Investing with an eye to the long term is particularly important with stocks. Historically, equities outperform bonds, cash, and inflation, though there are no guarantees.
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Posted inTom Baxter
The little session that couldn’t
Want to hear a good Georgia joke? Last week the Alabama legislature passed a medical marijuana bill and ours couldn’t.
Couldn’t, not wouldn’t. In both states, Republicans sponsored the bill, there was a lot of citizen support and a broad consensus over the issue. But in Georgia an unrelated measure requiring insurers to cover autism therapy for children was amended into the bill, and both causes went down in flames. There were some problems in the bill, but it wasn’t the problems that doomed it. It was the bolloxed nature of the process.
That was common in the session that closed last week. It was a banner year for show-out, red-meat election year bills. But whenever the subject shifted even slightly away from the billboard issues like guns and ObamaCare, this legislature collapsed into incoherence, unsure what it believed about much of anything and incapable of moving forward.
Posted inUncategorized
No empty place
All place has meaning, so long as it can still support memory.
The spot of earth upon which we stand has importance if we can remember what once was there. The stories about the places we occupy give meaning to them and thus to our own lives. Sometimes our sense of place becomes so strong that it establishes sacred space.
For many, Camp Toccoa in north Georgia is sacred ground.
Posted inMaria's Metro
Let’s salute Maynard Jackson – 40 years after becoming Atlanta’s mayor – helping integrate city’s economy
If Maynard Jackson were still living, he would have celebrated his 76th birthday on Sunday.
Yet, even in death, the larger-than-life former mayor of Atlanta was honored at a special celebration Saturday night at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis to mark the 40th anniversary of becoming the city’s first African-American mayor at only 35 years old.
Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater
‘Le Week-End’ – couple’s love of Paris and complex love for each other
Nick (Jim Broadbent) and Meg (Lindsay Duncan) both love Paris.
They’re just not sure if they love each other any more.
The superb new film, Le Week-End,” chronicles their floundering, all-too-human attempts to find out. It opens in Atlanta on Friday, March 28.
Returning to the City of Lights 30 years after they honeymooned there, the long-married couple knows each other’s pressure points as surely as George and Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
The movie — which, I must emphasize, is in English…NO subtitles — is an expert dissection of why we love, why we hate and why some of us put up with each other for a lifetime.
Posted inHome Mortgages, Thought Leader
The Continued Rise of Non-Bank Lenders
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal put a major spotlight on the growth of non-bank financial firms. The article illuminated that the growth of non-bank financial firms opens up substantial business opportunities for alternative forms of credit as traditional banks are experiencing tighter regulations from Washington. Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Goldman […]
Posted inGuest Column
What we teach is the foundation of Georgia’s education reform puzzle
By Guest Columnist DANA RICKMAN, director of policy and research for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education
Nearing the end of the 2014 legislative session, Georgia’s House Education Committee voted down Senate Bill (SB) 167, the anti-Common Core bill, essentially killing it.
Had it passed, it would have prevented the state from its continued participation in the Common Core State Standards, known in Georgia as the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards (CCGPS). Why does this matter? To answer that question, one must have an understanding of the educational reform landscape that has shaped Georgia.
Posted inLatest News
Mayor Kasim Reed presents Council a new ‘connected’ option for MLK Dr.
By Maria Saporta
In an unusual turn of events, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and his staff Friday presented a possible compromise on the proposed alignment of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive around the new Falcons stadium in an effort to satisfy concerns expressed by members of the Atlanta City Council and members of the community.
Councilmember Andre Dickens, had led a unanimous Council effort seeking to preserve the “connectivity” of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on both sides of Northside Drive. He asked the mayor and his administration to present alternatives that would maintain that connectivity rather than have MLK be turned into the much narrower Mitchell Street west of Northside Drive.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Consolidation in shipping industry latest wrinkle for Savannah port
The vagaries of the global shipping trade are again poised to affect Atlanta’s second major trade port, the seaport in Savannah.
Last month, the concern was construction delays at the Panama Canal. This month, it’s the question of how the Savannah port will factor into a proposed alliance of shipping companies that would control up to 40 percent of the world’s major oceanic transport.
All these events are routine business ventures compared to the state’s decision on how to proceed with the deepening of the Savannah harbor – despite the decision by the Obama White House not to provide federal funding for the project.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro
Third church central to community accepting Falcons stadium road plan
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on March 21, 2014
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank wants to build a world-class football stadium for the city, yet he believes that revitalizing the surrounding communities is an even more important calling.
But now the stadium project is literally at a crossroads, threatening to poison the relationship between the Falcons, the city and the community for years, if not decades, to come.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Atlanta a finalist for $30 million urban renewal grant; Mayor Reed responds to saportareport.com story on AHA
Atlanta is one of six cities HUD has chosen as finalists for a federal Choice Neighborhood grant that would provide Atlanta with up to $30 million to improve three impoverished neighborhoods.
Atlanta would target the money on three neighborhoods west of the future Falcons stadium. The potential federal grant is separate from the $30 million already promised to the area by Atlanta and the Blank Family Foundation.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s office announced the city’s status as a finalist for the grant on March 18, the same day it issued a statement from the mayor that responded to a March 13 story in saportareport.com.
Posted inLatest News
Mary Matalin and James Carville impressed with Berry College
By Maria Saporta
ROME – While odd couple Mary Matalin and James Carville rarely agree on anything, they agreed Thursday that Berry College is a special place.
The married political contrarians — she a conservative Republican and he a liberal Southern Democrat — were invited guests to the 2014 Gloria Shatto Lecture series. The series was named after Shatto, who made history on Jan. 1, 1980, when she became the first woman to become president of a university or college in Georgia. She retired in 1998 and then passed away a year later.
“What an amazing place,” Matalin said, adding that she and her husband visit many college campuses. “I don’t think we have visited one as unique.”
Posted inDavid Pendered
As Yellen talks about jobs & economy, two with Ga. ties debate role of Fed
A definite Georgia flavor surrounded Janet Yellen’s first press conference in Washington Wednesday as chairwoman of the Federal Reserve.
As Yellen was preparing to talk with reporters, a retired vice president of the Atlanta Fed and a UGA economics professor were speaking at a separate panel discussion, hosted by the Heritage Foundation, on what the Fed has done in its 100-year history for U.S. monetary policy.
Despite the different venues, the conversations shared an interest in the Fed’s role in unemployed and underemployed Americans.
Posted inLatest News
Central Atlanta Progress moving to Fairlie-Poplar’s 84 Walton building
By Maria Saporta
Central Atlanta Progress, the influential downtown business organization, is moving from the Hurt building to a lesser known historic building in the Fairlie-Poplar district.
CAP, which has been a visible tenant on the street level of the Hurt building along Edgewood since 1988, is moving to the top floor of 84 Walton St., a building that dates back to 1907 when it was built as the headquarters for the Atlanta Birmingham and Atlantic Railroad.
CAP President A.J. Robinson made the announcement about the move at the organization’s annual meeting at the Georgia World Congress Center on Wednesday morning.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro
Column: Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Hala Moddelmog makes staff moves
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on March 14, 2014
Less than three months since she’s been in her new role, Metro Atlanta Chamber President and CEO Hala Moddelmog is beginning to put her team in place.
A series of staff moves are being announced on Friday, March 14, to help the business organization emphasize its strategic focus areas.
Posted inLive Healthy, Atlanta!, Thought Leader
Will Nurse Practitioners Help Meet Primary Care Demand?
Will your next visit to the doctor be with an independent nurse practitioner? As the need for healthcare providers grows, expanded nurse authority could help meet patient demand.
Posted inHome Mortgages, Thought Leader
So You Want to Be a MLO…
Do you have what it takes to become a Mortgage Loan Originator? This week we discuss MLO certification and what it takes to get into the rewarding industry.
Posted inMaria's Metro
Saving the Fox Theatre showed the value of preserving Atlanta’s history – a lesson we must never forget
Forty years ago, Atlanta faced its biggest preservation battle in its history.
The telephone company — Southern Bell — wanted to build a new headquarters building on the site of the Fox Theatre. They claimed the neglected theatre had outlived its usefulness and needed to be demolished to make way for a fancy new skyscraper.
And so Atlanta’s preservation movement was born with the passionate “Save the Fox” movement that began at the grassroots with students from Georgia Tech and other young activists to progressive business leaders who worked behind the scenes to come up with a solution that saved the Fox and permitted Southern Bell to build its tower next door.
One of those activists was Beauchamp Carr, a young banker who quit his job to volunteer full-time for the Save the Fox campaign by raising funds for the effort. Carr went on to become campaign coordinator for the annual Woodruff Arts Center campaign, a role he had for about 35 years – raising $177 million for the organization.
But throughout the decades, Carr has always had a passion for preserving Atlanta’s history.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Sustainability’s next generation flexes young wings of new ideas in Atlanta
A nascent movement in the sustainability arena flexed its young wings in Atlanta last week.
The movement involves the merging of issues including renewable energy, green buildings, and consumer products free of toxic chemicals. Apple CEO Tim Cook epitomizes the new concept for one advocate who spoke at a panel discussion sponsored by Southeast Green.
Cook drew headlines for this Feb. 28 remark to shareholders who criticized Apple’s green investment strategy: “If you want me to do things only for ROI [return on investment] reasons, you should get out of this stock.”
Posted inSaba Long
Creating Atlanta’s “third places” for all – rich, poor and every one in between
Earlier this week, I took advantage of a rare evening of sunshine to enjoy sushi and sake outside at Strip in Atlantic Station. While dining, I watched young children playing tag, couples chatting on benches, a photo shoot taking place, amongst other activities.
My thoughts drifted to a recent The Urbanist podcast from Monocle featuring Dr. Ray Oldenburg, who coined the term, the “third place.” Our private home is considered our “first” place while our “second” place is the work environment.
“Life without community has produced, for many, a life style consisting mainly of a home-to-work-and-back-again shuttle. Social well-being and psychological health depend upon community.
