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Auburn Avenue gets state incentive to spur businesses along streetcar route

by David Pendered

The effort to spur businesses that could be served by the future Atlanta Streetcar along Auburn Avenue got a lift Tuesday in the form of a state program that provides tax credits for new jobs.

A section of Auburn Avenue now is an Opportunity Zone. The designation will provide a tax credit of $3,500 for one new job to companies that create two net jobs. The tax credit lasts five years, according to the state Department of Community Affairs, which approved the new zone.

The designation is particularly important, coming as it does amidst a whirlwind of activity – both planned and halted – along the street that once was the center of black commerce in the south.

Posted inMaria's Metro

For SCLC — the struggle continues

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A prism of the Civil Rights Movement is on display at Emory University’s Robert W. Woodruff Library — an exhibit featuring archives from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

The title of the exhibit is: “And the Struggle Continues: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Fight for Social Change.”

And while the exhibit is an historical retrospective of the Civil Rights organization, the title also applies to the SCLC itself — an entity that has been searching for its own post-Civil Rights Movement identity and leadership in this new millennium.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: East Lake’s Drew Charter education dream becoming reality

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, January 18, 2013

The East Lake community is close to realizing its dream of offering top-quality education from cradle to college.

On Jan. 15, Gov. Nathan Deal joined other dignitaries to break ground on the new Drew Charter School Senior Academy at the Charlie Yates Campus in East Lake. The academy will permit Drew to teach students through high school. Currently, the Drew Charter School serves nearly 1,000 students from pre-K through 8th grade.

Posted inLatest News

Atlanta Falcons have helped revive community spirit — win or lose

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By Maria Saporta

The energy — and the tension — in the Georgia Dome on Sunday captures a feeling that has been lost in recent years — a feeling of being in the game.

The last five years have been tough for Atlanta, a city used to being an economic star in the country. The Great Recession hit Atlanta harder than most other cities because it targeted the real estate and banking — two industries that had helped build Atlanta.

And yet, during Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and the San Francisco 49ers, the city’s troubles are put aside as people rallied behind a team that is only one win away from the Super Bowl.

Posted inDavid Pendered

ARC’s first reorg in a generation aims to meet region’s emerging needs

by David Pendered

The Atlanta Regional Commission is embarking on its first reorganization in a generation, in order to meet the demands of the post-recession paradigm that’s emerging from the public and private sectors.

Silos of expertise are to be replaced by collaborative teams. An example of the new approach would be for ARC planners to examine mobility rather than transportation – a shift that frames the issue in a fashion that begs for broader solutions.

“Because we are changing in so many ways as a region, ARC realizes we have to be more adaptable to help local governments solve more problems,” said Doug Hooker, ARC’s executive director.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

‘Fundamental shift’ in strategy underway at Metro Atlanta Chamber

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, November 30, 2012

Looking forward, the Metro Atlanta Chamber is rewriting its game plan in more ways than one.

For more than 15 years, the influential business organization has been focusing its efforts on three issues — water, education and transportation. Of the three, improving metro Atlanta’s transportation issues was the chamber’s top priority.

But after the regional transportation sales tax referendum failed on July 31 — despite the business community’s investment of $8 million to try to get it passed, the Metro Atlanta Chamber has been surprisingly silent about how the region should address its transportation issues.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Atlanta Streetcar: Opening date in 2013 may be slipping away

by David Pendered

The Atlanta Streetcar appears increasingly unlikely to open in 2013, according to an update Atlanta’s public works commissioner presented Wednesday to the Transportation Committee of the Atlanta City Council.

Commissioner Richard Mendoza did not provide a direct answer to this question from Councilmember Yolanda Adrean: “When will you get the streetcar up and running?”

Mendoza said track construction will take up to 16 months after the first utility cut was made, this past summer. Just 30 percent of the requisite utility work is complete and as for its final completion date, Mendoza said: “I don’t have that information.”

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Construction to start in January on College Football Hall of Fame

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Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanks to several new partners and sponsors, the College Football Hall of Fame is going forward with construction set to begin in January.

“We have erased the question mark,” said John Stephenson, interim CEO of Atlanta Hall Management Inc., which is coordinating the project. “We are going to build this attraction.”

After a two-year recruitment effort, it was announced in September 2009 that the College Football Hall of Fame had selected Atlanta to relocate the attraction from its home in South Bend, Ind. But the project stalled with slow fundraising during a down economy and because of changes in the leadership.

Posted inLatest News

Mayor Kasim Reed endorses Erroll Davis; he pledges to become more involved with Atlanta’s public schools

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By Maria Saporta

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed vowed to take an active role in the recruitment of a new superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools should he be re-elected in 2013.

Meanwhile, the mayor endorsed the idea of extending the contract of current Superintendent Erroll Davis for another two years. The Atlanta Board of Education currently considering whether to extend that contract.

“I happen to believe that Erroll Davis is the right guy to lead us for the next two years,” Reed said during a luncheon speech at the Commerce Club on Tuesday.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: $3 million Woodruff Foundation gift will help expand Atlanta Beltline

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, November 16, 2012

The Atlanta Beltline will continue expanding its trails, thanks to a $3 million gift from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation.

The gift will go toward two projects.

Half of the donation will go towards extending the Eastside Trail by 1.5 miles from DeKalb Avenue through the Krog Street tunnel to Glenwood Avenue.

The other half will go toward buying a strip of land between the Beltline’s Eastside Trail and the Historic Fourth Ward Park as well as developing “the Gateway” — a connecting trail between the Beltline and the park.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Atlanta companies enroll in Junior Achievement/Chick-fil-A center

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Friday, November 16, 2012

Key Atlanta companies are rallying around Junior Achievement of Georgia’s plans to create a novel, hands-on financial experience for middle school students.

The facility — to be called Junior Achievement’s Chick-fil-A Foundation Discovery Center – will be located on the mezzanine level of the Georgia World Congress Center’s Building C.

The project will include two virtual cities — JA BizTown and JA Financial Park — that will re-create real-life experiences for middle school students attending Atlanta Public Schools, Fulton County Schools and DeKalb County Schools.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: Atlanta’s Cartoon Network celebrates 20th anniversary

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the Atlanta Business Chronicle on Sept. 28, 2012

When Atlanta media visionary Ted Turner decided to create a cable channel that would air just cartoons, he was ridiculed.

But on Oct. 1, the Cartoon Network will celebrate its 20th anniversary, and Turner Broadcasting System is having the last laugh.

“We are a network that has fantastic momentum,” said Stuart Snyder, president of the Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. “We are just completing our third quarter — the most watched quarter in our history in prime time.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

Privatizing MARTA jobs no cure-all for costs; federal law ensures union will endure even with private vendors

by David Pendered

At least one significant point is lacking from the general conversation about “privatizing MARTA” as a way to maintain transit service while reducing its cost.

The point is a labor agreement between MARTA and the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local No. 732. The union represents 64 percent of MARTA’s staff, which is larger than 4,500 workers, according to the recent management audit by KPMG.

Even if some or all of these jobs were privatized, federal law requires that existing rights and benefits of union jobs continue into jobs created by any private companies hired by MARTA. The notion that labor negotiations – and the higher personnel costs that the audit suggests stem from collective bargaining – would dissipate in a scenario of out-sourced jobs simply isn’t accurate.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: Publix again provides $5 million-plus to Atlanta’s United Way

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the ABC on Friday, July 27, 2012

Publix Super Markets continues to reign supreme when it comes to the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta.

United Way, which closed out its 2011 campaign of $80.4 million (led by Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson), reconfirmed that Publix Super Markets is in a league of its own.

Posted inDavid Pendered

Sales tax campaign: “I feel delighted” at raising $6.5 million, says finance chairman Dave Stockert

by David Pendered

This story has been updated with details of campaign contributions and expenses.

By Dave Stockert’s account, he and the campaign finance team have done their job in helping to convince voters to support the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation.

They’ve raised about $6.5 million to pay for the advocacy campaign being waged by Citizens for Transportation Mobility, the group Stockert chairs. Now it’s up to the professional campaign staff to prevail with the resources at hand, Stockert said in a meeting with reporters Monday afternoon.

“I feel delighted that we raised it,” Stockert said. “We’ve taken that issue off the table. I think we have an effective campaign. I’m confident it will be good enough when we get to July 31. We don’t have to win 80 percent.”

Posted inDavid Pendered

Campaign finance report still due from metro Atlanta sales tax group; NE Ga. pros, Middle Ga. cons have filed

by David Pendered

The campaign team working for passage of the transportation sales tax has not filed its report on its campaign finances, according to the report of filings maintained by the state’s Campaign Finance Commission.

The filing deadline was Monday. A grace period extends the final day of submission to July 23 – eight days before the election. The campaign committee must file an electronic report if more than $500 have been raised.

One group that has filed is working for passage in the region just north of metro Atlanta. Another one that filed is based in Warner Robins and is opposing the sales tax.

Posted inATL Business Chronicle, Maria's Metro

Column: How Woodruff Arts Center campaign reached its $9 million goal

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By Maria Saporta
Published in the ABC on Friday, June 29, 2012

In mid-May, the annual corporate campaign for the Woodruff Arts Center was falling about $200,000 short of its $9 million goal. So leaders of the campaign went back to several key donors asking if they could stretch a little more so the campaign would have a successful close.

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