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Posted inTom Baxter

British politics makes a fascinating mirror to our own

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

It was interesting last week, while channel-surfing between clips of one Republican congressman blessing out a park ranger and another admitting he didn’t know what the House GOP could ask for to save face and back away from the budget crisis, to catch some of the recent British Conservative and Labour Party conferences on CSPAN.  A lot about British politics looks very familiar, but there’s much that seems very different, indeed.

A big difference is that these are two parties talking among themselves, and to each other. Their language is often saltier — Prime Minister David Cameron  spoke of Labour leader Ed Miliband’s economic proposals as “Red Ed and his Blue Peter economy” — but at least they’re talking.

Some of the differences between their current politics and ours are only cyclical. Over there the Conservatives are in power, so the party more like the Republicans defends the pace of the economic recovery while the party more like the Democrats attacks it. Some of the similarities are more fundamental.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta’s business, civic leaders content with performance of mayor, most city council members

by David Pendered

Atlanta’s business and civic leaders are generally satisfied with the performance of the mayor and most councilmembers, according to a score sheet of incumbents and challengers released in advance of the Nov. 5 municipal election.

Mayor Kasim Reed received a score of 99 out of 100, for a rating of “excellent.” Council President Ceasar Mitchell received a score of 92, “excellent.”

In the campaigns for three citywide council posts, Councilmember Aaron Watson received a score of 95 and challenger Mary Norwood, a former councilmember and mayoral candidate, received a score of 86; Councilmember H. Lamar Willis received a score 92 and challenger Andre Dickens received a score of 83; Councilperson Michael Julian Bond, who is unopposed, received a score of 91.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Piece by Piece conference focuses on stabilizing neighborhoods in era of great change in housing market

by David Pendered

The great recession has fundamentally altered some neighborhoods in metro Atlanta, and their future is unclear as homes have moved and continue to move through the foreclosure process.

More than 40 percent of the 7,789 homes now in the sales pipeline, or heading to the pipeline, are in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process, according to a recent report of sales tracked by trulia.com, a real estate marketplace. Wall Street investors are purchasing a significant number of homes in metro Atlanta, according to published reports.

At a conference Thursday, a variety of local and national housing leaders will discuss the issue of how to ensure the long-term health and vitality of metro Atlanta neighbors in this time of great change. The program is sponsored by Piece by Piece, a regional foreclosure effort; Atlanta Regional Commission; and Enterprise Community Partners.

Posted inGuest Column

It will take more than money to find the right leaders for the Atlanta region

by Teresa Johnston

By Guest Columnist JEREMY GARLINGTON, an executive leadership consultant who lives in Atlanta

Which came first: The leadership chicken or the egg? Based on what’s been unfolding in recent weeks, there are a lot of eggless chickens right now who won’t cross the road.

The “nation’s political leadership” seems like an oxymoron with emphasis on the third and fourth syllables. For those who don’t want to count syllables, just start reading from the ‘m’ forward.

Metro Atlanta is a slightly different story – at least on the surface. Local government hasn’t shut down, which means trash gets picked up and schools remain open.

Posted inEleanor Ringel Cater

The few Tom Clancy books made into movies gave memorable roles to Sean Connery, Harrison Ford, Alec Baldwin

Avatar photo by Eleanor Ringel Cater

The late Tom Clancy wrote a great number of best-sellers. Surprisingly, only a few of them were made into movies.

I was lucky enough to attend the press junket for “The Hunt for Red October,” Clancy’s first film to be made into a movie. It starred Alec Baldwin as Clancy’s celebrated fictional CIA operative, Jack Ryan. It was Baldwin’s only outing in the role.

Harrison Ford took over for the next two Ryan capers (“Patriot Games,” “A Clear and Present Danger”) and finally Ben Affleck lumbered through the part in “The Sum of All Fears.”

The sex buzz at the “October” press gathering, however, wasn’t Baldwin. It was Sean Connery, who played Ryan’s nemesis, a Soviet submarine captain. At 60, he had just been named People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

Posted inLatest News

Satcher hosts six Surgeons General at Morehouse School of Medicine

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

One of Atlanta’s best-kept secrets continues to be the Morehouse School of Medicine and its sister colleges at the Atlanta University Center.

Case in point was when six former U.S. Surgeons General convened at the Morehouse School of Medicine Thursday morning with a common theme — that serving as the nation’s top doctor transcends politics.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Leinberger’s latest on metro Atlanta: Era of sprawl ending, WalkUPs are next cycle of development

by David Pendered

Chris Leinberger’s new report on metro Atlanta recharges his thesis that walkable communities will characterize the region’s next wave of development.

“Metro Atlanta, the ‘poster child of sprawl,’ is now experiencing the end of spawl,” Leinberger contends in the report released Thursday, “The WalkUP Wake-Up Call: Atlanta.”

Atlanta is the second city Leinberger examined in what may well become a series of “WalkUP Wake-Up” studies. Washington, D.C. was the subject of a 2012 report, and other cities being contemplated for future analysis include Boston and Detroit.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta street vending: No action on new program, but help for city’s legal defense against mounting lawsuits

by David Pendered

Atlanta continues to struggle to create a street vending program and on Tuesday again deferred action.

Meanwhile, lawsuits continue to mount over the vending issue, a city attorney on Tuesday told the Public Safety Committee of the Atlanta City Council. The committee did approve a measure intended to help the city defend itself from these lawsuits.

Five months have passed since the committee passed a motion calling on Mayor Kasim Reed’s administration to present by May 14 a solid recommendation for a vending ordinance. Reed’s deputy COO, Hans Utz, wants to address the committee before it passes an ordinance introduced by committee Chairperson Michael Julian Bond, Bond said Tuesday.

Posted inLatest News

Bill Nigut leaving ADL, joining Georgia Public Broadcasting as producer

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

By Maria Saporta

After a 10-year absence, Bill Nigut is returning to television.

Nigut, who had been WSB-TV’s chief political reporter and a presence on Atlanta television for more than two decades, will be joining Georgia Public Broadcasting on Nov. 20 as senior executive producer for a new television program that will launch in January.

The new half-hour program — “On the Story” — will air Monday through Thursday at 7 pm. on GPB’s nine-station statewide television network.

Nigut said he will not be an on-air talent but a behind-the-camera producer.

Posted inSaba Long

Elections in Clarkston — our Ellis Island — reflects our growing diversity

by Saba Long

A decades-long haven for international refugees, the City of Clarkston is easily the most diverse square mile of DeKalb County and the State of Georgia.

With a population of nearly 8,000, the Ellis Island of the South is in the midst of an interesting mayoral and City Council elections with the incumbent mayor, Emanuel Ransom, an African-American, facing two challengers – Ibrahim Awow Sufi, a Somali-American; and Ted Terry, a resident of Clarkston for the past two years.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Award-winning architecture from around world vastly different from Atlanta’s iconic structures

by David Pendered

Georgia Tech has opened an exhibit that offers an alternative perspective to the spectacular architecture that’s so popular among metro Atlanta’s civic leaders.

The structures shown in the exhibit whisper, “less is more.” In Atlanta, it sometimes seems that “’more’ is not enough,” as the word “iconic” is attached to future projects ranging from retrofitted bridges over the Downtown Connector to the Falcons stadium.

The concepts on display in the Aga Khan Award for Architecture Exhibit include sustainable design and vernacular architecture, which are honored in the Muslim culture. One previous winner is Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate who hopes to start a bank in Atlanta to provide micro-loans to help poor people open businesses.

Posted inMaria's Metro

Giving away tax incentives for film, television is gift that keeps on giving

Avatar photo by Maria Saporta

What a difference an incentive makes.

That was the bottom line of Monday’s Rotary Club of Atlanta’s program on the “Business of Entertainment in Georgia “ — with a special focus on the state’s burgeoning film, video and television industry.

Consider this. During the 2007 fiscal year, the economic impact of the film, television and interactive entertainment industries was $242 million. In fiscal year 2013, that economic impact has grown more than ten-fold to $3.5 billion.

Posted inUncategorized

Traditions in clay: John Burrison — the molding of a scholar’s career

by Jamil Zainaldin

What is the value of a liberal arts education today? Academics — especially in the humanities — are often the objects of public criticism, if not dismissal, because of the “irrelevance” of their work. How does a college student majoring in, say, history or literature find a job after graduation? One scholar’s career, however, can help us recast this question of relevance.

Posted inTom Baxter

Spirit of sine die wafts over Washington budget standoff

Avatar photo by Tom Baxter

When I was an intern reporter at the Montgomery Advertiser, there used to be a basement bar downtown that I’d hit with the older guys after our late-night deadlines.

A keyboardist who was a music professor at Alabama State would arrive an hour or so later, and sometimes in the wee hours he’d be joined by other musicians who’d finished their gigs elsewhere. He played a fine, cool version of “Yellow Bird.”

One of my most lasting memories from those days was the night the Alabama legislature finished its session and, to my astonishment, the bar ran completely out of liquor.

Some may been shocked when a reporter covering the U.S. House vote tweeted that members walking off the House floor Saturday night reeked of booze. Having by now covered the finales of many legislative sessions, I wasn’t so surprised. “Yellow Bird” came lilting back into my mind.

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