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Posted inTom Baxter

Inman Allen recalls his father’s ‘courageous and dramatic’ testimony

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

Fifty years ago this month, Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. became the only elected Southern official to testify for what would become the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The decision to “go beyond the niceties of racial harmony” and take a firm stand on the issue of segregation had been a “torturous” one, Allen’s son, Inman Allen, told the Atlanta Rotary Club Monday.

It was “a uniquely courageous and dramatic testimony that many have suggested was a pivotal moment in this country’s journey toward a fully integrated society,” Allen said, speaking to a group which his father once headed and of which his grandfather was a founder.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Proposed four-lane road in middle Georgia promoted as traffic reliever for I-20 in Atlanta, helpful to port

by David Pendered

Community leaders who advocate for a new highway that would improve access between LaGrange and Macon are pitching the proposed road as a way to ease traffic congestion in Atlanta and freight shipments to and from the state port in Savannah.

The proposed highway earned high marks from the consultant who drafted the recent long-term transportation plan for the Georgia Department of Transportation. For their part, GDOT officials have said the state has scant dollars for major new projects.

But the economic challenge hasn’t stopped two regional commissions – Three Rivers and Middle Georgia – from launching a campaign urging GDOT to conduct a corridor study. Among the reasons they cite for the road is the relief it could provide to I-20 in Atlanta.

Posted inMichelle Hiskey, Michelle Hiskey & Ben Smith

For Jerusalem children at Kids4Peace Atlanta, friendship trumps hostility

by Michelle Hiskey

This month in Atlanta, a dozen Palestinian and Israeli middle school students challenged the roots of their animosity in the cradle of civil rights. They learned about making friends with those they’ve been taught to despise.

They came via Kids4Peace, an “education-for-peace initiative” that every summer brings a dozen Palestinian and Israeli children to Atlanta (other chapters operate in Massachusetts, Vermont, North Carolina and Texas). The main purpose of the program is to contribute to the cultivation of a new generation of adults who will be more willing to pursue nonviolent resolutions in a region where violence has been the first resort for thousands of years.

Posted inLatest News

Noel Barnes named new CFO of Woodruff Arts Center

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

The Woodruff Arts Center has named a new chief financial officer — Noel M. Barnes. The announcement was made Monday by Virginia Hepner, president and CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center.

Barnes most recently served as the chief administrative officer for Edge Capital Partners LLC in Atlanta. Edge provides investment advisory and banking services to individuals, foundations and corporate clients.

Prior to that role, Mr. Barnes served as chief financial officer for Rotunda Corp. (formerly EzGov Inc), a software solutions company that provides software and professional services to federal, state and local governments. He began his finance career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen in Atlanta.

Posted inSaba Long

A global measure is needed to score success of Atlanta and Georgia

by Saba Long

There is a political and economic revolution taking place as cities and metropolitan regions are being recognized as the political and economic fixers of states across the country. The nation’s top 100 metro areas yield 75 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), exceeding that of Western European cities.

The metrics are similar when comparing the contribution of Georgia’s cities to the overall state economic output.

Atlanta and the region is key center for Fortune 500 headquarters and entrepreneurial activity. It has the nation’s most diverse clean tech and is the 13th-largest metro exporter in the country.

Posted inMaria's Metro

North Carolina’s model of consensus is slipping — giving Georgia leaders a chance to unite and move forward

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

When GeorgiaForward was created four years ago, it was modeled after the successful North Carolina Emerging Issues Forum that had been launched by former Gov. Jim Hunt in 1986.

So it was fitting that when GeorgiaForward forum held its first forum three years ago in Macon that the keynote speaker was Anita Brown-Graham, director of North Carolina State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues.

It was through the annual forums and eventually the Institute that Gov. Hunt and the top business, nonprofit and government leaders in North Carolina tackled the state’s toughest issues of health, education, transportation and the environment — finding consensus and often translating that into action and implementation.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Metro business leaders aim to boost city’s innovation credibility

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, July 12, 2013

Despite its presence of respected colleges and universities, metro Atlanta rarely is recognized in national business circles as a leading center for innovation, research and entrepreneurship.

But the Metro Atlanta Chamber — through its recently formed Business Higher Ed (BHE) Council — aims to change that reputation as well as foster a closer collaboration between the region’s companies and its colleges and universities.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Proposal to have Atlanta Streetcar planning done by BeltLine hits snag over who’s to pay for the research

by David Pendered

Atlanta’s effort to bring more of the planning for the expansion of the Atlanta Streetcar under the wing of the Atlanta BeltLine has hit a snag at Atlanta City Hall.

This particular situation is not expected to be significant. But it is the latest in a series that has led to the delay of at least a year in the planned opening of the Atlanta streetcar’s current route.

The current snag involves the source of up to $6 million to pay for planners and planning consultants to work on the streetcar expansion project. The city council’s Finance Committee raised a question that may delay legislation that had been slated for adoption by the council on Monday: What sources of taxpayer dollars will the Atlanta BeltLine use to pay for this long-range planning.

Posted inGuest Column

Businesses and nonprofits helping Georgians better manage their money

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist JENNER WOOD, chairman, president and CEO of SunTrust Bank – Atlanta/Georgia

In Georgia, 59 percent of individuals lack a rainy day fund to cover expenses for three months; 19 percent of households spent more than their income over the past year; and 38 percent of those with credit cards paid only the minimum during some months in the last year.

These are just a few of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) findings from its 2013 state-by-state financial capability survey.

Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater

‘The Heat’ — Sandra Bullock shines in funny film of female buddies

Avatar photo by Eleanor Ringel Cater

The first time I saw Sandra Bullock in a movie she was a creamy-skinned second banana — the girl River Phoenix wasn’t interested in. “The Thing Called Love,” which follows some aspiring singers in Nashville, was a flop. What little reputation it has is mostly for being Phoenix’s last picture show, before he overdosed in front of Johnny Depp’s club, the Viper Room.

Bullock’s character was meant to be a little plump, a little dense (at least, compared to the designated leading lady, Samantha Morton). Turns out Bullock was neither, as she quickly showed in ”Speed,” “While You Were Sleeping” and at least a dozen other hits.

Then, after playing role after role that both incorporated and ignored her fabulous femininity, she finally won an Oscar for her turn as the feisty Southern wife devoted to football and her relationship with the hulking ghetto teen she rescued from the streets.

Posted inLatest News

GeorgiaForward forum explores ways of how the state can strengthen itself

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

The theme of the fourth annual GeorgiaForward forum is how can we control our own economic destiny by growing from within.

GeorgiaForward, a statewide grassroots organization of interested business, civic and government leaders, is meeting in Atlanta for its two-day annual forum at the Georgia Tech Conference Center.

The theme for 2014 is: “Strengthening Georgia from within.” It is the first time the group, which kicked off the forum on Thursday, has convened in Atlanta.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Reed announces new film office one day after council committee calls for it to report at least seven times a year

by David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s office announced Thursday that the mayor has created an Office of Entertainment to oversee the film industry, in accordance with an ordinance approved July 1 by the Atlanta City Council.

The announcement came one day after the council’s Finance Committee approved legislation that would require the new office to report a total of at least seven times a year to two of the council’s standing committees – finance and community development.

“While we support the film commission, we want to make sure that … it is done in a way where we are all on the same page,” said Councilperson Joyce Sheperd, the lead sponsor of the council’s proposal.

Posted inLatest News

Artists selected for the next ‘Art on the BeltLine’ starting in September

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

One of the most popular attractions along the Atlanta BeltLine is making a return appearance this fall — the semi-annual “Art on the BeltLine.”

More than 70 innovative works of performance and visual art have been selected for the largest temporary public art project in Atlanta. Eight miles of paved and interim hiking trails around the 22-mile BeltLine corridor will provide the public space for the two-month long exhibition.

“The Atlanta BeltLine has made public art a priority, and this year is no exception,” said Paul Morris, the recently named new president and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI), said in a statement. “Thanks to our great partners, sponsors and artists, Art on the Atlanta BeltLine will once again allow the public to experience the wonder of the Atlanta BeltLine in new and exciting ways with visual and performance art.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta City Council wants monthly accountability reports on business incentives offered by Invest Atlanta

by David Pendered

The Atlanta City Council is trying to get a handle on the incentives offered by Invest Atlanta during negotiations over business relocations.

The measure comes as the council wrestles with the increasing independence exercised by the leaders of the city’s development arm, which is chaired by the mayor. On Wednesday, the council’s Finance Committee approved a resolution that calls on the city’s CFO to submit monthly reports to the council on the incentives Invest Atlanta orders paid to businesses. The full council is to vote on the plan July 15.

Committee Chair Felicia Moore shelved a sterner measure she’d proposed that called for a non-binding council vote before Invest Atlanta could offer such incentives. Moore, who introduced both papers, said the stricter proposal was unlikely to win enough votes to pass.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Mayor Reed has $1.6 million in campaign cash, buys office furniture from an online liquidator

by David Pendered

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed continues to attract campaign contributions at a rate that shows no signs of cooling as he prepares for election to a term that increasingly appears to be his second in office.

Reed has $1.6 million in cash on hand, according to a campaign disclosure report received July 6 by state campaign officials. Reed raised $320,621 and spent $161,141 during the second quarter of the year.

Reed’s financial prudence may be evident in the office furniture purchased for the campaign office. Reed’s campaign bought it from an online liquidator for $3,562. The next day, April 16, the campaign received a credit in the amount of $65.68, according to the report.

Posted inLatest News

Renay Blumenthal named as new president of Grady Health Foundation

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By Maria Saporta

The Grady Health Foundation has named Renay Blumenthal, senior vice president of public policy for the Metro Atlanta Chamber, as its new president.

The appointment was announced Tuesday morning Grady Health System CEO John Haupert.

“Over a 25-year career, Renay has built strong relationships in this community — with governors, legislators, mayors and county commissioners, and executives of corporations, foundations and civic groups,” Haupert said. “We are thrilled that she will take the foundation’s helm as it marks two decades of service to the community and maps out its next 20 years.”

Blumenthal succeeds Lisa Borders, who recently left the foundation to join the Coca-Cola Co.

Posted inTom Baxter

Ruling on Voting Rights Act leaves both sides primed for a fight

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

Few big developments have been telegraphed as thoroughly as last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling voiding Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, so it was no surprise the response from all concerned was nimble.

It took almost no time at all after the court’s ruling was published for several of the Southern states which had been held in check by the law to bound forward with plans to implement voter ID laws and maps that had been deemed discriminatory by the courts.  And it took only slightly longer than that for liberal groups to begin mass fundraising appeals based on the impending outrage.

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