Though homeowners associations often have a reputation for having strict rules, HOAs can add significant property value and curb appeal to a neighborhood.
Search results
Posted inColumns, Maria's Metro
Georgia is driving electric vehicles in reverse – going from being a leader to last place
When it comes driving electric vehicles, Georgia has been on the leading edge.
So naturally we needed to put our low-polluting cars in reverse and adopt the worst package for electric vehicles in the country.
Thank you Georgia legislature.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Cousins/Hines, Portman vie for huge Georgia Tech project
By Douglas Sams and Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on March 27, 2015
Two longtime Atlanta real estate companies known for some of the most recognizable buildings on the city skyline are competing to develop a $300 million mixed-use project for Georgia Tech — the next expansion of Midtown’s Technology Square.
Cousins Properties Inc. is vying against Portman Holdings to develop the project. Cousins has also teamed with Houston-based powerhouse Hines.
Posted inDavid Pendered, Latest News, Main Slider
Georgia Legislature provides a few wins for environmentalists: Solar energy, plastic bags
Georgia lawmakers have resolved two bills in favor of environmentalists – by passing one bill that promotes the installation of solar power, and by killing another that aimed to prevent local governments from regulating plastic bags.
Posted inTom Baxter
To Georgia’s east and west, ethics problems trouble the mighty
For the time being, ethics is on the back boiler in Georgia. But in Alabama and South Carolina, two powerful house speakers have been indicted.
Posted inMain Slider
The Georgia Writers Hall of Fame — reading good writers is good for you
Georgia has no shortage of influential writers. Flannery O’Connor, Margaret Mitchell, and Natasha Tretheway. Alfred Uhry, Ralph McGill, and Alice Walker. Conrad Aiken, W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary Hood, and Raymond Andrews. These are just some of the inductees into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, founded in 2000 by the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library of the University of Georgia. They all have one thing in common: they are among the best anywhere at their storytelling craft.
Posted inColumns, Guest Column
Leadership: the fourth piece of Georgia’s education puzzle
By Guest Columnist DANA RICKMAN, director of policy and research for the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education
Have you ever tried to drink water from a garden hose turned on high? You know you are thirsty. You know you need the water, and it will cure what ails you. However, trying to cure your thirst by drinking from a hose never feels like the most efficient way to solve the problem of thirst.
Posted inColumns, Michelle Hiskey & Ben Smith
Same-sex wedding planning tricky now in Georgia
Wedding planning is never easy, and picking a date and location is particularly tricky right now for same-sex couples in Georgia, one of 14 states where gay marriage remains illegal. The closest possibility is Florida or one of the Carolinas. Alabama may be the next state to legalize. On this cusp of historic change are stakeholders like Kristen Ott Palladino, who with her wife Maria Palladino publishes Equally Wed magazine from Atlanta, and local couples like Dan Treadaway and Eric Still, who married in 2014 for romantic and legal reasons, not wanting to stay unwed any longer.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Column: Paul Bowers aims to keep Georgia Chamber relevant in 2015
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Jan. 9, 2015
As Georgia Power CEO Paul Bowers takes over as the 2015 chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 13, the word he keeps repeating is “relevance.”
The business organization is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. And for Bowers, what is most important is that the Georgia Chamber not only honors its past but pushes itself to be even stronger for the next 100 years.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Georgia’s jobs of future call for teamwork, technical skills: Employers
The No. 1 attribute that business leaders say will they want in their employees is the ability to collaborate, according to a report to Gov. Nathan Deal on high demand careers.
The report also states the top five careers of the future in Georgia will be mechanical engineer, electrical engineer, welder, machinist, and computer numerical control operator, according to the report.
Posted inHome Mortgages, Thought Leader, Uncategorized
Harness the Power of Appreciation
As we approach Thanksgiving, a traditional time of family, friends, celebration and feeling grateful for what we have, now is a great time to take a moment to count your blessings and say thank you. Often overlooked during this time of year are the people who have been instrumental in building our career and our […]
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Column: Five Georgia nonprofits rank among nation’s top 25
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on November 14, 2014
Georgia’s status as a nexus for nonprofits has slipped slightly since last year, but it still is an undisputed hub for charitable organizations in the country, according to the latest Philanthropy 400 ranking.
Instead of having five nonprofits in the top 20 nationally, Georgia now has five in the top 25.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Georgia’s solar industry praised in new report by Pew Charitable Trusts
A new report by Pew Charitable Trusts shows that Georgia is a national leader in solar power and clean energy.
Released Tuesday, Pew’s report provides more information for policy makers as the nation prepares to respond to new federal policies. The policies are to compel states to reduce carbon emissions associated with power production.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Lake Allatoona may change dynamics of Georgia’s water resource debate
A taste of things to come in the management of Georgia’s water resources may be evident in the federal lawsuit filed over the role of Lake Allatoona as a source of drinking water for metro Atlanta.
The lawsuit rekindles a host of issues including: Gov. Nathan Deal’s plan to build or expand water reservoirs; water conservation efforts; and the federal government’s pending Water Control Manual for the Chattahoochee River system.
Posted inDavid Pendered
Wall Street reviews Georgia’s new limit on individual income tax rate
While political pundits review Georgia’s elections outcomes, Wall Street analysts have focused on the passage of an amendment to the Georgia Constitution that’s the first of its kind in the nation.
Moody’s Investors Services issued a report Friday that raises a cautionary flag over the amendment that caps Georgia’s individual income tax rate at 6 percent. The limit restricts the state’s ability to raise revenues, if necessary, the report observes.
Posted inGuest Column
Southface – finding an energy efficient way to employ veterans in Georgia
By Guest Columnist JOHN KANE, a residential technical trainer for Southface and a veteran who spent eight years in the U.S. Navy
The most recent employment numbers show that opportunities are improving across the nation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the September 2014 national unemployment rate of 5.9 percent is the lowest it has been since the beginning of the Great Recession.
However, this downward trend is not distributed equally across the states. Georgia has the highest unemployment rate of any state in the nation, tipping the scales at 7.9 percent.
Posted inGuest Column
Southface – finding an energy efficient way to employ veterans in Georgia
By Guest Columnist JOHN KANE, a residential technical trainer for Southface and a veteran who spent eight years in the U.S. Navy
The most recent employment numbers show that opportunities are improving across the nation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the September 2014 national unemployment rate of 5.9 percent is the lowest it has been since the beginning of the Great Recession.
However, this downward trend is not distributed equally across the states. Georgia has the highest unemployment rate of any state in the nation, tipping the scales at 7.9 percent.
Posted inATL Business Chronicle
Column: Photo exhibit brings Georgia poverty into clearer focus
By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on October 3, 2014
At first it may seem odd that the Metro Atlanta Chamber would display photos portraying poverty in our community on its walls.
Usually, chambers of commerce are much more eager to tout their economic development successes of shiny new buildings, airports and attractive skylines.
Posted inUncategorized
Victory over despair — the power of art to heal the powerful
Without a doubt, Winston Churchill is one of the most important political figures of the 20th century — or of any time. A man who withstood ostracism after the disastrous Gallipoli campaign of World War I and who entered a “political wilderness” (again) in the 1930s owing to his controversial positions on English monetary and colonial policies…
Posted inDavid Pendered
Mottled ducks in Georgia to be tracked with futuristic technology that’s now commonplace
Tremendous scientific advances in the tracking of birds are now so commonplace that they were barely mentioned in a recent release from the state Department of Natural Resources about a new tracking program.
It was just in 1984 that a bald eagle in the U.S. became the first bird to be outfitted with a satellite tracking device. That was a huge advance from the piece of string that James Audubon tied a string on the leg of a bird in 1803 to see if it would return after the autumn migration. (It did.)
These days, satellite telemetry is so common that mottled ducks along Georgia’s coast are being outfitted this fall with transmitters. The solar-power devices will gather GPS location information from Air Force satellites and transmit it back to researchers.
