System.

The arts center used to be governed by an 80-member board that only met twice a year. Although there was an executive committee that was in charge to keep a closer eye on the center’s operations, the overall board still had the legal responsibilities on the decisions.

By Maria Saporta

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed told the arts lovers attending the Metropolitan Atlanta Arts Fund luncheon Thursday: “I did a bad thing.”

The mayor was referring to his budget proposal that called for cutting the city’s arts and cultural budget by 50 percent — from $470,000 to $235,000.

“We had to make a lot of hard and tough decisions,” the mayor told the luncheon crowd about how the city’s general fund budget has contracted by $100 million since 2008 to its smallest level in more than two decades.

But on Wednesday, while jogging, the mayor — who has been a strong supporter of the arts long before he took office — began to second-guess himself.

By Maria Saporta

Georgia planning professionals were relieved when Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a bill on May 17 that would have gutted the state’s local planning guidelines.

Senate Bill 86 — the Qualified Local Governments/Certified Retirement Communities — would have removed the requirement for communities to prepare comprehensive plans for their counties and cities.

The bill had been written to address concerns of smaller cities and counties over the state-imposed law (that’s been around since the days of Gov. Joe Frank Harris’ administration in the late 1980s) because of the costs of developing and maintaining the plans so they can be obtain certification for “Qualified Local Government” status.

Dan Reuter, land use division chief for the Atlanta Regional Commission, sent out an