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Posted inLatest News

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed looks to second term, COO Duriya Farooqui headed to Bain Consulting on Jan. 31

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By Maria Saporta

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, in a wide-ranging interview Friday morning, said the priority in his second term will to get an infrastructure referendum passed by voters that will be between $150 million and $250 million.

But that initiative will have to be implemented without his top lieutenant — Duriya Farooqui, who has been serving as his chief operating officer for the last two years and as deputy COO from the beginning of his first term.

Farooqui has been his point person on virtually all major efforts in the Reed administration.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta architectural firms merging – Stevens & Wilkinson and RWH

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

Two veteran Atlanta architectural and design firms are joining forces.

Stevens & Wilkinson and Richard Wittschiebe Hand (RWH) are announcing that they are combining their practices to establish a “collaborative culture and a focus on smart design solutions,” according a press release.

Stevens & Wilkinson, founded in 1919 in downtown Atlanta, has a long history of architectural and engineering design services. By merging with RWH, the firm is looking forward to a future with a strengthened, combined practice.

Stevens & Wilkinson has practiced for 94 years throughout the Southeast, and it has offices in Atlanta and Columbia, SC.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Millennials favor coal-fired power plants, Georgia Power rate hike, says poll released by Sierra Club

by David Pendered

Young Georgia voters strongly favor the proposed Georgia Power rate hike and fewer than half support shifting from coal to renewables to generate electricity, according to a results of a poll by the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club.

The polling company advised against reading too much into results from the millennials because the margin of error for the age bracket is 13.2 percent, compared to 3.23 percent for the total poll. The broader results of the poll show widespread opposition to the proposed rate hike and strong support for shifting away from coal-fired power plants.

Georgia Power is requesting to hike its rates in order to raise $873 million. Georgia’s Public Service Commission is slated to vote on the proposal Dec. 17, following a decision Thursday morning by a PSC committee to schedule the matter for a vote by the full commission.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: Metro Atlanta Chamber celebrates legacy, leadership

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on December 6, 2013

At the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Dec. 3 annual meeting, it was a day to celebrate both new leaders while honoring the legacy of the past 17 years.

It was the day that 2013 Chamber Chairman Paul Bowers, president and CEO of Georgia Power, happily passed the reigns to Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Air Lines, who is chairing the Metro Atlanta Chamber in 2014.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta BeltLine outlines its future 17 years — plans to own entire 22-mile corridor within the next five years

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By Maria Saporta

As a guide to see where it’s been and where it’s going, the board of the Atlanta BeltLine Inc. Wednesday unanimously adopted a new Strategic Implementation Plan that will guide the ambitious development through 2030.

“For the first time, there’s a plan to complete all the elements of the plan by 2030,” said Paul Morris, CEO of Atlanta BeltLine Inc. “What excites me is that the public’s awareness of the BeltLine is moving to a position of inevitability. That’s a real turning point in any great project.”

The Atlanta BeltLine, a 22-mile rail corridor that encircles downtown Atlanta, is being developed on multiple levels. Multipurpose trails for pedestrians and cyclists are being built. New and expanded parks are being developed along the ring — a feature that has been called an “Emerald Necklace.”

Posted inLatest News

Park Pride donates $625,000 in grants to 17 parks in Atlanta and DeKalb

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By Maria Saporta

Park Pride is giving away a record of $625,000 in matching grants to 17 parks, the organization announced Wednesday morning.

It is the largest amount that that the nonprofit has ever given in one grant cycle, exceeding last year’s total by more than $75,000. Since it began its Grant Program in 2004, Park Pride has granted more than $2.8 million for playgrounds, land acquisition and other capital improvements to Friends of Park groups seeking to revitalize their community’s green spaces.

“The grants are only part of the story,” said Michael Halicki, Park Pride’s executive director. “Given the requirement for matching dollars to be raised locally, the actual impact on these parks is more than double the size of the grant. Working together with local communities and government partners, we are achieving results that could never be accomplished working in isolation.”

Posted inSaba Long

Metro Atlanta’s rising young leaders bring “energy, passion” to charities

by Saba Long

Here is a Georgia statistic we can be proud of. The Chronicle of Philanthropy notes the state ranks sixth nationally in charitable giving, with $4.8 billion in total contributions, averaging 6.2 percent of total income given.

As Georgians aged from 20 years to 44 years make up more than 35 percent of the total population, and those under 20 year nearly 29 percent, not-for-profit organizations are actively recruiting younger donors and finding creative ways to tap into their discretionary spending.

Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater

Mandela, apartheid and the movies

Avatar photo by Eleanor Ringel Cater

The passing of Nelson Mandela has touched us all. For once, media overkill doesn’t seem to say enough about this extraordinary man. I’ve heard or read so many pronouncements over the past few days, I can’t keep them all straight. But  here’s a quote I especially like: “In Mandela we saw what we seek to see in ourselves.”

There is a powerful Mandela movie that’s already in limited release and will open in Atlanta before the end of the year.  Called “Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom,” the film initially seems pedestrian. However, the power of Mandela’s story is such that, by the end, you’re grateful to the director, Justin Chadwick (“The Other Boleyn Girl”), for not getting in the way. Plus, the picture offers expert performances by  Idris Elba in the title role and Naomie Harris as his wife Winnie.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta pays about $1 million a month in worker’s comp claims, a higher rate than national average

by David Pendered

Atlanta taxpayers have paid more than $44 million over a 45-month period for a worker’s compensation program that is significantly more generous than those of other state and local governments, according to a city audit.

The cost per worker is 58 percent higher than the national average. The number of claims filed by city employees also exceeds the national average for local governments – by 2.5 times, the audit shows.

The situation results from a system that puts claims administration ahead of risk management, according to the audit. For example, Atlanta does not address safety practices with new employees, though it does inform them of how to submit claims and what benefits to expect.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Questions of MARTA and transit get ignored in Cobb-Braves stadium plans

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A few days ago, I received an email from a reader asking me about the proposed new Atlanta Braves stadium in Cobb County near the intersection of I-285 and I-75.

“Wonder why rapid transit was considered essential for the Turner Field site but not for the new site?” asked David Feltman, a public transit professional born and raised in the Atlanta area and currently working in Charlotte, N.C. “The new site is one of the most congested intersections in the state.”

Posted inColumns, Michelle Hiskey & Ben Smith

Atlanta Diaper Bank a fresh resource for a hidden need

by Ben Smith

Behind Atlanta’s hunger, poverty and homelessness are parents who are trying to stretch every resource—even dirty diapers. To cut the cost of this basic need, their babies wear soiled diapers for longer periods than they should, and sometimes parents try to wash or reuse disposable ones, putting the kids at risk for staph infections.

Founded by Adrienne Hopkins of Kennesaw, the Diaper Bank of Greater Atlanta is winding up its annual “Twelve Days of Diapers” drive that began Dec. 1. The Diaper Bank is a nonprofit that helps cover the bottoms of babies and toddlers as well as adults who require disposable undergarments but cannot afford them. Its current goal is collecting 100,000 diapers and adult incontinence products before Thursday.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta attorney Robbie Ashe elected as new chairman of MARTA’s board

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By Maria Saporta

MARTA’s board of directors Monday elected Robbie Ashe, a representative from the City of Atlanta, as its new chair.

Ashe succeeds Fred Daniels, a DeKalb County representative who is an executive of Citizens Trust Bank, who served as MARTA board chair for two terms.

Ashe is an attorney with the law firm of Bondurant Mixson and Elmore who focuses on issues involving politics, governments, and governmental authorities throughout Georgia, particularly the City of Atlanta, metro Atlanta governments and the Georgia General Assembly.

Posted inUncategorized

“The Heart of the Matter”: Why we need the humanities

by Jamil Zainaldin

The urge to examine and understand is what Socrates recognized as intuitively human, and worthy of encouragement. For self-examination is a confirmation that we are living and breathing and thinking beings. And that’s the great conversation that the arts and humanities invite us into.

We in Georgia are engaged in a national conversation on the value of the arts and humanities. One of the leaders in this dialogue is Wayne Clough, the former head of Georgia Tech and now the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Georgia DNR board defers consideration of plan intended to expand hog farming across state

by David Pendered

Environmentalists are praising a decision by state officials to delay consideration of a proposal to ease regulations on hog farming.

“We applaud the DNR Board for helping to put a stop to the shortsighted rollback,” Chris Manganiello, policy director for Georgia River Network, said in a statement.

The state decided to pull the proposal for further review following the large number of public comments received, most of them negative, DNR spokesman Kevin Chambers said Monday. An additional public notice will be released if the department decides to pursue the proposal, Chambers said.

Posted inGuest Column

A teacher makes lasting impression — filling lessons with art and creativity

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist CHARISSE WILLIAMS, president of Young Audiences, a division of the Woodruff Arts Center

In December 2012, I received a message on Facebook from a young man my mother had taught in 4th grade in Chicago over 20 years ago. He was living and working in London and usually had lunch with Mom back in Chicago over the holidays.

Posted inTom Baxter

Nelson Mandela and the Atlanta-South Africa connection

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

I have two framed mementos of the weeks I spent covering South Africa’s first multi-racial election in 1994. One of them is my favorite political poster of all time.

Under the legend, “a better life for all,” there’s a picture of Nelson Mandela surrounded by a diverse group of 11 children. The ANC logo and the ballot photo of Mandela with an X beside it — an important detail for people who had never voted before — make up the lower border.

I particularly like this poster because of what it teaches about the different ways racial distinctions are made. An American looking at the photograph would see a group of black and white kids, with a couple of shades of brown mixed in. But as I learned, South Africans, with a much more articulated sense of racial and ethnic difference, saw it very differently.

Posted inDavid Pendered

From poverty to plenty: Atlanta could be a case study in reducing blight

by David Pendered

Two events Wednesday cast outlooks on poverty in metro Atlanta and a path that could lead one poor area toward prosperity.

A Harvard University professor confirmed a shocking report released earlier this year – social conditions in metro Atlanta are such that it is the worst major urban region in the country in terms of children born into poverty moving into the middle or upper economic classes.

At another event, Georgia Tech students outlined their ideas for revitalizing two poor neighborhoods near the Falcons stadium. Some recommendations address the very problems named in the Harvard study that are associated with intergenerational poverty.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta Regional Commission takes 12 ballots to name Kerry Armstrong, citizen of Gwinnett, as its new chair

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By Maria Saporta

A drama-filled vote for a new chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission went for 12 ballots before any candidate received the needed 20 votes from the body that oversees the 10 metro counties.

At the end of the day, the new chairman of the metropolitan planning and implementation body will be Kerry Armstrong, a citizen member from Gwinnett who has been on ARC’s board since 2008. Armstrong is a senior vice president with Pope & Land Enterprise, which he joined in 2012. Armstrong will become chairman in January, 2014.

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