By Dave Williams and Maria Saporta
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents voted Tuesday to table until November any action about a possible engineering school at The University of Georgia.
The vote came after Gov. Sonny Perdue warned the board the state university system should not launch an engineering program at UGA without studying potential adverse consequences or gaining approval from the political leadership and public.
By Guest Columnist HELEN PRESTON TAPP, Georgia state director of the Trust for Public Land.
Fall’s fresh air and blue skies beckon us outdoors to enjoy neighborhood strolls, hikes in the woods, biking and boating adventures and campouts. Even a little time on a trail or in a park re-invigorates us. Now, there is mounting evidence that reinforces what we feel: Getting outdoors is good for us.
And making sure that all of us have places for people to connect with nature, friends, family and our heritage is the mission of The Trust for Public Land (TPL). TPL negotiates with landowners to buy key properties which
An affordable housing dream dating back 15 years is now facing foreclosure on Nov. 2.
The historic Imperial Hotel — a place where the poorest among us have lived since December 1996 — is the latest victim of the recession.
Progressive Redevelopment Inc., which renovated the Imperial Hotel into 120 single-room occupancy residences for the poor, can no longer pay the bills on the property.
“We are out of gas,” said Bruce Gunter, PRI’s president, adding that the non-profit has invested $150,000 of its own funds in the project. “We had a big increase in costs and a decrease in revenues. All of a sudden, we were in a world of hurt.”
The Imperial Hotel, now 99 years old, had been vacant for about 15 years when PRI bought the building for $1 million in 1995. It spent $9 million to restore the property, which was opened six months after the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.
By Maria Saporta
Friday, Oct. 15. The end of an era.
That’s the day when the Commerce Club served its last meal in its historic building at 34 Broad St. The lunch room was packed as many of the Commerce Club’s most loyal patrons paid homage to the place where Atlanta history was made.
The Lane Room on the 16th floor was so busy that the buffet tables had to be moved out in the lobby area.
Pete McTier, retired president of the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation, was sitting in the upper area having lunch with his wife. Bill Todd, president of the Georgia Cancer Coalition, was in the
By Maria Saporta
Atlanta Wins!
At long last, Atlanta will get a streetcar thanks to persistent efforts to go after federal funding.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ office has just sent out the following press release:
U.S. Representative John Lewis Elated Over Funding for
Atlanta Streetcar Construction
Atlanta, GA – Congressman John Lewis, 5th Congressional District Georgia, is pleased to announce the funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) of more than $47 million to construct the Georgia Transit Connector;
By Maria Saporta
Friday, October 8, 2010
Georgia’s children took center stage Oct. 5 during the inaugural “Early Education Summit” in the studios of Georgia Public Broadcasting.
It was the kickoff event for the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS) — bringing together nearly 300 leaders from all over the state.
“We are beyond thrilled by the turnout today,” said Stephanie Blank, a philanthropist who is chairing the GEEARS board. “We have business and civic and government leaders from throughout the state and beyond.”
By Maria Saporta
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is still keeping his fingers crossed that the city will win federal funding for a streetcar that will connect Centennial Olympic Park with the King Center.
“I feel good about where we are,” Reed said Wednesday morning after a Metro Atlanta Chamber breakfast with more than 30 ambassadors from around the world. “We are going to continue to push through Friday.”
Reed said he had a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood on Tuesday. That followed a meeting Reed had on Monday with LaHood, President Barack
By Dave Williams and Maria Saporta
Staff Writers
The University System of Georgia Board of Regents voted Tuesday to table until November any action about a possible engineering school at The University of Georgia.
The vote came after Gov. Sonny Perdue warned the board the state university system should not launch an engineering program at UGA without studying potential
By Maria Saporta
With only three weeks left to go before the Nov. 2 election, the three gubernatorial candidates faced each other in a debate at the Temple — showing their sense of humor as well as their frustrations.
The first question posed by moderator Julia Wallace, editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was what three traits should the next governor have.
Former Gov. Roy Barnes, the Democratic candidate, answered: “honesty, integrity and transparency.” Then Barnes, in a direct reference to his opponent — former Congressman Nathan Deal — went on to say: “I don’t believe you can lead this state unless people know
By Maria Saporta
Friday, October 8, 2010
They call themselves the “three amigos” — Pete Correll, Gerry Benjamin and David Crosland.
Three years ago, Correll, the retired CEO of Georgia-Pacific, teamed up with Benjamin, an investment manager, and Crosland, formerly with investment firm Arcapita Inc., to form a private investment firm called Atlanta Equity LLC.
They raised $109 million from about 70 investors, mostly from Atlanta,
By Guest Columnist SALLY FLOCKS, founder, president and CEO of PEDS, an Atlanta-based advocacy group for pedestrians.
In Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., tax dollars pay for sidewalk repairs, with substantial amounts budgeted each year. The City of Atlanta, in contrast, makes sidewalk repairs the responsibility of adjacent property owners.
The City’s program is politically unpopular, especially in low-income areas, and has been ineffective city-wide. The annual budget includes no funding for sidewalk maintenance or enforcement, which ties the hands of Public Works officials. Few people voluntarily repair sidewalks, and everyone who walks suffers as a result.
The 2008 State of the City’s Infrastructure report
By Maria Saporta and Dave Williams
Friday, October 8, 2010
The University of Georgia has failed to make much headway in past attempts to win permission to expand its engineering program from the state Board of Regents.
But people close to Georgia Tech, home to the fourth-ranking engineering school in the nation, are worried that this year could be different.
In fact, some Tech insiders do not believe an expected
By Maria Saporta
In Atlanta, the word “festival” is synonymous with Holly Mull.
Mull was the godmother of several of Atlanta’s most popular festivals — such as the Inman Park Festival, and the coordinator of festivals all over the city — including the recent inaugural Midtown Arts Festival that took place a couple of weeks ago.
So it was only fitting in a sad kind of way that at the end of today’s Gay Pride Parade — perhaps Atlanta’s most colorful festival — I learned that she had passed away suddenly on Thursday.
My friend, Nick Gold, asked me if I had heard about Holly. It’s rarely good news
By Maria Saporta
The theme of the Galloway School’s Speaker Series was supposed to be fearlessness.
So who better to ask that Ted Turner, Captain Courageous.
But when Turner was asked whether he was fearless, he quickly answered: “I was scared all the time. Fearlessness doesn’t make sense. You should have some fear.”
Later in the question and answer period, Turner came up with another line: “I was afraid of losing so much that I worked so hard that I won.”
Then Turner said one shouldn’t confuse
By Maria Saporta
Friday, October 1, 2010
As the dean of Atlanta’s environmentally conscientious business leaders, Ray Anderson has been a “pioneer, someone who defines tomorrow, someone who has vision.”
That’s how former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin introduced Anderson, the recipient of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s 2010 River Guardian Award, at its annual Patron Appreciation Dinner on Sept. 24 at the Georgia Aquarium.
Anderson, chairman and former CEO of Interface
By Maria Saporta
Both top candidates for governor strongly support spending lottery dollars on Pre-K education programs, and they believe it’s at least as important as the popular HOPE scholarship.
The candidates addressed the “Early Education Summit” held Tuesday at Georgia Public Broadcasting.
The Pre-K program and the HOPE merit-based college scholarship were implemented after former Gov. Zell Miller was able to pass the Georgia Lottery with education as its beneficiary.
“Zell Miller said it correctly,” said former Gov. Roy Barnes, the Democratic candidate for governor. “Pre-K is more
Is it a park? Is it a drainage basin?
Amazingly it’s both.
This Historic Fourth Ward Park is taking shape south of North Avenue just west of the Beltline — one of the most incredible green projects in Atlanta’s history.
Here is a beacon of hope — we can invest infrastructure dollars — in this case water and sewer funds — into parks with water features for the public to enjoy.
If only we had had this wisdom 10 years and $4 billion ago when the city was under the gun to improve its century-old combined water and sewer system.
Environmentalists at the time — led by activist Bill Eisenhauer — urged the city to explore green solutions to meet the requirements of the federal consent decree.
The city dismissed that approach, saying it would take too long
By Maria Saporta
Friday, October 1, 2010
For dozens of nonprofit and civic organizations in metro Atlanta, AirTran Airways Inc. has been a godsend.
But there’s great community concern about whether that will continue once AirTran is acquired by Dallas-based Southwest Airlines.
Although AirTran is headquartered in Orlando, Fla., the discount carrier has treated Atlanta as a hometown. Its largest hub is here. Its largest base of employees is here. And five of its key officers call Atlanta home.
By Guest Columnist VALARIE WILSON, executive director of the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership
With so many critical needs – education, health, jobs and more – why would we as community leaders and engaged citizens focus now on parks, trails and transit? While they are nice amenities, shouldn’t we concentrate on serious problems during these challenging times?
Obesity is deadly serious – now the second leading preventable cause of death in the United States. And hypertension is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. So it is heartening that the conversation around complex and often overwhelming healthcare policy topics is shifting to focus increasingly on
By Maria Saporta
Friday, October 1, 2010
A decade ago, Joe Leonard approached Herb Kelleher to see if he might be interested in a merger of both their airlines.
At the time, Leonard was CEO of AirTran Airways Inc., and Kelleher, the founder of Southwest Airlines, was CEO of the Dallas-based airline.
In all, Leonard talked to Kelleher four times about doing
